Interactive TUI Guide

🖥️ Interactive TUI Guide

TAILCAT ZER0 features a responsive, keyboard-driven terminal dashboard designed specifically for Asuswrt-Merlin SSH sessions. It provides real-time service indicators, countdown timers, inline ASCII QR codes, and quick copy-paste snippets.

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🎨 Main Dashboard Layout

Run tailcatzero in your router shell to open the dashboard:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

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  1. 🆘 Remote Support Shell         Full root or view-only access      [⚪ Inactive]
  2. 📥 Receive Files                Direct P2P file transfer           [⚪ Inactive]
  3. 📁 Share Directory (SFTP)       Share a folder from your drive     [⚪ Inactive]
  4. 🌐 Expose Router WebGUI         Access to router's web interface   [⚪ Inactive]

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  5. ⏱️ Configure Default Timeout    Current: 30 min
  6. ⚙️ Manage TAILCAT ZER0          Update, reinstall, or remove

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  👁️ View Sessions  |  🛑 Stop  |  ↩️ Exit: 

When sessions are active and a guest submits an on-demand permission request, the dashboard dynamically alerts you with a notification badge:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

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  🔔 [1 Permission Request(s) Pending — Press P to Review]

  1. 🆘 Remote Support Shell         Full root or view-only access      [🔒 View: 24m]
  2. 📥 Receive Files                Direct P2P file transfer           [⚪ Inactive]
  3. 📁 Share Directory (SFTP)       Share a folder from your drive     [🟢 Active: 24m]
  4. 🌐 Expose Router WebGUI         Access to router's web interface   [⚪ Inactive]

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  5. ⏱️ Configure Default Timeout    Current: 30 min
  6. ⚙️ Manage TAILCAT ZER0          Update, reinstall, or remove

========================================================================

  🔔 Pending (1)  |  👁️ View Sessions  |  🛑 Stop  |  ↩️ Exit: 

Dynamic Service Status Indicators

• [⚪ Inactive]: Service is not currently running.
• [🟢 Active: Xm]: Service is live, showing minutes remaining before auto-kill teardown.
• [🔒 View: Xm]: View-only diagnostic shell is running.
• [🟢 Root + 🔒 View]: Both root and view-only remote support shells are running concurrently.
• 🔔 [1 Permission Request(s) Pending]: Displayed whenever a guest connected to a view-only session has submitted an on-demand command execution request. Pressing P directly opens the interactive approval modal.

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📱 The Active Session Card

When you launch any service or press v (View Sessions), TAILCAT ZER0 renders a dedicated Active Session Card:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

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  🐱 TAILCAT ZER0 — Active Session
========================================================================

  Service:     🔒 View-Only Diagnostic Shell
  Auto-Kill:   ⏱️ 28m remaining
  Security:    🔒 WireGuard P2P • Read-Only (System Writes Blocked)

  💬 Copy & Paste to Friend / Admin Support:
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  Hey, I've opened a temporary read-only diagnostic TailCat session on my router (28m remaining).
  Run: tailcat ssh tcpGFwWCBquiVYgLrL7k3HQDl_jERoGKCT7I5VYUIQeZ6LF_q4e2FrWCCGx_dEaW2LF0g2e2n6b1rBPDOYeDTyCVNS2qKtROJmKmFxWCCufT1iqPy9rsILOQQ7EUZk6HsfbXwb3xyO8RbF99tPgGFpGQEv
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

========================================================================

  🛑 Stop  |  📱 QR Code  |  🔄 Refresh  |  ↩️ Back: 

Hotkey Actions on Session Cards:

Key / Number	Action	Description
s / 1	Stop Session	Safely terminates the tunnel and revokes the capability token immediately.
q	QR Code	Toggles an inline ASCII QR code of the capability token.
r	Refresh	Refreshes the countdown timer and checks connection state.
b / Enter	Back	Returns to the dashboard (leaves tunnel running in background).

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🗂️ Multi-Session Overview

When two or more services run simultaneously, pressing v (View Sessions) opens the Multi-Session Overview:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

========================================================================

  🐱 TAILCAT ZER0 — Active Sessions (2 Running)
========================================================================

  [1] 🔒 View-Only Diagnostic Shell        ⏱️ 26m remaining  🔒 P2P
  [2] 📁 SFTP File Share (/jffs)           ⏱️ 26m remaining  🔒 P2P

  💬 Copy & Paste Connect Commands:
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
  • VIEW:    tailcat ssh tcpGFwWCBquiVYgLrL7k3HQDl...
  • FILES:   tailcat ls -l tcpGFwWCBwoiH7ENLsCVJqJ...
  ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

========================================================================

  👁️ View (1-2)  |  🛑 Stop All  |  🔄 Refresh  |  ↩️ Back: 

From this overview:

• Type 1 or v1 to open the dedicated card for session 1.
• Type 2 or v2 to open session 2.
• Type s to stop all sessions.

