tui-bridge

Bridge any TUI to your phone. No port forwarding, no central server, no network configuration.

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tui-bridge runs any terminal UI inside a local PTY and exposes it over an ephemeral HTTPS URL via a Cloudflare Quick Tunnel. Scan the QR code it prints, and drive the same terminal from your phone — with a mobile-friendly xterm.js UI, on-screen modifier keys, and horizontal-scroll mirroring that keeps the desktop terminal grid intact.

 your terminal ──► tui-bridge ──► node-pty ──► <any TUI: opencode, htop, lazygit…>
                       │
                       └──► localhost HTTP/WS └──► cloudflared quick tunnel ──► mobile xterm.js

Table of contents

• Quick start
• Manual install (without npm)
• How it works
• CLI reference
• Input model
• Security model
• Repository layout
• Commands
• Publishing (maintainers)
• Platform support
• What is intentionally omitted
• License

Quick start

# one-line install (macOS & Linux)
curl -fsSL https://tui-bridge.vercel.app/install | bash

# Windows (PowerShell)
irm https://tui-bridge.vercel.app/install.ps1 | iex

# or with a package manager
npm i -g tui-bridge@latest

Run it from any folder — the TUI uses your current directory as its working directory:

cd ~/my-project
tui-bridge opencode      # or: htop, lazygit, vim, btop, …

On start, tui-bridge:

1. Spawns the target command in a node-pty PTY (ConPTY on Windows).
2. Opens a local HTTP + WebSocket server on a random port.
3. Starts cloudflared Quick Tunnel (if installed) and prints the public https://*.trycloudflare.com URL.
4. Issues a one-time pairing token and prints a QR code containing https://<url>#pair=<token>.
5. Pauses — the QR stays on screen until you press Enter, so you have time to scan it before the TUI takes over the terminal.
6. Attaches your local terminal to the PTY (raw stdin ↔ PTY).

Scan the QR (or open the full #pair=… URL) on your phone. The pairing token is single-use and expires in 5 minutes; after pairing you get a rotating session credential stored in the browser. The pairing URL is also saved to ~/.tui-bridge/session-url.txt in case the TUI clears the screen.

Prerequisite: cloudflared

For mobile access over the internet (any network), install the cloudflared binary on your PATH:

OS	Command
Windows	winget install --id Cloudflare.cloudflared
Debian/Ubuntu	sudo apt install cloudflared
macOS	brew install cloudflared

Without cloudflared — use --lan (same WiFi)

If cloudflared is not installed, tui-bridge will not print a QR (a 127.0.0.1 URL is unreachable from a phone). To reach the session from your phone on the same WiFi network, pass --lan:

tui-bridge --lan opencode

This binds to 0.0.0.0 and uses your LAN IP (e.g. http://192.168.1.20:<port>), so the phone can open that URL directly. The QR will then contain the LAN URL.

Manual install (without npm)

If you can't (or don't want to) use the npm package, you can run tui-bridge straight from source. You need Node ≥ 22 plus a native build toolchain for node-pty (it compiles a C++ addon):

OS	Build prerequisites
Windows	Visual Studio Build Tools (Desktop C++ workload) + Python 3 (winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudio.2022.BuildTools / Python.Python.3.12)
Debian/Ubuntu	sudo apt install -y build-essential python3
macOS	xcode-select --install (Xcode Command Line Tools)

Then clone and build:

git clone https://github.com/Metee01/tui-bridge.git
cd tui-bridge
npm install          # installs all workspaces + builds node-pty
npm run build        # protocol -> tui-bridge -> web -> site

Run it directly without a global install:

# from the repo root, launches the built CLI
node packages/tui-bridge/dist/cli.js opencode

Or link it onto your PATH so tui-bridge works from anywhere:

npm link --workspace tui-bridge     # exposes the "tui-bridge" bin globally
tui-bridge opencode                 # now usable from any folder

To update later: git pull && npm install && npm run build (and re-run npm link only if you linked from a different checkout). To remove a linked install: npm unlink -g tui-bridge.

Note: node-pty's native build is skipped on hosts that only need the marketing site (Vercel uses npm install --ignore-scripts). For actually running the CLI you do need the native build to succeed.

How it works

A single PTY is shared between your desktop terminal and any number of phone clients. Output from the TUI is mirrored into a headless @xterm/headless terminal on the server, which lets tui-bridge serialize a full-screen snapshot for any client that connects or reconnects mid-session. After the snapshot, live binary output streams over the same WebSocket.

