CLI reference

porthole host

Starts a terminal sharing session. Spawns your shell, registers a short-lived session with the signaling server, and prints the link, code, and QR.

porthole host [flags]

Flag	Default	Description
`--shell <name>`	`$SHELL`, else `bash`	Shell to spawn for the session.
`--readonly`	`false`	Viewers can watch but cannot type. Enforced by the agent, not the browser.
`--password <value>`	none	Require viewers to enter this password before joining.
`--expire <duration>`	`0` (never)	Auto-expire the session after a duration, e.g. `30m`, `2h`.
`--once`	`false`	Close the session after the first viewer disconnects.
`--no-qr`	`false`	Skip printing the QR code.

Updates the agent in place to the latest release.

porthole update [flags]

Flag	Default	Description
`--check`	`false`	Report whether a newer version exists, without installing.
`--force`	`false`	Reinstall even if already up to date, or installed via a package manager.

porthole version

Prints the version and platform, e.g. porthole v0.1.0 (linux/amd64).

Available on every command:

Flag	Default	Description
`--server <url>`	built-in default	Override the signaling server URL.
`--log-level <level>`	`info`	Log verbosity: `debug`, `info`, `warn`, or `error`.

Flags take precedence over environment variables, which take precedence over defaults.

Variable	Equivalent	Description
`PORTHOLE_SERVER`	`--server`	Signaling server URL.
`PORTHOLE_SHELL`	`--shell`	Shell to spawn.
`PORTHOLE_PASSWORD`	`--password`	Session password (handy for not putting it in shell history).