Manage sessions
Reconnect to a Websh terminal through its work session and share it when your plan supports sharing.
Session continuity
A terminal opens through a work session, and the connection stays alive even if you close the browser tab. You can reconnect while the session is active and, on supported plans, share it with teammates for real-time collaboration.
Reconnect to a session
Terminal sessions stay active in the background. To return to one, open the work session’s Resume tab and click Reconnect on the terminal; see Open terminals and editors. Active sessions appear under Access > Sessions; superusers can also see others’ active sessions.
To end a terminal, type exit, or close it from the session.
Connection status
The terminal header shows its current connection state:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Connecting | Alpacon is opening the connection. |
| Connected | You’re connected and ready to type. |
| Reconnecting | The connection dropped and Alpacon is retrying automatically. Anything you type is held and delivered in order once the connection returns, up to a limit. Past it, further input is not sent and the terminal tells you so. |
| Offline | Your browser has no network connection. The terminal waits and reconnects automatically once you’re back online. |
| Connection lost | Automatic reconnection gave up. Select Retry, or switch to another browser tab and back—that also retries. |
| Disconnected | You were removed from the session, or the connection closed for a reason Alpacon couldn’t identify. This doesn’t reconnect automatically—select Retry to rejoin. |
| Session closed | The session has ended. See Why a session ended for the cause and next step. |
When you close the session yourself or the shell exits, the browser tab also closes automatically if Auto-close terminal is on (see Websh settings). Every other closure leaves the tab open so you can read why.
Why a session ended
Find the console message below to see why the terminal ended and what to do next. The The session has been closed. message can appear after a user closes the terminal, the agent restarts, or the approved account changes, or when no specific reason is available.
| Code | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
Session ended# | "The session has been closed." The terminal was closed by a user, the agent restarted, the approved account changed, or no more specific reason was available. | If the work session is active, open another terminal with an account you can use. Otherwise, request another work session. |
Administrator closure# | "An administrator closed the session." An administrator closed the terminal. | Ask the administrator before reopening it from an active work session. |
Time limit# | "The session reached its time limit and was closed." The terminal reached its session time limit, even if you were still typing or receiving output. | Open another terminal. You can increase your personal session timeout up to the workspace limit. |
Shell exit# | "The shell exited, so the session ended." The shell exited, for example after exit or Ctrl-D, or because the shell stopped. | Open another terminal from the work session. |
Agent connection lost# | "The agent lost its connection, so the session ended." The server agent lost its connection and could not restore the terminal. | Check that the server is connected, then open another terminal. |
Terminal service restart# | "The terminal service restarted, so the session ended." The terminal service restarted and this terminal could not reconnect. | Open the terminal again. |
Work session expired# | "Your work session expired, so the session ended." The work session expired. | Request another work session. To keep working in a session, extend it before it expires. |
Work session completed# | "Your work session was completed, so the session ended." The work session was completed. | Start another work session. |
Work session revoked# | "An administrator revoked your work session, so the session ended." An administrator revoked the work session. | Ask the administrator and request another work session if needed. |
Account deactivated# | "Your account was deactivated, so the session ended." Your workspace account was deactivated. | Contact a workspace administrator. |
Account linked to another person# | "This account was linked to another person, so this session was closed." The server account was linked to another person. | Reconnect with your own account or a shared account. |
Connection ended# | "You were disconnected from this session." You were removed from the terminal, or the connection ended without a specific reason. It does not reconnect automatically. | Retry the connection. If you joined through a share link, ask the owner for another link. |
If you see You were disconnected from this session., select Retry. Shared-link viewers see Connection closed and need another link from the owner. The session has already been closed. means the terminal has ended; This URL has expired. means the share link is not valid.
Limits
| Limit | What applies |
|---|---|
| Session duration | 1 day by default, counted from when the terminal opened. Personal settings can shorten it; the workspace maximum still applies. |
| Share link expiry | 5–180 minutes, with a default of 30 minutes. A link is single-use. |
| Email invitations | Up to 20 email addresses per invitation, including repeated addresses. |
| Monthly Websh use and sharing | Availability and allowances depend on the workspace plan. |
| Terminal replay | Free has no session replay. The console shows the notice below; paid-plan access depends on the plan. |
On Free, the recording notice is Terminal recordings start on Essentials.. See Plans & billing for plan allowances and Terminal recordings for replay.
Keystrokes, terminal output, and browser reconnects do not reset the time limit. Reconnecting from the work session’s Resume tab does not reset it either. Only the agent’s terminal connection reconnecting resets this timer. The work session can also end the terminal before that limit.
Adjust Websh session timeout in Websh settings. It must be at least 10 minutes and cannot exceed the workspace’s Websh session retention time, which an administrator can set from 10 minutes to 1 day.
Only the session owner can share a terminal. Invite workspace members or external collaborators to watch or type alongside you.
Session sharing requires the Essentials plan or above. On the Free plan, sharing shows an upgrade prompt. See Plans & billing.
Click Share on the session and choose one of:
- Invite by email: enter up to 20 email addresses to invite people directly.
- One-time access link: generate a link to share.
One-time access link
When creating a link, set:
- User permission: choose Read only (watch only) or Read & write (type commands). Links are read-only by default.
- Link expiration: from 5 to 180 minutes (in 5-minute steps; default 30 minutes). The link is single-use: it also expires immediately after it’s first accessed.
Anyone with the link and password can join while the owner is connected. A person who is not signed in must enter a nickname. A used or expired link cannot be reused; ask the owner for another link.
Participants
Select the participants icon in the terminal header to open the Participants panel. The icon shows how many people are in the session, and the list refreshes on its own while the panel is open. As the owner, select a participant to:
- change their permission between Read only and Writable—the change applies immediately;
- remove them with Remove from session.
An administrator can open another user’s session without a share link only in read-only mode. A superuser can use Force close on another user’s session from the session list.
Use cases for sharing
- Debug together: a teammate sees exactly what you see and can suggest or run commands.
- Train safely: share read-only so others can observe without typing.
- Get help: bring in a senior engineer to look at live output.