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Eric Kochen edited this page Mar 29, 2026 · 10 revisions

What is purple?

purple is a free, open-source terminal SSH client and SSH config manager for macOS and Linux. It reads and writes ~/.ssh/config directly with full round-trip fidelity, preserving your comments, indentation and unknown directives through every edit.

From one TUI (terminal user interface) you can:

  • Search and connect to any host instantly with fuzzy search and frecency sorting
  • Sync servers from 15 cloud providers (AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, i3D.net, Leaseweb, Linode, OCI, OVHcloud, Proxmox, Scaleway, Tailscale, UpCloud and Vultr)
  • Manage containers over SSH (Docker and Podman, no agent required)
  • Browse remote files in a split-screen explorer and copy with a keystroke
  • Run command snippets across one host, a selection or all hosts at once
  • Retrieve SSH passwords automatically (OS Keychain, 1Password, Bitwarden, pass, HashiCorp Vault or a custom command)
  • Integrate with AI agents via MCP (Model Context Protocol). Claude Code, Cursor and other AI assistants can query hosts, run commands and manage containers

Written in Rust as a single binary with 5000+ tests. MIT license.

Install

curl -fsSL getpurple.sh | sh

See Installation for all methods (Homebrew, Cargo, from source).

Quick start

purple                   # 1. Launch the TUI
                         # 2. Press a to add a host, or I to import from known_hosts
                         # 3. Press S to configure a cloud provider
                         # 4. Press / to search, Enter to connect

See Getting Started for a walkthrough.

Features

Feature Description
Search and connect Instant fuzzy search across aliases, hostnames, users, tags and providers. Frecency sorting surfaces most-used hosts
Cloud Providers Sync from AWS EC2, Azure, DigitalOcean, GCP, Hetzner, i3D.net, Leaseweb, Linode, OCI, OVHcloud, Proxmox VE, Scaleway, Tailscale, UpCloud and Vultr
Container Management Docker and Podman over SSH. No agent, no extra ports
File Explorer Dual-pane local/remote file browsing with scp transfer
Command Snippets Save commands, run on single host, selection or all hosts
Password Management OS Keychain, 1Password, Bitwarden, pass, HashiCorp Vault, custom commands
SSH Tunnels LocalForward, RemoteForward, DynamicForward. TUI and CLI
Tags and Search User tags, provider tags, fuzzy and exact filtering
MCP Server AI agent integration via Model Context Protocol. Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP clients
Round-trip fidelity Comments, indentation, unknown directives, CRLF and Include files all preserved

Additional features

  • Bulk import from hosts files or ~/.ssh/known_hosts (press I)
  • SSH key management Browse keys with metadata and host linking (press K)
  • Detail panel Split-pane view with connection info, activity sparkline, tags, metadata (press v)
  • TCP ping Connectivity check per host or all at once (press p / P)
  • Clipboard Copy SSH command (y) or config block (x)
  • Atomic writes Temp file, chmod 600, rename. Automatic backups (last 5)
  • Host key reset Detects changed host keys, offers to remove and reconnect
  • Auto-reload Detects external config changes every 4 seconds
  • Self-update purple update or TUI notification badge
  • Shell completions Bash, zsh and fish via purple --completions
  • Minimal UI Monochrome with purple accent. Works in any terminal. Respects NO_COLOR

Navigation

Getting started

Features

Reference

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