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Getting started

What you need

  • An iPad running iPadOS 17 or later.
  • A server you can already reach over SSH — any Linux, BSD, or macOS machine with an SSH server.
  • Optional, on the server: tmux for the tmux integration, and mosh-server for mosh connections.

Install

Get Tessera on the App Store.

The tour

On first launch Tessera offers a short tour of the interface — adding hosts, keys, tmux, the swipe pad, files, and the keyboard shortcuts. You can skip it; to see it again later, go to settings → about → replay walkthrough.

Add your first host

  1. Press ⌘N (or tap the add-host button) to open the host editor.
  2. Fill in name, address, port (22 unless yours differs), and user.
  3. Set authentication on the connection tab: pick a saved key in the identity field (the better default — see keys), or type a password. Passwords are kept only for the live session and never stored.
  4. Tap connect.

The full set of host options — transports, launch modes, jump hosts, snippets — is covered in hosts & connections.

The Tessera host editor, connection tab: name, address, port, user, identity, password, transport, jump host, and launch mode, with the connect bar at the bottom.
The host editor. The connection tab holds everything needed for a first connection; the connect bar sits at the bottom.

Trust the host key

The first time you connect to a server, Tessera stops with an Unknown Host sheet showing the server's SHA-256 fingerprint and key type. Verify the fingerprint against a source you trust (your provider's dashboard, or ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub on the server itself), then tap Accept New Key. Details in host key verification.

The Unknown Host sheet showing the server address, its SHA-256 fingerprint, the key type ssh-ed25519, and Accept New Key and Reject buttons.
First connection to a new server: compare the fingerprint, then accept or reject.

Set up a key

Passwords work, but a key is safer and less typing:

  1. Open keys in the sidebar and tap + generate.
  2. Choose Ed25519 (the fast, modern default).
  3. Open the key, tap copy to host…, and pick the host you just connected to. Tessera appends the public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server.
  4. Back in the host editor, select the key as the host's identity.

Everything about keys — Secure Enclave keys, biometrics, recovery files — is in keys.

The local network permission

iPadOS will ask for Local Network permission the first time you connect to an address on your LAN. Tessera needs it to reach SSH/Mosh servers on your local network and to forward local ports to them. If you denied it by mistake, re-enable it in the iPadOS Settings app under Tessera.