StandTerm v2.5.0

Added

• Added a lightweight launcher access window for local desktop sessions.
• The access window provides browser launch, URL copy, token copy, shutdown, and a compact status monitor.
• Added local launcher control endpoints for status and shutdown, protected by a per-process launcher token and local-client checks.

Changed

• Access URL and token are hidden in the UI; users copy them through explicit buttons.
• The access window now tracks the current StandTerm instance and disables copy/open actions when the UI is stale or offline.
• Closing the access window via the window manager now minimizes it instead of exiting, keeping URL/token recovery available.
• WSL launchers now pass restart path context and clean stale screen sessions more reliably.

Removed

• Removed the launcher UI restart action. Shutdown remains the supported server lifecycle action.

Fixed

• Fixed stale access window behavior so old UI instances cannot copy outdated tokens.
• Fixed status probing for WSL/Windows localhost differences by using launcher control URL fallbacks.
• Fixed status display that could incorrectly show offline when the handoff omitted status URL data.

Verification

• tools/.venv_wsl/bin/python scripts/run_smoke_tests.py

StandTerm v2.4.3

StandTerm v2.4.3

Added

• Added scripts/agent_shcmd.py, a shell-command convenience helper for External Agent Mirror workflows.
• The helper sends one command line into the currently attached terminal and returns captured output as stdout or compact JSON via --json.
• Added generated external-agent command hints for shcmd_pwd and shcmd_json_pwd.

Improved

• Updated /agentinfo, README, socket contract docs, and the external-agent skill example to recommend agent_shcmd.py for one-line shell checks.
• Documented that agents should resolve the live StandTerm instance through tokenless /agentinfo or current_agentinfo.json before using handoff files.
• Clarified that stale handoff files from old launches should not be discovered by filesystem scanning.
• Refresh UART port discovery on demand when opening or returning to the UART connection UI.
• Fix a case where USB-UART adapters plugged in after StandTerm startup were not shown in the UART port selector until the serial-port cache expired or the page reloaded.
• Improve WSL/Windows COM discovery behavior by allowing fresh serial scans through refresh_terminal_policy without disabling the normal short-lived cache.

Notes

• agent_shcmd.py is a terminal helper, not a subprocess exec API. It does not provide reliable exit codes or separate stderr.
• For long-running commands, use explicit shell completion markers and observe with agent_cli.py tail --wait-ms, or use agent_repl.py for passive monitoring.

Validation

• Passed headless smoke checks with scripts/run_smoke_tests.py.
• Live-tested External Agent Mirror with agent_shcmd.py, agent_cli.py tail, and agent_cli.py screen.
• Verified cloning and building microsoft/edit after updating the Rust toolchain to stable.

StandTerm v2.4.0

Minor bug in launcher batch fixed

StandTerm v2.3.0

Added

• Added a browser token login page for direct access to / when no valid ?token=... URL is present.
• Added session renewal for authenticated browser sessions to reduce idle disconnect recovery issues.
• Added Settings > Server access recovery controls for copying or temporarily revealing the current access URL.
• Added /access-url and /session/renew endpoints with authenticated, no-store responses.
• Startup output now prints both the Access URL and Access Token.
• When a supported clipboard tool is available, startup shows terminal hotkeys for copying:
• u copies the Access URL
• t copies the Access Token

Changed

• Initial browser policy no longer embeds the token-bearing localhost access URL in the page state.
• Socket.IO connect failures now return a typed session_required error so the browser can show the recovery flow.

Fixed

• Improved recovery path for browsers that lose their session after long idle periods, without requiring users to find the original token URL.

StandTerm v2.2.2

Fixes

• Fixed PTT/macOS terminal display issues caused by split UTF-8 reads and CJK width handling.
• Prevents valid UTF-8 characters from turning into replacement characters when PTY/SSH output splits a multibyte character across reads.
• Improves macOS xterm rendering for CJK and East Asian Ambiguous glyphs used by PTT board lists.

Improvements

• Added incremental UTF-8 decoding for Local Shell output.
• Added incremental UTF-8 decoding for SSH output.
• Updated macOS terminal font fallback for better CJK rendering.
• Applied the same terminal font/size/theme settings to the hidden External Agent mirror terminal.

Validation

• git diff --check
• Python compile checks for touched backend/test files
• tests/agent_backend_smoke.py
• Manual PTT verification on macOS feedback path
• Manual Linux Edge/WSLg PTT regression check
• PTT Test board post flow completed successfully

StandTerm v2.2.1

Fixes

• Fixed Local Shell startup on macOS/Linux when no WSL shell selection is available.
• v2.2.0 could incorrectly apply the WSL-only default shell kind and show Local Shell selection is only available on WSL.
• Local Shell PTY output now tolerates non-UTF-8 bytes, preventing disconnects when connecting to services that emit legacy encodings.

Added

• Added optional MCP stdio adapter for external agents.
• Added WSL launch helper batch files.
• Added terminal full-width box drawing script for terminal size/layout testing.

