The latest articles on DEV Community by AlexanderME (@alexanderestrella). https://dev.to/alexanderestrella https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F3952561%2F2e1bcde4-d182-4673-9567-437321e13413.jpeg https://dev.to/alexanderestrella en AlexanderME Tue, 26 May 2026 12:11:03 +0000 https://dev.to/alexanderestrella/aterminal-build-with-ai-on-the-go-a-self-hosted-browser-terminal-for-your-home-machine-3f5d https://dev.to/alexanderestrella/aterminal-build-with-ai-on-the-go-a-self-hosted-browser-terminal-for-your-home-machine-3f5d <h2> Intro </h2> <p>I built a terminal server that runs on my home machine and lets me open a full shell from my iPhone. No cloud, no relay, no App Store. Here's how it works and why I made some of the choices I did.</p> <h2> Section: The Problem with Existing Tools </h2> <p><em>Brief walkthrough of why ttyd, tmate, and raw SSH from mobile all have meaningful tradeoffs for the "check your home machine from anywhere" use case.</em></p> <h2> Section: Why Tailscale Serve (Not Funnel, Not a Reverse Proxy) </h2> <p><em>Explains the decision to use <code>tailscale serve</code> specifically — how it provides HTTPS, a stable URL, and tailnet-only access without any router config or cert management. Why this was the right tradeoff versus self-hosting a reverse proxy or using <code>tailscale funnel</code>.</em></p> <h2> Section: The Terminal Stack: xterm.js + Socket.IO </h2> <p><em>Short technical explanation of how the browser terminal works — xterm.js renders the frontend, Socket.IO streams the PTY output, Node.js spawns the shell process. What the latency characteristics look like in practice over Tailscale.</em></p> <h2> Section: PWA on iPhone — What Works and What Doesn't </h2> <p><em>Honest assessment of the PWA terminal experience on iOS. What works well (add to home screen, full-screen mode), what's still rough (keyboard behavior, copy/paste quirks), and what I'd change.</em></p> <h2> Section: ntfy Integration for Session Notifications </h2> <p><em>How the ntfy push notification setup works — fires when a session exits. Why this is useful for long builds or monitoring agent processes. How to configure it with a self-hosted ntfy instance.</em></p> <h2> Section: Setup and Getting Started </h2> <p><em>One-command setup walkthrough. Prerequisites (Node.js, Tailscale), what <code>npm run setup:tailscale</code> actually does, and how to verify it's working.</em></p> <h2> Section: What's Missing / Roadmap </h2> <p><em>Honest list of rough edges: session persistence across reloads, multi-machine dashboard maturity, mobile keyboard quirks. What I'm actively working on.</em></p> <h2> Closing </h2> <p><em>Link to GitHub, invitation for feedback, note on AGPL-3.0 licensing.</em></p> <p>GitHub: <a href="https://github.com/AlexanderEstrella/ATerminal" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/AlexanderEstrella/ATerminal</a></p> selfhosted node tailscale webdev