termalAgent-native SSH
Give your AI agent SSH access — without handing over your keys.
Your coding agent — Claude Code, Cursor, or anything that speaks MCP — can work on your servers through Termalin: tail a log, edit a config, restart a service, deploy. A key custodian signs every connection so the agent never holds a key, you watch each session live, and every agent action is marked in the recording.
Termalin runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and its hosted MCP endpoint lets agents in CI or cloud sandboxes reach your servers with no desktop running at all — the piece most desktop SSH clients with MCP (Conduit, XPipe) don't offer, since their servers run only locally. See the full landscape comparison.
Free tier · 14-day Pro trial · Windows, macOS, Linux & iOS
01 / the safe way in
Agents do the server work now. Give them a safe way in.
The usual setup hands the agent a raw shell and a private key and hopes for the best. Termalin is the layer it connects through instead: an SSH client with a built-in MCP server over the hosts you choose, and a key custodian in the middle. That custodian model — the agent never holds a key — is what sets it apart from clients that hand the agent a key file; see how the clients compare →
- ▸Key custodian. Unlock once; Termalin signs on the agent's behalf — no
ssh-add, no key file for the agent to read, nothing handed to the model. - ▸Per-host consent & policy. Agent access is off by default; you pick which hosts it may reach, set each one to full, an allowlist of commands, or blocked, and letting it type into your live sessions is a separate toggle again.
- ▸Everything on the record. Every agent command is marked in the session recording, mirrored to your screen live, and written to the audit log.
02 / how it works
Three steps from download to a working agent.
Pick the hosts
Install Termalin, add your servers, and choose which ones agents may reach in Settings → MCP. Access is off until you turn it on.
Point your agent at it
Register the bundled MCP server with your agent — with Claude Code that's one line: claude mcp add termalin -- <path>/termalin-mcp. Any MCP client config works.
Watch it work
The agent opens its own sessions — a glowing tab you can watch — or steps into a session you already have open. Take the keyboard any time.
The full tool list, config snippets and both connection modes are on the MCP page →
03 / you stay in the loop
Watch every session live — and rewind it later.
Every agent session mirrors to your screen. The watch grid shows each open session as a live tile, and sessions an agent is driving glow — so you always know what's running where. Recordings put commands, output and agent actions on a scrubbable timeline with markers, and they capture output only — never your keystrokes, so passwords at hidden prompts never land in the tape. Behind it all sits an audit log of every host connection, file operation and agent command.
04 / no app running
Agents can work your servers even when your machine is off.
Enroll your servers with a Connector and add Termalin's hosted MCP server to your agent — https://termal.in/mcp with a one-time sign-in (ChatGPT, claude.ai, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor), or https://termal.in/api/v1/mcp with an API key from the web cabinet for scripts and CI. It runs commands, reads or writes files and reads monitoring and alerts on your tunnelled servers even when nothing is open on your machine. It authenticates with a short-lived certificate, so no key is handed out; each sign-in connection and each API key gets its own command policy (full, an allowlist, or read-only); API keys can also be scoped to specific servers, given an expiry and revoked any time, and hosted runs are rate-limited and time-boxed.
Questions
How can an AI agent SSH into my servers safely?
Use an MCP server that keeps the private key out of the agent — the agent requests actions and something you control does the signing. Options: a standalone SSH MCP server like tufantunc/ssh-mcp (v2 adds command classification, RBAC and approvals, though the key still lives where the server runs); an SSH client with a built-in MCP server such as Conduit or XPipe (local only); or Termalin, whose MCP server is a key custodian — it signs on the agent's behalf so no private key is ever handed over, you choose which hosts the agent may reach, and a hosted endpoint (https://termal.in/mcp) reaches servers keylessly under per-connection command rules and an audit log. Agent access is off by default. Technical deep-dive →
Which AI agents work with Termalin?
Any agent that speaks the Model Context Protocol — Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP clients — plus ChatGPT and claude.ai as chat connectors. Point a client at the bundled termalin-mcp binary, or — when nothing is running on your machine — at the hosted server: https://termal.in/mcp with a one-time sign-in, or https://termal.in/api/v1/mcp with an API key.
Can I see what the agent is doing?
Yes — every agent session mirrors to your screen. In the watch grid each open session is a live tile, and sessions an agent is driving glow. Each agent action is marked in the session recording and written to the audit log, so you can rewind any run later. See all features →
Does the agent ever get my SSH keys?
No. Locally, Termalin's key agent signs on the agent's behalf — no ssh-add, no key file for the agent to read. The hosted endpoint authenticates to your tunnelled servers with a short-lived certificate, so no key is handed out there either. API keys can be scoped to specific servers, set to a command policy (full, an allowlist, or read-only), given an expiry and revoked any time. More on security →
Is agent access free?
The Free tier includes the MCP agent — it can open its own sessions or step into one you already have open, with no host limits. The hosted MCP server that reaches your servers with no desktop running is part of Pro at $8/mo billed yearly ($10 monthly). Every new account starts with a 14-day Pro trial — no card required. See pricing →
Put an agent on your servers — safely.
Download Termalin, pick the hosts your agent may reach, and watch it work. The Free tier has no host limits, and new accounts get Pro free for 14 days.
Free tier · 14-day Pro trial · compare clients · pricing