Install on Windows

1. Node.js 22 or later

Check what you have, and get it from nodejs.org or winget if you do not:

node -v
# need v22 or newer?
winget install OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS

Most machines take amd64; Windows on ARM — a Surface with a Snapdragon chip, for instance — takes arm64. npm picks the right one for you, so there is nothing to choose here.

2. Install TermLink

npm install -g @termlink/cli

This puts a termlink command on your PATH. Because npm installed it rather than a browser, Windows does not mark it as downloaded from the internet — there is no “Windows protected your PC” dialog to get past.

Had TermLink on this machine before September 13, 2026? That was a downloaded .exe rather than an npm package, and it has no start command. This install does not delete it, so run where.exe termlink afterwards and remove the old file if it still comes first on your PATH.

3. Sign in and share a terminal

termlink login     # opens Google sign-in
cd ~/work          # sessions can only open inside this folder
termlink start     # run the host here — or just: termlink
termlink whoami    # which account am I on?

The cd line is doing real work. The folder you start the host in is the boundary: a session can only open inside it, and nothing above it is reachable. Which folder underneath it a session opens in is something you pick in the web client, and --allow-root adds a second folder if you want one.

termlink start offers terminal, Claude, and Codex sessions by default; you pick which one to open from the web client, not by typing anything else here. The full option list is in the CLI reference.

Leave that window open. TermLink is not a background service, so closing the terminal takes the machine offline.

4. The Esc key, and why the host uses cmd.exe

This is the one Windows-specific thing worth knowing before you start. PowerShell's PSReadLine swallows the Esc key, which terminal UIs — Claude Code included — rely on. So the TermLink host uses cmd.exe by default.

If you change the shell, or run the agent inside PowerShell yourself, Esc stops reaching the application and menus become hard to escape from. The reasoning, and what else differs on Windows, is in running Claude Code on Windows.

Keeping it current

Run the install command again — npm replaces the old version in place, no download or SmartScreen prompt repeated:

npm install -g @termlink/cli