Appendix: Terminal Quick Reference

The Problem

You're in the terminal, and something isn't working. Maybe a command is stuck. Maybe you typed something wrong and want to start over. Maybe you're not sure which folder you're in.

This reference helps you recover from common situations and navigate with confidence.

The Key Idea

Core concept

The terminal remembers your history and helps you avoid retyping. A few keyboard shortcuts let you work faster and recover from mistakes.

Choosing a Terminal App

Your computer comes with a built-in terminal, but better options exist:

macOS:

• Built-in Terminal — Works fine to start
• iTerm2 — More features, split panes, better search
• Ghostty — Fast, modern, GPU-accelerated

Windows:

• WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux) — Run a real Linux environment inside Windows. Recommended for the best compatibility with tdx and developer tools.

Linux:

• Most distributions include excellent terminals by default

When Things Go Wrong

These three shortcuts handle most "I'm stuck" situations:

Shortcut	When to Use It
ctrl + c	Something is running and you want to stop it
ctrl + k	Clear everything from cursor to end of line
ctrl + l	The screen is cluttered and you want a fresh view
up arrow	You want to repeat or edit your last command

Editing Commands

Mistyped something? These shortcuts let you fix it without retyping:

Shortcut	What It Does
ctrl + a	Jump to the beginning of the line
ctrl + e	Jump to the end of the line
ctrl + w	Delete the last word you typed
ctrl + u	Clear everything you've typed

Finding Things

Shortcut	What It Does
tab	Auto-complete a filename (type first few letters, then press tab)
ctrl + r	Search your command history (start typing to find past commands)

Where Am I? What's Here?

When you're disoriented, these commands help:

Command	What It Tells You
pwd	Your current location (which folder you're in)
ls	What files and folders are here
ls -la	Same, but with more detail (size, dates, hidden files)

Moving Around

Command	Where It Takes You
cd foldername	Into a folder
cd ..	Up one level (to the parent folder)
cd ~	Back to your home directory

Looking at Files

Command	What It Does
cat filename	Show the entire file contents
less filename	View a long file (use arrow keys to scroll, q to quit)

Working with Files

Command	What It Does	Example
cp	Copy a file	cp segment.yml backup.yml
mv	Move or rename a file	mv draft.yml final.yml
rm	Delete a file	rm old-segment.yml
mkdir	Create a new folder	mkdir segments

Searching

Command	What It Does	Example
grep	Find text inside files	grep "high-value" *.yml

Getting Help

Any command will explain itself:

tdx --help           # See all tdx commands
tdx sg --help        # See segment commands
tdx journey --help   # See journey commands

Common tdx Commands

For full details, see the Commands Reference.

Command	What It Does
tdx sg pull	Download segments from server
tdx sg push	Upload your changes
tdx sg validate	Check your YAML before pushing
tdx journey pull	Download journeys from server
tdx journey push	Upload journey changes
tdx claude	Start AI assistant

What You've Learned

You now have a reference for recovering from common terminal situations. You don't need to memorize these—bookmark this page and return when you need it.

The terminal becomes familiar with practice. Each time you use tab to auto-complete or up arrow to recall a command, you're building muscle memory that makes the next task faster.