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dsterm is the runtime bridge described in the architecture overview. It is a standalone, open-source Rust server (darkian-studio/dsterm) that the Darkian Studio editor talks to over a single connection. Because the PTY, language servers, debugger, extension host, and command execution are all reached through dsterm, they share one runtime session — the same PATH, filesystem, and installed SDKs.

The standard install flow installs and starts dsterm for you. This page is for understanding it, running it manually, or connecting DS to a remote host.

Features

  • Interactive PTY — full terminal sessions streamed over WebSocket.
  • Shell integration — OSC 633 exit-code tracking for bash, zsh, and fish.
  • Silent execution — a non-interactive command runner with stdout/stderr capture.
  • Streaming execution — chunked command output streamed over WebSocket.
  • LSP bridge — WebSocket proxy to any Language Server Protocol server.
  • DAP bridge — WebSocket proxy to any Debug Adapter Protocol server.
  • MCP bridge — WebSocket proxy to any Model Context Protocol server.
  • Extension Host bridge — a Node.js process bridge with newline-delimited JSON.
  • AST bridge — tree-sitter scope analysis for Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript.
  • Prometheus metrics — a /metrics endpoint with session counters.
  • TOML configuration — an optional config file for all tunable parameters.
  • Graceful shutdown — drains sessions on SIGTERM / SIGINT.
  • Automatic updates — dsterm update downloads the latest binary.

Installation

The DS setup command already installs dsterm. To install it directly:

Termux (Android), Linux, macOS (bash):

curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/darkian-studio/dsterm/main/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/darkian-studio/dsterm/main/install.ps1 | iex

Both installers detect your platform and download the matching prebuilt binary from the latest release:

  • Termux (Android) — native Android binary (arm64, armv7, x86_64).
  • Linux — static musl binary (x86_64, aarch64, armv7) that runs on any distribution without glibc version constraints.
  • macOS — native binary (Apple Silicon arm64, Intel x86_64).
  • Windows — native binary (x86_64).

When no prebuilt binary matches your platform, the installers fall back to building from source with cargo (requires a Rust toolchain):

cargo install --git https://github.com/darkian-studio/dsterm dsterm

Note on remote runtimes. dsterm itself ships a Windows binary, but connecting a Darkian Studio workspace to a Windows-hosted dsterm endpoint is not supported in this beta. Use Termux or a Linux/macOS host for remote runtimes.

Update

dsterm checks for updates on every start and notifies you when one is available. To update immediately:

dsterm update

Usage

dsterm [OPTIONS] [COMMAND]

Commands:
  update  Check for and install the latest release
  lsp     Start a standalone WebSocket LSP bridge
  help    Print help

Options:
  -p, --port <PORT>            Server port [default: 8767]
  -i, --ip                     Bind to LAN IP instead of 127.0.0.1
  -c, --command <CMD>          Custom shell / program for PTY sessions
      --config <PATH>          TOML configuration file
      --allow-any-origin       Disable CORS origin restriction (dangerous)
  -h, --help                   Print help
  -V, --version                Print version

Examples

# Start on default port (localhost:8767)
dsterm

# Start with a custom shell
dsterm -c /usr/bin/zsh

# Start on LAN IP with a config file
dsterm -i --config /etc/dsterm.toml

# Standalone LSP proxy for rust-analyzer
dsterm lsp rust-analyzer

# Check for updates
dsterm update

--allow-any-origin disables the CORS origin restriction. Only use it on a trusted, private network — it lets any web origin reach your runtime.

Configuration

Create a TOML file and pass it with --config. All fields are optional — omitted fields use the defaults shown:

[terminal]
max_scrollback_bytes = 262144   # 256 KB per session
output_coalesce_ms = 8          # WebSocket flush interval
read_buffer_bytes = 8192        # PTY read buffer size
inactivity_timeout_secs = 1800  # Evict idle sessions after 30 min

[bridges]
kill_timeout_secs = 2           # Grace period when killing bridge processes

API reference

Full protocol documentation lives in the dsterm repository under docs/api/:

Document Contents
CLI.md CLI flags and health endpoints
TERMINAL.md Interactive PTY API
EXECUTE_COMMAND.md POST /execute-command
SILENT_EXECUTION.md Silent exec + streaming
BRIDGES.md LSP / DAP / MCP / Extension Host bridges
AST.md AST scope endpoint

Observability

GET /metrics returns Prometheus-compatible metrics:

# HELP dsterm_terminal_sessions_total Terminal sessions created since startup
# TYPE dsterm_terminal_sessions_total counter
dsterm_terminal_sessions_total 42
# HELP dsterm_terminal_sessions_active Currently active terminal sessions
# TYPE dsterm_terminal_sessions_active gauge
dsterm_terminal_sessions_active 3

Building from source

git clone https://github.com/darkian-studio/dsterm.git
cd dsterm
cargo build --release
# Binary: target/release/dsterm

A Rust stable toolchain is required.