An iPad terminal for power users. SSH, mosh, tmux — without the legacy.
Most iPad terminals are afterthoughts. Tessera treats the keyboard as the primary input,
the network as untrustworthy, and the screen as a session — not a window.
Built for people who already live in a terminal. It connects directly to machines
you own — no middleman, no account, no tracking.
platform
iPadOS 17+
protocols
SSH · mosh · tmux
keys
Ed25519 · ECDSA · RSA
license
GPL-3.0 · open source
2.0 is on the App Store now.
One purchase, $9.99 — no subscription, no telemetry, no rented credentials.
Free software under GPL-3.0; the full source is on GitHub. Requires iPadOS 17
or later, and runs on Apple silicon Macs too.
Save the machines you live on; quick-connect to the ones you don't. Local port
forwarding reaches the services hiding behind them, and session restore brings your
hosts and layout back after a relaunch.
Local Maczsh
bastion.prodtmux
hosts
search hosts, or type user@host to quick-connect⌘K
all hosts · 6
nameaddressidentitylast seen
Local Macdev@127.0.0.1Dev Keynow
Remote test 1testuser@203.0.113.10Test22h ago
Remote test 2dev@203.0.113.24Dev Keyyesterday
bastion.prodops@bastion.prod.internalProd Key1h ago
A real terminal, not a text box.
02 · terminal
Open a session over SSH. Toggle a host to use mosh and it survives the cafe wifi,
the lift, the train tunnel — a per-host setting, so you decide where it helps.
Tessera auto-attaches to a tmux session on connect, so a dropped connection never
loses your work: native window and pane support when you want it, raw passthrough when
you don't.
mac-studiozsh
bastion.prodtmux
tmux0:edit1:logs2:zsh
● mosh session established · tmux attached to session "main"
(base) dev@mac-studio ~ % uname -sm
Darwin arm64
(base) dev@mac-studio ~ % ls
Desktop Documents Downloads Projects bin dotfiles
(base) dev@mac-studio ~ % tmux ls
main: 3 windows (attached)
(base) dev@mac-studio ~ %
esctabctrlalt⌘↑↓←→|/-⌃b⌃b c⌃b "⌃b %⌃b d
Keys that never leave the device.
03 · keys
Generate Ed25519, ECDSA, or RSA keys in the iOS Keychain. Secure Enclave–backed keys
never leave the device and can require Face ID to use — and app lock guards launch,
return, and idle with Face ID or a passcode.
Verified, stale, or changed — at a glance. When a host key rotates, Tessera shows the
old and new fingerprint side by side, so you can accept (or refuse) on purpose.
New in 2.0. Move files and images into and out of your hosts with native iOS
sharing. Paste a path straight into the active terminal — or select one in the
terminal and right-click to quick-view the file behind it.
tesserafile center
file center
bastion.prod · ~/deploy · 5 items
namesizemodified
releases/—2h ago
deploy.log128 KB2m ago
screenshot.png2.4 MB14m ago
build-142.tar.gz48 MB1h ago
notes.md4 KByesterday
share sheet · in and outpaste path into terminalright-click a path → quick view
Your agents, one view.
06 · agent center
New in 2.0. A centralized view of your Claude Code and Codex sessions across
hosts, tmux windows, and panes — see what every agent is up to without cycling
through terminals.
tesseraagents
agents
4 sessions · 3 hosts · 2 running
CLAUDE
mac-studio
tmux main · 0:edit · pane 1
RUNNING2m
CLAUDE
bastion.prod
tmux ops · 1:deploy · pane 2
WAITINGnow
CODEX
Remote test 1
tmux scratch · 0:zsh
RUNNING5m
CODEX
mac-studio
tmux main · 1:logs · pane 0
IDLE1h
07 · iPad-native
Built for the keyboard. Made for the screen.
Hardware keyboard first — shortcuts, a hold-⌘ key legend, modifiers that behave.
A configurable swipe pad puts arrows, Esc, and Ctrl on glass. Mouse and trackpad
with scrolling that works.
08 · the details
Find-in-terminal, themes, real fonts.
Search the scrollback, pick a theme or your own background picture, load the
monospaced font you actually like, and dictate on device. Natural editing,
smooth scrolling — small comforts that make a terminal somewhere you want to live.
on the app store · v2.0
Tessera — SSH Terminal
$9.99 one-time · iPadOS 17+ · open source (GPL-3.0)