A 100% native SSH client for Windows, Linux and macOS. No webviews,
no Electron and no Tauri: the interface is built with
GPUI (Zed's GPU-accelerated UI framework) and
gpui-component, and the terminal
uses alacritty_terminal for
VT/xterm emulation, painted directly with GPUI.
Source: https://github.com/TermoakSSH/desktop
Split view with four SSH terminals and broadcast input on: what you type goes
to every pane with the antenna lit (here, all but the log tail on
monitoring).
 Hosts by group, with tags, a favorite and the detected system. |
 The host editor: address first, credentials, group, tags and color. |
 Right click on a host: connect, split view, SFTP, favorites, move to group. |
 Settings: where the AI runs, with your own API keys or a local agent. |
 The light theme. |
- Hosts as cards grouped by group, with search, favorites, tags and the operating system detected on connect, with its version ("Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS"). A click opens the editor; a double click connects. Groups provide a default user and port to their hosts.
- Host menu (right click, the "…" button, or Shift+F10 / the menu key on
the focused card): Connect, Connect in split view, Connect on the server,
Open SFTP, Edit, Duplicate, Copy address (
user@host:port), favorite, Move to group and Delete. On a group header: Connect to all (one tab per host) and Open all in split view. - Several hosts at once: Cmd/Ctrl+click and Shift+click select hosts (Cmd/Ctrl+A selects all, Esc clears, arrows move, Enter connects); a bar connects them in tabs or in a split view, moves them to a group or deletes them.
- Host editor (side panel): the address first, then the label (the address if empty), group, tags and color; user, port and credentials (password, key, identity) with a Connect button at the top; and an Advanced section with ProxyJump hops, proxy, agent forwarding, keep-alive, startup snippet, environment variables, recording, terminal type and terminal theme. Errors show under each field; Enter saves and Ctrl+Enter (⌘↩) saves and connects.
- Import
~/.ssh/config("Import" in Hosts): a preview of what will happen (new hosts, skipped ones and why, ProxyJump hops, new and reused keys, port forwards and warnings), optionally into a group and as "this device only". It can be repeated: what already exists is skipped. - Tabs in the title bar: terminals and SFTP browsers. Drag a tab to reorder it (or Ctrl+Shift+PageUp / PageDown). Right click on a tab: Rename, Duplicate session, Move to the split view of another tab, Move left / right, Close and Close others.
- Split view: several terminals in one tab, in a grid that adapts to the number (2 side by side, 4 as 2 × 2... up to 16). Drag a tab onto a side of the terminal in view to put them side by side (the side lights up while dragging); drag a pane by its name to another place of the grid, or to the tab bar to give it a tab of its own again (View → Move pane to a new tab). Click a pane to focus it, move between panes with Cmd+Option+arrows (Ctrl+Alt+arrows), close one, or use focus mode (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+M: the focused pane big and the others small).
- Broadcast input in a split view (Cmd+B, Ctrl+Alt+B elsewhere, or the Broadcast button): what you type or paste in the focused pane goes to every pane, each encoded for its own terminal mode. The included panes have an orange border and a lit antenna (click it to leave a pane out), and a banner says "Broadcasting to N terminals". "Send snippet" can run a snippet in all the panes.
- Terminal: colors (16, 256 and true color), bold, italic, underline, wide characters and emoji, cursor, scrollback with the mouse wheel, mouse selection (double click = word, triple = line), copy and paste (with bracketed paste), find in the screen and history (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+F), clear (Cmd+K, Ctrl+Shift+K), automatic resizing and the remote program's title.
- Copy and paste options (Settings): plain Ctrl+V pasting (off by default on Windows and Linux, where Ctrl+V is a control character), what the right button does (menu with Copy, Paste, Select all, Clear, Find…; paste like PuTTY; or copy the selection and paste otherwise), copy on select, and a confirmation before pasting several lines (skipped when the program uses bracketed paste).
- Menus: the macOS menu bar (Termoak, File, Edit, View, Terminal, Window, Help) and, on Windows and Linux, the same menus behind the ☰ button of the title bar. Help → Keyboard shortcuts lists them all. On macOS, the Dock icon's menu has New local terminal, Quick connect, New window, Hosts and Server sessions; closing the last window hides the app (its tabs and connections stay) and the Dock icon brings it back (Cmd+Q quits). Authentication prompts in dialogs: fingerprint of new hosts, passwords, passphrases and 2FA (keyboard-interactive).
