Terminal Expose

Interactive terminal sharing from your own machine.

terminal-expose starts a real shell or command, prints private session URLs, and lets trusted collaborators connect through a browser or from another terminal.

Install

npm install -g terminal-expose

Quick Start

Start your default shell:

terminal-expose

Start a specific shell:

terminal-expose bash
terminal-expose zsh

Run a command:

terminal-expose bash -lc "npm test"

The server prints session URLs:

================================
Terminal Expose Started
================================
Command   : bash
Local URL : http://localhost:5555/s/<token>
LAN URL   : http://192.168.1.10:5555/s/<token>

Terminal sharing is active.
Share only the session URL with trusted collaborators.
================================

Anyone with the full session URL can view and type into the terminal.

Features

• Share a real interactive PTY shell or command over HTTP and WebSocket.
• Connect from a web browser with xterm.js, live status, session timer, fullscreen, scrollback, and automatic resize.
• Connect from another terminal with terminal-expose-cli for a native terminal experience.
• Replay recent terminal output to new clients from the in-memory buffer.
• Resize the remote PTY when browser or CLI clients change size.
• Use token-based authentication for both browser and CLI clients.
• Generate LAN URLs automatically for devices on the same network.
• Create temporary public HTTPS URLs with Cloudflare Quick Tunnels.
• Redact session tokens from startup logs when needed.
• Pipe input into the CLI client for scripted or non-interactive use.
• Check server status with the /health endpoint.

Connect

Browser

Open the full session URL printed by the server:

http://localhost:5555/s/<token>

For another device on the same network, use the printed LAN URL.

CLI Client

Connect with the full session URL:

terminal-expose-cli http://localhost:5555/s/<token>

Or pass the server URL and token separately:

terminal-expose-cli http://localhost:5555 <token>

Useful options:

terminal-expose-cli http://localhost:5555/s/<token> --no-resize
terminal-expose-cli http://localhost:5555/s/<token> --debug

Press Ctrl+D to disconnect from the CLI client.

Piped input is supported:

printf 'pwd\nls\n' | terminal-expose-cli http://localhost:5555 <token>

Public Internet Access

For quick public sharing, start a secure edge tunnel:

terminal-expose --public bash

You can also enable it with an environment variable:

PUBLIC_TUNNEL=1 terminal-expose bash

The server prints a public URL:

Public URL: https://random-name.trycloudflare.com/s/<token>

Use that URL in a browser or with the CLI client:

terminal-expose-cli https://random-name.trycloudflare.com/s/<token>

The tunnel works outside your Wi-Fi as long as terminal-expose is still running.

For a permanent setup, run it on a public server or forward TCP port 5555 to the machine running terminal-expose:

EXTERNAL_URL="http://YOUR_PUBLIC_IP:5555" terminal-expose bash

Configuration

Use environment variables to change server behavior:

PORT=4000 terminal-expose bash
SESSION_TOKEN="change-this-secret" terminal-expose bash
SESSION_TOKEN_REDACT=1 terminal-expose bash
ECHO_TO_STDOUT=0 terminal-expose bash
WORKDIR=/home/user/project terminal-expose bash
MAX_BUFFER=200000 terminal-expose bash

| Variable | Default | Description | | --- | --- | --- | | PORT | 5555 | HTTP and WebSocket server port. | | HOST | 0.0.0.0 | Bind address. | | SESSION_TOKEN | random | Token required for browser and CLI clients. | | EXTERNAL_URL | unset | Public base URL to print in startup output. | | PUBLIC_TUNNEL | 0 | Set to 1 or true to start a public tunnel. | | MAX_BUFFER | 100000 | Number of recent output characters kept for new clients. | | ECHO_TO_STDOUT | 1 | Set to 0 to stop echoing PTY output in the host terminal. | | WORKDIR | current directory | Working directory for the spawned shell or command. | | SESSION_TOKEN_REDACT | 0 | Set to 1 to hide the token in startup logs. |

Security

• Share session URLs only with people you trust.
• Anyone with the token can read output and send input to the running terminal.
• Avoid typing passwords, API keys, or private commands in a shared session.
• Use HTTPS when sharing over the internet. The built-in public tunnel gives you an HTTPS URL.
• Use a strong SESSION_TOKEN for long-running or internet-facing sessions.
• Use SESSION_TOKEN_REDACT=1 when logs are stored, streamed, or shared.

Troubleshooting

CLI Client Cannot Connect

• Use http://localhost:5555/s/<token> for local sessions, not https.
• Make sure the server is still running.
• Confirm the token matches the server output.
• Check that firewalls allow the selected port for LAN or public-server access.
• Add --debug to the CLI client for connection details.

Terminal Size Looks Wrong

• Browser clients resize automatically when the window changes.
• CLI clients send resize events from the local terminal by default.
• Use --no-resize if resize events cause compatibility issues.

Public URL Is Not Created

• Confirm cloudflared can run in the current environment.
• Make sure the local terminal-expose server stays running.
• Try again if the temporary tunnel provider does not return a URL before timeout.

Architecture

• Server: Node.js, Express, Socket.io, and node-pty.
• Browser client: xterm.js and Socket.io.
• CLI client: Socket.io client with native stdin/stdout handling.
• Optional tunnel: Cloudflare Quick Tunnels.

License

MIT