mfat/sshpilot

SSH Pilot is a user-friendly SSH and SFTP client for Linux, macOS and Windows.

_{Connections sidebar with a terminal session}

_{Server dashboard with live resource usage and system details}

_{Dual-pane SFTP file manager}

_{Split view with multiple terminals}

_{Key transfer to a server (ssh-copy-id)}

Features

• Works with your existing ~/.ssh/config
• Integrated terminal with tabbed interface and split view support (works with your favorite terminal apps too)
• Intuitive, minimal UI with keyboard navigation and customizable shortcuts
• Built-in SFTP dual-pane file manager
• SCP download/upload support
• Key transfer to server (ssh-copy-id)
• Known hosts and Authorized keys management (local & remote)
• Graphical Docker container manager
• Support for various secure storage backends (libsecret, Keepass, Bitwarden/Vaultwarden, pass)
• Backup and restore to/from Bitwarden/Vaultwarden, or your own servers (supports app settings, secrets and keys)
• Snippets for quick execution of scripts/commands
• Extensible via plugins

Download

The Windows installer on the Releases page is covered by our code signing policy.

You can download directly from the Releases section, but we recommend adding one of the repositories below for automatic updates:

Ubuntu PPA

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mfat/sshpilot
sudo apt update
sudo apt install sshpilot

Debian APT Repository

1. Add the GPG key:

curl -fsSL https://mfat.github.io/sshpilot-ppa/pubkey.gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/sshpilot-ppa.gpg

1. Add the repository:

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/sshpilot-ppa.gpg] https://mfat.github.io/sshpilot-ppa any main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sshpilot-ppa.list

1. Update and install:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install sshpilot

For more information, visit: https://mfat.github.io/sshpilot-ppa/

Fedora/RHEL COPR Repository

This repository provides automatic updates for SSH Pilot on RPM-based distributions.

dnf copr enable mahdif62/sshpilot
dnf install sshpilot

Flatpak

Available on Flathub

OR in a terminal type:

flatpak install flathub io.github.mfat.sshpilot

Arch Linux

Arch Linux package via AUR: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sshpilot

# replace yay with your AUR helper of choice, e.g. paru
yay -S sshpilot

OR

Nightly Arch Linux package via AUR (community maintained): https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/sshpilot-git

# replace yay with your AUR helper of choice, e.g. paru
yay -S sshpilot-git

AppImage (x86-64)

A single self-contained file for any distribution that meets the minimum requirements. It bundles GTK 4, libadwaita, VTE, GtkSourceView, WebKitGTK and Python — so the xterm.js terminal backend and the Host Info tab work the same as in the other packages — and uses the host's ssh. Download sshpilot-<version>-linux-x86_64.AppImage from the Releases page — there are no automatic updates, so grab a new one when a release lands.

chmod +x sshpilot-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage
./sshpilot-*-linux-x86_64.AppImage

The AppImage mounts itself with FUSE 3, which every supported distribution ships; on a system without it, run the file with --appimage-extract-and-run.

Homebrew (macOS + Linux)

brew tap mfat/sshpilot
brew install sshpilot

More info here: https://github.com/mfat/homebrew-sshpilot

Works on macOS Homebrew and Linuxbrew. The formula is build-from-source; first install pulls the GTK4 stack and compiles a Python virtualenv with the runtime deps. After install, launch sshPilot from a terminal inside an active desktop session (Wayland/X11 + dbus on Linux; native on macOS).

macOS (aarch64 and x86-64)

Download the dmg file from the releases section https://github.com/mfat/sshpilot/releases/

For development on macOS:

brew install gtk4 libadwaita pygobject3 py3cairo vte3 gobject-introspection adwaita-icon-theme pkg-config glib graphene icu4c sshpass gtksourceview5

Note: webkitgtk is Linux-only and not available on macOS via Homebrew. The xterm.js backend is not available on macOS; the application will use the VTE backend instead.

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Minimum Requirements

Operating system

Platform	Minimum version
Debian	13 (trixie)
Ubuntu	24.04 (noble)
Linux Mint	22
Fedora	43
RHEL / CentOS Stream	10
Arch Linux	rolling
macOS	14 (Sonoma)

On any other Linux distribution, install the Flatpak — it runs everywhere Flatpak does.

Libraries

Component	Minimum Version
Python	3.12
GTK 4	4.6
libadwaita	1.5
VTE (GTK4)	0.70
PyGObject	3.42
pycairo	1.20.0
cryptography	42.0
keyring	24.3
psutil	5.9.0
pykeepass	4.0
certifi	2023.7.22
GtkSourceView	5.0

---

Run from Source

docs/running-from-source.md.

Documentation

• User guide and FAQ: https://github.com/mfat/sshpilot/wiki
• Architecture reference: docs/architecture.md
• Diagnostics & logging: docs/diagnostics.md
• In-repo developer and platform docs: docs/
• Coding-agent setup: SSH Pilot MCP quickstart
• Writing plugins (protocols & UI pages): docs/plugins/

Telegram Channel

https://t.me/sshpilot

Third-Party Libraries

SSH Pilot uses the following third-party libraries:

• xterm.js - The terminal emulator behind the xterm.js terminal backend, with its fit, search and web-links add-ons (MIT License)

Code signing policy

Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation.

The Windows installer attached to each release is built by GitHub Actions from this repository and signed through SignPath after an approver approves the release.

• Committers and reviewers: Mehdi (@mfat)
• Approvers: Mehdi (@mfat)

Privacy: SSH Pilot checks GitHub for new versions when it starts; GitHub sees your IP address. You can turn this off in the Windows installer or in Preferences. Nothing else is sent unless you ask for it. See the privacy policy and the full code signing policy.

License

SSH Pilot is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

Special Thanks

• Elibugy, Mo Efazati and Sadeq for supporting development
• Behnam Tavakkoli, Chalist and Kalpase, Ramin Najjarbashi, Farid and Narbeh for testing
• Icon designed by Blisterexe

Support Development

Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/newmfat

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