- Command autocompletion in SSH and local terminals: while you type, the
best suggestion (the host's history, one-line snippets and common commands
of its system:
apt,dnf,brew...) appears dimmed after the cursor and, if there are several, in a list. Tab or → accepts it and Alt+↑/↓ picks another; with no suggestion, Tab completes in the shell as usual. It suggests nothing inside vim, less... or in prompts without echo (passwords), and each host's history is only kept on this device. It can be turned off in Settings. - International keyboard: dead keys (´ ¨ ^ ` ~), AltGr, compose sequences and IME (Chinese, Japanese, Korean...); text being composed is shown underlined at the cursor until confirmed.
- Mouse in programs: if the program asks for it (vim with
mouse=a, htop, tmux, mc...), clicks, drags, the wheel and modifiers are sent to it (SGR, UTF-8 and X10 encodings). Hold Shift to select text as usual. In full-screen programs without mouse support (less, man) the wheel sends arrow keys, like xterm. - Local terminal: a shell of this computer in a tab (Ctrl+Shift+T, or
"Local terminal" in the Ctrl+T picker):
$SHELLas a login shell on Linux and macOS; PowerShell 7, Windows PowerShell or%COMSPEC%with ConPTY on Windows. If the shell exits, the tab shows the exit code and offers to reopen it; closing the tab closes the shell. - Serial port: open a serial port (USB-serial adapter, router console, a board...) as a terminal, picking a detected port or typing its path, and the speed (8N1).
- Run on the server: signed in to a Termoak server, any host can be opened "on the server": the terminal lives there and stays open even if you close the app. Server sessions lets you get back into them and into the ones others share with you. On start, running server sessions show up as sleeping tabs that attach when clicked; a green dot in the sidebar counts them, and the Home notice about them can be closed (it comes back when another one starts).
- Session sharing: a local terminal is shared through the server (invite
by email, share with one of your teams, or create a link for guests
without an account); server sessions too, from their tab or from Server
sessions. Everyone joins read only and one person types at a time: each
share says whether guests may ask for the keyboard, when it expires,
whether you let people in yourself and whether the keyboard is handed over
without asking (and for how long at most); shares can be changed live or
revoked. The tab shows who is in and who drives, with your requests to
answer (also as a toast when the tab is not in view), and lets you give
the keyboard until you take it back or for 5 to 60 minutes (with a
countdown next to the driver), take it back, kick or block. Activity
in Server sessions shows who typed and when in a recorded session.
Guests see a waiting room, ask for and give back the keyboard, and get a
clear message when they are sent away. Join with link (or a
termoak://joinlink opened from the browser) joins as a guest, no account needed. - Teams (needs a server): yours with your role and their members; create, rename and delete teams, add members by email, change their role (member, admin, owner), remove them and leave. Only what your role allows is offered.
- Administration (server administrators only): users (create, enable or
disable, grant or remove administrator, change the password, remove
two-step verification, list and revoke devices), invitations (create with
email, team, administrator role and expiry; the code, the
termoak://link and its QR are shown only once; revoke) and the paginated audit log. - SFTP in two panes (this computer ↔ server): browse, upload and download files with progress, create folders, rename and delete. From a terminal, the "SFTP" button reuses its connection.
- Keychain: SSH keys (generate Ed25519/RSA/ECDSA, import OpenSSH/PEM/PPK, copy the public key) and reusable identities.
- Snippets with
{{name}}variables and "Run on…" several hosts at once, with each one's output. - Port forwarding: local (-L), remote (-R) and dynamic SOCKS5 (-D), with start/stop, statistics and automatic start when connecting to the host.
- Known hosts: trusted fingerprints, and deleting them.
- AI (needs a server): agent tasks in Read only, Ask or Autonomous mode, provider picker, live conversation (text, reasoning and tools), approval cards (Approve, Deny, Always approve) and follow-up messages. Next to each terminal, the copilot panel (Ctrl+Shift+I, Cmd+I on macOS) chats about that terminal, explains the selection or the screen, and suggests commands that are typed into the terminal without pressing Enter.
- Account and sync (Settings): sign in (with the two-step verification code, or a recovery code, if the account asks for it) or create an account (with an invitation code or link, checked while you type: "You will join the team…"), automatic encrypted sync every minute and "Sync now".
- Two-step verification (Settings): enable it with the QR code for the authenticator app (or the key to type it in), see the 10 recovery codes only once, and disable it with the password and a code.
- Dark theme (default) and light theme, terminal font and size, and use of the system SSH agent (ssh-agent, Pageant, Windows OpenSSH agent).
