Multi-Tab, Split View & Tab Groups

Run many sessions at once in NetStacks Terminal with tabs, drag-to-split panes, tab groups, scoped Multi-Send, and saved layouts.

Overview

Network operations frequently require working on multiple devices at the same time — comparing running configurations across a pair of core routers, watching interface counters on distribution switches while changing the upstream border firewall, or verifying BGP neighbors from both sides of a peering link. NetStacks Terminal provides tabs, split view, and tab groups to manage these workflows in a single window.

Tabs

Every session opens in its own tab. Tabs show the session title and a connection status indicator. You can open as many tabs as your system memory allows, reorder them by dragging, and select multiple tabs to act on them together.

Split View

Two or more tabs can be tiled side by side (horizontal) or stacked (vertical) so you see several terminals at once. Dividers between panes are draggable to resize, and you can double-click a divider to reset panes to equal size. Combined with Multi-Send, a split lets you type a command once and watch the results across every pane.

Tab Groups

A tab group ties related tabs together. Groups have a name, a tile orientation (horizontal or vertical), can be collapsed to reclaim tab-bar space, and render as a split. Multi-Send and topology discovery can be scoped to the tabs in a group.

Saved Layouts

Save a tab group's arrangement as a named layout from the group menu's Save as Layout… action. Saved layouts record the sessions and orientation so you can restore the same working set later. Manage them (rename, delete) from the Layouts tab in Settings.

How It Works

Each tab is an independent session with its own connection, scrollback buffer, and xterm.js rendering instance. Tabs are lightweight — the application renders the visible tab and any panes in the active split, so other tabs consume minimal resources.

Tab Bar

Tabs are ordered in a horizontal bar at the top of the workspace. The active tab is highlighted, and each tab carries a status indicator (connecting, connected, disconnected, or a local shell). Tab types are not limited to terminals: documents, topology views, device-detail panels, session logs, and other editors all share the same tab bar and can be freely mixed.

Splitting Is Group-Based

Split panes are a rendering of tabs that belong together, not a separate per-tab object. When you choose Split Right or Split Down from a tab's right-click menu, the Terminal opens a new local-shell tab and places both tabs into a tab group whose orientation matches the split direction. Dragging a tab to the left, right, top, or bottom edge of the terminal area creates or extends a split view the same way. A split view holds up to four tabs; with three panes you can choose a 2-top/1-bottom or 1-top/2-bottom arrangement.

Pane Sizing

Panes are sized as percentages that sum to 100. Drag the divider between two panes to reallocate space (each pane has a minimum width/height so it never collapses to nothing), and double-click a divider to reset all panes to equal size. Focus follows the pane you click.

Layout Persistence

A saved layout stores the participating session IDs (and mixed tab types such as documents or topology), the orientation, and the pane sizes. Restoring a layout recreates the tabs and reconnects the sessions that still exist. Tab groups themselves live for the current workspace; for durable organization, save layouts or organize saved sessions into folders in the session panel.

Layouts are a local feature

Saved layouts are available in the standard (local) operating mode. They are not offered in the controller-managed enterprise mode, where the workspace is driven by centrally managed sessions.

Step-by-Step Guide

Working with multiple tabs

Press Cmd+T (macOS) or Ctrl+T (Windows/Linux) to open a new local-shell tab.
Use Quick Connect (Cmd+Shift+Q / Ctrl+Shift+Q) to connect to a device. Each connection opens in its own tab.
Move between tabs with Cmd+Shift+] / Ctrl+Shift+] (next) and Cmd+Shift+[ / Ctrl+Shift+[ (previous).
Jump straight to a tab with Cmd+1 through Cmd+9 (macOS) or Ctrl+1 through Ctrl+9 (Windows/Linux). 9 jumps to the last tab.
Reorder tabs by dragging them to a new position in the tab bar.
Right-click a tab for actions: Reconnect, Duplicate Tab, Pop Out Terminal, Split Right / Split Down, Session Settings, Share Session, file browser (SFTP), grouping, and the various close actions.
Close the active tab with Cmd+W / Ctrl+W.

