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Qualia includes a full-featured terminal so you can run shell commands directly in the app. Each terminal runs in its own tab and persists across sessions.

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Opening a terminal

There are several ways to open a new terminal:
  • Click the terminal icon next to “New notebook” in the tab bar
  • Press Cmd+` (Mac) or Ctrl+` (Windows/Linux)
  • The keyboard shortcut opens a terminal in the currently focused pane

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Terminal basics

The terminal is a standard shell session with full access to your system:
  • Run any shell command (ls, git, npm, python, etc.)
  • Navigate directories with cd
  • Install packages and manage dependencies
  • Run scripts and executables
The terminal uses your system’s default shell, or you can configure a specific shell in Settings > General.
Agents use built-in shell tools rather than directly controlling terminal tabs. In script mode, all agents create and run workspace files through those tools; in notebook mode, all agents can also use notebook code cells.

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Working with multiple terminals

You can open multiple terminals simultaneously:
  • Each terminal appears as a separate tab
  • Drag terminal tabs between panes in split view
  • Close terminals by clicking the X on the tab or typing exit
When you close and reopen Qualia, your terminal sessions are preserved, though the shell state (environment variables, current directory) resets.

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Terminal and notebooks

The terminal and notebooks share the same workspace context:
  • Both see the same files and directories
  • Changes made in the terminal (new files, installed packages) are immediately available in notebooks
  • The default Python environment from Settings is automatically activated in new terminals

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Terminals in the cloud

In the browser app, the terminal opens a bash session inside your workspace’s cloud environment rather than on your own machine:
  • It starts in your workspace directory and sees exactly the files your notebooks, the file viewer, and your agents see
  • Use it for the things a shell is for — git clone, pip install, nvidia-smi on a GPU workspace, tailing the output of a long run
  • The Terminal Shell setting below applies to desktop terminals only; cloud terminals always run bash
  • A terminal keeps running while its tab is open. Closing the tab ends the session, and sessions end when the workspace environment shuts down

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Shell configuration

Configure your terminal shell in Settings > General > Terminal Shell:
  • Leave empty to use your system’s default shell
  • Set a specific path like /bin/zsh or /bin/bash
  • The setting applies to new terminals only
On Windows, the terminal defaults to PowerShell. On macOS and Linux, it uses your SHELL environment variable.

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Keyboard shortcuts

Standard terminal shortcuts work as expected — Qualia doesn’t intercept them.