PuTTY was built in 1999. Your workflow has changed. Your tools should too.
| PuTTY | Other terminals | PuttyAlt | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dark mode | No | Some | Native dark UI, 10 color schemes |
| Tabs | No | Yes | Groups, hover preview, drag reorder |
| Split panes | No | Some | Binary split tree, h/v, zoom, broadcast |
| Automation | No | Limited | Lua, expect, macros, watchdog, cron, plugins |
| Performance | Good | Varies | 120fps, render cache, dirty-rect redraw |
| Open source | Yes | Some | MIT, 40K+ lines of C99 |
No Electron. No dependencies. No bloat. Download. Double-click. Connect.
| Category | Highlights |
|---|---|
| UI | 10 color schemes (Dracula, Nord, Tokyo Night...), split panes (h/v) with focus nav/zoom, floating panel snap, animations, tab groups, search bar, font scaling, quick-launch palette |
| Sessions | Ratings, bookmarks with folders, labels, notes, clone/template, import from PuTTY registry, workspaces, startup restore, quick Ctrl+Tab switcher |
| Terminal | Truecolor (24-bit), inline images (Sixel, iTerm2, Kitty), GPU glyph atlas, OSC 8 hyperlinks, OSC 133 prompt marks, ligatures, BiDi, block selection, multi-pane broadcast, scrollback search |
| Security | 2FA/TOTP detection, certificate viewer, TOFU host verification, known_hosts parser, audit trail, credential store |
| Automation | Lua scripting, expect patterns, macro recording, watchdog alerts, cron scheduler, tmux integration, sandboxed plugin API v2, AI command suggestions, REST API, webhooks |
| Networking | SSH banner/OS detection, cipher preferences, keep-alive manager, DNS cache, speed test, proxy presets, port forwarding manager |
| Transfer | SCP progress bar with ETA, SFTP panel, drag-and-drop upload, Zmodem |
| Tools | Clipboard ring, hex dump, base64, regex matching, hostname auto-complete, Unicode/CJK support, structured logging |
| Config | Switchable profiles, keyboard remapping, env variables with expansion, theme export/import, config migration, auto-backup |
# Download and run
wget https://github.com/chillymasterio/puttyalt/releases/download/v3.0.0/puttyalt.msi
# Or build from source
git clone https://github.com/chillymasterio/puttyalt.git
cd puttyalt
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc -c -Iinclude -I. -O2 src/*/*.c
x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc *.o -o puttyalt.exe -mwindows -lgdi32 -ldwmapi -lws2_32 -lcomctl32puttyalt [options] [user@]host[:port]
-p port Port number (default: 22)
-l user Login username
-i keyfile Private key file
-load name Load saved session
-e command Execute remote command
-v Verbose mode
-config file Alternate config file
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl+P |
Command palette |
Ctrl+T |
New tab |
Ctrl+W |
Close tab |
Ctrl+Tab |
Quick switch (MRU) |
Ctrl+F |
Find in terminal |
Ctrl+N |
New connection |
Ctrl+D |
Duplicate session |
Ctrl+, |
Settings |
Ctrl++/-/0 |
Zoom in/out/reset |
F11 |
Fullscreen |
src/
├── core/ 29 modules — GUI, layout, render cache, dirty-rect, frame pacer
├── ui/ 58 modules — tabs, split panes, focus nav, panel snap, scrubber
├── network/ 48 modules — SSH, tunnels, proxy, DNS, write batch, latency hist
├── session/ 29 modules — bookmarks, workspaces, co-edit, presence, restore
├── security/ 26 modules — 2FA, certs, plugin grants, vault, TOFU pin, audit chain
├── terminal/ 44 modules — GPU atlas, inline images, hyperlinks, BiDi, allocators
├── automation/ 20 modules — Lua, expect, plugin API v2, AI suggestions, cron
├── editor/ 12 modules — snippets, clipboard, categories
├── tools/ 71 modules — SCP, hex, base64, fuzzy history, asciicast, logging
└── config/ 19 modules — profiles, layouts, keybinds, migration, backup
