Use cases — SSH, SFTP, RDP & VNC for macOS

Docker host management from your Mac

SSH to Docker hosts, tunnel exposed ports, broadcast across swarm nodes — all from one native macOS app.

Docker shines when it runs on a real Linux host instead of Docker Desktop's VM. Maybe that's a $5 VPS for side projects, a mini-PC running 30 self-hosted services, or a 3-node Swarm. From a Mac, SSH is the daily driver: `docker ps`, `docker logs -f myapp`, `docker exec -it myapp bash`. SSHive makes this fast — saved profiles, snippet library with the Docker presets pre-loaded (`docker ps -a`, `docker compose logs --tail 100 -f`, `docker system prune -f`), and tunnels to reach exposed app ports without firewall changes.

Reach a containerized app via tunnel

You run a dev app on `docker run -p 3000:3000 myapp` on a remote host. Don't expose 3000 publicly. In SSHive, add a Local forward: 3000 → localhost:3000 in the host profile. Open `http://localhost:3000` on your Mac — your remote container is reachable through the SSH tunnel.

Cluster operations with broadcast

Running Docker Swarm or just identical Docker hosts? Broadcast `docker system prune -af && docker volume prune -f` to clean disk space across the fleet. Or `docker compose pull && docker compose up -d` to roll out a new release. Output panes side-by-side make it obvious if one node failed.

Frequently asked questions

Can SSHive replace Portainer?+

For day-to-day CLI tasks, yes — most Docker work is `ps`, `logs`, `exec`, `compose up/down`. Portainer's graphical container management has no SSHive equivalent (we don't parse `docker ps` output or render container UIs). If you live in `docker logs` and `docker compose`, SSHive is enough. If you want graphical container browsing, run Portainer behind an SSHive tunnel.

Does SSHive support Docker contexts (DOCKER_HOST over SSH)?+

SSHive doesn't set DOCKER_HOST for you, but you can run `docker context use myremote` in SSHive's local terminal (Local Shell tab). Docker CLI then talks to the remote Docker daemon over SSH transparently. This is independent of SSHive's SSH session feature.