Getting Started

Cleat is in early development. This guide gets you from a fresh download to your first SSH session in under five minutes.

What you'll need

• A machine running macOS 12+, Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora 38+), or Windows 10/11
• An SSH server you can reach (a remote host, a VM, or just localhost if you have OpenSSH running locally)
• A username on that server, plus either a password or an SSH key

The three-step tour

1. Install Cleat — sign up at cleat.tools and download for your platform.
2. Make your first connection — pick a name, type a host, hit Enter.
3. Explore from there — SFTP, port forwarding, themes, plugins.

Coming from PuTTY, Termius, or MobaXterm?

Cleat can import your existing hosts. See Importing connections.

Where things live

Cleat stores everything locally — there's no cloud account for your data or settings. (The cleat.tools account is only for downloading the app.)

What	Location
Settings & host list	~/.config/cleat/ (Linux) · ~/Library/Application Support/Cleat/ (macOS) · %APPDATA%\Cleat\ (Windows)
Keys	Your OS keychain — Keychain (macOS), libsecret (Linux), Credential Manager (Windows)
Logs	<settings dir>/logs/

See Settings for the full reference.