Skip to content
OxideTerm

Broadcast Input

Broadcast Input sends one command from the terminal command bar to multiple terminal panes. It is designed for tasks like deploying to a fleet of servers, running the same check across environments, or maintaining multiple nodes in sync.

Enabling Broadcast

Section titled “Enabling Broadcast”
  1. Click the broadcast icon in the terminal command bar, or use ⌘B (macOS) / Ctrl+B (Windows/Linux)
  2. The Broadcast targets menu shows the other open terminal panes
  3. Select individual panes, or use Select all
  4. Submit a command from the command bar

The command bar shows the number of active broadcast targets.

Target Selection

Section titled “Target Selection”

The target picker lists every open terminal:

  • SSH sessions (labeled with hostname)
  • Local terminal panes (labeled “Local Terminal”)
  • Select All / Deselect All convenience buttons
  • Shows the current pane and active target count
  • The current pane always receives the submitted command

How It Works

Section titled “How It Works”

When broadcast is active:

  • The command bar sends the submitted command line to the current pane and each selected target
  • Each pane receives the command through its native terminal session object
  • Each target processes the command independently
  • Targets can be in different split positions or tabs

Typing directly into the terminal surface is not mirrored key by key. Use the terminal command bar for broadcast commands.

Disabling Broadcast

Section titled “Disabling Broadcast”

Open the broadcast target menu and deselect individual panes, or use Deselect all.

Closing a target pane removes it from the live target set. There is no permanently assigned sender; the active pane that submits a command is the source for that command.

Use Cases

Section titled “Use Cases”
  • Fleet deployments — run sudo systemctl restart myapp on 10 servers at once
  • Environment parity checks — run env | grep APP_ on dev, staging, and prod to compare
  • Synchronized log tailing — tail -f /var/log/app.log on multiple servers simultaneously
  • Configuration rollouts — edit the same config file path on multiple nodes
  • Cluster maintenance — run drain/cordon commands across Kubernetes nodes

Split Pane Integration

Section titled “Split Pane Integration”

Broadcast works naturally with split panes. You can have a grid of SSH sessions receive the same submitted command while viewing all outputs simultaneously.