Which serial adapters work with Tempest?

Any adapter your OS recognizes — FTDI, CP210x, CH340, and friends — on Windows (COM ports), macOS, and Linux (tty devices).

Can it replace PuTTY or minicom for switch consoles?

Yes — that's a core use case: saved port profiles, correct menu rendering, scrollback, and logging, without the single-window austerity.

Does it support Zmodem transfers over serial?

Yes — send and receive files over the serial line for firmware updates and config backups.

Is serial in the free plan?

Serial is a Pro feature; the free plan covers SSH, Mosh, SFTP, FTP, S3, and WebDAV. Pro adds serial, Telnet, RDP, VNC, RCON, and Kubernetes.

Can I log a serial session?

Scrollback is searchable and copyable, and team plans add session recordings for auditable console work.

Serial terminal

A serial console that isn't stuck in 1995

Console cables didn't go away — the software around them just stagnated. Tempest opens USB and RS-232 serial sessions in the same modern grid as your SSH tabs: saved baud-rate profiles, a real VT emulator that renders menus properly, and logs you can actually scroll.

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Windows, macOS & Linux. Same app handles SSH, RDP, and more.

Plug in, connect

Port profiles instead of parameter roulette

Save the baud rate, data bits, parity, and flow control per device — the Cisco console, the OpenWrt board, the 3D printer — and reconnect in one click.

USB serial adapters and native COM/tty ports. Serial port guide

Common presets (9600/115200 8N1) one tap away.

Profiles sync encrypted across your machines like SSH hosts.

Real emulation

TUI menus and boot logs render correctly

Switch config menus, U-Boot prompts, kernel consoles — a VT-compliant emulator with scrollback, search, and copy that behaves like a modern terminal.

Full scrollback through boot output — no lost panic messages.

Zmodem file transfer over serial for firmware and configs.

Split-screen the serial console next to the SSH session or the vendor docs. Split screens

One toolbox

The rack's whole stack in one app

The typical rack visit needs serial for the switch, SSH for the servers, maybe RDP for the Windows box. That used to be three apps on a laptop balanced on a crash cart.

Serial, SSH, Telnet, RDP, VNC, and SFTP in one grid.

Telnet for the gear that still speaks it. Telnet guide

AI assistant to decode cryptic bootloader errors on the spot. AI assistant docs

Serial, SSH, and RDP sessions together in Tempest

Frequently asked questions

Which serial adapters work with Tempest?: Any adapter your OS recognizes — FTDI, CP210x, CH340, and friends — on Windows (COM ports), macOS, and Linux (tty devices).
Can it replace PuTTY or minicom for switch consoles?: Yes — that's a core use case: saved port profiles, correct menu rendering, scrollback, and logging, without the single-window austerity.
Does it support Zmodem transfers over serial?: Yes — send and receive files over the serial line for firmware updates and config backups.
Is serial in the free plan?: Serial is a Pro feature; the free plan covers SSH, Mosh, SFTP, FTP, S3, and WebDAV. Pro adds serial, Telnet, RDP, VNC, RCON, and Kubernetes.
Can I log a serial session?: Scrollback is searchable and copyable, and team plans add session recordings for auditable console work.

Keep exploring

Telnet client SSH client for Windows MobaXterm alternative PuTTY alternative

From console cable to cluster, one terminal.

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