Chapter 20 — Quick Reference (Cheat Sheet)

A single printable page. Every CLI flag, environment variable, file path, default port, and shortcut consolidated. The rest of the guide explains why; this chapter tells you what to type.

Tip: press Ctrl+P in your browser to print just this page. The tables below render cleanly to A4 / Letter.

Command-line flags

Pass these when you launch AidaIDE from a terminal.

Launch from a terminal so you can see startup errors. On Windows the executable is "C:\Program Files\AidaIDE\aidaide.exe"; on macOS/Linux the binary is aidaide.

Environment variables

Environment variables apply per shell session. To set them permanently: PowerShell profile ($PROFILE), bash ~/.bashrc, zsh ~/.zshrc, or System Properties → Environment Variables on Windows.

File and directory paths

All locations are under the AidaIDE user-data directory. On Windows this is %APPDATA%\AidaIDE\; on Linux/macOS it is ~/.aidaide/ (and ~/Library/Application Support/AidaIDE/ on macOS for some auxiliary data).

The user-data directory is not touched by the uninstaller. Back it up before reinstalling if you want to preserve state. See Ch. 18 §~/.aidaide/.

Default ports and endpoints

If a connection is failing, the most common single cause is the wrong port. AidaIDE has historically had a few callsites that hardcode 22 for SSH — see Ch. 2 §Ports and the port-22 trap.

Default keyboard shortcuts (full table)

A single consolidated table of every default binding. The same data is in Chapter 14 split by category; here it is one alphabetical lookup. Customise any of these via File → Keyboard Shortcuts… (Ctrl+K, Ctrl+S). On macOS substitute Cmd for Ctrl unless noted.

Command Palette prefixes:

• > filter to actions only (skip settings)
• @ jump to a symbol in the current editor file
• : jump to a line number in the current editor file

See Ch. 14 §Customising shortcuts for the full editor.

Top "how do I…?" — one-line answers

Platform-specific notes

Most of AidaIDE works identically across Windows, macOS, and Linux. The quirks that bite:

Windows

• Master password modifier keys: Ctrl, not Cmd. The Smart Login window respects the system IME — if typing into the password field shows nothing, swap input method with Win+Space.
• User-data path is %APPDATA%\AidaIDE\ (typically C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\AidaIDE\).
• Packet Capture needs Npcap installed in WinPcap-compatible mode. The first capture-tab open will prompt if missing.
• OpenSSH Server for local testing: Settings → Apps → Optional Features → Add → OpenSSH Server, then start the OpenSSH SSH Server service. Ch. 2 §SSH setup paths
• Private key file permissions: Windows OpenSSH checks them. Right-click key → Properties → Security → Advanced → Disable inheritance → remove all users except your own.
• Path separators in workspace JSONs are \\ (escaped). Hand-editing requires care.

macOS

• All Ctrl shortcuts above are Cmd on macOS. The Settings shortcut is Cmd+, (system convention).
• User-data path has two locations: ~/.aidaide/ for the bulk of state, and ~/Library/Application Support/AidaIDE/ for some auxiliary files.
• Packet Capture requires the bpf device to be readable by your user. Recent macOS releases ship ChmodBPF from the Wireshark installer; install Wireshark for the helper, then close it.
• Camera USB access: macOS will prompt for camera permission the first time the IDE accesses one. Accept; otherwise the feed stays black.
• Vault keychain integration is opt-in under Settings → Security → macOS Keychain — when enabled, your master password is also stored in the Keychain so the vault unlocks transparently per session.

Linux

• Ctrl+Alt+S may be eaten by your window manager (Cinnamon, KDE) for "screenshot." Re-bind in the shortcuts editor if so.
• Packet Capture needs cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin=eip on the Python interpreter: sudo setcap cap_net_raw,cap_net_admin=eip $(which python3). Or run AidaIDE with sudo (not recommended).
• Camera USB access needs your user in the video group: sudo usermod -aG video $USER then log out / back in.
• Wayland: Alt+Click multi-cursor depends on your compositor's modifier-key handling. Most distros work; some KDE configs do not. Use right-click → Add Cursor Here as a fallback.
• systemd integration under Sysadmin → Service Manager assumes a working systemctl — works on Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, RHEL, openSUSE, Arch. Alpine / Void / Gentoo may need OpenRC adapters.

Pricing tiers at a glance

Aida-lite is licensed per-device and lives on fleet members, separate from the desktop tier. See Ch. 17 §Buying a license for the current canonical list.

Recurring traps to be aware of

Engineering shorthand for bug classes that have shipped more than once. Mentioned across the guide; consolidated here so you can scan for symptoms:

• Port-22 hardcoded — non-22 SSH port mysteriously fails. Ch. 2 §Ports
• Silent SFTP-to-local fallback — remote save appears to succeed but the file did not change. Ch. 18 §Save did not persist
• UTF-8 mismatch — non-ASCII filenames or content show mojibake. Ch. 18 §Mojibake
• Fabricated demo data presented as real — Host Discovery, Service Detection, Threat Intel, certificate inventory. Ch. 18 §"Demo mode" vs real data
• HTML escape missed on exports — XSS in security reports. Ch. 18 §Security tools
• Hierarchy Builder shortcut label lies — Ctrl+Shift+H opens Hierarchy Builder despite some declarations naming it edit.replaceInFiles. Ch. 14 §Recurring binding traps
• Decrypt-failure-returns-empty-string — password field mysteriously blanks. Ch. 18 §A password field mysteriously goes blank

If you suspect a recurring trap, note it in your bug report — the engineering team will check the relevant tracker.

Where to go from here

• Forgot a term? → Chapter 19 — Glossary
• Need to find a UI label by name? → Keyword Index
• Something is broken? → Chapter 18 — Troubleshooting & FAQ
• Brand-new user? → Chapter 1 — Getting Started then Chapter 2 — SSH Devices
• Master of everything? → File feedback via Help → Report a Bug — the dialog accepts documentation suggestions too.