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🛑 Safe Stop Confirmation

Pressing s (Stop) prompts you to confirm which session to terminate, preventing accidental service interruptions:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

========================================================================

  🛑 Active Sessions to Stop:

  1. 🔒 View-Only Diagnostic Shell
  2. 📁 SFTP File Share (/jffs)

========================================================================

  🛑 Stop (1-2)  |  🛑 All  |  ↩️ Back: 

• Enter 1 or s to stop session 1.
• Enter 2 to stop session 2.
• Enter a to stop all sessions.
• Enter b to cancel.

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📷 Inline ASCII QR Codes

If Entware has qrencode installed, pressing q renders an inline ASCII QR code directly inside your terminal:

█████████████████████████████
██ ▄▄▄▄▄ █▀ █▀▀▀▀▀▄█ ▄▄▄▄▄ ██
██ █   █ █▀ ▄ ▀▀█  █ █   █ ██
██ █▄▄▄█ █▀█ █▄▀▄▀▀█ █▄▄▄█ ██
██▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄█▄█ █▄▀▄█▄▄▄▄▄▄▄██
██▄ ▄ ▄▀▄▄▄ ▄▀▀▄▀▄▀ █ █ ▀▄███
██▀ ▀▄█ ▄█▄ ▀▀▀█▀ ▄▀▄▄▄██  ██
██▀▄▄ ▄█▄ █▄▀▀▀▄▄█▄▄▄ ▄▄ █▄██
██ █▄█▄▄▄▄▀  ▀▀█▄▄▄█▀██▄█▄ ██
██▄█▄▄▄▄▄█▀█▄▀▄▄▄  ▄▄▄  ▄ ▄██
██ ▄▄▄▄▄ █▄█████ █ █▄█ █▄▄ ██
██ █   █ █  ▀▀▀ ▀ ▄▄ ▄  ▄ ▀██
██ █▄▄▄█ █ ▄██ ███▀█▀█████ ██
██▄▄▄▄▄▄▄█▄████▄████▄▄██▄▄▄██
█████████████████████████████

This allows instant token capture using mobile devices or laptops with webcams without copying long tokens.

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⏱️ Timeout Management & Persistent Mode

By default, every session is guarded by an ephemeral watchdog timer set to 30 minutes.

Select Option 5 (Configure Default Timeout) from the main menu:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

========================================================================

  ⏱️ Configure Session Auto-Kill Timeout

  Current Timeout: 30 minutes

  1. ⏱️ 30 Minutes                   Standard auto-kill (Default)
  2. ⏱️ 60 Minutes                   1 Hour session
  3. ⏱️ 120 Minutes                  2 Hours session
  4. ♾️  Persistent (0 min)           No auto-kill; runs until stopped

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  ⏱️ Set Timeout (1-4 or minutes)  |  ↩️ Back: 

• Enter 1, 2, or 3 for quick presets.
• Enter custom minutes (e.g. 45 or 180).
• Enter 4 or p for Persistent Mode (0 min), disabling auto-kill until manually stopped.

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⚙️ Managing TAILCAT ZER0

Select Option 6 (Manage TAILCAT ZER0) from the main menu:

  TAILCAT ZER0 v1.8.0              ╱|、
                                 (˚ˎ 。7
                                  |、˜〵
  Instant Tunnel Manager         じしˍ,)ノ

========================================================================

  ⚙️  Manage TAILCAT ZER0:

  1. 🔄 Check & Update TAILCAT ZER0  Update script & engine (v1.8.0 / v0.6.0)
  2. ⚡ Force Reinstall TAILCAT ZER0 Fresh download of script & binary
  3. 🗑️ Complete Uninstall           Remove addon, configs & init hooks

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  🔄 Update  |  ⚡ Reinstall  |  🗑️ Complete Uninstall  |  ↩️ Back: 

• Enter u or 1 to run the smart updater.
• Enter r or 2 to force-reinstall fresh copies from GitHub.
• Enter c or 3 to perform a complete clean uninstallation.