rusiaaman / pexpect-web

Pexpect Web Terminal

A real-time, interactive web-based terminal interface powered by Python's pexpect library, Flask, WebSockets, and xterm.js.

Demo

Overview

This application creates a fully interactive web terminal that communicates with a bash/sh shell running on the server. The terminal provides a seamless experience that mimics a native terminal application, with real-time streaming of output via WebSockets and direct keyboard input.

Features

• Full-screen terminal interface using xterm.js for proper terminal emulation
• Correct handling of ANSI escape sequences and control characters
• Shared terminal state across multiple browser windows/tabs
• Persistent terminal buffer that preserves history between connections
• Real-time streaming of terminal output via WebSockets to all connected clients
• Complete keyboard input support (all keys and key combinations)
• Reset terminal session and clear screen options
• Responsive design that automatically resizes the terminal
• Continuous output streaming without timeouts

Requirements

• Python 3.x
• Flask
• Flask-SocketIO
• pexpect
• eventlet

Installation

1. Clone this repository
2. Create a virtual environment:

   python -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
   

3. Install dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt
   

Usage

1. Start the application:

   python app.py
   

   or use the convenience script:

   ./run.sh
   

2. Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:5050
3. Click anywhere in the black terminal area to focus and start typing
4. Use the terminal as you would a regular terminal - all keyboard input is sent directly to the shell

Security Considerations

This application executes shell commands on the server. In a production environment, additional security measures should be implemented:

• User authentication
• Command validation and sanitization
• Access control and permission management
• Process isolation
• Rate limiting

License

MIT