Turn Your Local Shell into a Web Terminal with ttyd – Quick Setup Guide

Web Terminal Options

ttyd – C implementation that streams a terminal to the browser.

gotty – Go implementation, last updated in 2017.

wetty – Node.js based, requires SSH login.

Chrome Secure Shell – browser extension providing a web‑based SSH terminal.

tmate – tmux‑derived tool for sharing terminals.

Installation

On macOS install via Homebrew: brew install ttyd For Windows or Linux, follow the installation guide at https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd#installation.

Basic Usage

Start a web‑based Bash shell: ttyd bash The terminal is reachable at http://localhost:7681/ (default port 7681).

Changing Shell

Replace bash with any installed shell, e.g., Zsh:

ttyd zsh

Port Binding

Change the listening port with -p: ttyd -p 8000 zsh Access the terminal at http://localhost:8000/.

Basic Authentication

Secure the terminal using Basic Auth. Provide credentials with -c in the format username:password: ttyd -p 8000 -c admin:admin zsh Clients must log in before using the terminal.

Auto‑Open Browser

Launch the default browser automatically with -B: ttyd -p 8000 -B zsh Example alias for quick start: alias webcmd="ttyd -p 8000 -B zsh" Running webcmd opens the terminal in the browser.

Docker Support

Run ttyd from the official Docker image: docker run -it --rm -p 7681:7681 tsl0922/ttyd Mount host directories if you need to expose the host filesystem.

SSH Terminal

Enable SSH login before accessing the terminal: ttyd login Clients must provide valid SSH credentials.

SSL Support

Configure HTTPS by generating a certificate and using the SSL options:

ttyd -S -C /path/to/cert.pem -K /path/to/key.pem [other options] <command>

See the SSL usage guide at https://github.com/tsl0922/ttyd/wiki/SSL-Usage for details.

Public Exposure with ngrok

Expose the web terminal to the internet using ngrok: ngrok http 8000 ngrok provides a public URL such as https://example.ngrok.io/ that anyone can use to access the terminal.

Conclusion

ttyd offers a lightweight way to share a machine’s terminal over the web. It supports custom shells, port configuration, Basic Authentication, automatic browser launch, Docker deployment, SSH login, SSL encryption, and public exposure via tools like ngrok.