---
title: SSH hosts
description: Run chats on a Linux or macOS machine over SSH. Projects, terminals, Git and agents live on the host; only the interface stays on your Mac or PC.
sidebar:
  icon: server-stack-01
---

The desktop app can run chats on another machine over SSH: a dev box, a cloud VM, a beefy desktop
under your desk. Projects, terminals, Git and the agent CLIs all live on the host. Only the interface
stays on your machine, and the host's chats keep running while Glade is closed.

## Add a host

1. **Open SSH hosts**

    Go to **Settings → SSH hosts**, or choose **File → Connect to SSH Host…**. Aliases from your
    `~/.ssh/config` are offered with one click.

2. **Enter the destination**

    Use what you'd pass to `ssh`: `user@hostname` or a `Host` alias. Port and key file are optional;
    empty values use your SSH config.

3. **Answer any sign-in questions**

    Passwords, key passphrases and unknown host keys appear as dialogs in Glade. Passwords are kept
    in memory only.

4. **Let Glade set up the host**

    Glade installs its own server on the host the first time, verifies it, and connects through an
    SSH tunnel. Nothing needs to be installed by hand except the agents.

## Work on the host

- **Add a project** from **Add project** by choosing the host as the machine. The path field
  browses the host's folders as you type, and **GitHub** clones a repository there using the host's
  own `gh` sign-in.
- **Host projects** sit in the sidebar with your local ones, marked with the host.
- **New chats** in Home pick their machine in the composer. A project's chats run on the project's
  machine.
- **Agents, skills and MCP servers** are per host. **Settings → Providers**, **Skills** and **MCP
  servers** have a machine picker at the top for managing them.

## Connection status

A dot shows each host's state wherever it appears:

| Dot       | Means                                                           |
| --------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Green** | Connected.                                                      |
| **Amber** | Connecting.                                                     |
| **Grey**  | Unreachable. Glade retries in the background and when you wake. |
| **Red**   | Waiting for you, such as a sign-in. Click it to fix.            |

**Reconnect** in the host's **…** menu repairs a connection and reinstalls Glade there if it is
missing.

## Requirements

- Linux (glibc 2.31 or newer, x64) or macOS (Apple silicon or Intel).
- `curl` or `wget` with HTTPS access to github.com.
- The agent CLIs you want, installed and signed in on the host and on its login-shell `PATH`.

## Limits

- Chats on a host have no folder picker, Finder reveal, [Browser](/features/browser) or
  [Computer Use](/features/computer-use).
- Settings, keyboard shortcuts and spaces stay on your machine.
- Windows hosts aren't supported.
- To reach the host from a phone, turn on [remote access](/machines/remote-access) for the host itself.