Creating a split

Right-click a tab and choose Split Right (side by side) or Split Down (stacked). A new local-shell pane opens next to it, and both tabs are placed in a tab group.
Alternatively, drag a tab onto the left, right, top, or bottom edge of the terminal area. A highlighted drop zone shows where the pane will land.
Connect a pane to a device with Quick Connect, or drag in another existing tab to add it to the split (up to four panes).
Drag the divider between panes to resize; double-click the divider to reset to equal sizes. Click inside a pane to give it keyboard focus.

Tile orientation

Right-click the group header (or use the group menu) to switch a group between Tile Horizontally and Tile Vertically, collapse or expand it, or rename it.

Building a monitoring split for a maintenance window

Connect to your first device, for example core-rtr01.dc1.example.net.
Right-click its tab and choose Split Right, then connect the new pane to core-rtr02.dc1.example.net.
Drag dist-sw01 and dist-sw02 tabs into the split until you have four panes. With three panes, the layout switches to a 2-top/1-bottom or 1-top/2-bottom arrangement depending on which edge you drop on.
Enable Multi-Send (Cmd+Shift+M / Ctrl+Shift+M) and type a read-only command such as show interface status — it goes to every pane in the split at once.
Right-click the group header and choose Save as Layout…, then name it (for example, "DC1 Monitoring").

Multi-Send is a live broadcast

When Multi-Send is enabled, keystrokes reach every pane in scope simultaneously. Verify which devices are in the split before running configuration commands. See the Multi-Send page for scope and safety details.

Reusing a saved layout

Open Settings and go to the Layouts tab to review, rename, or delete saved layouts.
Restore a layout from the tab-group menu next to your current tabs. The Terminal recreates the tabs and reconnects the sessions that still exist.

Examples & Reference

Tab and split shortcuts

These are the default bindings. Tab and split creation uses the right-click menu and drag-to-edge gestures; the registry below covers the keyboard actions that actually exist. Most bindings are remappable in Settings → Keyboard; the Cmd/Ctrl+1–9 tab jumps are fixed accelerators.

Default bindings (Settings -> Keyboard)text

Tabs
  New tab (local shell)        Cmd+T            Ctrl+T
  Close tab                    Cmd+W            Ctrl+W
  Next tab                     Cmd+Shift+]      Ctrl+Shift+]
  Previous tab                 Cmd+Shift+[      Ctrl+Shift+[
  Go to tab 1-8                Cmd+1..8         Ctrl+1..8
  Go to last tab               Cmd+9            Ctrl+9
  Reorder tabs                 drag in the tab bar

Sessions / connections
  Quick Connect                Cmd+Shift+Q      Ctrl+Shift+Q
  Reconnect session            Cmd+Shift+R      Ctrl+Shift+R
  Connect selected sessions    Cmd+Shift+Enter  Ctrl+Shift+Enter
  Toggle Multi-Send            Cmd+Shift+M      Ctrl+Shift+M

Splitting (no keyboard binding)
  Split Right / Split Down     tab right-click menu
  Add a tab to a split         drag a tab to a terminal-area edge
  Resize a pane                drag the divider
  Reset panes to equal size    double-click the divider

No dedicated pane keyboard commands

Splitting, pane navigation, pane resize, and pane close are done with the mouse (right-click menu, drag-to-edge, and divider drag) rather than keyboard shortcuts.Cmd+W closes the focused tab/pane; Cmd+Shift+Enter connects selected sessions (it does not maximize a pane).

Multi-device comparison workflow

Side-by-side comparisontext

# Open two tabs and connect to the paired routers:
#   Tab 1: [email protected]
#   Tab 2: [email protected]

# Right-click Tab 1 -> Split Right to see both side by side:
# +----------------------+----------------------+
# |  core-rtr01          |  core-rtr02          |
# |  show ip route ospf  |  show ip route ospf  |
# |  10.1.0.0/16 [110/2] |  10.1.0.0/16 [110/2] |
# |  10.2.0.0/16 [110/3] |  10.2.0.0/16 [110/2] |  <- difference!
# +----------------------+----------------------+

# Enable Multi-Send (Cmd+Shift+M) to type into both panes at once:
show ip ospf neighbor
show ip bgp summary

What a saved layout records

Layouts are stored by the application; this is the conceptual shape of the data, not a file you edit by hand. The orientation field accepts horizontal, vertical, 2-top-1-bottom, or 1-top-2-bottom.

