Why I Built Yet Another SSH Client

Ali Waqar — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 13:04:24 +0000

The problem walk through a real incident or workflow where you needed SSH + SFTP + DB + credentials and had to switch between four tools. Be specific: what broke down, how much time it cost, why existing tools (MobaXterm, Termius, PuTTY) didn't solve it for you specifically.
What existed already, and why it wasn't enough MobaXterm is Windows-only, PuTTY has no SFTP/DB story Termius gates saved sessions and sync behind a subscription. Be fair to them this isn't a takedown, it's "here's the gap I found."
Design decisions local-first (no account/telemetry) as a deliberate choice, not just an incidental feature how credentials are stored (OS keychain, not custom) why the database client shares the SSH connection instead of opening a second tunnel.
What was hard to build session lifecycle across workspace switches, keeping 2FA/keyboard-interactive connections shared across tabs, GPU terminal rendering across three OSes. This is the part that makes a dev.to post worth reading rather than skippable.
What's next / where it's rough code signing is unfunded, no sync across machines by design (trade-off, not oversight), still early (be honest about maturity).
Close with the repo link and an invitation for feedback, not a call to download.

Repo: https://github.com/ghauri01/ShellPilot

DEV Community: Ali Waqar

Why I Built Yet Another SSH Client