Output and Display

Your output is captured with full color support, clickable URLs, and real-time stats, all in a scrollable, searchable buffer.

Output Buffer

Command Book captures all output from your commands in a configurable ring buffer.

Buffer Size by Edition

The full edition lets you configure the buffer size in Settings → General. Larger buffers use more memory. With multiple active processes, expect ~100-300 MB total memory usage depending on your buffer size settings.

Note: Command output is not persisted across restarts of Command Book, but is kept across multiple launches of the same command within a session.

Searching Output

Press ⌘F to open the search bar for the selected command's output.

Search Features

• Case-sensitive or case-insensitive matching
• Regular expression support for advanced pattern matching
• Navigate matches with ⌘G (next) and ⌘⇧G (previous)
• Match count display showing current position

Search is per-command, not across all commands simultaneously.

Copying and Clearing

Copying Text

• Select and copy: Select text with your mouse, then ⌘C
• Right-click menu: Right-click and choose Copy
• Copy all: Right-click and select Copy All to copy the entire output buffer

Clearing Output

Right-click in the output area and select Clear. This clears the visible buffer but doesn't affect the running process.

ANSI Color Support

Command Book supports full ANSI color output:

• Standard 8 colors (black, red, green, yellow, blue, magenta, cyan, white)
• Bright 8 colors (bright variants of the standard colors)
• 256-color palette (extended terminal colors)
• 24-bit true color (16 million colors)
• Text styling: bold, dim, italic, underline, strikethrough

Forcing Color Output

Some command-line tools disable colors when they detect they're not running in a real terminal. Command Book sets these environment variables to encourage color output:

• FORCE_COLOR=1
• CLICOLOR_FORCE=1
• COLORTERM=truecolor

Not all tools respect these. Check your tool's documentation for forcing color output.

Full-Screen Programs

Some programs use cursor positioning for full-screen interfaces (like htop, vim, or less). These work best in a terminal, while Command Book excels at streaming output, server logs, build output, and process monitoring.

These more advanced apps can be managed in Command Book and run via "Run in [Default Terminal]". It may also be better to just run them in your regular, full terminal.

Clickable URLs

Command Book automatically detects URLs in output:

• Supported protocols: http://, https://, file://
• Click to open: URLs open in your default browser
• Visual indicator: Hover shows a pointing hand cursor

URL Collection

Detected URLs are also collected at the top of each command window (up to 5 most recent). This lets you easily access them even after the output containing the URLs has scrolled past.

For applications with significant output, this is a major convienence. Often times, we need to launch a browser to connect to this app. But the port/link has scroll 1,000 lines up. Ugh. That's why Command Book captures and shows these links in a dedicated UI at the top of the command output window. Connecting to your app is always in reach.

Memory Usage Display

Each command displays real-time statistics at the bottom of the command window:

• Memory usage: Updated every 2 seconds via proc_pid_rusage
• Duration: How long the process has been running (formatted as H:MM:SS or MM:SS)
• Start time: When the process started

The sidebar header also shows total memory usage across all running processes ("X proc, Y GB").

Note: If memory shows 0 bytes, the first reading may not have occurred yet (updates every 2 seconds). If it persists, the process may have already exited.