I built a local encrypted SSH vault because I don’t want my hosts in the cloud

Emperr0r — Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:26:04 +0000

I got tired of SSH sprawl.

PuTTY/Moba sessions in one place. Keys in another. Notes in a random markdown
file. And every “modern” SSH app quietly wanting a cloud account and a copy of
my host list.

So I built iLead — a native desktop SSH manager with an encrypted vault that
stays on your machine.

What it is

Local vault for hosts, keys, notes (Argon2id + AES-GCM style sealing)
Import from PuTTY, MobaXterm, WinSCP, ~/.ssh/config
Multi-tab SSH, SFTP, tunnels, fleet commands
Small Database Studio (Postgres/MySQL/Mongo/Redis/etc.) when you need it
Local MCP bridge for Cursor/Claude: list allowed hosts + run commands only after a native approval dialog — secrets are not tool inputs

Platforms: macOS (Apple silicon + Intel), Windows, Linux.

No cloud inventory. No telemetry.

Why local-first

I don’t hate SaaS. I hate uploading a map of production bastions to a third party
just to get a nicer tab UI. A yearly seat that unlocks the app is fine. Syncing
my attack surface to someone else’s database is not.

Try it

Site: ileadapp.org
Downloads: ileadapp.org/downloads
vs PuTTY / Moba / Termius: ileadapp.org/alternatives
MCP notes: ileadapp.org/mcp

I’m the maker. Roast the UX, ask about the vault, tell me what import you still need.

DEV Community: Emperr0r

I built a local encrypted SSH vault because I don’t want my hosts in the cloud

What it is

Why local-first

Try it