Labonair Terminal and SSH, SFTP

Labonair

macOS-native remote workspace — SSH · SFTP · Terminal · Editor · AI

Labonair is a macOS-native remote workspace built on Tauri 2 + Rust and React 19. It combines SSH terminal sessions, a full-featured SFTP file manager, an integrated code editor with remote editing support, Git source control + commit graph, and a first-class AI side-panel — all in a single lightweight app. Secrets are stored locally with optional AES-256-GCM encryption, no telemetry, no account required.

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Features

SSH Terminal

• Native async SSH backend via russh + russh-sftp, local shells via portable-pty — one tab per connection
• xterm.js + WebGL renderer, multi-tab with background streaming
• Recursive split-pane workspace — infinite horizontal (⌘D) and vertical (⌘⇧D) splits per tab; resize handles, click-to-focus, close pane with ⌘⇧W
• Terminal history survives split/close (no remounts — flat render layer architecture)
• Shell integration (cwd reporting, prompt markers) via injected init scripts
• Inline search, link detection, true-color, 2FA / keyboard-interactive auth
• Known-host fingerprint verification with in-app warning flow

SFTP File Manager

• Virtualized split-pane browser (local ↔ remote) powered by @tanstack/react-virtual
• Background transfer queue with progress tracking and conflict resolution
• Context menus: rename, delete, mkdir, chmod, download, upload
• Drag-and-drop transfers between panes

Remote Editor

• Open remote files directly in the editor via SFTP (prepare_remote_edit / save_remote_edit)
• CodeMirror 6 with language support for TS/JS, Rust, Python, Go, Java, C/C++, SQL, PHP, HTML/CSS/XML, JSON, YAML/TOML, Markdown, Shell, Dockerfile, Ruby, Swift, Kotlin
• Inline AI autocomplete and AI edit diffs
• Vim mode + prebuilt themes (Tokyo Night, Nord, GitHub, Atom One, Aura, Copilot, Xcode)

Source Control & Git Graph

• VS Code-style staging UI — stage/unstage whole files or individual hunks, side-by-side diff viewer
• Branch bar with switch/create, stash management, commit form with AI-generated commit messages
• Interactive commit graph canvas with lane coloring; per-commit and per-file diff panels
• Submodule support; works local or remote (over an SSH session), shelling out to the system git CLI

Host Manager

• Master-detail host list with group organisation and drag-and-drop reorder
• Hosts stored in SQLite (rusqlite); passwords and credentials kept in local secret storage — never in SQLite
• Monochrome avatar icons (OS logos, shapes, symbols, numbers) per host
• Inspector pane: connection details, SFTP/tunnel config, notes
• Multi-select, context menus, inline group creation

Local Terminal

• Native PTY sessions for local shells (zsh, bash, …)
• Supports the same recursive split-pane layout as SSH terminals
• Auto-detects local dev servers and opens them in a web preview tab

AI (BYOK)

• Providers: OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, xAI, Cerebras, Groq, DeepSeek, Mistral, OpenRouter, OpenAI-compatible
• Local / offline models via LM Studio, MLX, and Ollama
• Multiple named chat sessions, voice input, edit diffs, multi-agent and sub-agents
• Live context from the active terminal/editor (cwd, buffer, selections)
• LABONAIR.md for project-level AI memory and configuration
• Tasks, search, file read/write/edit tools with in-app approval flow for mutating actions

AI Agent Bridge (MCP)

• Local MCP (Model Context Protocol) server lets an external agent you already run locally (e.g. the claude CLI, using your own subscription) drive a granted SSH tab — visibly, in the real terminal pane
• Per-tab opt-in consent (off by default) via the tab context menu; a header badge lists/revokes currently granted tabs at a glance
• Tools: list granted sessions, run a command and get back its output/exit code, peek at live output, send raw keystrokes, open/close SSH tabs to saved hosts
• One-time setup command generated in Settings → Connections; disabling the bridge instantly revokes every grant

Snippets

• Reusable command snippets with typed variables, runnable locally or over an SSH session
• Per-host picker, run log/output drawer, drag-and-drop reorder

Quality

• Lightweight, fast startup
• Secrets (host passwords, credentials, AI provider keys) stored locally in the app data dir, never in SQLite; optional AES-256-GCM at-rest encryption (Settings → General)
• No telemetry, no account required

Host Setup

1. Open the Host Manager (sidebar icon, or via the Command Palette ⌘K).
2. Click + to add a host — fill in hostname, port, username, and authentication method (password or private key).
3. Hosts are organised into groups; drag rows to reorder.
4. Connect via the Connect button or double-click — opens an SSH terminal tab.
5. Switch to the SFTP tab in the header to browse and transfer files.

Configure AI

1. Open Settings → AI.
2. Pick a provider and paste your API key. For local inference, point Labonair at your LM Studio endpoint.
3. Keys are written to local secret storage (app data dir, optionally AES-256-GCM encrypted) — they never touch localStorage or the SQLite database.

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap snenjih/labonair
brew install --cask labonair

Homebrew automatically removes the quarantine attribute, so the app opens without warnings.

Manual

Download the latest .dmg from Releases, open it, and drag Labonair.app to /Applications.

If macOS blocks the app on first launch, run:

xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine /Applications/Labonair.app

Then right-click Labonair.app → Open → Open in the dialog.

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Build from source

Prerequisites

• Rust (stable) — https://rustup.rs
• Node 20+ and pnpm
• macOS with Xcode Command Line Tools
• Tauri prerequisites — https://tauri.app/start/prerequisites/

Run

pnpm install
pnpm tauri dev        # development
pnpm tauri build      # production bundle (.app / .dmg)

Checks

pnpm exec tsc --noEmit          # frontend type-check
cd src-tauri && cargo check     # Rust check
cd src-tauri && cargo clippy    # Rust lint

Tech stack

Layer	Libraries
Desktop shell	Tauri 2
Backend	Rust · Tokio · russh / russh-sftp · portable-pty · rusqlite
Frontend	React 19 · TypeScript · Vite
Terminal	xterm.js + WebGL addon
Editor	CodeMirror 6
AI	Vercel AI SDK v6
UI	Tailwind v4 · shadcn/ui · Zustand · @tanstack/react-virtual

Architecture

Labonair (Tauri v2)
├── Frontend: React 19 + TypeScript + Vite
│   ├── Tailwind CSS v4 + shadcn/ui
│   ├── Zustand (tabs, transfers, hosts, source control, snippets, providers, ...)
│   ├── xterm.js + WebGL (terminal rendering)
│   └── @tanstack/react-virtual (SFTP file lists)
└── Backend: Rust (Tokio async)
    ├── portable-pty → local terminal sessions
    ├── russh + russh-sftp → SSH terminal + SFTP protocol (native async)
    ├── rusqlite (bundled) → host/group/credential/snippet storage (SQLite)
    ├── git CLI (local, or remote over SSH) → source control
    ├── local secret storage (plain JSON, optional AES-256-GCM) → passwords + AI provider keys
    └── tokio mpsc → background transfer queue worker

All OS access lives in the Rust backend. The frontend communicates exclusively via Tauri invoke() calls and events — no direct filesystem, process, or network access from the webview.

Contributing

Issues and PRs are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md for guidelines.

License

Labonair is licensed under the Apache-2.0 License. See LICENSE for details.