Typical Scenarios

Managing Production Servers Through a Jump Host

Production environments are typically reachable only through a bastion (jump) host, and internal services such as databases do not expose their ports. This scenario turns "log into the bastion, hop to the target, forward ports by hand" into a single reusable bookmark.

• Create an SSH bookmark for the target server and configure the bastion's address and credentials under "Jump host" — AuraTerm performs both hops automatically when connecting.
• Save the password or private key with the bookmark. Credentials are encrypted with AES-256-GCM under a key derived from your master password via Argon2id — nothing is stored in plaintext.
• Add a local forwarding tunnel (-L) to the bookmark, mapping a local port to the internal database, and enable "auto-start with connection". Once connected, your local database client simply talks to localhost.
• Pick tmux or screen as the reconnect mode: after a network hiccup, one click restores the original session, and remote forwards are rebuilt automatically.

See the manual: Making Connections, Port Forwarding & Tunnels, Bookmarks.

Debugging Embedded Serial Devices in the Field

Plug in a USB-to-TTL adapter and, right next to the device, capture boot logs, tweak line parameters, and transfer firmware — all the daily serial-debugging chores without leaving one window.

• Choose the Serial protocol when creating a session; AuraTerm lists detected serial devices. Pick the port and set baud rate, data bits, parity, and stop bits.
• While connected you can change line parameters without disconnecting, send BREAK, drive DTR/RTS, and watch framing/parity error counters — the most direct evidence of a wrong baud rate.
• Configure a log filename template (e.g. {serialPort}-{date}) in Settings, and every session automatically writes its own log file — field records without screenshots.
• Run rz / sz on the device side to trigger the built-in Zmodem transfer: push firmware up, pull logs down — the serial line itself is the transport.

See the manual: Making Connections, File Transfer.

Reaching Lab Boards Through a Device Server

The board is plugged into a ser2net, Moxa NPort, Digi, or Lantronix device server in the lab — and you are not. Network Serial (RFC 2217) lets you attach to that port from anywhere, with baud rate and line parameters genuinely applied on the device server.

• Create a session with the "Network Serial (RFC 2217)" protocol and enter the device server's address and port; baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits, and flow control are applied via COM-PORT-OPTION.
• On a shared console server, keep the default "Use the device server's existing port settings" checked, so you never clobber parameters someone else has tuned.
• Network sessions come with TCP keepalive and optional backoff reconnect — device servers reboot all the time; you don't have to babysit them.
• For device servers that only expose plain TCP, fall back to the "Raw TCP" protocol: a pure byte pipe that cannot control line parameters, but always connects.

See the manual: Making Connections.

Sharing a Group of Bookmarks with Your Team

A new teammate joins and needs the whole "Prod-EU" group of servers — not a wiki page to copy connection settings from, one by one.

• In the bookmark manager, right-click the group and choose "Export this group (shareable)" to get a share bundle: group paths are relative to the shared root, so the recipient can mount it under any group of their own.
• Even easier: "Generate a share code". The group is encrypted and uploaded, yielding a share code plus a short link the recipient simply pastes — no AuraXLab account required. You can set an expiry and an import limit, and revoke at any time; revoking deletes the server-side ciphertext.

• Before anything lands, the recipient sees a preview: what each entry is, which group it goes to, and what it conflicts with locally — with per-entry add / update / skip. Sensitive items in external files, such as post-login commands, are stripped by default and must be explicitly re-enabled.
• Imported share codes are remembered: when the group changes, the recipient hits "Check for updates" under "My Shares ▸ Subscribed", and changes land on the original entries instead of duplicating them.

See the manual: Bookmarks, Credential Security & Encryption.

Keeping Multiple Machines in Sync

A desktop at work, a laptop at home, another one for travel — bookmarks, themes, quick buttons, and known-hosts should look identical on every machine, and the cloud should never be able to read your saved passwords and private keys.

• Sign in to your AuraXLabs account under "Live Sync ▸ My Account…" (you can register from inside the app). There is no third-party storage to maintain and no separate sync passphrase to remember.
• Bookmarks, the settings subset, and known-hosts are stored encrypted on the AuraXLabs server and survive an email password reset; saved credentials are end-to-end encrypted with your master password (Argon2id + HKDF + AES-256-GCM) before upload, so the server only ever sees ciphertext.
• Choose what to sync under "Live Sync ▸ Sync Settings…": bookmarks (always), a subset of settings, SSH known-hosts, and optionally saved credentials (every device must use the same master password, unlocked).
• "Sync now" merges both ways: bookmarks merge by id, known-hosts take the union with local trust winning. With "Auto sync" ticked, AuraTerm also syncs shortly after launch, after bookmark changes, and every 30 minutes.

See the manual: Cloud Sync, Credential Security & Encryption.

Troubleshooting Together, Remotely

Something is broken in production, you are in the terminal, and you want a colleague to watch over your shoulder — or take the keyboard for a few commands. They don't even need AuraTerm installed.

• "Live Sync ▸ Live Share…" generates a 12-character share code: pick the session to share, a control policy (view-only / guests may request / auto-grant), and an expiry.
• Your colleague opens the share link in a browser, or uses "Join Live Share" in another AuraTerm — no account needed. Both sides authenticate via SPAKE2 and derive end-to-end encryption keys; the server and relay can neither read the traffic nor impersonate either side.
• You confirm each guest joining or requesting control; control can be revoked at any time, Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+Esc yanks it back from every guest at once, and closing the shared tab ends the share.
• For standing observation rather than a one-off session, flip on "Live Console": the current session becomes observable from the Live Console web page on this site, and nothing is uploaded while no viewer is attached.
• When the other end is your own second machine, use "Live Relay": pick another AuraTerm on your account from the device list, mirror its session and request control. It is off by default and has to be allowed on the device being attached to.

See the manual: Live Share, Live Console.

Turning Repetitive Work into a Toolbar

The few dozen commands you type every day, and the handful of keywords you must not miss during on-call — both deserve to become something you just click.

• Build snippet toolbars: commands organized in groups, bound to hosts or bookmark groups, with {{variable}} parameters and raw control-character sending.
• Let the output-rule engine watch the terminal: on a keyword or regex hit it highlights, rings the bell, raises a desktop notification, or auto-responds (e.g. answering yes), with cooldowns and global/per-host scopes.
• Press Ctrl/Cmd+K in the input bar and describe the task in plain language — the AI assistant drafts a command into the input bar. "Explain last command / analyze the failure" hands shell-integration command blocks to the AI in one click.

See the manual: Input Toolbar & Automation, AI Assistant.