NetStacksNetStacks
Contact SalesDownload

Image Paste & Drop

Paste or drop a screenshot into a terminal and NetStacks saves it as a PNG and types the file path, ready for Claude Code or a shell command.

Overview

When you paste an image into a NetStacks terminal tab, NetStacks converts it to PNG, saves it as a file, and types the file's path into the terminal (followed by a space, without pressing Enter). A message confirms Screenshot saved to <path>.

This is mainly for AI coding tools such as Claude Code, which accept an image path in their prompt. In a plain shell, the path is ready to use in a command.

Pasting works in the standalone desktop app, in enterprise mode and in the web terminal. Dropping image files from your desktop works in the desktop app.

Paste or Drop an Image

  1. Copy an image to the clipboard (for example with your OS screenshot tool's copy-to-clipboard option).
  2. Click in the terminal tab where you want the image.
  3. Press Cmd/Ctrl+V. Or drag an image file from Finder or File Explorer onto the terminal. Supported files: PNG, JPG/JPEG, GIF, BMP, WebP and TIFF.
  4. The path appears at the prompt. Add the rest of your message or command and press Enter.

Where Images Are Saved

Terminal tabSaved to
Local shell inside a workspace<workspace>/.netstacks/screenshots/<n>.png (on the server, for a remote workspace)
Local shell outside a workspace/tmp/netstacks-screenshots/<n>.png on your computer
SSH or Telnet session (including enterprise sessions)/tmp/netstacks-screenshots/<n>.png on the remote host

Files are numbered 1.png, 2.png and so on.

For SSH and Telnet sessions, NetStacks sends the image through the session itself: it turns off echo and runs a printf … | base64 -d command that writes the file on the remote host.

Only paste images into Linux/Unix shells
Because the image is written with shell commands, the remote side must be a POSIX shell with base64 available (a Linux server, for example). Don't paste images into a session on a router or switch CLI: the device will receive a long command it can't run.

Using Images with AI Coding Tools

In a workspace with Claude Code (or another tool that reads image paths) running in the terminal panel:

  1. Take a screenshot of what you want the tool to see, such as a topology diagram, an error dialog or a monitoring graph.
  2. Click in the AI tool's terminal tab and paste.
  3. Type your question after the path, for example "which interface in this graph is dropping packets?", and press Enter.

See AI Coding Tools.

Notes and Limits

  • .netstacks/screenshots/ is emptied every time the workspace opens. Copy any image you want to keep somewhere else.
  • NetStacks adds .netstacks/ to the workspace's .gitignore, so pasted screenshots are not committed.
  • Images saved to /tmp are not cleaned up by NetStacks; the operating system may remove them later.
  • Images are not sent anywhere else. They only reach an AI provider if the tool you pasted them into sends them.