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SSHive Agent
What SSHive Agent is for
SSHive Agent is a small free helper from NetMeSafe, the maker of SSHive. It lets SSHive use the SSH keys kept in another application, without ever holding them itself.
By Lucas Russo, developer of SSHive · Updated
The applications it reaches: Strongbox, 1Password, Secretive (the keys of the Mac's Secure Enclave), Bitwarden, gpg-agent (a YubiKey in OpenPGP mode, for instance) and yubikey-agent.
It starts with your macOS session, with no window and no icon in the Dock, and passes two kinds of request to the agent you chose in SSHive: the list of the public keys, and the signatures. Your keys stay in their application, which asks for your approval as it always does: Touch ID, unlocking the vault, touching the YubiKey.
Do you need it
| Your situation | SSHive Agent |
|---|---|
| Your keys are in Strongbox, 1Password, Secretive, Bitwarden, gpg-agent or yubikey-agent | Yes |
macOS 26.3 or older, and your servers use the SSH agent of macOS (ssh-add) | Yes: on those versions of macOS, the agent of macOS goes through it too |
| Your keys are saved in SSHive (Settings > SSH Keys, or a key file chosen in the server) | No |
| You connect with a password | No |
| You do not know | SSHive offers it to you itself, when a connection needs it |
What it does, and what it does not
- It answers only the SSHive installed from the App Store, in the Applications folder.
- It passes the list of the keys and the signatures, nothing else: it refuses to add, remove or lock keys in your vault.
- It never sees your private keys. The agent signs.
- It reaches the internet only when you click Check for Updates or Update in its window, and only sshive.app.
- It collects nothing. At rest it uses no processor.
- SSHive neither downloads nor installs it: you do, from sshive.app/agent.
What it needs
macOS 13 Ventura or newer, on an Apple silicon or Intel Mac. 0.7 MB. Signed by NetMeSafe and notarised by Apple.
Applies to SSHive 2.0.8 on Mac