purple-ssh 1.4.0

Manage SSH configs and launch connections from the terminal. TUI host manager with search, tags, cloud sync (DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Hetzner, UpCloud) and round-trip fidelity for ~/.ssh/config.
Documentation

Launch, search and connect

🚀 Instant search. Filter on alias, hostname, user, tags or provider as you type

🏷️ Tags. Label hosts with #tags, filter with the tag picker or tag: search

📊 Connection history. Frecency sorting surfaces your most-used and most-recent hosts

📡 Ping. TCP connectivity check per host or all at once

📥 Bulk import. From a hosts file or ~/.ssh/known_hosts

🔑 SSH key management. Browse keys with metadata and linked hosts

📋 Clipboard. Copy the SSH command or full config block

Cloud provider sync

Pull your servers from DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Hetzner and UpCloud directly into ~/.ssh/config. Sync adds new hosts, updates changed IPs and tags, and optionally removes deleted servers. Preview with --dry-run.

purple provider add digitalocean --token YOUR_TOKEN   # or use PURPLE_TOKEN env var
purple sync

Synced hosts are tagged by provider and appear alongside your manual hosts.

Your config, respected

🔄 Round-trip fidelity. Comments, indentation and unknown directives are preserved through every read-write cycle. Consecutive blank lines are collapsed to keep your config clean.

📂 Include support. Hosts from Include files are displayed but never modified

🔒 Atomic writes. Temp file, chmod 600, rename. No half-written configs.

💾 Automatic backups. Every write to an existing config creates a timestamped backup. Keeps the last 5.

♻️ Auto-reload. Detects external config changes and reloads automatically

🎨 Monochrome UI. Works in any terminal, any font. One splash of color (the purple badge). Respects NO_COLOR.

🐚 Shell completions. Bash, zsh and fish.

Install

Homebrew (macOS)

brew install erickochen/purple/purple

Cargo (crate name: purple-ssh)

cargo install purple-ssh

From source

git clone https://github.com/erickochen/purple.git
cd purple
cargo build --release

Get started

purple

That's it. purple reads your ~/.ssh/config and shows your hosts. Navigate with j/k, search with /, connect with Enter. Press ? for the full cheat sheet.

Usage

purple                              # Launch the TUI
purple myserver                     # Connect or search
purple -c myserver                  # Direct connect
purple --list                       # List all hosts
purple add deploy@10.0.1.5:22      # Quick-add a host
purple import hosts.txt             # Bulk import from file
purple import --known-hosts         # Import from known_hosts
purple provider add digitalocean    # Configure cloud provider
purple sync                         # Sync all providers
purple sync --dry-run               # Preview sync changes
purple --completions zsh            # Shell completions

Host List

Key Action
j / k Navigate up and down
Enter Connect to selected host
a Add new host
e Edit selected host
d Delete selected host
c Clone host
y Copy SSH command
x Export config block to clipboard
/ Search and filter
# Filter by tag
t Tag host
s Cycle sort mode
i Inspect host details
u Undo last delete
p Ping selected host
P Ping all hosts
S Cloud provider sync
K SSH key list
? Help
q / Esc Quit

Provider List

Key Action
Enter Configure provider
s Sync selected provider
d Remove provider
q / Esc Back (cancels syncs)

Search

Key Action
Type Filter hosts
Enter Connect to selected
Esc Cancel search
Tab / Shift+Tab Next / previous result

Form

Key Action
Tab / Shift+Tab Next / previous field
Ctrl+K Pick SSH key
Enter Save
Esc Cancel

What makes purple different?

It edits your real SSH config. Most SSH config tools only read. purple reads, edits and writes ~/.ssh/config directly.

It doesn't break anything. Comments, indentation, unknown directives. All preserved through every edit. Tested with 405 tests including round-trip integration.

It syncs your cloud servers. purple is the only SSH config manager we know of that pulls hosts from DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Hetzner and UpCloud directly into your config. Configure once, sync anytime.

It imports what you already have. Bulk import from host files or ~/.ssh/known_hosts. No manual re-entry.

It's a single Rust binary. No runtime, no daemon, no async framework. Install and run.

FAQ

Does purple modify my existing SSH config? Only when you add, edit, delete or sync. Auto-sync runs on startup if you have providers configured. All writes are atomic with automatic backups.

Will purple break my comments or formatting? No. purple preserves comments, indentation and unknown directives through every read-write cycle. Consecutive blank lines are collapsed to one.

Does purple need a daemon or background process? No. It's a single binary. Run it, use it, close it.

Does purple send my SSH config anywhere? No. Everything stays local. Provider sync only calls cloud APIs to fetch server lists. Your config never leaves your machine.

Why is the crate called purple-ssh? The name purple was taken on crates.io. The binary is still called purple.

Built with

Rust. 405 tests. Zero clippy warnings. No async runtime. Single binary.