Layouts and Session Restore
Use Layout Manager to save a tab arrangement and return to it later. Loading a layout changes what is visible while the current shells and programs keep running in the background.
Save and Manage Layouts
Click Manage Layouts in the tab strip to open Layout Manager, then choose Save Current Layout. Enter a Layout Name: and, if useful, a Description (optional):. Choose the scope before clicking Save:
| Scope | What It Saves |
|---|---|
| Whole workspace (N tabs) | The window's workspace, including its tabs and pane layouts. |
| Only this tab ("…") | One tab and its pane layout. Loading it changes the saved target tab rather than replacing the whole workspace. |
Saved entries identify their scope as Workspace / N tabs or Tab / ….
| Action | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Load | Apply the saved arrangement. |
| Update | Capture the current state into the saved entry. The confirmation lets you choose workspace or tab scope again. |
| Rename | Edit the layout's name and optional description. |
| Delete | Remove the saved entry after confirming Delete Layout. |
If an update would save a different tab from the one the entry previously held, the confirmation warns that it will re-point the layout at that tab.
Unsaved Changes and Undo
Before loading a workspace layout, TermFlow checks whether the current workspace has unsaved changes. The Unsaved changes dialog offers Save current layout..., Switch anyway, or Cancel. Saving the whole workspace continues the pending switch. Saving only one tab returns you to the decision, because it has not saved the rest of the workspace.
A tab-scoped load skips this workspace confirmation. Both scopes keep a single previous-workspace snapshot for undo. After a successful switch, click Undo in the toast, or open the manager and click Revert. A later switch replaces that undo snapshot.
The manager says Your processes keep running. Switching layouts does not terminate the shells, agent CLIs, or long-running commands in the previous layout.
Bring Back Hidden Agent Terminals
Choose Restore Running CLIs in the manager, or click the title-bar badge that reports running agents missing from the current layout. The title-bar action asks you to confirm with Bring back.
Each recovered agent gets an attached tab using its existing terminal. Nothing restarts. If an agent has exited before the action completes, TermFlow reports that it is no longer running. The manager disables the restore action when every running agent CLI is already visible.
What Comes Back After Restart
Session restore is enabled by default unless restoreLastSession is explicitly false in the config file. It brings back saved tabs and pane layouts, retained terminal scrollback, and registered windows. Windows recover their position, size, maximized state, and which window was focused. Restoration covers multiple windows, with a separate saved session for each window.
The app saves session state every 30 seconds and flushes it during graceful shutdown. Terminal history also flushes every 30 seconds and on graceful exit. The screen parser retains up to 5,000 lines of scrollback; restored output is separated from the fresh session by ──── session restored ────.
An honest note: Saved session state older than 24 hours is discarded. A crash can lose changes or output since the last save.
A full restart starts fresh shell processes. It does not resume the programs that were running inside them. Elevation is not restored for admin tabs. An Offload can instead reconnect to surviving terminals; see Updates for that separate behavior.