Connect to your first host on the desktop

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In this tutorial you install the Sternway desktop app, save one of your servers as a host, log in to it over SSH and open a second session beside the first. It takes about ten minutes. You do not need a Sternway account: everything stays on your computer.

What you need

A computer with Linux (x64 or arm64) or Windows 10 or 11 (x64).
A server you can log in to with SSH, and its address, your user name on it and your password or SSH key. A Linux server, a Raspberry Pi or a router that runs an SSH server all work.

1. Install the app

Open sternway.dev/download and download the file for your system:
- Debian or Ubuntu: the .deb file (Sternway-<version>-amd64.deb, or -arm64.deb on an ARM computer).
- Any other Linux: the AppImage (Sternway-<version>-x86_64.AppImage, or -arm64.AppImage).
- Windows: the installer, Sternway-Setup-<version>-x64.exe.
Install it:
- .deb: in a terminal, in the folder you downloaded it to, run sudo apt install ./Sternway-*-amd64.deb.
- AppImage: run chmod +x Sternway-*.AppImage, then start it with ./Sternway-*.AppImage.
- Windows: run the installer. It installs for your user only and asks for no administrator rights. Windows SmartScreen warns about it because the app is not code-signed yet: choose More info, then Run anyway.
Start Sternway from your applications menu or the Start menu.

The app opens on Hosts, which says No hosts yet.

If something goes wrong here, Install on Linux and Install on Windows cover each package in detail.

2. Save the server as a host

Choose New host. The host editor opens beside the list.
Under Address, fill in:
- Label: a name for your list, for example web-01.
- Address: the server’s host name or IP address, for example web.example.com or 192.168.1.20. Only the address: the port and the user name have fields of their own.
- SSH port: leave it at 22 unless your server listens on another port.
Under Login, fill in Username with your user name on the server, and either:
- Password: your password on the server, or
- leave the password empty and pick a Key if you already added one in the Keychain. Use SSH keys shows how to make or import one.
You can also leave both empty: Sternway then asks for the password each time you connect.
Choose Save.

The host appears as a card in the list. Every field has an ⓘ beside its label that explains it; press F1 in a field to open it from the keyboard.

3. Log in to the host

Double-click the card (or select it and press Enter).
The first time, Sternway shows New host key for … with the server’s key fingerprint, which no other server has. If you can, compare it with the one the server reports (ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub on the server). Then choose Trust & Continue.

Sternway remembers the key. If the server ever presents a different one, it stops and warns you instead of connecting.
If you did not save a password, type it when Sternway asks.

A terminal tab opens with your shell on the server. Type uptime and press Enter to see it answer.

4. Open a second session beside the first

With the terminal in front, press Ctrl+Shift+E. The tab splits into two panes side by side, and the new pane opens a session of its own to the same host. The host key is not asked about again: Sternway knows it now.
Click a pane to type in it, or move between panes with Ctrl+Alt and an arrow key.
Close a pane with Ctrl+Alt+W.

When you are done, type exit in each pane, or close the tab with Ctrl+Shift+W.

What you did

You installed Sternway, saved a host with its address and login, accepted its host key once, and ran two sessions to it in one tab. The host, its password and the host key are stored encrypted on this computer only.

Import your other hosts from ~/.ssh/config or another SSH client instead of typing them in.
Connect from your phone.
Turn on encrypted sync to have the same hosts on your other computers and your phone.
Keyboard shortcuts lists every default key.