Sessions

Sessions provide persistent terminal environments within your devbox that survive browser tab closures, network disconnections, and even devbox pause/resume cycles.

What are Sessions?

A Session is a named, persistent terminal environment. Unlike regular terminal connections that are ephemeral and lost when you close your browser tab or disconnect, Sessions preserve your terminal state and allow you to:

• Detach and reattach: Close your browser and reconnect later to find your terminal exactly as you left it
• Survive restarts: Sessions with associated commands automatically restart when your devbox resumes from a paused state
• Run persistent processes: Keep long-running processes (servers, watchers, builds) running even when disconnected

Sessions vs. Regular Terminals

Creating Sessions

From the Dashboard

1. Navigate to your devbox in the Namespace dashboard
2. In the left sidebar, click New session under the Sessions section
3. A new session is created with a randomly generated name and you're automatically connected

With Commands

Sessions can be created with an associated command that runs when the session starts. This is useful for:

• Starting development servers
• Running file watchers
• Launching interactive REPLs
• Any persistent process you want to keep running

When a devbox resumes from a paused state, sessions with associated commands are automatically restarted with their configured command.

Managing Sessions

Viewing Sessions

All active sessions are displayed in the left sidebar of the devbox dashboard. Each session shows:

• Name: The session identifier (can include emojis)
• Status: Whether the session is attached or detached

Connecting to a Session

Click on any session in the sidebar to connect to it. Connecting to a session takes exclusive control, so if another browser tab was connected to that session, it will be detached.

Deleting Sessions

Hover over a session in the sidebar and click the close button to delete it. This terminates any running processes in that session.

Session Behavior

Persistence Across Pause/Resume

When your devbox is paused:

• Session metadata is preserved
• Running processes are stopped

When your devbox resumes:

• Sessions with associated commands are automatically restarted
• The command runs again, restoring your development environment
• Sessions without commands remain available but empty

Session Naming

Sessions are created with randomly generated names by default. Names can include emojis for easier identification in the sidebar.

Use Cases

Development Servers

Create a session with your dev server command. Even if you close your browser, the server keeps running. When you reconnect, you can see all the logs and interact with the running process.

Multiple Workstreams

Create separate sessions for different tasks:

• One session for your dev server
• Another for running tests
• A third for git operations and general shell work

Switch between them instantly without losing context.

Long-Running Tasks

Start a build, test suite, or data processing job in a session. Disconnect and come back later to check the results without interrupting the process.

Technical Details

Sessions provide:

• Full terminal emulation
• Scroll-back buffer preservation
• Session persistence independent of connection state

Session state is stored in the devbox's persistent storage and survives devbox restarts.

Next Steps

Core Concepts → Learn about base images, blueprints, and lifecycle management.

Introduction → Get started with creating your first devbox and connecting your development tools.

SSH & Remote Access → Learn about other ways to connect to your devbox.