SSHL - Native SSH client for Mac: terminal and SFTP in one window

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SSHL is a free, open-source SSH client for macOS. A terminal, an SFTP file manager and a server monitor share one window. It is pure Rust: GPUI draws the interface on the GPU, the Ghostty core (libghostty-vt) does terminal emulation, and there is no WebView, so a cold start takes about 0.3 seconds. The file manager follows the terminal's directory, saved sudo passwords fill in one click, and hosts import from ~/.ssh/config. GPL-3.0.

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Maker
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Hi Product Hunt, I'm a solo developer based in France, and SSHL is my open-source SSH client for Mac.

It puts the three things I do on a server into one window:

  • Terminal. Parsed by libghostty-vt (the Ghostty core) and drawn on the GPU. Tabs, search through the whole scrollback, snippets, directory favorites, and one-click fill for sudo passwords.
  • Files. A two-pane SFTP manager that follows the terminal: wherever you cd, it goes too, and after sudo -i it works as root. It reuses the SSH session, so there is no second connection.
  • System. Load, memory and disk, plus processes, listening ports and systemd services that you can search, stop or restart.

It is pure Rust with GPUI, no WebView, and a cold start takes about 0.3 seconds. Passwords are encrypted with AES-256-GCM, and the key is stored apart from the database.

One more thing about how it was made: SSHL was vibe-coded entirely by voice. Every prompt to the AI coding tool was spoken through , my dictation app for Mac, which also sponsors this project.

The honest limits: it needs a Mac with Apple silicon, and the interface is in English and Simplified Chinese for now. The download is signed and notarized, or you can build it from source.

It is free and GPL-3.0. Tell me what your current SSH client does that this one doesn't, and I'll look at it first.

The SFTP pane following the terminal's cd is the detail that sold me — that's the part I always end up fighting with in other clients, re-navigating to the same folder I was just in. The 0.3s cold start and no WebView matter more than they sound like they should too; an SSH client is something I open and close all day, so the lag adds up. Nice work shipping this free and open source.

Maker

Thanks! That re-navigating was exactly what I built it to fix. Which client are you using now?