How do I…?

Connect to a device

Open a session over SSH, Telnet, Serial, WSL, a local shell, or GCP IAP. After installing from GitHub Releases, launch HoTTY and:

See several sessions at once

Split the window into panes and dock tool sidebars — controlled from the App Sidebar (the icon column on the left edge).

1. On the App Sidebar, click a layout icon (1×1, 1×2, 2×1, 2×2, 2×3, or 3×2) to split the window into panes.
2. Drag a tab onto a pane to move that session there. The pane you're working in is outlined with an accent glow.
3. Switch the focused pane from the keyboard with Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab.
4. Below the layout icons, use the edge icons to show or hide the left, right, top, and bottom sidebars; drag a sidebar's edge to resize it.

Ask AI about my terminal

AI is optional, uses your own API key, and never runs anything you haven't allowed.

1. Set it up once — open Settings (the gear at the bottom of the App Sidebar) → AI, pick a provider (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google AI Studio, or Vertex AI) and sign in (an API key, or a Vertex project + location).
2. Open a chat — in the Tab Bar, click Features (the grid icon) → AI Chat. Use the link chip in the chat header to attach it to a terminal, and the model selector to choose a model.
3. Ask about output — select text in a terminal, right-click → Ask AI, and run a built-in or custom prompt against it.
4. Let AI act — switch the chat's execution mode to Auto for Interactive Mode: it proposes and runs commands, gated by a Whitelist / Blacklist and a safety classifier, with a max-runs cap and Pause. Watch Mode follows live output and surfaces anomalies.

Switch AI provider / model

Set up and switch providers in Settings → AI. Each one signs in differently.

Open Settings (the gear at the bottom of the App Sidebar) → the AI tab, and choose the Active provider.

Vertex AI — enter your Project ID and Region, choose Application Default Credentials or a service-account key, then Sign in.

Anthropic / OpenAI — paste your API key and Sign in.

Google AI Studio (Gemini) — enter your OAuth Client ID and Client Secret.

Switch model — change the model anytime from the model selector in an AI Chat's input bar (e.g. gemini-2.0-flash).

Use the built-in tools

Four utilities open in a pane, alongside your sessions.

1. In the Tab Bar, click Features (the grid icon) and choose a tool. It opens as a tab you can drag into any pane.

• Log Viewer — browse and read session log files.
• Ping Monitor — watch multiple targets with configurable intervals.
• Text Editor — open, edit, and save files; switch the line ending (CRLF / LF).
• File Explorer — browse drives and directories; open files in the editor.

Record a session to a log

HoTTY can write a terminal session to a log file.

1. Turn on session logging in Settings (it can also be set per session, with its own text encoding).
2. Open the Log Viewer from the tab bar's Features menu to browse and read saved logs.

Change the look

Themes, fonts, and encoding live in Settings (the gear at the bottom of the App Sidebar).

1. Open Settings → Appearance, and pick a theme: Dark, Medium, or Light.
2. For full control, open CustomThemeCreator and edit the ~80 named color variables to build your own theme.
3. Choose the UI and terminal font and size from the fonts installed on your system.
4. Set the default text encoding; you can also override it per session when you connect.

Save & organize hosts

Keep your devices in a host tree so you can reconnect in two clicks.

1. In the New Session dialog, use the tree toolbar to Add Host or Add Folder, and group hosts into folders.
2. Mark a host as a Jumpbox to chain an SSH connection through it.
3. Already connected? Right-click the session tab → Save to Host Tree to store it.
4. Use Import / Export in the toolbar to back up or share the tree as an encrypted .htree file.

Keyboard shortcuts

The essentials for moving around panes.

More shortcuts and actions are available in the app's Help and right-click menus.

Update HoTTY

Keep HoTTY current.

1. When a new version is available, HoTTY shows an update notification — follow it to update.
2. Or download the latest installer anytime from GitHub Releases.