# Terminal and Project scripts

Source: https://cohalen.com/docs/terminal



The **Terminal** is the bottom panel of a workspace, and it stays with you across
Chat, Review, and Checks. Its tabs hold three kinds of thing:

* interactive shells you type into, for a quick `git` or `npm test` in the worktree
* the streamed output of the managed project scripts
* a read-only activity feed

## Project scripts [#project-scripts]

Project scripts are per-repository commands that give every workspace the same
workflow. There are three kinds:

* **Setup** runs once, on a workspace's first turn: install dependencies, generate
  files. Its output streams inline in the chat, so the first reply and the
  environment coming up read as one sequence.
* **Run** is the long-running process, your app, server, or watcher, started by the
  Run button. It comes with a stop control and the workspace's preview port.
* **Archive** runs before a workspace is archived, for cleanup that lives outside
  the worktree.

Each workspace gets its own block of ports, so parallel run scripts never fight
over one address.

Scripts live in the repository's committed `.cohalen/settings.toml`, which every
worktree checks out. That makes the workflow a team asset: a teammate launching a
workspace on the same repository gets the same setup and run.

<Files>
  <Folder name=".cohalen">
    <File name="settings.toml" />

    <File name="settings.local.toml" />
  </Folder>
</Files>

The second file is yours: uncommitted, per repository, and it overrides the first.
A workspace can also carry its own edits to either in its worktree, which apply to
it alone.

The two files take the same shape. The three scripts live under `[scripts]`, and
`merge_strategy` sits at the top level:

| Key              | Value                          | Default  |
| ---------------- | ------------------------------ | -------- |
| `setup`          | a shell command                | none     |
| `run`            | a shell command                | none     |
| `archive`        | a shell command                | none     |
| `merge_strategy` | `squash`, `rebase`, or `merge` | `squash` |

## Where a setting comes from [#where-a-setting-comes-from]

Settings resolve through fixed layers, each one overriding the one below it, key by
key:

1. Built-in defaults
2. User config, global to your machine
3. The repository's committed `.cohalen/settings.toml`, shared with the team
4. `.cohalen/settings.local.toml`, an uncommitted personal per-repo override
5. Cohalen's own config kept outside any worktree (the
   [sandbox profile](/docs/sandbox) lives here)

**Settings** shows each value next to where it came from, so "this is the default"
and "the repo overrides this" stay apart. Secrets never ride a layer. API keys live
in the OS keychain and nowhere else.