Saved layout (conceptual)json

{
  "name": "DC1 Monitoring",
  "orientation": "horizontal",
  "sizes": [25, 25, 25, 25],
  "tabs": [
    { "type": "terminal", "sessionId": "core-rtr01.dc1" },
    { "type": "terminal", "sessionId": "core-rtr02.dc1" },
    { "type": "terminal", "sessionId": "dist-sw01.dc1" },
    { "type": "terminal", "sessionId": "dist-sw02.dc1" }
  ]
}

Questions & Answers

How many tabs can I open?: There is no hard limit. The practical ceiling depends on system memory, since each session keeps its own connection and scrollback buffer. Only the visible tab and the panes in the active split render actively, so other tabs stay cheap.
How do I split the view into panes?: Right-click a tab and choose Split Right (side by side) or Split Down (stacked). You can also drag a tab onto the left, right, top, or bottom edge of the terminal area to drop it into a split. Each new pane starts a local shell you can then connect with Quick Connect. There is no keyboard shortcut for splitting.
How many panes can a split hold?: Up to four. With three panes you can use a 2-top/1-bottom or 1-top/2-bottom arrangement; the orientation is chosen by which edge you drop on or by switching the group's tile direction.
Can I resize panes?: Yes. Drag the divider between two panes to resize them (panes have a minimum size so they never disappear), and double-click a divider to reset all panes to equal size.
How do I reorder tabs?: Drag a tab to a new position in the tab bar. There is no keyboard binding for moving a tab left or right — reordering is drag-only.
What are tab groups, and how do I create one?: A tab group keeps related tabs together and renders them as a tiled split. Select multiple tabs (Cmd/Ctrl+click), right-click, and choose to group the selected tabs; or use Group Tabs… → New Group… in a tab's right-click menu. Splitting a tab also creates a group automatically. Groups can be renamed, collapsed/expanded, tiled horizontally or vertically, and used to scope Multi-Send and topology discovery.
Does my layout persist across restarts?: Save it first. From the group header menu choose Save as Layout…. Saved layouts are listed in Settings → Layouts (where you can rename or delete them) and are restored from the tab-group menu. Ad-hoc splits that you never save are not retained after you close the app.
Why is the "Save as Layout" option missing?: Saved layouts are a local-mode feature and are not available in controller-managed enterprise mode. In that mode the workspace is driven by centrally managed sessions.

Troubleshooting

Restored layout shows empty or local-shell panes

Symptom: A saved layout opens but one or more panes are blank or show a local shell instead of the expected device session.

Cause: A session referenced by the layout was deleted or renamed, so it can no longer be reconnected.

Solution: Re-create or re-save the missing session, rebuild the split, and use Save as Layout… again. Old layouts can be removed from Settings → Layouts.

Panes too small to use

Symptom: A pane is so narrow or short that the terminal text is unreadable.

Cause: Too many panes in a small window, or a divider dragged near a pane's minimum size.

Solution: Double-click a divider to reset panes to equal size, close a tab you do not need with Cmd+W / Ctrl+W, or work across multiple tabs instead of one crowded split on a small screen.

Keyboard input goes to the wrong pane

Symptom: Typing lands in a pane you did not intend.

Cause: A different pane holds focus.

Solution: Click directly in the pane you want; focus follows the pane you click. If Multi-Send is on, remember that input is broadcast to every pane in scope — toggle it off with Cmd+Shift+M / Ctrl+Shift+M when you only want one pane.

Drag-to-edge split won't form

Symptom: Dragging a tab to a terminal-area edge does not create a pane.

Cause: The split already holds four panes (the maximum), or the tab was not dropped on a highlighted edge drop zone.

Solution: Close a pane to free a slot, or drop the tab squarely on the highlighted left/right/top/bottom zone that appears while dragging.

Terminal Overview — architecture, operating modes, and core capabilities.
Keyboard Shortcuts — the full, remappable keybinding reference.
Multi-Send Broadcast — broadcast commands to a split or a tab group, with scope and safety controls.
Connecting to Devices — Quick Connect and saved sessions that fill your tabs and panes.
Themes & Customization — terminal color themes, fonts, and appearance.