VPS Console Workspace: Earlier Output, Paste Review and Root Sign-In
The VPS console gets earlier output, a reviewed paste and a Sign in as root button that works through the guest agent instead of typing the root password.
What's changed
- The Console tab, the full-window console and the pop-out window now share one toolbar: a status pill, Sign in as root, a Keys menu (Ctrl+C, Ctrl+D, Ctrl+Z, Ctrl+L, Escape, Tab, Up, Down), Paste, a Power menu (Start, Reboot, Stop), Full screen, and a More menu to connect or disconnect, copy, download or search the output, change the text size, clear it or open the console in a new window. Only project owners and administrators can open the console
- The terminal keeps its scrollback while you switch tabs or the VPS reboots. Connecting replaces any other terminal session, and the session that was replaced offers Take over. On a phone, the Console tab offers an Open console button that opens the console in its own window, with touch keys for Esc, Tab, Ctrl+C, Up and Down
- Open the Earlier output panel above the terminal to read recent output the VPS printed on its console before you connected: up to 5,000 lines, capped at 256 KiB. It is shown as plain text with terminal control codes removed
- Paste opens a review drawer before anything is sent: you see exactly what will go to the VPS (up to 64 KiB, sent in small chunks), hidden control characters such as Backspace, Escape and DEL are removed and counted, and a note warns when the text has newlines (each can run a command at once) or tabs
- Sign in as root signs you in through the VPS's guest agent, so the stored root password is no longer typed into the console, and connecting or disconnecting no longer sends credentials or a logout. It works on a running Linux VPS with systemd. When direct sign-in is not possible, such as on an Alpine VPS or where the guest agent does not allow it, the button then offers Sign in with password, which types the root password only once the console shows its password prompt
- Each connection asks for its own one-use ticket, which expires after 60 seconds and is sent when the connection opens, so no console credential sits in the page or in the address. Opening a console (at most once every ten minutes for each person and VPS) and each root sign-in request are recorded in your project's Activity Log
- Output appears as the VPS prints it. Right after the new workspace shipped, a screenful of fast output such as a boot log could take seconds to draw and a key you typed could echo seconds late; both are fixed