- Automatic updates: downloaded in the background and applied on restart (see below).
Local data (hosts, keys, passwords...) is kept in an encrypted database; the vault key lives in the system keychain (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager or Secret Service on Linux) and is read once at startup. On macOS, "Always Allow" only lasts across updates when releases are signed with a stable identity (see docs/RELEASING.md). If the keychain refuses and there is already data, the app shows an error with "Try again" instead of creating a new key.
The shared crates (SSH engine, vault, API client, AI engine, updates) come
from TermoakSSH/core through a git tag (see Cargo.toml); cargo
fetches them.
cargo run # debug
cargo build --release # optimized binary in target/release/termoak-desktop
cargo test # tests of the emulator, keyboard, autocompletion...It needs Rust 1.95 or later (GPUI uses std::hint::cold_path). The
rust-toolchain.toml file pins it and rustup installs it automatically.
Build dependencies (Debian/Ubuntu):
sudo apt install build-essential pkg-config cmake \
libxkbcommon-dev libxkbcommon-x11-dev libwayland-dev \
libx11-xcb-dev libxcb1-dev libfontconfig1-dev libfreetype-dev \
libvulkan-dev libasound2-devFedora: libxkbcommon-devel libxkbcommon-x11-devel wayland-devel libxcb-devel fontconfig-devel freetype-devel vulkan-loader-devel alsa-lib-devel.
Arch: libxkbcommon libxkbcommon-x11 wayland libxcb fontconfig freetype2 vulkan-icd-loader alsa-lib.
Running it needs a Vulkan driver (your GPU's or, without a GPU,
mesa-vulkan-drivers, which includes the lavapipe software renderer). It
works on X11 and Wayland. The vault key is stored with Secret Service (GNOME
Keyring, KWallet...); if there is none, a vault.key file with 0600
permissions in the data directory is used.
Install the Xcode command line tools (xcode-select --install). Metal
shaders are compiled at startup, so the full Xcode is not needed.
Install the Visual Studio Build Tools with "Desktop development with C++"
(MSVC and the Windows 10/11 SDK). In --release builds the app opens no
console.
| Variable | Purpose |
|---|---|
TERMOAK_HOME |
Data directory (the platform default otherwise). |
TERMOAK_VAULT_KEY |
Vault key in base64, instead of the system keychain. |
TERMOAK_LOG |
Log filter (info, debug, warn,termoak=debug...). |
TERMOAK_UPDATE_URL |
Alternative update manifest (at run time or at build time). |
TERMOAK_UPDATE_PUBKEY |
At build time: Ed25519 public key (base64) for updates. |
- On start, before opening any window, the app applies the update downloaded in the previous session and relaunches already updated.
- While the app is open, every 6 hours it checks the manifest (by default
https://github.com/TermoakSSH/desktop/releases/latest/download/latest.json). If there is a new version, it downloads it silently, checks the SHA-256 and the Ed25519 signature and shows "Update X ready: it will be applied on restart" with a Restart now button. - If the installation is managed by the system (
.deb,.rpm,/usr,/opt, Program Files...), it only notifies: "A new version (X) is available", with a download link.
Updates are only enabled if the binary was built with the public key:
TERMOAK_UPDATE_PUBKEY=<base64 public key> cargo build --releaseReleases are signed with the termoak-release tool of the termoak-update
crate (keygen to create the keys and sign to sign each artifact and
update latest.json). Formats: standalone executable (Windows/Linux),
AppImage (Linux) and .app packed in a .tar.gz (macOS). See
SECURITY.md and
docs/RELEASING.md.
