The web terminal gives you direct shell access to your sandbox — right in your browser. No SSH client or key setup required.
Opening the terminal
There are two ways to access the terminal:
From Settings
- Go to the Settings page in your Coral dashboard.
- Scroll to the Tools & Access section.
- Click “Open Terminal”.
A new browser tab opens with a full terminal emulator (powered by xterm.js). You’re connected to a shell running inside your sandbox.
From the Chat page
The Computer Panel on the chat page includes a Terminal tab for quick shell access without leaving the conversation. See Chat — Computer Panel for details.
What you can do
The terminal gives you a standard Linux shell with access to:
- OpenClaw CLI — Run
openclaw commands to inspect or modify your assistant’s configuration.
- File system — Browse and edit files in your sandbox (configuration, logs, data).
- Package management — Install additional tools or dependencies.
- Debugging — Inspect running processes, view logs, and troubleshoot issues.
The terminal has full access to your sandbox. Be careful with destructive commands — changes are permanent and may affect your running assistant. If something goes wrong, you can restore from a backup.
Connection details
- The terminal connects over a secure WebSocket through the Coral proxy. Your sandbox credentials never reach the browser.
- Sessions are authenticated with a time-limited ticket (30-minute TTL).
- If the connection drops, close the tab and re-open from the Settings page.
When to use the terminal
Most users won’t need the terminal for day-to-day use. It’s primarily useful for:
- Advanced OpenClaw configuration not exposed in the Control UI
- Debugging issues with your assistant
- Installing custom tools or scripts
- Viewing raw log files
