Notely

Embedded Terminal ​

Notely features an integrated, full-featured Embedded Terminal powered by node-pty. Run project-local commands, build scripts, git commands, and shell utilities without leaving your workspace.

1. Opening & Toggling the Terminal ​

  • View Menu: Open View → Show Terminal.
  • Command Palette: Press Ctrl/Cmd + K and select Show Terminal.
  • Bottom Panel: Toggle the terminal drawer at the bottom of your workspace layout.

2. Shell Selection & Configuration ​

Select your preferred shell from View → Terminal Shell:

  • Auto: Automatically selects the default shell based on your host operating system.
  • Bash: Prefers Bash when installed (e.g. Git Bash on Windows or native Bash on macOS/Linux).
  • CMD: Uses standard Windows Command Prompt (cmd.exe).
  • PowerShell: Uses PowerShell (powershell.exe or pwsh).

Custom Shell Path Overrides (Environment Variables) ​

On Windows systems, you can override default shell binary paths using environment variables:

  • NOTELY_BASH_PATH: Absolute path to a specific Bash executable.
  • GIT_BASH_PATH: Fallback path to Git Bash executable.

3. Working Directory & Lifecycle ​

  • Workspace Alignment: The terminal automatically sets its initial working directory (CWD) to your active project workspace root ({workspace}/).
  • Session Lifecycle: Terminal PTY sessions persist as long as the panel is open. Closing the terminal drawer terminates the PTY subprocess cleanly to free system resources.
  • Resize Behavior: The terminal automatically adjusts its columns and rows dynamically as you resize the panel drawer.

4. Security Policies & Strict Allowlist Mode ​

Notely includes enterprise security controls to restrict terminal command execution when operating in sensitive workspace environments:

Policy Modes (NOTELY_TERMINAL_POLICY) ​

  • Permissive Mode (permissive, default): Standard interactive shell access allowing any user command.
  • Strict Mode (strict): Restricts command execution to a pre-approved list of command binaries and enforces user role policies.

Environment Variable Security Flags ​

VariableDescription
NOTELY_TERMINAL_POLICYSet to strict to enforce command allowlisting.
NOTELY_TERMINAL_REQUIRED_ROLERequired user role (defaults to developer).
NOTELY_TERMINAL_ALLOWLISTComma-separated list of allowed command executables (e.g. git,npm,node,dir,ls).

Strict Policy Enforcement

When NOTELY_TERMINAL_POLICY=strict is active, any command execution attempt outside the NOTELY_TERMINAL_ALLOWLIST is blocked by IPC security guards before spawning.