chaiterm CLI

Command-line tool for accessing your terminal from anywhere.

⚠️ Under Development

This package is currently under active development and is not ready for production use. Features may be incomplete, unstable, or subject to breaking changes. Use at your own risk.

Installation

npm install -g chaiterm

Commands

chaiterm init

Authenticate and initialize configuration.

chaiterm init

chaiterm start

Start terminal access - connects your local PTY to the gateway.

chaiterm start

Once connected, access your terminal at: https://chaiterm.com/terminals

chaiterm expose <port>

Expose a local port to the internet.

chaiterm expose 3000

Your app will be available at a random subdomain like: https://k7x9m2.chaiterm.com

chaiterm status

Show current connection status and configuration.

chaiterm status

chaiterm logout

Clear stored credentials.

chaiterm logout

chaiterm kill

Kill all running chaiterm processes (useful when PTY instances get stuck).

chaiterm kill

Architecture

The CLI wraps two components:

1. pty-client - Connects to chaiterm.com/ws/pty via WebSocket, spawns local PTY
2. frp-wrapper - Wraps frpc binary for port exposure tunnels

Configuration

Config is stored in ~/.config/chaiterm/config.json (or platform equivalent).

Using Custom Config Files

Use the --config (or -c) flag to specify a different config file:

# Use a local development config
chaiterm --config ./local-config.json start

# Use a specific config file
chaiterm -c ~/.config/chaiterm/dev.json status

Config File Format

{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "gatewayUrl": "wss://chaiterm.com/ws/pty",
  "frpServerAddr": "frp.chaiterm.com",
  "frpServerPort": 7000
}

| Field | Description | Default | |-------|-------------|---------| | email | Your email for terminal access | (required) | | gatewayUrl | Terminal gateway WebSocket URL | wss://chaiterm.com/ws/pty | | frpServerAddr | frp server address | frp.chaiterm.com | | frpServerPort | frp server port | 7000 |

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• For port exposure: frpc binary (install via brew install frpc on macOS)

Development

# Install dependencies
bun install

# Build
bun run build

# Watch mode
bun run dev

Local Development

To test CLI against a local server:

cd packages/cli

# 1. Create a local config file
echo '{
  "email": "[email protected]",
  "gatewayUrl": "ws://localhost:3000/ws/pty"
}' > local-config.json

# 2. Build and run with the local config
bun run build
node dist/bin/chaiterm.mjs --config ./local-config.json start

Testing Remote Server

To test against the production server, use the default config (no --config flag):

node dist/bin/chaiterm.mjs start