| Action | Windows / Linux | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| New tab (pick a host) | Ctrl+T | Cmd+T |
| New local terminal | Ctrl+Shift+T | Cmd+Shift+T |
| Close tab | Ctrl+W (outside the terminal) or Ctrl+Shift+W | Cmd+W |
| Next / previous tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab, Cmd+Shift+] / Cmd+Shift+[ |
| Move the tab left / right | Ctrl+Shift+PageUp / Ctrl+Shift+PageDown | Ctrl+Shift+PageUp / Ctrl+Shift+PageDown |
| Back to home | Ctrl+Shift+H | Cmd+1 |
| Show / hide the AI copilot | Ctrl+Shift+I | Cmd+I |
| Copy / paste in the terminal | Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V (or Shift+Insert) | Cmd+C / Cmd+V |
| Select the whole terminal | Ctrl+Shift+A | Cmd+A |
| Scroll back up / down | Shift+PageUp / Shift+PageDown | Shift+PageUp / Shift+PageDown |
| Back to the bottom of the scrollback | Shift+End | Shift+End |
| Paste | Middle mouse button | Middle mouse button |
| Select even if the program uses the mouse | Shift + drag | Shift + drag |
| Find in the terminal | Ctrl+Shift+F | Cmd+F |
| Clear the terminal | Ctrl+Shift+K | Cmd+K |
| Settings | Ctrl+, | Cmd+, |
| New window (its own tabs, same data) | File menu (☰) | Cmd+N |
| New host | Ctrl+Shift+N | Cmd+Shift+N |
| Split view: add a terminal | Ctrl+Shift+D | Cmd+D |
| Move between panes | Ctrl+Alt+arrows | Cmd+Option+arrows |
| Focus mode | Ctrl+Shift+M | Cmd+Shift+M |
| Broadcast input to all panes | Ctrl+Alt+B | Cmd+B |
| Send snippet | Ctrl+Shift+S | Cmd+Shift+S |
| Reconnect | Ctrl+Shift+R | Cmd+Shift+R |
| Bigger / smaller / actual size text | Ctrl+= / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0 | Cmd+= / Cmd+- / Cmd+0 |
| Full screen | F11 | Ctrl+Cmd+F |
| Menu of the focused host | Shift+F10 or the menu key | Shift+F10 |
With an autocompletion suggestion on screen, Tab or → accepts it and Alt+↑/↓ picks another one from the list.
In the terminal, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+W and Tab go to the remote program, as in any terminal.
src/
main.rs startup: pending update, tokio, vault and window
app.rs main window: tabs, split views, sidebar, sections and AI copilot
panes.rs split view logic: grid layout, pane navigation, broadcast routing,
where dropped panes land
drag.rs dragging tabs and panes: what is dragged, preview, tab order
windows.rs several windows on the same data; macOS reopen from the Dock
menus.rs menu bar (macOS) and ☰ menu (Windows/Linux), shortcuts list
dock.rs menu of the macOS Dock icon
theme.rs dark/light themes and terminal palettes
runtime.rs bridge between tokio and GPUI
state.rs model: data, server session, sync, port forwards
prompts.rs authentication prompts (AuthPrompter) with dialogs
update.rs automatic updates
ui.rs reusable UI pieces
qr.rs QR codes painted with squares
terminal/ emulation, painting, keyboard (IME), mouse, autocompletion,
copy and paste options, find, and connection (local SSH,
server, local shell or serial port)
views/ hosts, ssh_config import, host editor, SFTP, keychain,
snippets, port forwards, known hosts, AI and copilot,
server sessions, sharing, teams, administration,
two-step verification, serial port and settings
Point the app to your checkout of core without touching Cargo.toml, in a
.cargo/config.toml that is not committed:
[patch."https://github.com/TermoakSSH/core"]
termoak-core = { path = "../core/crates/termoak-core" }
termoak-ssh = { path = "../core/crates/termoak-ssh" }
termoak-client = { path = "../core/crates/termoak-client" }
termoak-update = { path = "../core/crates/termoak-update" }
termoak-ai = { path = "../core/crates/termoak-ai" }scripts/release-local.sh builds Linux and Windows in Docker and macOS on a
Mac, signs the updates and publishes the desktop-vX.Y.Z GitHub release:
see docs/RELEASING.md.
| Repository | Contents |
|---|---|
| TermoakSSH/core | Shared crates (SSH engine, vault, API client, AI engine, FFI bindings, updates) and the termoak CLI |
| TermoakSSH/server | termoak-server: HTTP/WebSocket API, basic web app, deployment files |
| TermoakSSH/desktop | Desktop app (GPUI) for Windows, Linux and macOS |
| TermoakSSH/mobile-android | Android app (Jetpack Compose) |
| TermoakSSH/mobile-ios | iOS app (SwiftUI) |
| TermoakSSH/public-web | Public website of termoak.com: landing, pricing and downloads |
Bug reports, fixes, features and translations are welcome: see CONTRIBUTING.md. Translating Termoak into your language needs no programming: copy the English strings file of an app, translate it and open a pull request (docs/I18N.md).
Copyright © Ohz Digital SL.
Termoak is free software released under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 (AGPL-3.0-only).
"Termoak" and the Termoak logo are trademarks of Ohz Digital SL and are not covered by the code license: see TRADEMARK.md.