StandTerm v2.2.0

StandTerm v2.2.0

Release from v2.1.1 to v2.2.0.

Highlights

• Added backend plugin/start form/settings contract documentation.
• Added typed backend start_fields support for SSH, Local Shell, and UART connection controls.
• Added runtime mutable defaults for SSH, Local Shell, and UART settings.
• Improved WSL UART support with explicit Windows COM and WSL /dev/... source handling.
• Improved Terminal to PiP behavior for multi-tab sessions.

Changes

Terminal Backend Contract

• Added docs/backend_plugin_contract.md.
• Documented TerminalBackendPlugin, BackendStartFieldSchema, runtime settings, compatibility surfaces, and legacy fallback expectations.
• Cross-linked backend plugin details from README and Agent socket contract docs.

Connection Controls

• Frontend connection controls now prefer typed start_fields metadata.
• SSH defaults can now be driven by runtime settings.
• Local Shell selector uses WSL-only structured options.
• UART baud options/defaults are driven by typed fields with legacy fallback preserved.

WSL UART

• WSL can now list both:
  • Windows COMx ports via Windows APIs.
  • WSL-local serial devices such as /dev/ttyUSB0 via pyserial.
• Manual UART input now distinguishes:
  • COMx as Windows COM access through the Windows Python helper.
  • /dev/... as WSL/Linux serial access.
• UART UI now shows detected ports in a selector with source labels and keeps manual input as a fallback.

PiP / Multi-Tab UX

• Terminal to PiP is hidden when only one visible tab exists.
• Moving a terminal to PiP now removes that tab from the visible tab list.
• The main window switches to the remaining background tab while the selected terminal stays fixed in PiP.
• PiP no longer follows active tab changes in the main window.
• PiP includes a bottom status bar with terminal name, cols x rows, and Agent panel toggle.
• Agent panel can be opened from PiP and targets the PiP terminal instead of the background tab.

Validation

• git diff --check
• Python compile checks
• Backend smoke tests
• Browser smoke tests, including WSL UART UI and PiP tab behavior

v2.1.1

v2.1.1

Added

• Added an external-agent heartbeat operation for display-free keepalive during long passive monitoring sessions.
• Added agent_cli.py heartbeat.
• Updated agent_repl.py to send hidden heartbeat keepalives while long-polling terminal output, with fallback for older servers that do not support heartbeat.

Fixed

• Fixed visible_xterm_png captures using transparent or mismatched backgrounds, which could make screenshots hard to read in external image viewers.
• Heartbeat authorization now renews the idle token only after lifecycle checks pass, so revoked, expired, disconnected, disabled, paused, or wrong-terminal tokens are not refreshed
  accidentally.

Documentation

• Documented cross-location external-agent usage with explicit --url, --token, and --terminal.
• Promoted /agentinfo as the platform-neutral discovery surface for external-agent setup.
• Clarified that screen and tail polling observe output but do not renew idle tokens by themselves.
• Recommended agent_repl.py for long-running remote build/compile monitoring because it combines long-poll tail with heartbeat keepalive.

v2.1.0

External Agent Mirror and installer updates

Highlights

• Added External Agent Mirror protocol improvements for local CLI agents.
• Added bounded external-agent sequence operations.
• Added render modes for external agents:
  • auto
  • mirror_screen
  • visible_xterm_png
• Changed render_mode: auto to prefer lower-cost structured mirror_screen output.
• Added backend enforcement for viewport snapshot privacy policy.
• Added native Windows PowerShell one-line installer via install.ps1.
• Added launcher setup guidance for repo-local Python virtual environments.
• Added .gitattributes to keep POSIX launchers on LF line endings when cloned on Windows.

External Agent Updates

• op: "sequence" supports bounded multi-step command execution with deterministic stop conditions.
• render --mode mirror-screen returns structured terminal screen data without PNG bytes.
• render --mode visible-xterm-png remains available for browser-rendered PNG captures.
• render --save now requires --mode visible-xterm-png.
• Discovery payloads now expose render policy and explicit render-mode operations.

Installer And Launcher Updates

• Added native Windows install command:

  irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/askac/standterm/main/install.ps1 | iex
  

• install.sh and install.ps1 now focus on bootstrap checks, clone/pull, and launcher handoff.

• run.sh and run.bat manage repo-local venv creation, dependency installation, and import sanity checks.

• run.bat now uses the venv Python directly for pip/app execution.

• Added setup guidance for Ubuntu/WSL minimal Python installs:

  sudo apt update
  sudo apt install -y git python3 python3-venv python3-pip

Notes

• Existing clients that assumed render default output always includes render.image_base64 should explicitly request --mode visible-xterm-png.
• mirror_screen is now the preferred default for lower context cost and structured agent workflows.

Full Changelog: v2.0.0...v2.1.0

StandTerm 2.0.0

• StandTerm rename
• external-agent CLI/REPL improvements
• headless screen fallback
• hidden REPL keepalive
• generic automation aliases
• shared paced input helpers
• REPL paced startup typing