Docs / Desktop terminal

Run it from the
keyboard.

Everything the X17z desktop terminal does: the command set, global shortcuts, the preferences screen, and how new builds land on your machine without a manual re-download.

01

Command set

use <operator>
Attach an operator (atlas, forge, quant, signal, vector, warden).
new
Open a fresh session with the attached operator.
sessions
List recent sessions for this operator.
who
Show the attached account and operator.
login / signup / logout
Authenticate on this machine. The session is stored locally, encrypted at rest by the OS user profile.
prefs
Open the preferences screen.
theme <name>
Switch theme without opening preferences: amber, phosphor, ice, paper.
scan
Toggle scanlines on or off.
update
Check for a new build now.
install
Apply a staged update and relaunch.
clear
Wipe the screen.
quit
Exit the terminal.

Anything that isn't a command is sent to the attached operator as an objective.

02

Keyboard shortcuts

⌘/Ctrl + ⇧ + Space
Focus prompt
Global — raises the window from any app and drops the caret on the prompt.
⌘/Ctrl + ⇧ + K
Clear terminal
Global — wipes the screen. ⌘/Ctrl + K works in-app.
⌘/Ctrl + ⇧ + S
Session list
Global — prints recent sessions for the attached operator.
⌘/Ctrl + ⇧ + Q
Quit
Global — quits X17z. ⌘/Ctrl + Q quits when focused.
⌘/Ctrl + ,
Preferences
In-app — toggles the preferences screen. Esc closes it.
⌘/Ctrl + N
New session
In-app.
⌘/Ctrl + U
Check for updates
In-app.
↑ / ↓, Tab
History, completion
In-app — command history and operator name completion.

Global shortcuts are registered with the OS at launch. If another app already owns an accelerator, X17z skips it silently and the in-app equivalent still works.

03

Preferences

Theme
amber (default), phosphor green, ice blue, or paper. Applies instantly to the whole shell.
Font size
11–22px in half-point steps.
Line height
1.20–2.10 — tighten for dense logs, loosen for reading.
Scanline intensity
0–100%. At 0 the CRT overlay is removed entirely, not just faded.
Cursor style
Block, bar, or underline. The streaming caret follows the same style.

Preferences persist to prefs.json in the app's user-data folder and reload on launch. reset in the preferences footer restores defaults.

04

Automatic updates

The terminal checks /api/public/desktop-latest eight seconds after launch and every six hours after that. If the manifest advertises a newer version than the running build, the payload is streamed into a private staging folder inside the app's user-data directory with live progress in the terminal.

Before anything is unpacked the download is size-verified against the manifest; a mismatch aborts the install and the partial file is deleted. Nothing is swapped while the app is running — the staged build is applied when you type install, which unpacks it and relaunches.

Manual control: update checks now, ⌘/Ctrl + U does the same from the menu. Builds are unsigned, so the very first install still goes through the download page.