The Chrome OS crosh terminal, or Chrome OS shell, is a command shell environment for Google’s operating system that most resembles Windows CMD. It allows users to run several commands that directly communicate with the core of the OS. Since it’s quite extensive and not generally for the average user, I won’t exactly what it is in detail here. Beebom has a full list of 40 useful crosh terminal commands on its website if you’re interested in learning more, but several of the most common ones – like testing your device’s memory and battery or starting and stopping the Linux terminal by force – can now be done directly via an app or interface option in Chrome OS. Today, we’ll be discussing something more directly related to the app itself and not so much its operation.
By enabling a new developer flag on Chrome OS Canary, the crosh terminal now joins other built-in apps in becoming SWAs – or system web apps. These special apps are basically progressive web apps that are able to operate as a part of the system and work offline. They don’t feel separate, per se, and there’s really no need to pull them up by typing in a website URL. Generally, the crosh terminal is pulled up by pressing “Ctrl + Alt + T”, and it appears as a Chrome tab in the web browser. With this new flag, it’s now opening in its own window as a part of Chrome OS – not the browser.
