purple. Terminal SSH Client for macOS & Linux | Free
Author: Eric Kochen
Description: Terminal SSH client with Docker and Podman container management over SSH. No agent required. Search hundreds of hosts, transfer files visually, sync from 16 cloud providers. Free, open-source Rust binary for macOS and Linux.
Keywords: SSH client, terminal SSH client, Docker TUI, Podman TUI, agentless container management, Portainer alternative, Docker container manager terminal, SSH config manager, SSH connection manager, SSH file transfer, cloud SSH sync, open source SSH client, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, OCI, Oracle Cloud, AWS EC2, MCP server, Model Context Protocol, AI agent integration, Claude Code SSH

# purple. One terminal. All your servers.

Search, connect, transfer files, manage containers. Free and open source.

purple
$
Downloading purple v2.27.3 for darwin-arm64...
Installing to /usr/local/bin/purple... done.
$ brew install erickochen/purple/purple
$ cargo install purple-ssh

I had a perfectly good SSH config. Clean, well-organized, no complaints. That part worked.

What didn't work was the six other things I needed to do every day. Every container check was `ssh`, `docker ps`, scroll, repeat. Every file transfer was remembering `scp` flags. Every new cloud VM meant opening a console, copying an IP, editing my config by hand. And running the same command across a dozen hosts? That was either a bash loop or a whole Ansible setup for a one-liner.

So I put all of it in one terminal.

🔍 Find any host in a keystroke. Fuzzy matching across hostnames, IPs, tags and users. Your most-used servers float to the top automatically.
☁️ Pull servers from 16 cloud providers. AWS, Azure, GCP, Hetzner, DigitalOcean, Proxmox VE, Tailscale and 9 more. New VMs sync in, IPs stay current, decommissioned hosts get flagged.
🐳 See and control containers remotely. Docker and Podman over plain SSH. Start, stop, restart without installing anything on the remote.
📂 Browse and copy files between machines. Dual-pane file explorer. Local filesystem on one side, remote on the other. Handles ProxyJump chains and tunnels.
⚡ Run one command on many hosts. Pick a snippet, select your targets, execute. Results stream in per host.
🔑 Passwords handled for you. Plugs into OS Keychain, 1Password, Bitwarden, pass, Vault or a custom script. Credentials are fetched at connect time.
🤖 Let AI agents manage your servers. Built-in MCP server. Claude Code, Cursor and other tools get direct access to your hosts and containers.
Cloud providers

- AWS EC2
- Azure
- DigitalOcean
- GCP
- Hetzner
- i3D.net
- Leaseweb
- Linode
- Oracle Cloud
- OVHcloud
- Proxmox VE
- Scaleway
- Tailscale
- TransIP
- UpCloud
- Vultr

FAQ
PURPLE(1)General Commands ManualPURPLE(1)
Does purple modify my SSH config?
Only when you explicitly add, edit, delete or sync. All writes are atomic with automatic backups. Comments, indentation and unknown directives are preserved.
Does it need a daemon or background process?
No. Single binary. Run it, use it, close it.
Does it send my config anywhere?
No. Your config never leaves your machine. Provider sync calls cloud APIs to fetch server lists. The TUI checks GitHub for new releases on startup (cached 24 hours). That's it.
Can I manage Docker containers with purple?
Yes. Press `C` on any host to list all containers over SSH. Start, stop, restart. Auto-detects Docker or Podman. No agent, no web UI, no extra ports.
Can AI assistants use purple?
Yes. Run `purple mcp` to start the MCP server. Claude Code, Cursor and other agents get five tools: list_hosts, get_host, run_command, list_containers and container_action.
purple v2.27.32026-04-06PURPLE(1)
`$ curl -fsSL getpurple.sh | sh`