tests/ 9 suites (108 assertions, all passing)
| Version | Highlights |
|---|---|
| 3.8.0 (in progress) | Base32/TOTP/CRC32, UTF-8 codec, URL parser, ANSI 256-color, text selection v2, list/dropdown/spinner widgets, key store, protocol negotiation, verify.sh warning tracking, 31 modules |
| 3.7.0 (in progress) | i18n + accessibility v2, BiDi, IPv6, function profiler, script debugger, syntax highlighting, Levenshtein, connection state machine, verify.sh quality gate, zero-warning build, 31 modules |
| 3.6.0 (in progress) | Gap buffer editor, regex/fuzzy v2, sparklines, WebSocket client, plugin host, bookmarks v2, dynamic palette, settings store, test hardening (38/38 pass), 31 modules |
| 3.5.0 (in progress) | VT220 conformance, DCS/APC parsers, FIDO2/PKCS#11 hardware auth, SSH tunnels, HTTPS proxy, SCP v2, glob matching, modal dialogs, text reflow, 32 modules |
| 3.4.0 (in progress) | SSH rekey/compression, port forwarding v2, keepalive v3, host key rotation, SSHFP, SOCKS5, mouse v2 (SGR pixel), rectangular selection, powerline status, color wheel, 33 modules |
| 3.3.0 (in progress) | Anomaly detection, command prediction (Markov), session scoring, log clustering, rsync delta sync, load balancer, connection graph, smart copy/safety, JSONPath, cron matcher, 32 modules |
| 3.2.0 (in progress) | Enterprise compliance (PCI/SOC2/HIPAA), RBAC, tamper-evident recording, secret scanner, Sixel v2, DNSSEC, GeoIP, hex editor, three-way merge, state machine, alert rules, 32 modules |
| 3.1.0 (in progress) | Post-quantum KEM (ML-KEM/hybrid), WASM plugin runtime, edge/IoT profiles, Unicode 15.1 emoji, NAT hole-punching, Kitty keyboard protocol, synchronized output, session folder tree, 34 modules |
| 3.0.0 New Era | AI copilot + autonomous agent, zero-trust policy engine, MFA flow, distributed sessions (quorum), GPU compositor + frame graph, SSH multiplexer, CRDT sync, observability (metrics/tracing), 30 flagship modules |
| 2.4.0 | AI assist (prompt context, command explainer, sequence planner), connection multiplexing (mux channels, QUIC flow), cloud profiles, advanced SFTP (resumable, mirror, throttle), CSI parser, OSC 52/9;4 |
| 2.3.0 | Touch gestures, on-screen keyboard, accessibility (screen-reader queue, high-contrast), Mosh/SSH3 protocols, Happy Eyeballs, session MRU, local analytics |
| 2.2.0 (in progress) | Vulkan/GPU glyph atlas, real-time collaboration (co-edit, presence, annotations), perf (arena/slab allocators, write batching, latency histogram), OSC 8 hyperlinks, OSC 133 prompt marks, BiDi, WebSocket transport, audit signing chain |
| 2.1.0 | Split panes (h/v, focus nav, zoom, broadcast), render cache + dirty-rect redraw, inline images (iTerm2/Kitty), sandboxed plugin API v2, AI command suggestions, workspaces, layout save/restore |
| 2.0.1 | 270+ modules, truecolor, Sixel, 2FA, macro recording, tab preview, watchdog, cipher prefs, command palette, multi-size icon, test suite (108/108), project reorganization |
| 2.0.0 | Complete UI rewrite — dark theme, custom controls, DWM integration, double-buffered rendering |
| 1.5.0 | Scripting & Automation — Lua engine, expect, pipelines, REST API, webhooks |
| 1.4.0 | Collaboration — audit trail, roles, session sharing, approval workflow |
Fast. — Native C99, no runtime, no VM, no framework overhead.
Focused. — SSH done right. Not a general terminal pretending to do SSH.
Modular. — 700+ modules organized by function. Extend what you need.
Private. — Zero telemetry. No cloud. Your keys stay on your machine.
First launch may show a SmartScreen warning — normal for unsigned open-source software.
Click "More info" → "Run anyway".
MIT — see LICENSE.
700+ modules | 1120+ commits | 79,000+ lines of C99
Built with care. No bloat. No compromise.