Getting started

On a new installation Shellvane opens a short tour: language, vault, importing your hosts. Start the tour again in the checklist below reopens it.

Shellvane keeps your servers, credentials and terminals in one place. This page takes you from an empty app to your first connection in a few minutes; every step links to the screen where you do it.

1. Create the vault

The vault stores passwords, key passphrases, private keys and TOTP secrets, encrypted with a master password that never leaves your computer. You can use Shellvane without it, but then nothing secret is remembered.

Open the vault settings

2. Add or import your hosts

Import what you already have: your OpenSSH ~/.ssh/config, PuTTY or KiTTY sessions. Nothing is changed in the source, and a backup is taken first.
Or create hosts by hand, inside groups that share settings (user, port, key, jump host…).

Import hosts · New host

3. Connect

Double-click a host, or type user@host:port in the quick connect bar at the top. The first time, Shellvane shows the server's fingerprint and asks whether to trust it.

You can also open a terminal on this computer: New local terminal (Ctrl+Shift+T / ⌘T).

4. Use a key instead of a password

Generate a key in Keys, then use Install on a host to add it to the server's authorized_keys. Assign it to a host or a whole group.

Open Keys

5. Go further

Split panes and drag them around: Terminal
Type in many servers at once: Broadcast
Save commands with variables: Snippets
Forward ports: Tunnels
Copy files, even server to server: Files (SFTP)
Never lose a session: Reconnection and workspaces
React to output, script logins: Automation
Open Telnet sessions and serial consoles: Connecting
Share a group of hosts with a colleague: Hosts
Run the same steps on many hosts: Runbooks
Keep two computers in step: Sync

Press Ctrl+Shift+K / ⌘K anywhere to search hosts, snippets and actions, or type ? there to search this guide.