You might remember my earlier post about the first version of sshPilot.

Well, the app has come a long way since then. It’s now a full-featured, stable SSH connection manager with a built-in terminal, so I thought I’d show you where it’s at now.

You might ask, “Why would I need this if I’m already comfortable with the command line?”

Fair question. sshPilot isn’t here to replace your terminal, it’s here to make it better. In fact it’s a terminal itself, with a sidebat you can easily toggle on and off. It keeps your connections organized, makes it easy to change your port forwarding rules, stores your keys and passwords securely, and lets you jump between multiple sessions without losing focus.

sshPilot is designed to be simple, intuitive, and keyboard-friendly. You can switch between servers and terminal tabs effortlessly using keyboard shortcuts. Fire up the app and just press enter to connect to the first host. Use Control+L to quickly switch between servers.

Here’s what it offers:

  • Import and save standard ~/.ssh/config entries

  • Full support for local, remote, and dynamic port forwarding

  • Securely stores passwords and private key passphrases (nothing is saved as explain text)

  • Manage files on your remote machines via SFTP

  • SSH key generation and transfer

  • SCP support

  • Option to open connections in your default terminal instead of the built-in one

  • Native GNOME look and feel with light and dark themes

  • Toggleable sidebar

  • Run local or remote commands with ease

You can grab the DEB or RPM packages from the project page on GitHub.

The feedback I got here on the first release was incredibly helpful, so I’m looking forward to hearing from you again. Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome.