Sessions

When you run taiku, it creates a session on the server and prints a URL. Anyone with that URL can join from their browser — no install required on their end.

Creating a session

taiku

This connects to the server, generates an encryption key, and starts streaming your terminal:

  taiku v0.4.1

  session: https://taiku.live/s/abc1234xyz#...
  ├─ 1 terminal window (↑↓ to switch)
  └─ Ctrl-C to exit

The encryption key is embedded in the URL fragment, which your browser never sends to the server. See Security for details.

Sharing

Send the full URL to anyone. Their browser connects, verifies the encryption key, and starts receiving the live terminal stream. The server relays encrypted bytes but never sees plaintext.

Read-only vs. write access

By default, everyone with the URL can type. For view-only sharing:

taiku --enable-readers

This prints two URLs — a read-only link for viewers and a write link for collaborators. Only write-link holders can send input.

Session lifetime

Sessions stay alive as long as the CLI process is running. If the CLI disconnects (network issue, laptop sleep), the server keeps the session for 5 minutes. If the CLI reconnects within that window, everything resumes seamlessly. After 5 minutes, the session is cleaned up.

Viewer authentication

By default, connecting to a session requires the encryption key in the URL. Pro users can disable viewer auth with --no-viewer-auth for open viewing (useful for livestreaming or demos).