Getting Started

1. Double-click Aster.app. Aster restores the previous workspace; on first launch it starts a login Shell in your home directory. Before starting the Shell, each restored terminal Pane prints dim timestamp banners: Exited at MM/dd HH:mm (when the last snapshot was saved, usually at exit) and Restored at MM/dd HH:mm. Output after them belongs to the current session. Snapshots from older versions have no exit time and show only the restore line.
2. Click the terminal and type commands directly; there is no separate input field.
3. Press ⌘T for a new tab, ⌘D to split right, or ⇧⌘D to split down. The View menu contains all split commands.
4. By default, ⇧⌘P opens the command palette to search the main actions. With the terminal focused, ⌘K clears its screen. Customize the command-palette shortcut in Settings → Shortcuts.

Multiple Windows, Pinning, and Picture in Picture

• ⌘N opens an independent window with its own workspaces, tabs, splits, and restore snapshot (see Named Workspaces for workspaces within a window). Normal app exit restores additional windows that were still open. Windows you explicitly closed do not reopen on the next launch.
• Drag a vertical or horizontal tab to another Aster window to move it. Drop outside all windows to create a new window; drop on a Pane in the current window to merge it into the current tab (see Drag a Tab into a Pane). Running PTYs, scrollback, editor drafts, and Agent status are preserved.
• View → Pin Window toggles whether the current workspace stays on top. The separate Settings window does not change pinning.
• View → Picture in Picture opens system Picture in Picture, either fixed to the current terminal Pane or following the active Pane in the same workspace. The original terminal remains usable; resizing the floating window does not reflow it. Choose the same mode again or use the system close button to exit. Pause freezes the mirror, not the command. Non-terminal Panes are not supported yet.
• To type into the floating window, set Settings → General → Picture in Picture → Picture in Picture Style to Interactive Window. Selecting Current Pane then moves the terminal itself into an always-on-top window, supporting typing, IMEs, and full-screen programs such as Vim across Spaces and full-screen apps. Its original position shows a placeholder. Close the small window, press ⌘W there, choose Return to Workspace, or select Current Pane again to return the terminal without ending the Shell. The terminal reflows to the smaller window; position and size are remembered. Follow Active Pane always uses system Picture in Picture.