MrTerm/README.md

MrTerm

A modern SSH, SFTP and RDP client for Windows and Arch Linux / CachyOS. All your servers live in one place and open in tabs: terminals, file transfers and remote desktops.

MrTerm is available in English and German. It follows your system language by default, and you can change it under Settings → Language.

Download & installation

Get the latest version from the releases page.

Windows

• MrTerm-Setup-<version>.exe: installer (recommended)
• MrTerm-<version>-portable.exe: portable, runs without installation

Arch Linux / CachyOS

• MrTerm-<version>.pacman: install with

  sudo pacman -U MrTerm-<version>.pacman
  

• MrTerm-<version>.AppImage: make it executable (chmod +x) and run it

Optional packages on Linux:

sudo pacman -S freerdp gnome-keyring   # use kwallet instead of gnome-keyring on KDE

freerdp is needed for RDP connections. gnome-keyring or kwallet lets MrTerm encrypt your saved passwords and keys.

Features

• Hosts: nested groups, tags, colors, search and Quick Connect (user@host:port, rdp://host)
• SSH terminal in tabs: password, key, SSH agent, keyboard-interactive/2FA, jump hosts (ProxyJump chains), startup command, environment variables, search, zoom and several color schemes
• SFTP: two-pane file browser (local ↔ remote), drag & drop, recursive folders, rename, delete, chmod and progress display
• RDP in a tab right inside MrTerm (Windows: mstsc, Linux: FreeRDP), or in a separate window if you prefer
• Keychain: generate Ed25519/ECDSA/RSA keys, import existing ones and copy the public key
• Docker & Podman: list a host's containers, open a shell inside a container, follow logs, and start, stop, restart or remove containers, all over SSH
• Port forwarding: local (-L), remote (-R) and dynamic/SOCKS5 (-D)
• VPN: add WireGuard or OpenVPN configurations and assign them to hosts. MrTerm connects the VPN automatically when you open such a host
• Snippets: save frequently used commands and send them to a terminal with one click
• Known hosts: MrTerm warns you if a server's host key changes
• History of recent connections
• Import from ~/.ssh/config and from Devolutions Remote Desktop Manager (.rdm/XML, JSON or CSV)
• Backup export and import
• 7 app themes (Midnight, Navy, Nord, Dracula, Catppuccin, Forest, Light) plus a custom accent color
• Encrypted vault using your operating system's keyring (Windows DPAPI, Linux libsecret/KWallet)
• App lock with a password and/or a FIDO2 security key such as a YubiKey. The vault is then additionally encrypted, and it can lock automatically when you're inactive
• Automatic updates: MrTerm checks for new versions on startup and can install them for you

Getting started

1. Click New host, enter the address, username and password or key, and click Save.
2. Double-click the host to connect. SSH hosts open a terminal, RDP hosts open a remote desktop tab.
3. Right-click a host for more options, such as opening SFTP, duplicating it or copying its address.

For a quick one-off connection, press Ctrl+Shift+K and type user@host (or rdp://host).

Keyboard shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+Shift+K / Ctrl+Shift+T	Quick Connect / command palette (outside the terminal also Ctrl+K)
Ctrl+Shift+W	Close tab
Ctrl+Tab	Next tab
Ctrl+1..9	Switch to tab
Ctrl+Shift+C / Ctrl+Shift+V	Copy / paste in the terminal
Ctrl+Shift+F	Search in the terminal
Ctrl + + / - / 0	Font size
Ctrl+Shift+L	Lock MrTerm

Ctrl+W, Ctrl+K and Ctrl+T still reach the terminal, so editors like nano work as usual.

Docker

Right-click an SSH host and choose Docker containers, or click Docker in the toolbar of an open terminal. MrTerm connects over SSH and shows all containers on that host, with status, ports, CPU and memory.

• Open shell: opens a terminal tab inside the container (bash if available, otherwise sh). You can also double-click a running container.
• Logs: follows the container's logs live in a terminal tab.
• Start, stop, restart, delete from the row buttons or the right-click menu.

Nothing needs to be installed on the server. MrTerm uses the docker command (or podman if Docker isn't installed). Your SSH user needs permission to run it, which usually means membership in the docker group (sudo usermod -aG docker <user>). If a password is saved for the host, MrTerm falls back to sudo automatically.

VPN

Under VPN in the sidebar you can add WireGuard (.conf) and OpenVPN (.ovpn) configurations. Paste them or load them from a file, then assign hosts, either in the VPN itself or through the VPN field of a host.

When you open an assigned host (terminal, SFTP, RDP or port forwarding), MrTerm connects the VPN first if it isn't already connected. You can also connect and disconnect manually. By default, MrTerm disconnects the VPNs it started when you close it.

• Linux: uses NetworkManager, so no root password is needed. For OpenVPN, install the plugin with sudo pacman -S networkmanager-openvpn.
• Windows: WireGuard requires WireGuard for Windows and asks for administrator permission when connecting. OpenVPN requires the OpenVPN GUI.
• OpenVPN certificates and keys must be embedded in the .ovpn file.

App lock

Under Settings → App lock you can protect MrTerm with a password, one or more FIDO2 security keys (e.g. YubiKey), or both. Once a method is set up:

• MrTerm starts locked, and your hosts, keys and passwords stay encrypted until you unlock it.
• Lock it any time with the lock icon in the title bar or Ctrl+Shift+L, or let it lock automatically after a period of inactivity.
• Open sessions keep running in the background while MrTerm is locked.

Security keys need to support the hmac-secret (PRF) extension, which YubiKey 5 and most current FIDO2 keys do. Touching the key is enough, no PIN is needed. On Linux, the key must be accessible to your user. This is the default on Arch/CachyOS.

Keep in mind: if you forget the password and lose all registered security keys, your vault cannot be recovered. Setting up a second unlock method is a good idea.

Updates

MrTerm looks for updates on startup. You can also check manually under Settings → Updates. When a new version is available, click Install now and MrTerm will download the right package for your system and restart.

Troubleshooting

• "Vault not encrypted" (Linux): install gnome-keyring or kwallet and restart MrTerm.
• RDP doesn't work (Linux): install FreeRDP with sudo pacman -S freerdp. Under Settings → RDP you can see which client MrTerm uses and choose another one.
• RDP tab stays empty: turn off Show RDP connections as tabs under Settings → RDP to use a separate window instead.

---

For developers

npm install
npm start

In VS Code terminals, unset ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE first.

Building packages

• Windows: npm run dist:win (on Linux, this needs wine)
• Arch/CachyOS: npm run dist:linux

If the build fails with EACCES: permission denied, some files in node_modules belong to root. Run sudo chown -R $USER: node_modules and don't run npm with sudo.

Publishing a release: ./scripts/release-all.sh asks for the version and release notes, commits and pushes the version, builds Windows + Arch/CachyOS and uploads everything to Gitea. It reads the token from GITEA_TOKEN or from .gitea-token, which is not committed.

Translations live in src/i18n.js. The English text in the code is the key. To add a language, add a dictionary and list it in LANGUAGES.

To regenerate the icons after changing the logo, run npx electron scripts/make-icons.js.