Last updated: 2026-05-25

User Guide — A Day with HiTerm

This guide follows a real-world workday scenario, showing you exactly what to do on your PC vs your phone. Every step is labeled so you always know where to act.

🌅 Morning: Set Up Before You Leave

Get everything ready while you're at your desk.

🖥️ PC — Name Your tmux Sessions

Sessions named after your project or AI tool appear as quick-switch tabs on your phone:

# Create a session per project
tmux new -A -s backend-gemini   # Gemini working on backend
tmux new -A -s frontend-claude  # Claude working on frontend
tmux new -A -s logs             # Log monitoring

The -A flag attaches if the session exists, or creates it if it doesn't.

🖥️ PC — Start a Long Task

Start an AI coding job or a long build that will notify you when done:

# Inside the backend-gemini session
gemini

# Or start a build that notifies on completion
npm run build && hiterm notify hook --tool=build --event=stop

📱 Phone — Connect from the Host List

☰: The hamburger menu (top-right corner) is your command center.

Open the Hi Term app
If you see the host list, tap your PC. If you see the terminal, you're already connected.
If no host list is visible, tap the ☰ hamburger menu (top-right) → your paired PC appears → tap it

After connecting, you'll see your PC's terminal on screen.

☕ Mid-Morning: Walk Away While AI Works

Your AI agent is generating code. Don't watch — walk away.

📱 Phone — Get Notified When Done

When the task completes, your phone buzzes with a notification:

Tap the notification → automatically reconnects to your PC
You're right back where you left off, inside the tmux session
Review the output, make tweaks, restart

Tip: Long-running tasks survive everything — network switches, subway tunnels, even closing the app. Just reconnect later.

🏪 Lunch: Coffee Shop Mode

You're at a coffee shop. Your home PC is running builds. Let's check in.

📱 Phone — Connect Over 4G

Open Hi Term
Tap your PC in the host list
Mosh automatically handles the WiFi → 4G handoff — no dropped connection

📱 Phone — Swipe Between tmux Windows

While inside a session, swipe left or right on the terminal area to switch between tmux windows:

← Swipe Left      |      Swipe Right →
See previous      |      See next
tmux window       |      tmux window

This lets you quickly flip between your log monitor, code editor, and running process without typing any commands.

📱 Phone — Check Session Status

Tap the ☰ hamburger menu (top-right) to open the side panel. It shows:

┌─ Hi Term ──────────────────┐
│ ☰ Connected to: dev-pc     │
│                             │
│ SSH Connection              │
│   Host: 100.x.x.x          │
│   User: devuser            │
│   Port: 22                 │
│   Status: ✅ Connected     │
│                             │
│ tmux Sessions               │
│ ├─ backend-gemini  ● active │
│ ├─ frontend-claude          │
│ ├─ logs                     │
│ └─ database                 │
│                             │
│ [⇠ Swipe or ☰ to close]   │
└─────────────────────────────┘

SSH Connection section shows the remote host details
tmux Sessions section lists all sessions on the remote PC — tap any session name to switch to it
Swipe right-to-left on the terminal edge, or swipe left-to-right from the left edge, or tap ☰ — all open this panel

📱 Phone — Double-Tap for Shortcuts

Double-tap anywhere on the terminal screen to open the shortcuts panel:

┌─ Shortcuts ─────────────────┐
│                              │
│  Ctrl+C    Interrupt        │
│  Ctrl+D    Exit shell       │
│  Ctrl+Z    Suspend          │
│  Ctrl+L    Clear screen     │
│                              │
│ ── tmux ──                  │
│  Ctrl+B d   Detach session  │
│  Ctrl+B c   New window      │
│  Ctrl+B %   Vertical split  │
│  Ctrl+B "   Horizontal split│
│  Ctrl+B →   Next pane       │
│  Ctrl+B z   Zoom pane       │
│                              │
│ Tap a shortcut to send it   │
│ ──────────                  │
│ [Dismiss]                   │
└─────────────────────────────┘

Tap any shortcut to send the key combination to the terminal — no need to remember complex bindings.

🌆 Afternoon: Multi-Project Power

You're juggling multiple projects. Each one is a separate tmux session.

📱 Phone — Switch Sessions from the Panel

Tap ☰ to open the side panel
Under tmux Sessions, tap the session you want (e.g., frontend-claude)
The terminal immediately switches to that session

📱 Phone — Start a New Session Remotely

You can create new tmux sessions right from your phone:

# Inside the terminal on your phone
tmux new -A -s new-project

The new session appears instantly in the ☰ panel's session list.

📱 Phone — Swipe Between tmux Windows

If a session has multiple tmux windows (e.g., editor + terminal + logs):

Swipe left → previous window
Swipe right → next window

The window name appears briefly at the top of the screen during swipe.

🌙 Evening: Quick Check from Bed

Before sleep — a quick status check.

📱 Phone — Quick Connect

Open Hi Term
Your last-connected host auto-reconnects
The tmux session you were in last is restored
Check builds, logs, or AI agent results

📱 Phone — Quick Disconnect

Action	Result
Tap back button	Disconnects, tmux keeps running
Type `exit`	Exits shell, returns to host list
Close the app	Disconnects, reopen to resume

All tmux sessions stay alive on your PC. Nothing is lost.

📱 Gesture & Navigation Reference

Gesture	Where	What It Does
Swipe left	Terminal area	Switch to previous tmux window
Swipe right	Terminal area	Switch to next tmux window
Double-tap	Terminal area	Open shortcuts panel
Tap ☰	Top-right corner	Open side panel (SSH info + tmux sessions)
Swipe from right edge	Screen right edge	Same as ☰ — open side panel
Swipe from left edge	Screen left edge	Same as ☰ — open side panel
Tap host	Host list	Connect / disconnect
Long-press host	Host list	Edit, delete, refresh shortcuts

Side Panel (☰) Contents

Section	Shows
Connected to	Current remote hostname
SSH Connection	Host IP, username, port, connection status
tmux Sessions	All sessions on the remote PC, with active session marked

Tap any tmux session name in the panel to switch to it instantly.

🖥️ PC Companion Setup

These one-time PC setup steps unlock the full phone experience.

Pair Your Phone

hiterm pair

Auto-detects dependencies, prints install commands if anything is missing, then generates a QR code. Scan it from your phone to pair.

Name Sessions for Quick Access

tmux new -A -s backend-gemini
tmux new -A -s frontend-claude

Sessions appear in the ☰ side panel on your phone. Name them clearly — that's how you'll switch between them.

Enable Notifications for Long Tasks

# Test notifications
hiterm notify test

# Login for AI tool hooks
hiterm login

# Use with long-running commands
npm run build && hiterm notify hook --tool=build --event=stop
make deploy && hiterm notify hook --tool=deploy --event=stop

The hooks section in hiterm pair auto-configures Claude Code, Gemini CLI, and OpenAI Codex. When they finish a task, your phone buzzes.

Diagnostics

# Auto-detect and fix most issues
hiterm doctor

Next Steps

Quick Start — First-time setup in minutes
Command Reference — All hiterm CLI commands
Troubleshooting & FAQ — Common issues