Install upterm with Homebrew, apk, Nix, pacman

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• upterm
• uptermd

Project history

The GitHub repository was created in October 2019. Early releases in January 2020 established the command-line binary and release packaging; subsequent 2020 releases added WebSocket support, Heroku deployment notes for uptermd, host/server public-key validation, join and leave notifications, and an upgrade command.

The project continued as a maintained Go application with both client and server pieces. Its README documents upterm for interactive terminal hosting, uptermd as the server side, self-hosted or public relay use, access-control integrations, WebSocket transport, tmux-style force commands, and integrations such as action-upterm for GitHub Actions debugging.

Recent release metadata shows continued development through 2026, including SFTP/SCP file transfer, local TCP forwarding, Windows support, IPv6-related work, Prometheus metrics, and GitHub Actions workflow improvements.

Adoption history

Upterm's official README documents installation via a Homebrew cask, Scoop on Windows, standalone release binaries, and source builds. It also includes migration notes for users who previously installed the old Homebrew formula, which shows the project crossing from a formula-style CLI package to a cask-distributed application package on macOS.

The supplied input lists Upterm in Homebrew, Alpine, Nix, and Arch package ecosystems, while GitHub repository metadata showed 1,245 stars and 80 forks when checked on July 2, 2026. Its adoption is concentrated among developers who need temporary remote access to terminal sessions rather than permanent SSH server administration.

How it is used

A host starts a session with upterm host, retrieves a connection string with upterm session current, and clients connect with ssh to the uptermd endpoint. The README also documents hosting arbitrary commands, authorizing public keys or users from GitHub, GitLab, SourceHut, and Codeberg, forcing tmux attach behavior for pair programming, transferring files with scp or sftp, and using WebSocket proxying when normal SSH transport is restricted.

In CI workflows, Upterm can be paired with action-upterm so a developer can SSH into a GitHub Actions runner for live debugging. That use makes it especially familiar to package maintainers dealing with failing builds that reproduce only in hosted CI images.

Why package nerds care

Upterm matters in package-manager culture because it turns otherwise opaque remote machines, CI runners, and NATed development boxes into temporary inspectable shells without requiring long-lived SSH accounts. For maintainers, that is useful when debugging build recipes, platform-specific failures, or user environments where sending a reproducible transcript is not enough.

Timeline

• 2019: GitHub repository created.
• 2020: Early releases published under the jingweno/upterm release name.
• 2020: WebSocket transport, Heroku uptermd deployment, and host/server validation appeared in release notes.
• 2025: Release notes added Windows support.
• 2026: Release notes added SFTP/SCP transfer and continued session workflow improvements.

Related projects

• The README explicitly compares a force-command tmux workflow to tmate. It also links action-upterm for GitHub Actions debugging and documents uptermd as the server component used by the client.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/owenthereal/upterm
• https://api.github.com/repos/owenthereal/upterm/releases
• https://github.com/owenthereal/upterm
• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/owenthereal/upterm/master/README.md
• https://upterm.dev/