⚡ TerminalBuddy

A Tabby Terminal plugin that adds a live, context-aware companion panel to your local terminal sessions (PowerShell, CMD) and remote SSH sessions (Linux).

The panel automatically switches between:

• 📋 Built-in & Custom cheat sheets — when you enter commands like vi, nano, tar, find, grep, etc.
• 🖥️ Your custom dashboard — when you're at the shell prompt (reads ~/dashboard/dashboard.txt on Linux or C:\ProgramData\TerminalBuddy\dashboard.txt on Windows)
• ➕ Custom cheat sheets & notes — add your own for any program or workflow via Settings

Screenshots

| 🖥️ Companion Dashboard | 📋 Context-Aware Cheat Sheet | 📝 Freeform Notes | |:---:|:---:|:---:| | | | |

| ⚙️ Settings UI | 🧩 Cheat Sheet Editor | 🔌 Shell Integration Prompt | |:---:|:---:|:---:| | | | |

Installation

Part 1 — Install the Tabby Plugin (Windows)

From GitHub (manual install):

1. Download the latest tabby-terminal-buddy-x.x.x.tgz from Releases
2. Open Tabby → Settings → Plugins
3. Click Install from file and select the .tgz
4. Restart Tabby

From source (developers):

git clone https://github.com/pmitchell-dev/TerminalBuddy.git
cd TerminalBuddy
npm install
npm run build
npm pack
# Then install the resulting .tgz in Tabby as above

Part 2 — Install Shell Integration (Linux & Windows)

For Remote Linux Machines (over SSH):

Run this one-liner on each remote Linux machine:

curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pmitchell-dev/TerminalBuddy/main/shell-integration/install.sh | bash

Then reload your shell (source ~/.bashrc).

For Local Windows Machines (PowerShell):

Run this one-liner in PowerShell:

iex (irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pmitchell-dev/TerminalBuddy/main/shell-integration/install.ps1)

Then reload your PowerShell session (. $PROFILE).

Part 3 — Set Up Your Dashboard (Optional)

TerminalBuddy displays your custom dashboard.txt file in the companion panel whenever you're at the shell prompt:

• Linux: ~/dashboard/dashboard.txt
• Windows (Shared for all users): C:\ProgramData\TerminalBuddy\dashboard.txt

You can use any text — system stats, server info, task status, custom commands, etc.

Note: ANSI color codes in dashboard.txt are automatically stripped for clean display.

Custom Cheat Sheets

Add cheat sheets for any terminal program via Tabby Settings → TerminalBuddy.

• Set the trigger command (e.g. htop, python3, docker)
• Add sections with keybind → description rows
• Custom sheets override built-ins if the trigger matches

How It Works

TerminalBuddy uses a lightweight shell integration script (Bash/Zsh for Linux, PowerShell & Clink Lua for Windows CMD) that emits custom OSC escape sequences into the terminal output stream — the same technique used by iTerm2 Shell Integration and Warp Terminal.

When you run a command, the hook sends: \e]7701;cmd=vi\a
When you return to the prompt, it sends: \e]7701;prompt;cwd=/home/user;dashboard=<base64>\a

The Tabby plugin listens for these sequences and updates the panel instantly — no polling, no extra network connections, no ports.

Supported Programs (Built-in Cheat Sheets)

| Program | Triggers | |---|---| | VI / Vim | vi, vim, nvim | | Nano | nano | | Tar | tar | | Find | find | | Grep | grep, egrep, fgrep | | Systemctl | systemctl, journalctl | | Chmod & Chown | chmod, chown |

Development

npm install          # Install dependencies
npm run build:dev    # Development build (with source maps)
npm run watch        # Watch mode — auto-rebuilds on file changes
npm run build        # Production build
npm pack             # Package as .tgz for distribution

Tabby plugin directory (for dev symlink testing):
%APPDATA%\tabby\plugins\

Project Structure

terminalbuddy-tabby-plugin/
├── src/
│   ├── index.ts                    # Plugin entry point
│   ├── module.ts                   # Angular module
│   ├── components/                 # UI components
│   │   ├── buddy-panel.*           # Main panel (routes between states)
│   │   ├── cheatsheet.*            # Cheat sheet renderer
│   │   ├── dashboard.*             # Dashboard component
│   │   └── settings.*              # Custom cheat sheet settings UI
│   ├── services/
│   │   ├── context.service.ts      # OSC sequence parser + state
│   │   └── cheatsheet.service.ts   # Cheat sheet resolver
│   ├── providers/                  # Tabby extension point registrations
│   └── data/                       # Default cheat sheet definitions
│       ├── vi.cheatsheet.ts
│       ├── nano.cheatsheet.ts
│       ├── tar.cheatsheet.ts
│       ├── find.cheatsheet.ts
│       ├── grep.cheatsheet.ts
│       ├── systemctl.cheatsheet.ts
│       └── chmod.cheatsheet.ts
└── shell-integration/
    ├── terminalbuddy.sh            # Linux Bash/Zsh hook script
    ├── install.sh                  # Linux one-liner installer
    ├── terminalbuddy.ps1           # Windows PowerShell hook script
    ├── terminalbuddy.lua           # Windows CMD (Clink) hook script
    └── install.ps1                 # Windows one-liner installer

License

MIT — see LICENSE