Core Concepts

Terminality uses a structured model for infrastructure access. These terms stay consistent across the UI, docs, and API.

Hosts & Connections

Host : A durable encrypted profile for a remote machine. It contains the address, labels, and authentication references needed to reach that machine.

Connection : A typed way to access a Host or the local device: Local Terminal, SSH, SFTP, FTP, RDP, or Omini. One Host can expose more than one compatible Connection without duplicating its identity.

Connection Library : The durable catalog for creating, editing, searching, and deleting Host profiles. It opens in a native management window.

Quick Connection Selector (QCS) : The recent-first picker for opening a Connection in a new tab or replacing the content of a pane.

Omini : An integrated Linux Connection with terminal, files, and system information presented together.

Sessions & Layout

Session : A live runtime created when a Connection opens. A Session owns transport state and protocol behavior; it ends when disconnected or explicitly closed.

Application Window : A desktop top-level window that owns tabs. Each window maps to one Tauri WebviewWindow, while every window shares the same libszt process.

Tab : A top-level task inside an Application Window. Its root is one recursive split tree.

Pane : A leaf in a tab's split tree. It presents exactly one live Session or file experience. PaneId identifies the layout position; PaneContentId identifies the current rendered generation.

Dialog Window : A parent-owned native management window, such as Connection Library, Settings, tmux Sessions, or Open Source Licenses. It shares application state but owns no tabs or panes.

Terminal Productivity

Standard tmux attach : A normal tmux client inside one terminal Pane. tmux owns its prefix keys, status line, splits, copy mode, and detach behavior. It can sit beside non-tmux panes.

Command Composer : A non-modal editor. Review a draft, then send it once to the focused terminal or, after explicit confirmation, every terminal in the tab. It is not continuous broadcast.

Quick Command : A durable named snippet with tags, favorites, and global or per-Host scope. It fills the Composer draft and never executes implicitly.

Durable Data

Vault : The authenticated encrypted store for Hosts, credentials, settings, QCS history, and Quick Commands. Open Sessions, windows, tabs, and pane layouts are runtime-only.

Settings : Versioned durable preferences owned by libszt. Updates commit to the Vault before state publication.

Key Relationships

• The Vault stores Hosts and their authentication references
• A Host exposes one or more typed Connections
• Opening a Connection creates a live Session
• A Pane presents one Session; Tabs arrange Panes; an Application Window owns Tabs
• Machine Discovery is runtime-only and never writes to the Vault or Host catalog