ssh-tui

SSH Keys Manager TUI — list, generate, rename, delete, and switch SSH keys right from your terminal.

100% offline. Zero data leaves your machine. No telemetry, no analytics, no network calls. Everything runs locally on your ~/.ssh/ files.

Built with Ink (React for CLI).

Install

npm install -g ssh-keys-manager-tui

Then run:

sshtui

Or without installing globally:

npx ssh-keys-manager-tui

Usage

sshtui scans ~/.ssh/ for existing key pairs, shows them in a list, and lets you manage them interactively.

Key bindings

| Key | Action | |-----|--------| | ↑ / ↓ | Navigate key list | | Enter | Activate selected key (load into ssh-agent) | | g | Generate new SSH key pair | | d | Delete selected key | | r | Rename selected key | | i | Show key details (fingerprint, comment, type) | | q / Ctrl+C | Quit |

Generate a key

1. Press g to start
2. Enter a name (e.g. id_ed25519_github)
3. Select key type (ED25519, RSA 4096, ECDSA, ED25519-SK)
4. Optionally enter an email/comment
5. Optionally set a passphrase
6. Confirm with Y

Activate a key

Select a key and press Enter. The key is loaded into ssh-agent (any previously active keys are removed). Your Git operations will now use this key.

The last active key is remembered in ~/.ssh-tui/config.json and is auto-loaded on next launch.

Uninstall

npm uninstall -g ssh-keys-manager-tui

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• ssh-agent running (most desktop environments start it automatically)

How it works

• 100% offline — no network calls, no telemetry, no data collection
• Discovers key pairs by scanning ~/.ssh/* for private keys with matching .pub files
• Uses ssh-add / ssh-add -D to manage keys in ssh-agent
• Uses ssh-keygen for key generation, fingerprint inspection, and parsing
• Persists last active key to ~/.ssh-tui/config.json