Cleat

Secure your connections.

Cleat is a native desktop app for SSH terminals, SFTP file transfer, and server connection management. Buy it once — no subscription, no cloud account, no telemetry. Runs on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Get started

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What's inside

• Terminal

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  A real terminal emulator built on libvterm. Tabs, splits, true-color themes, ligatures, fast scrollback.

  Terminal

• SFTP

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  Built-in file browser with a transfer queue. Drag and drop between local and remote, resumable transfers.

  SFTP

• Connection Manager

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  Organize hosts into folders, chain jump hosts, share profiles across machines.

  Connections

• Keys

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  Generate, import, and manage SSH keys. Cleat references your keys by file path — passphrases live in the OS keychain, never in plaintext.

  Keys

• Port Forwarding

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  Local, remote, and dynamic (SOCKS5) tunnels with auto-start and port discovery.

  Port Forwarding

• Plugins

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  Extend Cleat with Lua plugins. Install from URL or the marketplace.

  Plugins

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Why Cleat

• Native, not Electron. C++20, SDL3, ImGui — fast startup, low memory, smooth at 60fps.
• Local-first. Everything stays on your machine. No account required, ever.
• One price. Buy it, own it. No tiers, no per-seat, no metered terminals.
• Open file formats. Connections live in plain JSON. Keys live in your OS keychain.

Read the launch brief