browshell

readme.mp4

A browser-based terminal with WebSocket PTY bridge — a full terminal emulator that runs in your browser, ideal for AI-controlled workflows and vibe coding.

Features

• Full terminal emulation via xterm.js
• Real-time WebSocket PTY bridge using node-pty and ws
• Auto-resize — terminal dimensions sync automatically
• Windows & Unix support — auto-detects PowerShell, pwsh, or bash
• Dark theme — custom xterm color scheme
• Reconnection — auto-retries on disconnect

Getting Started

npm install
npm start

Open http://localhost:3000 in your browser.

How It Works

• The server (server.js) serves a static frontend (public/) via Express.
• A WebSocket server accepts connections from the browser.
• On connection, the server spawns a PTY (PowerShell on Windows, bash on Unix).
• Keystrokes from the browser are forwarded to the PTY; PTY output is streamed back to the terminal.
• Resize events from the browser are sent as JSON and applied to the PTY via pty.resize().

Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
PORT	3000	HTTP server port
PWSH / POWERSHELL	—	Path to PowerShell (Windows only)

Tech Stack

• Backend: Node.js, Express, ws, node-pty
• Frontend: xterm.js, xterm-addon-fit