SSHive on Linux

Install

The .deb and .rpm packages, for x64 and ARM64 processors, are on the download page with their sizes, their SHA-256 fingerprints and the system requirements. Install the file from the folder it was downloaded to:

# Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Pop!_OS
sudo apt install ./sshive_2.0.10_amd64.deb
# Fedora, RHEL and derivatives
sudo dnf install ./sshive-2.0.10-1.x86_64.rpm

Replace amd64 and x86_64 with arm64 on an ARM64 processor: uname -m prints x86_64 for x64 and aarch64 for ARM64. SSHive then appears in the applications menu, and sshive starts it from a terminal.

Updates

The package adds SSHive's repository to the system, so later versions arrive with the other system updates (sudo apt upgrade, sudo dnf upgrade, or your desktop's update tool), and your profiles and settings stay where they are. SSHive does not fetch its own updates here: the package manager does, and it checks the signature of every one. Settings > General, section Updates, says whether the repository is configured, and the changelog says what changed.

On the first update, Fedora asks you to accept the repository key. Its fingerprint is 7031 36A3 89F3 3184 741F 0DAE 40FB 0DD0 88E6 BC88.

Doing without the repository

To keep the versions in your own hands, write a depot=non line, alone on its line, in /etc/default/sshive before installing the package.

If SSHive is already installed, add that line, then remove the repository source as well, or apt and dnf keep reading it:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sshive.sources   # Debian, Ubuntu…
sudo rm /etc/yum.repos.d/sshive.repo             # Fedora, RHEL…

Without the depot=non line, a source you removed comes back when the next version is installed. Removing the package takes the repository away in every case.

The keyring

SSHive encrypts your passwords, keys and passphrases through the system keyring: GNOME Keyring, which comes with GNOME, KWallet with KDE, or KeePassXC with its Secret Service integration. Settings > Security says which one SSHive is using.

Without a keyring SSHive still runs, but it saves none of those secrets: it asks for them at each connection. The application itself is locked with a master password; Touch ID exists on the Mac only.

The serial console

Depending on the adapter, the ports are called /dev/ttyUSB* or /dev/ttyACM*, not /dev/cu.* as on the Mac. Reading them requires membership of the port's group. Add your account to it, then open your session again:

sudo usermod -aG dialout $USER

Keyboard shortcuts

Wherever the Mac uses ⌘, Linux uses ⌃: ⌃T for a new local terminal, ⌃, for the settings. In the terminal, copy and paste go through ⌃⇧C and ⌃⇧V, because ⌃ C keeps its own job there: interrupting the running command. The whole list is in the keyboard shortcuts, read with ⌃ in place of ⌘.

The SSH agent

On the Mac, SSHive picks the agent from a list of vaults. On Linux it uses your session's agent, the one SSH_AUTH_SOCK points at: gpg-agent, a vault's agent, ssh-agent itself. To point it at another one, give the path of its socket in Settings > Connection > SSH agent. Keys never leave the agent: it signs for SSHive. When nothing answers, SSH agents walks through it.

The AI assistant (MCP)

SSHive configures Claude Code and Cursor on its own, and your connections become tools the assistant can call. What it sees, what it may do, and how to keep it on a short leash: the AI assistant.

What differs from the Mac

Everything else is the same application: SSH, SFTP, RDP, VNC, Telnet, serial console, local terminal, tunnels, network tools, the OTP authenticator, automatic backup, the AI assistant, and the Pro features, except iCloud sync.

Your license

SSHive on Linux is free. SSHive Pro is added with the same license key as the direct version for Mac: one key is active at the same time on 3 devices, Mac or Linux, in any mix. Activation is in Settings > License, and your license covers moving it and freeing a place.

Reinstalling the system changes the computer's identifier, so the machine takes a new place. Free the old one from your customer portal.

A purchase in the App Store covers the App Store version only: it does not unlock Pro on Linux. The two are compared in App Store or direct version?.

If something goes wrong

The application's log is in ~/.config/SSHive/logs/main.log, and "Copy support information" (Settings > License) gives the line to put in a message. The most common failures have a page of their own: an SSH connection that fails, an SSH agent that does not answer.

Your data lives in ~/.config/SSHive. Deleting that folder after sudo apt remove sshive or sudo dnf remove sshive wipes everything; if you had activated a key, deactivate it first in Settings > License, or it keeps its place.