VM Environment

This page provides a complete reference of the software, configuration, and services running on your MoltShell VM.

Operating system

Property	Value
OS	Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
Kernel	Linux (GCP e2-medium)
Architecture	x86_64
User	moltshell
Home	/home/moltshell
Shell	bash
Sudo	passwordless

Pre-installed packages

Development tools

Package	Version	Notes
Node.js	22 (LTS)	Installed via NodeSource
npm	Bundled with Node.js
Python 3	System default	Ubuntu 22.04 ships Python 3.10
pip	System default	pip install or pip3 install
git	System default
build-essential	System default	gcc, g++, make
curl	System default
wget	System default

System services

Service	Purpose
moltshell-terminal	Terminal server (Express + WebSocket on port 3001)
nginx	Reverse proxy (port 80 to port 3001)
moltshell-watchdog.timer	Memory watchdog (runs every 30 seconds)

Runtime details

Property	Value
Terminal server	Express + ws, running via tsx
Terminal multiplexer	tmux
tmux session prefix	sandbox-
Default session	sandbox-default
tmux mouse mode	Enabled globally
tmux scrollback	5000 lines
tmux clipboard	OSC 52 enabled (set-clipboard on)

Directory structure

/home/moltshell/           # Your home directory (workspace)
/home/moltshell/.moltshell/ # Layout persistence
/opt/sandboxterminal/       # Terminal server code
/opt/moltshell/             # Management scripts

Do not modify files in /opt/sandboxterminal/ or /opt/moltshell/. These are managed by the MoltShell system and may be overwritten during updates.

Environment variables

The default shell environment includes:

Variable	Value
HOME	/home/moltshell
USER	moltshell
SHELL	/bin/bash
TERM	xterm-256color
COLORTERM	truecolor
PATH	Standard Ubuntu paths + Node.js

Shell configuration

The .bashrc provides:

• Colored prompt with hostname
• Common aliases (ll, la, etc.)
• Colored ls and grep output

You can customize .bashrc and .profile freely. Changes persist across sessions and VM suspends.

Networking

Property	Value
Firewall	GCP firewall, Cloudflare IPs only
Outbound	Unrestricted (apt, npm, pip, curl all work)
Inbound	Port 80 (nginx) from Cloudflare only
Internal	All ports accessible via localhost
Port forwarding	Ports 1024-65535 via /preview/:port/

Self-updating

The terminal server automatically checks for updates on GitHub when a new WebSocket connection is made (throttled to every 5 minutes). If a new version is available, the server downloads it, installs dependencies, and restarts. This process is transparent -- your tmux sessions are not affected.