REDC2 Devlog 2 - Floating Terminal Feature
Date: Aug 16, 2026
So I added a floating terminal panel to REDC2. The whole thing took a few hours.
Why
The dashboard was fine but having all command output in a separate section meant you couldn’t see both the machine status and what you just ran at the same time. Wanted the output accessible with a quick keybind without cluttering the main view.
How
Added a new FloatingTerminal container that sits in an overlay layer. It’s reactive so toggling visibility is smooth. Ctrl+T brings it up/down. All command output gets mirrored there automatically via the logging pipeline.
Used Textual’s layer system to keep it from blocking the dashboard. Size and position are just CSS (width/height/offset), so it’s easy to customize.
The Issues
Initial CSS used right/bottom which Textual doesn’t support. Switched to offset. That fixed it.Paramiko had version issues with keys. Downgraded to 3.4.1 and added password auth support to the config since most people just want to use passwords anyway.SSH key format stuff is annoying. Just went with password auth as default and made it dead simple.
What Works
Toggle with Ctrl+TReal-time command outputScrollable history (max 2000 lines)Doesn’t block dashboard interactionWorks over SSH fine
What’s Left
Draggable terminal (low priority)Copy/paste in terminal (Textual limitation)Separate shell session option (would need more work)
It’s production ready though. Deployed to homelab and it just works.

Stats:
~100 lines of new code1 file modified (app.py)0 breaking changesWorks with password or key authNo new dependencies
Pretty solid for an afternoon’s work.