Native macOS menu-bar app for managing SSH connections and /etc/hosts
entries. The app is the source of truth: you manage hosts in Sesh, and it exports them to an app-owned
~/.ssh/sesh.conf that's linked into your ~/.ssh/config via a single
Include line. Your existing config is never rewritten.
- App-primary host management (create, edit, duplicate, delete) — the store is authoritative, not the file
- Automatic export to
~/.ssh/sesh.conf; a single idempotentIncludeline is added to~/.ssh/config(backed up first, existing blocks untouched) - Optional one-off Import from ~/.ssh/config to pull in existing hosts
- Connect via the
ssh://scheme —ssh://<alias>when the managed file is linked, elsessh://user@host:port; opened by your chosen ssh:// handler (Terminal, iTerm2, Warp, Zetty, or system default). The picker is derived from the installed apps that register thessh://scheme, so it stays current - Connection profiles: one host, multiple user+identity profiles (real ssh aliases); pick one from the Connect menu, menu bar, or ⌘K
- Workspaces to organize hosts into collapsible groups
/etc/hostsmanagement: add, edit, and enable/disable entries from the window's Hosts File view or the menu bar's Hosts tab. Sesh owns one marked section at the end of/etc/hosts(disabled entries are written as commented-out lines), asks for your administrator password when it writes (macOS remembers it for a few minutes), and flushes the DNS cache. Enabling an entry turns off any other Sesh entry for the same hostname. If the file changes behind Sesh's back, a Re-apply banner appears; Sesh never rewrites the file on its own. The toolbar's Raw Config button (or the menu bar's Hosts tab) shows the whole/etc/hostsin a sheet, with Sesh's section highlighted- Optional one-off Import from /etc/hosts that moves your existing entries
(including commented-out ones, as disabled) into Sesh's section, after a
backup to
~/Library/Application Support/Sesh/hosts-backups. System entries and Docker Desktop's and SwitchHosts' sections are left alone - ⌘K command palette; searchable menu-bar panel; raw viewer of the managed file
- Light/Dark/System appearance and a tabbed Settings window
- Menu-bar-first app: the Dock icon appears only while a window is open
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ⌘K | Command palette |
| ⌘N | New host (or hosts entry in Hosts File view) |
| ⌘⇧N | New workspace |
| ⌘E | Edit selected host or hosts entry |
| ⌘↩ | Connect selected host |
| ⌘⇧C | Copy ssh command |
| ⌘D | Duplicate selected host or hosts entry |
| ⌘F | Focus search |
| ⌘, | Settings |
| ⌫ | Delete selection |
- Open the Releases page and
download the latest
Sesh-<version>.dmg. - Open the DMG and drag Sesh into Applications.
- Launch Sesh from Applications or Spotlight.
Sesh lives in the menu bar (look for the key glyph). Click it to search and connect; open the main window from there to manage hosts.
Each release ships a Sesh-<version>.dmg.sha256 sidecar:
shasum -a 256 Sesh-<version>.dmg # compare against the .sha256 filemacOS 15.0 or later.
Sesh is open source under the MIT License.