 Desktop terminal (raw stdin) ─┐
                               ├─► PtySession (node-pty + headless mirror)
 Phone (xterm.js over WSS) ────┘         │
                                         └─► snapshot + live binary frames

The desktop terminal is the primary authority on PTY dimensions: resizing your host window resizes the shared PTY and the new grid is broadcast to every connected phone, which reflows automatically.

CLI reference

tui-bridge <command> [args...]                Run a TUI and expose it on the web
tui-bridge [options] <command> [args...]      Options before the command
tui-bridge start -- <command> [args...]       Explicit form (optional)
tui-bridge -- <command> [args...]             Use -- to pass flags to the TUI

  --no-tunnel       Skip cloudflared; local-only (or --lan) access.
  --lan             Bind to 0.0.0.0 and use your LAN IP (phone on same WiFi).
                    Use this when cloudflared is not installed.
  --no-pause        Do not wait for Enter before opening the TUI (default pauses
                    so you can scan the QR code while it stays on screen).
  --web-root <dir>  Serve web assets from <dir> instead of the bundled build.
  -v, --verbose     Verbose logging.
  -V, --version     Print version and exit.
  -h, --help        Show this help.

tui-bridge <tui> is shorthand for tui-bridge start -- <tui>: only start and help are treated as subcommands, so any other first token is the target command. After npm i -g tui-bridge, the tui-bridge command is on your PATH everywhere.

Input model

Both local and mobile can send input simultaneously — there is no input lock. Anyone authenticated can send keystrokes from either side, and output updates both screens in real time.

The phone always mirrors the desktop terminal's grid. There is no "fit" or "resize" button: the TUI is laid out for the desktop dimensions, exactly as it appears on your computer. On a narrow phone viewport the canvas scrolls horizontally so coordinate-based TUIs never reflow by accident. When you resize your desktop terminal window, the new dimensions are broadcast to every phone and the view reflows automatically.

Mobile input

Use the phone's native keyboard: tap the terminal or the Keyboard button. The on-screen toolbar intentionally contains only keys that phones normally lack: Ctrl, Alt, Esc, Tab, arrows, Home, End, PgUp, PgDn, and Del.

Screen state survives reconnects: the server's headless mirror serializes a snapshot for every newly connected / reconnecting client before live binary output resumes.

Security model

• The Quick Tunnel URL is public; it is not the secret. Authentication is the one-time pairing token delivered only through the QR code at session start.
• The token travels in the URL fragment (#pair=…) so it never reaches the HTTP server or Cloudflare. The web client sends it only in the first WebSocket auth message.
• After pairing: short-lived, revocable session credential stored in sessionStorage. Tokens are hashed server-side; comparisons are constant-time.
• By default the server binds to 127.0.0.1. With --lan it binds to 0.0.0.0 (expose to your local network) — use only on trusted networks.
• WebSocket Origin is checked. Terminal contents are never logged.

Repository layout

packages/
  protocol/        shared WebSocket message schemas (zod), browser+node safe
  tui-bridge/      CLI + server core (PTY, ws gateway, tunnel, auth, platform)
apps/
  web/             Vite + React + xterm.js mobile terminal UI
  site/            Astro + Starlight marketing site & docs (https://tui-bridge.vercel.app)

Commands

npm install        # install all workspaces
npm run build      # protocol → tui-bridge → web → site (fixed order)
npm run typecheck  # builds protocol, then typechecks all workspaces
npm run lint       # eslint (JS/MJS config files only; TS is covered by typecheck)
npm run dev        # vite dev server for the web app (HMR, no backend)
npm run site       # astro dev server for the marketing site
npm start          # node packages/tui-bridge/dist/cli.js (requires a prior build)
npm run clean      # DESTRUCTIVE: deletes all dist/ and node_modules/

Publishing (maintainers)

The two public packages are @tui-bridge/protocol and tui-bridge (the root and @tui-bridge/web / @tui-bridge/site stay private). Build and publish in order so the tui-bridge package can resolve its @tui-bridge/protocol dependency from npm:

npm run build --workspace @tui-bridge/protocol
npm publish --access public --workspace @tui-bridge/protocol
npm run build --workspace tui-bridge
npm publish --access public --workspace tui-bridge

Platform support

Platform	Status
Windows (ConPTY)	Primary
Linux	Supported
macOS	Fast-follower (untested in MVP)

node-pty (a native module) is required. npm install may need a native build toolchain or use prebuilt binaries. Node >=22 is required.

What is intentionally omitted

• Multi-session / daemon mode (single active PTY per process).
• Named Cloudflare tunnels / custom domains (Quick Tunnel only).
• SSO / PIN / device approval (QR pairing token only).
• OpenCode-specific integration (it is a general TUI wrapper).

These are deferred to later phases once the lifecycle and security model are proven in real use.

License

MIT