SSH and Telnet terminals — FlyingFiles manual

FlyingFiles keeps a list of servers you connect to over SSH or Telnet and opens each connection in the system terminal. The terminal itself is not part of the app.

System	Where the connection opens
macOS	the Terminal app (a new window)
Windows	Windows Terminal (a new tab or a new window, depending on Windows Terminal settings), or a Command Prompt window if Windows Terminal is not available

Terminal list — F9

F9 or Terminal → SSH/Telnet Terminals... opens a window with the list of saved servers ("name [SSH] (host:port)") and the Add, Connect, Edit, Delete and Close buttons.

Connect or a double-click opens a terminal with the connection.
Delete asks for confirmation (the default is No).

You can also show the terminal list in a panel: Cmd+3 / Ctrl+3 or Terminal → Show Terminals in Panel. There, Enter opens a terminal, F4 edits, F7 adds and F8 deletes (Panel Content). New after 1.0.0.

Adding a server

Field	Description
Name	e.g. "Production"; empty = the server address; must be unique
Protocol	SSH or Telnet
Host	the server address, e.g. `server.example.com`
Port	22 for SSH, 23 for Telnet — changes automatically when you switch the protocol, if it still has the default value
Username	the SSH login (disabled for Telnet)
SSH key	an optional private key file, Browse... button (disabled for Telnet)

The host may contain only letters without diacritics, digits, dots, underscores, hyphens, colons and square brackets (IPv6 addresses), and the username only letters without diacritics, digits, dots, underscores and hyphens. The app rejects any other characters.

Warning: Terminal passwords are not saved. You type them in the terminal when the server asks for them — or you use an SSH key.

What the app runs

SSH: ssh -i <key> -p <port> <user>@<host> (without -i when no key is set, and without <user>@ when no username is set),
Telnet: telnet <host> <port>.

The ssh or telnet program must be installed on the system. If it is missing, FlyingFiles shows: "Could not find the 'telnet' program required for Telnet."

	`ssh`	`telnet`
macOS	built in	not included in macOS for several versions now — install it, e.g. with Homebrew (`brew install telnet`)
Windows 10 and 11	usually installed (OpenSSH Client); if not, add OpenSSH Client under Optional features in Settings	turn on Telnet Client in Windows Features

Permission to control Terminal (macOS)

On the first connection, macOS asks whether FlyingFiles may control the Terminal app. The explanation in that prompt is currently shown in Polish; it means "FlyingFiles opens SSH and Telnet connections in the Terminal app." Click OK.

If you declined earlier, connections will not open. Turn the permission on in System Settings → Privacy & Security → Automation → FlyingFiles → Terminal.

When the terminal does not open

Message	What to do
"The host or username contains unsupported characters."	fix the address or the login in Edit
"Could not find the '…' program required for …"	install `ssh` or `telnet` (see the table above)
"Could not open a terminal window for '…'."	macOS: check the Automation permission; Windows: check that Windows Terminal or Command Prompt works