noxed

SSH sessions, SFTP, databases, Redis, and Kubernetes — one desktop app.

noxed is a connection manager for people who live in terminals. Open an SSH session with live CPU/memory metrics in the header, browse the same server over SFTP in a side drawer, run queries against Postgres or MySQL, inspect Redis keys, and watch a Kubernetes cluster — all in tabs of a single window.

I built noxed because I wanted this product to exist. Yes, big chunks of it were built with AI assistance, and that is intentional: the goal is a useful, inspectable tool, not the golden standard when it comes to software development. If you want to improve it, patches are welcome.

Features

SSH terminal

• Tabbed sessions with per-host color coding, favorites, and project groups
• Split panes — up to four terminals in one tab, with keystroke broadcast
• Jump hosts (ProxyJump): reach servers behind a bastion, chained automatically
• Live CPU, memory, disk, and load metrics streamed over the existing connection
• Scrollback search (Cmd+F), configurable themes, fonts, and cursor styles
• Command snippets (global or per-host)
• Import hosts straight from ~/.ssh/config, ProxyJump included

Tunnels

• Local and remote port forwarding plus a SOCKS5 proxy, over any saved connection
• Saved tunnel definitions with one-click start/stop and live status in the status bar

Fleet tools

• Mission-control dashboard: reachability, CPU sparklines, memory, disk, load, and uptime for every server, with alerts when CPU pins or a disk fills up
• Multi-host command runner: run one command across selected servers and compare outputs and exit codes side by side

Docker — no agent required

• Containers, images, live CPU/memory stats, and streaming logs on any host with the docker CLI, all over the plain SSH connection
• Start, stop, restart, and remove containers from the dashboard

SFTP

• Standalone browser or a drawer attached to an SSH session
• Upload, download, rename, chmod, and inline editing with CodeMirror

Databases & Redis

• PostgreSQL, MySQL, and MariaDB: schema browser, query editor with history, saved queries, and EXPLAIN
• Redis: key browser, value inspector, TTLs, and a guarded command line (destructive commands are blocked)

Kubernetes

• Multi-context dashboard: workloads, services, config, nodes, and events
• Pod logs (streamed), exec into containers, port forwarding, scale and restart deployments

Security

• Credentials live in the OS keychain, never in config files
• Optional lock screen: Touch ID, PIN, or password, with auto-lock
• Sandboxed renderer with context isolation; every IPC handler validates its input and the main process treats the UI as untrusted
• SSH keys and kubeconfigs are only readable from allowlisted directories

Install

Grab a build from the releases page, or build one yourself (below).

macOS note: release builds are not yet signed or notarized. If macOS reports the app as damaged after download, clear the quarantine flag:

xattr -cr /Applications/noxed.app

Linux note: credentials are stored through libsecret, so a keyring service (GNOME Keyring or KWallet) must be running. On Debian/Ubuntu: sudo apt install libsecret-1-0.

Building from source

Prerequisites: Node.js 20+ and npm. npm install also rebuilds the native keychain module (keytar) against Electron, so the first install needs network access and a few extra seconds.

git clone https://github.com/Meanski/noxed.git
cd noxed
npm install
npm run dist

Installers land in dist/ — a .dmg and .zip on macOS, an NSIS installer on Windows, and an AppImage plus .deb on Linux. For a quick unpackaged build to try locally, npm run pack produces the bare app in dist/<platform>/ without making installers.

Development

npm install
npm run dev     # start with hot reload
npm test        # run the test suite (vitest)
npm run build   # production bundle (no installer)

The app is Electron with three strictly separated layers:

• src/main/ — Node.js main process. All SSH/SFTP/K8s/database/keychain access lives here, exposed through validated IPC handlers.
• src/preload/ — the contextBridge API surface, nothing else.
• src/renderer/ — React + Zustand UI. No Node.js access.

See AGENTS.md for the full conventions used in this codebase. Those conventions apply whether code is written by hand, with AI assistance, or through a mix of both.

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Cmd+K	Command palette
Cmd+T	New connection
Cmd+W	Close tab
Cmd+F	Search terminal scrollback
Cmd+1…9	Jump to tab
Ctrl+Tab / Cmd+Shift+[/]	Cycle tabs

License

MIT