Sessions

Sessions

This page covers the session types and their options, folders and the settings they hand down, and how tabs, split view, tiling and workspaces work.

Session types

Open the editor with Ctrl+Shift+N (new) or right-click a session in the tree, Edit session. The type list on the left shows:

Type	What it is	Main options
SSH	Secure shell with file browser	Remote host, User name, Port, Login from the vault, CyberArk PSM, Network, Private key file, Run this command after login, Remote files when this session connects (Same as Settings, Show, Don't show)
PowerShell remoting	Remote PowerShell on a Windows server	Remote host, User name (empty: your Windows login), Port, Connection (HTTP (port 5985) or HTTPS (port 5986)), Log in with (Negotiate (the usual choice), Kerberos only, CredSSP, Basic (HTTPS only)), Accept any certificate, Login from the vault, Network. See [[PowerShell remoting
Telnet	Unencrypted terminal	Remote host, User name, Port, Login from the vault, Network. With a user name, Cablebag answers the login and password prompts by itself; without one you log in by hand
Serial	COM port of a switch or other device	COM port (with Refresh), Speed (baud), Data bits, Parity, Stop bits, Flow control. Most switch and router consoles use 9600, 8, none, 1, none
Local shell	PowerShell, cmd, Git Bash	Shell, Start folder, Run these commands at start
WSL	Linux distribution on this PC	Distribution, User name, Start folder
RDP	Windows remote desktop	Remote host, User name, Port, Login from the vault, CyberArk PSM, Network, and the folded parts below
VNC	Remote screen	Remote host, Port, Login from the vault, Network, View only (no keyboard or mouse), Copy the remote clipboard to this PC
SFTP	Remote files only	Remote host, User name, Port, Login from the vault, CyberArk PSM, Network, Private key file
FTP	File transfer, with optional TLS	Remote host, User name, Port, Login from the vault, Encryption (None, TLS after connecting, TLS from the start), Accept a certificate no authority vouches for. Without a user name Cablebag logs in as anonymous
Browser	Web page in a tab	Web address, Network, Browser profile, Open when Cablebag starts and keep it running. See [[Web tabs
File or folder	Open a path or link	File, folder or link; opens with the program Windows uses for it

Mosh, Rsh, XDMCP and AWS S3 appear only for sessions imported from MobaXterm; Cablebag cannot open them yet and says so in the editor.

The CyberArk PSM field (SSH, SFTP and RDP) connects through CyberArk's session manager instead of directly; it appears once you have a CyberArk source. See CyberArk PSM.

The folded parts

• SSH options and jump hosts (SSH): Compress traffic, Keep the connection alive when idle, Forward your SSH agent (only to servers you trust; off by default), Stay logged in after the command ends, Show Linux windows on this PC (X11) (see X11), Terminal type reported to the server, and Jump hosts: one or more SSH gateways in order, each with host, user, port and an optional key file.
• PowerShell remoting options (PowerShell remoting): Endpoint on the server, for a restricted endpoint (Just Enough Administration) or PowerShell 7 on the server; and, when the session goes through a WireGuard network, a note on its limits. See PowerShell remoting.
• Screen, sharing and Remote Desktop options (RDP): Screen size (Fit to the tab, or a fixed size), Colours, Sound; what to share with the remote computer (Clipboard, Drives, Printers, Smart cards, Serial ports, Microphone); connection options (Send Windows key combinations to the remote computer, Connect to the admin console, Network level authentication (CredSSP), Reconnect automatically after a network drop, Restricted admin mode, Remote Credential Guard, Scale the remote screen instead of resizing it, Show the remote wallpaper); Start this program instead of the desktop.
• Gateways (RDP and VNC): a Remote Desktop Gateway (RDP only: Gateway server, Use it, Log in to the gateway; a gateway from the folder shows in the field, and Use it, Never leaves it out for this session) and an SSH gateway (SSH server, User, Port, SSH key file for the gateway): Cablebag forwards the connection over SSH.
• Notes, tab colour and word colours: Notes, Colour words in the output (the highlighting set for this session) and Tab colour.
• What the assistant remembers about it (saved sessions only): the assistant's notes on this server, with edit and forget. See Assistant.

The Network field is where a session chooses a WireGuard network; see WireGuard per session. PowerShell remoting sessions can use one too, with limits that page explains.

Logging in

Cablebag tries, in this order: keys from an SSH agent (PuTTY Pageant or the Windows OpenSSH agent, if switched on under Settings, Connections, Keys from an agent), a key from CyberArk for a session through PSM for SSH, the session's key file, then a password. A password comes from the login linked under Login from the vault, from the passwords kept on this PC, from a login in an open credential source that fits the host, or is asked once; see Credential sources.

When an SSH connection drops (sleep, a network change, a VPN that goes away), Cablebag connects again by itself in the same terminal, after 2, 5, 10, 20 and 30 seconds and then every 30 seconds for up to ten minutes. Esc stops it. Pressing R in an ended terminal connects again at once. Settings, Connections, Connect again by itself switches this off.

