Nexus Terminal Quick Start

Nexus Terminal is a native desktop client for SSH, Telnet, RAW TCP, Serial, VNC, IRC, GitHub and local terminal sessions. This page is a shareable quick start for everyday use.

Get connected in minutes

Open Nexus Terminal.
Click + at the bottom of the sidebar, or press Cmd+N (macOS) / Ctrl+N (Windows/Linux).
Choose a protocol at the top of the editor and enter the connection details.
Click Create & Connect to save the profile and open the session in a new tab.

Next time, just click the profile in the sidebar.

One-off session? Use Cmd+Shift+Q / Ctrl+Shift+Q for quick connect. Need a local shell? Click Local Machine at the top of the sidebar.

Daily workflow

Command palette: Press Cmd+K / Ctrl+K to connect, switch tabs or run any command by typing a few letters.
Tabs and splits: Drag tabs to reorder them, right-click a tab to pin, rename, duplicate or reconnect it, and split the workspace with Cmd+Shift+D / Ctrl+Shift+D (right) or Cmd+Shift+E / Ctrl+Shift+E (down).
Scrollable tabs: Use the mouse wheel or trackpad over the tab strip when many tabs are open. Hover a tab to see its host, state and connection start time.
Broadcast input: Toggle with Cmd+Shift+B / Ctrl+Shift+B to send the same keystrokes to every connected terminal. Right-click the broadcast button on the tab strip to pick targets.
Snippets: Save common commands with Cmd+Shift+S / Ctrl+Shift+S and send them with one click.
Search: Press Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within the active terminal.
Copy, paste and links: Select text and press Cmd+C / Ctrl+C to copy (with nothing selected, Ctrl+C interrupts as usual). Cmd+V / Ctrl+V pastes. Cmd-click / Ctrl-click a URL to open it.
Reconnect quickly: If a session drops, click Reconnect on the disconnected overlay.

Serial consoles

Create a Serial profile, pick the device from the list (click refresh after plugging in an adapter) and set the baud rate and line settings to match the device — 115200 8N1 with no flow control is the default. On Linux your user needs to be in the dialout (or uucp) group; on macOS use the /dev/cu.* device.

VNC remote desktops

Create a VNC profile for remote desktop sessions. Use the SSH tunnel option when possible, especially outside trusted networks. Direct VNC is available for isolated or trusted networks, but classic VNC traffic is not encrypted, so Nexus Terminal asks before connecting without a tunnel.

File transfers on SSH

Click the folder icon on an SSH tab to open the SFTP browser. You can browse, upload, download, rename and delete files, create folders and bookmark locations.

Drag and drop files

Drop file(s) onto a terminal and choose to:

Upload to current directory — pick a remote folder (SSH sessions only), or
Paste contents into the terminal as if typed.

The upload picker lists folders only and marks permissions:

READ ONLY: you can read but cannot write
NO READ: you cannot access the folder

Security basics

Credentials are stored in the OS keychain where available.
An encrypted vault (AES-256-GCM, Argon2id) is used as a fallback; set it up in Settings → Security.
Each password, passphrase or token can be saved, remembered for the session only, or asked for every time.
SSH host key checks can be set per profile (Strict, Ask, Accept new, Insecure).

Coming from Alchementary Link

Your profiles, vault and recordings are copied across automatically on first run, and keychain entries are picked up the first time they are needed. Your old Alchementary Link data is left untouched.

Common shortcuts

macOS Shortcut	Windows/Linux Shortcut	Action
Cmd + K	Ctrl + K	Command palette
Cmd + N	Ctrl + N	New connection
Cmd + W	Ctrl + W	Close tab
Cmd + F	Ctrl + F	Find in terminal
Cmd + Shift + S	Ctrl + Shift + S	Snippet library
Cmd + Shift + B	Ctrl + Shift + B	Broadcast input
Cmd + Shift + Q	Ctrl + Shift + Q	Quick connect
Cmd + Shift + R	Ctrl + Shift + R	Toggle session recording
Cmd + Shift + D	Ctrl + Shift + D	Split pane right
Cmd + Shift + E	Ctrl + Shift + E	Split pane down

Need more detail?

Product overview: docs/overview.md
User manual: docs/user-manual.md

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