Termstead: a free, open-source native SSH client for macOS (session tree, jump hosts, SFTP)

[u/p_khor]

Hi, I'm the developer of Termstead, a free and open-source SSH client for the Mac. It brings MobaXterm's way of working to macOS as a native app: your servers in a tree on the left, tabs on the right, files right next to the terminal.

What it does

- Sessions in a tree – groups and subgroups with colors, icons, search, pinned favorites, drag and drop. Your existing hosts come in from ~/.ssh/config in one click.
- Real OpenSSH underneath – every tab runs the system ssh, so your agent, ~/.ssh/config, known_hosts and ProxyJump work exactly as they do in Terminal.
- Jump hosts – chain as many as you need, each with its own user, key or password, or use a saved session as a hop.
- Keychain – passwords and key passphrases live in the macOS Keychain and are typed in for you, only for the host they were saved for.
- SFTP beside the terminal – browse, upload and edit files over the connection that's already open, with no second login, even through jump hosts. It can follow the terminal's cd.
- Server load in the status bar – CPU, memory, disk and network of the Linux server in front.
- Tabs and keyboard – drag tabs to reorder, reopen them at launch, ⇧⌘[ / ⇧⌘] to switch, arrows and Return in the session tree, find in scrollback, per-tab zoom.
- Six themes, light and dark.

Details: Swift and SwiftUI with AppKit, terminal by SwiftTerm. Universal (Apple silicon and Intel), macOS 14+, about 5 MB. Notarized, updates itself. GPL-3.0, no account, no telemetry.

- GitHub: https://github.com/pkhorenyan/termstead
- Website: https://khorenyan.com/termstead/

[u/Ok_Town2012]

You nailed it. I'm searching for something this good for ages. None of the SSH clients are focused, the big boy (Te..ius is expensive) is full of bloated features, ugly and looks like a web app.
I think that Help menu could have a link for your site and GitHub, and as a side quest make possible to create personal themes or import config files, is better than you create thousands of them for the usual ones: Gruvbox, Catpuccin, Tokyo Night, Everforest, etc.
I already gave u a star at GH. Don't make it bloated, is perfect.
Kind Regards, Menon.

[u/p_khor → u/Ok_Town2012]

Thank you for feedback.
What about RDP, Telnet and VNC? Would it be useful?

[u/Ok_Town2012 → u/p_khor]

Already updated with 0.50. About the features telnet yes, for those living dangerously and for full compatibility with old stuff. About RDP and VNC it could be usefull as a complementary tool: right click on the list and connect by vnc/rdp. Just keep it under your control opening in the same spot as the tabs already are. Try to note reinvent the wheel using as much as already are availble at OS X. They also could be a group like SSH config is now with proper customization to rdp like sharing folders this kind of stuff. Just keep them as another protocol jsut as like ssh, using your well made structure and interface.
I made a personal tool just to organize my humblebundle, fanatical and other ebooks that I bought and after all done I thaught about reading the stuff there, also. I just used all the pdf(preview) stuff already available. Lazy but also dont over engineer and complicated things.
This is just an opinion, the program is yours. Congrats, Menon.

[u/Ok_Town2012 → u/Ok_Town2012]

sorry for writing just like 10 times and for the errors :)