Servers and Web

The switch at the top of the sidebar shows Servers (the session tree) or Web (your web sessions and imported bookmarks on their own, with the sites you opened last on top). Folders that hold only web sessions are left out of Servers; a web page saved next to a server stays there. Pinned web sites sit on a strip at the left edge of the window. See Web tabs.

Folders

Right-click in the tree for New folder, or on a folder for New session here. A folder's right-click menu also has Open all sessions in this folder, Run a command on all its servers (see Tools), Rename folder, Folder settings, Protect from the assistant, Check which hosts answer and Delete folder.

Drag and drop

Drag sessions, folders and Proxmox servers around the tree:

• Into a folder: drop it on the middle of the folder (the folder lights up). Drop it on the empty part of the tree for the top level.
• In your own order: drop it on the top or bottom edge of a row of the same kind (a session on a session, a folder on a folder, a Proxmox server on a Proxmox server); a line shows where it goes. The order is kept, and goes along with Sync.
• A folder cannot go into one of its own subfolders.
• A Proxmox machine dragged onto a folder stays there as a saved session (see Proxmox).

Moving a session also works from its editor (Folder); the order only by dragging.

Folder settings

Right-click a folder and choose Folder settings (user, key, vault login, jump host). What you fill in there is used by every session in the folder and its subfolders that has no value of its own:

• User name
• Private key file (SSH)
• Login from the vault
• CyberArk PSM (SSH, SFTP, RDP): connect through CyberArk's session manager; see CyberArk PSM
• Network (SSH, RDP, VNC, telnet, PowerShell remoting, web): a WireGuard network
• Remote Desktop Gateway (RDP): the gateway server, Always or Only when needed, and how to log in to it
• Jump hosts (SSH)
• Show Linux windows on this PC (X11, SSH); see X11
• Browser profile (web): whose cookies and logins the folder's web sessions use; see Web tabs
• Tab colour

A subfolder can set its own values, which win over the folder above. A session's editor shows what it gets from the folder ("From the folder: ..."); fill in the field in the session to use something else. For Network, a session or subfolder can also choose Directly from this PC to leave a folder's network.

Folder settings travel with Sync.

Which hosts answer

Settings, Connections, Dots in the session tree, Show the dots puts a dot on each session in the tree. Only sessions in open folders are checked, and not those behind a jump host or gateway, nor sessions that go through a WireGuard network. How to check chooses between ping first or always the port; How often sets how often they are checked again.

Tabs

• Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab go to the next and previous tab; Ctrl+Shift+W closes the tab; Ctrl+Shift+D opens the same session again in a new tab.
• The + button opens a new local terminal (Ctrl+Shift+T); its menu offers New session, Add a Proxmox server, Import sessions, the local shells, the tools and Save the open tabs as a workspace.
• Right-click a tab for Rename tab, Set tab colour, Duplicate tab, Reconnect, Save terminal output, Copy all terminal output, Record a macro in this terminal, and Close tab, Close tabs to the left, Close tabs to the right, Close all other tabs and Close all tabs.
• A tab with unsaved changes (the editor) shows a dot and asks before it closes. Settings, General, Ask before closing asks before Cablebag closes while sessions are still connected.

Split view and tiling

The layout button in the tab bar (its tooltip says the current layout) offers two ways to see more than one thing at once:

• Split view for terminals: Two terminals side by side, Two terminals above each other, Four terminals, or back to One tab at a time.
• Tiling for every open tab: Tile all tabs, then Arrange as a grid, Arrange side by side, Arrange above each other, Main pane with the others beside it, and Equal sizes for all panes.

While tiling, the keyboard does the rest: Ctrl+Alt+arrow goes to the pane in that direction, Ctrl+Alt+Shift+arrow moves the pane there, Ctrl+Alt+Enter lets the pane fill the area or goes back to the tiles, Ctrl+Alt+plus and Ctrl+Alt+minus resize it, Ctrl+Alt+0 makes all panes the same size, Ctrl+Alt+R turns the split, and Ctrl+Alt+M makes it the main pane. The same actions are in the search box (type >).

Workspaces and the tabs from last time

A workspace is a named set of tabs, for example everything for one customer. Choose Save the open tabs as a workspace on Home, in the + menu or in the search box. Workspaces are listed on Home; click one to open its tabs in one go, or use the X to remove it. Workspaces travel with Sync.

Cablebag also remembers the tabs that were open when it closed. Settings, General, Tabs from last time chooses what happens: Offer them on Home (one click opens them again), Open them at the start, or Don't offer them.

Terminal settings

Settings, Terminal sets the font, size (also Ctrl+plus and Ctrl+minus), colour scheme, cursor, scrollback and copy and paste behaviour (Copy as soon as text is selected, Paste with the right mouse button, Ask before pasting several lines). On the same page, Words in colour colours words such as error and warning in output, with your own words in a fold that opens when you use them, and Write terminals to files writes every terminal to a file in a folder of your choice.