Bookmarks First in Electerm: Why SSH/Telnet/VNC Need a Saved Bookmark, and When Quick Connect Is Enough

New users hit the same confusion: they open a local terminal tab in electerm, type telnet 192.168.1.1 or ssh user@server, and then ask why there is no password manager, no SFTP panel, no tunnel, no session keep-alive. Answer: that was not an electerm session at all — it was just the telnet / ssh CLI binary running inside a local pty. Electerm could not see the connection, so none of its features applied.

The rule is simple:

In electerm, features live on bookmarks. Save a bookmark to connect. No save, no features — unless you use Quick Connect.

This post explains the bookmark-first model, what you unlock per connection type, and the no-save escape hatch.

1. The mental model: bookmark = connection + all its features

Every connection in electerm starts as a bookmark: a saved record with a type (ssh, telnet, serial, vnc, rdp, spice, ftp, web, local), an address, credentials, and every feature toggle for that session.

Create one from the sidebar → New bookmark, pick the type, fill host/port/auth, save, double-click to connect. That is the whole workflow.

What lives on the bookmark depends on the type:

Type	Address fields	Features that attach to the bookmark
ssh	host, port (22), username, password / key / cert	ssh-agent, profiles, hopping (jump hosts), proxy-command / NetBird, tunnels (-L/-R/-D), SFTP + terminal-SFTP split view, X11, quick commands, triggers, keep-alive, run scripts, batch input
telnet	host, port (23), username, password, login/password prompts	charset, quick commands, triggers, run scripts, keep-alive, batch input
serial	path, baudRate (9600), data bits / parity / flow control	line-ending conversion, close sequence, triggers
vnc / rdp / spice	host, port, username, password	view/scale/quality options, shared mode
ftp	host, port (21), user, password, encoding	SFTP-style file panel over FTP
web	url	embedded browser tab, synced with the session set
local	start directory	local pty with themes, triggers, quick commands

No bookmark, no place to store any of that. That is by design: bookmarks are what get encrypted in the OS keychain store, synced via WebDAV / cloud sync, backed up, shared via electerm:// deep links, and generated by AI / MCP.

Base references: SSH features, SSH tunnels, Terminal triggers, Quick commands, Password management, Data sync.

2. The classic mistake: running telnet / ssh inside a local terminal

Electerm ships a perfectly good local terminal tab (node-pty on your own machine). It is tempting to use it like any terminal emulator:

telnet 192.168.1.100
ssh root@192.168.1.100 -p 2222

That works — the CLI runs — but electerm now sees only an opaque local shell. Concretely you lose:

• saved credentials, password-manager autofill, keychain encryption
• SFTP / file panel, trzsz transfer integration, path-follow-terminal
• tunnels, connection hopping, proxy-command, NetBird detection
• triggers, quick commands, run-after-connect scripts
• keep-alive, auto-reconnect, workspace restore
• per-host charset (encode / envLang), terminal type, proxy field
• history search, batch operations, server-info dashboard

If something "does not work in electerm" but works when you type the same command in Terminal.app, check first: did you actually create an electerm bookmark, or did you just run the CLI in a local tab? Nine times out of ten it is the latter.

Rule of thumb: local tab is for your laptop; bookmark tabs are for everything else.

3. Save a bookmark in 30 seconds

1. Sidebar → bookmarks → New (or + → bookmarks tab).
2. Pick type: ssh for servers, telnet for switches / legacy gear, serial for console cables, vnc / rdp for desktops, ftp for file-only hosts.
3. Fill host, port, username, password (or key/cert for ssh). Give it a title and a category/color while you are there.
4. Optional but worth it: enable SFTP (ssh), set charset for CJK servers, add one quick command, tune keep-alive.
5. Save → double-click → connect. From now on every reconnect, every sync target, every AI/MCP tool sees the same bookmark.

Telnet tip: legacy devices disagree on prompts. If auto-login stalls, set the bookmark's login prompt / password prompt regex (defaults look like /login[: ]*$/i and /password[: ]*$/i) to match what your device actually prints.

Serial tip: pick the device path, set baudRate (9600 is the default, 115200 is common), and check TX/RX line endings if output looks doubled or glued together.

4. Don't want to save? Use Quick Connect

Sometimes a host is truly a one-off — a client's box you will never see again, a quick look at a VM. You still should not use the local-tab CLI hack. Use Quick Connect instead: it opens a real electerm session (correct protocol handler, correct defaults) without writing a bookmark to the database.

Where to find it:

• the + (new tab) menu — top input row, bolt icon;
• the empty-state page when no tab is open;
• the sidebar bolt icon (quick-connect popup).

Type a connection string, press Enter, you are in. Nothing is saved (though the address lands in History like a browser).

Supported formats (full spec: Quick Connect wiki):

user@host
user@host:22
192.168.1.100
192.168.1.100:2222
ssh://user:password@host:22
telnet://user:password@192.168.1.100:23
vnc://user@192.168.1.100:5900
rdp://admin@192.168.1.100:3389
serial:///dev/tty.usbserial?baudRate=115200
ftp://user:password@host:21
https://192.168.1.1:8443
electerm://user@host:22?type=ssh
electerm://192.168.1.100?type=telnet

Advanced: append ?title=core-switch&opts={"term":"xterm-256color"} to set extra bookmark fields inline for that session only. electerm:// links do the same thing from outside the app — click one and electerm opens the session directly.

Defaults are sensible per protocol (ssh 22, telnet 23, vnc/spice 5900, rdp 3389, ftp 21, serial 9600-8N1), so short strings just work.

5. Bookmark vs Quick Connect vs local CLI, side by side

	Saved bookmark	Quick Connect	ssh / telnet typed in local tab
Saves to database	Yes	No (history only)	No
Real electerm session	Yes	Yes	No — plain CLI in pty
Credentials / keys / certs	Saved, encrypted	Typed inline per connect	Manual every time
SFTP, tunnels, hopping, proxy	Yes	Session-only (no persistence)	No
Triggers, quick commands, scripts	Saved on bookmark	Defaults only	No
Sync / backup / AI / deep links	Yes	No	No
Best for	Anything you touch twice	Genuine one-offs	Local shell work only

Cheat-sheet

• If you typed telnet or ssh into a local tab, you bypassed electerm. Create a bookmark with the matching type instead.
• Bookmark type decides the handler: ssh → terminal+SFTP+tunnels, telnet → terminal with login prompts, serial → COM port, vnc/rdp → desktop, ftp/web → files/browser.
• One-off host you will never revisit? Quick Connect (user@host, telnet://…, electerm://…?type=…) — real session, nothing saved.
• Touch it twice → save it. Bookmarks are what get encrypted, synced, backed up, and automated.

Next: SSH in Electerm for everything a saved ssh bookmark unlocks, or Password Management for how those saved secrets are stored.