A real terminal workspace for people who live in ssh. Tabs, split view, a Keychain-backed vault, and jump hosts that just work — no relay server, no cloud account, no subscription required.
Not a wrapper around a web view. Every session runs through your Mac's own ssh binary — ssh-agent, ControlMaster, and your ~/.ssh/config all behave exactly as they already do.
Keep work and personal servers completely separate — their own folders, snippets, and vault. Switch instantly without disconnecting anything running in the background.
Every session in its own tab, or tile several at once to watch multiple hosts side by side. Dock any panel to the side, the bottom, or its own window.
Passwords, key passphrases, and 2FA secrets live in the macOS Keychain, gated by Touch ID. Reusable identities you apply to any server in one click.
Proper ProxyCommand handling means a jump host's own key gets used correctly — no silently falling back to the wrong identity.
Run one command across every server you pick, live output streaming back per host — connects to anything not already open, on demand.
CPU, memory, disk, network, and listening ports at a glance. Start, stop, and restart services without leaving the panel.
See running containers and edit crontab visually — no more crontab -e in a tiny vim buffer you can't undo.
A full FTP-grade file manager over the same SSH connection — browse, edit, and transfer without a second app.
Bring your own API key — Anthropic, OpenAI, or others. Hopshell has no backend and never sees your usage.
Share a password, identity, SSH key, or a whole server with a teammate through iCloud — encrypted on your Mac first, with an unlock code that never travels through iCloud at all.
Connect via real mosh for sessions that shrug off wifi drops and sleep/wake, plus opt-in SSH agent forwarding and certificate auth per server.
Set a default terminal theme for the whole app, then override it for any individual server — production red, staging blue, whatever keeps you from typing into the wrong tab.
ssh binaryNo reimplemented protocol, no compatibility surprises — the exact same OpenSSH your Terminal already trusts.
No relay server sits between you and your infrastructure. Your connections go straight from your Mac to the host.
Private keys stay on disk in ~/.ssh, secrets stay in the Keychain. Hopshell never uploads either anywhere.
Open as many sessions as the job needs. Split view tiles them automatically; a quick switcher (⌘K) gets you to any server in a keystroke.
Every secret is backed by the macOS Keychain — never a file on disk, never a server you don't control.
Live system stats, network details, and process control sit one dock away from your terminal.
Saved snippets, named tunnels, and cluster-wide commands — the shortcuts you'd script yourself, built in.
| Hopshell | App A | App B | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Native macOS app (not Electron) | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
Real system ssh binary | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| No account or cloud sign-in required | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ |
| Workspaces (work/personal separation) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Broadcast to multiple servers | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Built-in AI assist (bring your own key) | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
| One-time purchase, no subscription | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ |
macOS 14 Sonoma or later. Apple Silicon and Intel, universal binary.