I've been building an SSH/SFTP client that doesn't phone home - here's PtyXL
For the last while I've been heads-down on a side project that turned into something I actually use every day now.
Why I started this
I got tired of the "modern" SSH clients that quietly sync your host list, keys metadata, and sometimes session logs to a cloud backend. Convenient, sure, until their auth service has a bad day and you can't get into your own servers. I wanted something where my config lives in a file on my disk, my keys never leave my machine, and the whole thing works fully offline - coffee shop wifi, flaky VPN, doesn't matter.
So I built it. Rust + Tauri + React under the hood, so it's a real native app, not an Electron wrapper pretending to be one.
What it actually does
SSH, SFTP, and serial in one client, dual-panel SFTP if you're moving files around a lot
Session recording and snapshots, useful when you need to hand off or debug something later
An assistant that helps with connection management and config - but it runs against local state, not a hosted API. No shipping your infra topology to someone else's inference endpoint just to get autocomplete.
Recently shipped a "Provision Builder" - lets you wire up server configs and pipelines by connecting logic tiles instead of writing raw shell scripts by hand. Still early, but it's already saved me from a few dumb copy-paste mistakes.
Where it's at right now
It's genuinely early - I'm a solo dev on this, still shaping a lot of the roadmap based on whoever's willing to poke at it and tell me what's broken or missing. Free tier covers unlimited sessions, there's a Pro tier for people who want the heavier features, and I just put together a small program offering free Team access to early-stage startups (mostly because I remember what it's like trying to justify tool spend before you have revenue).
What I'd actually love from this post
Not really looking for a pat on the back - I'd rather hear what's annoying about it. If you manage servers regularly and try it out, tell me what's missing, what's confusing, what you'd rip out entirely. That feedback is worth more to me right now than downloads.
Happy to answer anything about the Rust/Tauri side too, or why I made specific tradeoffs around the local-first approach- ask away in the comments.
Also - if a few of you want to actually try it out properly, drop a comment and I'll hook you up with a free Pro plan. Would rather have a handful of people using it seriously than a pile of installs that go nowhere.
Top comments (0)