The latest articles on DEV Community by caixa (@caixax). https://dev.to/caixax https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4194957%2F944179c2-3402-454e-a441-b91d9e642dfe.jpg https://dev.to/caixax en caixa Mon, 19 Oct 2026 22:11:37 +0000 https://dev.to/caixax/i-built-opensesh-an-open-source-mobaxtermtermius-alternative-in-rust-and-qt-6-8jo https://dev.to/caixax/i-built-opensesh-an-open-source-mobaxtermtermius-alternative-in-rust-and-qt-6-8jo <p>If you work with servers, you probably have a pile of tools open at once: a terminal, an SSH client, something for SFTP, something for tunnels, maybe an RDP client too. The all-in-one apps that exist are usually closed source, Windows-only, subscription-based or built on Electron.</p> <p>So I built <strong>OpenSesh</strong>: a free, open-source and native remote connections client for Windows and Linux. Version 1.0 just came out. 🎉</p> <p>👉 <strong>GitHub:</strong> <a href="https://github.com/caixax/opensesh" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://github.com/caixax/opensesh</a><br> 👉 <strong>Website:</strong> <a href="https://opensesh.cc" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://opensesh.cc</a></p> <h2> What it does </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Terminals:</strong> a GPU-rendered terminal for every shell you have (PowerShell, cmd, Git Bash, WSL, <code>/etc/shells</code>), with tabs that split into panes, move between windows and broadcast input.</li> <li> <strong>SSH:</strong> a built-in client with jump hosts, proxies, agents, one-time codes, certificates and auto-reconnect. X11 forwarding and Waypipe let you run remote GUI programs.</li> <li> <strong>Files:</strong> SFTP and S3 (AWS, MinIO, RustFS) in a two-pane view, and a side panel that follows your terminal's current folder.</li> <li> <strong>Tunnels:</strong> local, remote and SOCKS forwarding that reconnects by itself.</li> <li> <strong>More protocols:</strong> telnet, serial ports (with a hex view), mosh, Docker/Podman containers, Kubernetes pods, and <strong>RDP and VNC remote desktops in tabs</strong>.</li> <li> <strong>Snippets and macros</strong> with <code>{{variables}}</code> and secrets from the vault, session recording, and paste protection that warns you before a <code>curl | sudo bash</code> runs.</li> <li> <strong>Server monitor:</strong> CPU, RAM, network and disk of the server in the status bar, with no agent installed. It's just a small shell loop on a separate SSH channel.</li> </ul> <h2> How it's built </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>Rust</strong> for the core, with the UI in <strong>Qt 6 / QML</strong> through <a href="https://github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt" rel="noopener noreferrer">cxx-qt</a>. No Electron and no webviews.</li> <li> <strong>Secrets</strong> live in a vault encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305. Its key is held by the system keyring or an Argon2id master password.</li> <li> <strong>Settings</strong> are plain TOML files. You can sync them between computers with Git or Syncthing, and conflicts are merged record by record instead of overwritten.</li> <li> <strong>Security:</strong> every parser of untrusted input (quick connect, pastes, <code>~/.ssh/config</code>, the importers, the sync merge) is fuzzed weekly, and the repo includes a written threat model and security review.</li> <li> <strong>Releases:</strong> each package is installed and launched on a clean Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch and Windows system in CI before it's published.</li> </ul> <h2> Try it </h2> <p>On Linux:</p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/caixax/opensesh/main/install.sh | bash </code></pre> </div> <p>On Windows there's an installer (no admin needed), a portable zip and Scoop. You can download them from the <a href="https://github.com/caixax/opensesh/releases/latest" rel="noopener noreferrer">releases page</a>.</p> <p>It imports your hosts from <code>~/.ssh/config</code>, MobaXterm, PuTTY, Remmina or CSV, so you can try it in a couple of minutes.</p> <h2> What's next </h2> <p>A macOS version, winget and AUR packages, and signed Windows builds.</p> <p>If you give it a try, I'd love to hear what works, what breaks and what's missing. Issues and PRs are welcome! ⭐</p> rust opensource showdev linux