Question 1

What is purple SSH?

Accepted Answer

purple is a free, open-source terminal SSH client for managing SSH servers. It reads your ~/.ssh/config and gives you instant search, visual file transfer, command snippets, cloud sync from 16 providers and automatic password management. Single Rust binary for macOS and Linux.

Question 2

Can I transfer files between local and remote servers with purple?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Press F on any host to open the remote file explorer. It shows local files on the left and the remote server on the right. Navigate directories, select files and copy them between machines via scp. Works through ProxyJump chains, password sources and active tunnels.

Question 3

What cloud providers does purple support?

Accepted Answer

purple syncs servers from sixteen cloud providers: AWS EC2, Azure, DigitalOcean, GCP (Compute Engine), Hetzner, i3D.net, Leaseweb, Linode (Akamai), Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), OVHcloud, Proxmox VE, Scaleway, Tailscale, TransIP, UpCloud and Vultr. Each provider is configured with an API token or credentials profile. Synced hosts are tracked in your SSH config and updated on each sync.

Question 4

How do command snippets work in purple?

Accepted Answer

Save commands and run them on remote hosts via SSH. In the TUI, press r to run on the selected host, Ctrl+Space to multi-select hosts then r, or R to run on all visible hosts. The CLI alternative supports tag-based targeting (--tag prod) and parallel execution (--parallel). Snippets are stored locally in ~/.purple/snippets.

Question 5

How does SSH password management work in purple?

Accepted Answer

Set a password source per host via the TUI or a global default. When you connect, purple acts as SSH_ASKPASS and retrieves the password automatically. Supported sources: OS Keychain, 1Password, Bitwarden, pass, HashiCorp Vault and custom commands.

Question 6

Can I manage Docker or Podman containers with purple?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Press C on any host to list all containers over SSH. Start, stop and restart without leaving the TUI. Purple auto-detects Docker or Podman on the remote host. No agent. No web UI. No extra ports.

Question 7

Does purple modify my existing SSH config?

Accepted Answer

Only when you add, edit, delete or sync. All writes are atomic with automatic backups. Auto-sync runs on startup for providers that have it enabled (configurable per provider).

Question 8

Will purple break my SSH config comments or formatting?

Accepted Answer

No. purple preserves comments, indentation and unknown directives through every read-write cycle. Consecutive blank lines are collapsed to one.

Question 9

Does purple need a daemon or background process?

Accepted Answer

No. purple is a single Rust binary. Run it, use it, close it. No runtime, no daemon, no async framework.

Question 10

Does purple send my SSH config anywhere?

Accepted Answer

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 for 24 hours). No config data is transmitted.

Question 11

Can I use purple with SSH Include files?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Hosts from Include files are displayed in the TUI but never modified. purple resolves Include directives recursively (up to depth 16) with tilde and glob expansion.

Question 12

How do I sync Google Cloud (GCP) instances with purple?

Accepted Answer

In the TUI, press S to open the provider list, then add GCP. Fill in your service account JSON key file path, project ID and optionally specific zones. Purple reads the key, creates a JWT and exchanges it for an access token automatically. The CLI alternative is purple provider add gcp --token /path/to/sa-key.json --project my-project.

Question 13

How do I sync Azure VMs with purple?

Accepted Answer

In the TUI, press S to open the provider list, then add Azure. Fill in your service principal JSON file path and subscription IDs. Supports both az CLI and portal credential formats. The CLI alternative is purple provider add azure --token /path/to/sp.json --regions SUBSCRIPTION_ID.

Question 14

How do I sync Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) instances with purple?

Accepted Answer

In the TUI, press S to open the provider list, then add Oracle. Fill in your OCI config file path, compartment OCID and regions. The CLI alternative is purple provider add oracle --token ~/.oci/config --compartment OCID --regions eu-amsterdam-1. Requires IAM policies: read instance-family and read virtual-network-family.

Question 15

How do I sync AWS EC2 instances with purple?

Accepted Answer

In the TUI, press S to open the provider list, then add AWS. Select your regions from the region picker and fill in your credentials profile or access key. The CLI alternative is purple provider add aws --profile default --regions us-east-1,eu-west-1. EC2 tags are synced (excluding internal aws:* tags). AMI names are resolved for OS metadata.

Question 16

Is purple a Portainer alternative?

Accepted Answer

For container visibility and basic lifecycle control (start, stop, restart) over SSH, yes. Press C on any host to see its containers. No agent to install, no web UI to host, no ports to open. Works with Docker and Podman. Purple does not provide container creation, registry management or role-based access control.

Question 17

How does purple compare to Lazydocker?

Accepted Answer

Lazydocker manages Docker locally on the host where it is installed. purple manages containers on remote servers over SSH from your local machine. Use Lazydocker for single-host local management. Use purple for multi-host remote management across your fleet.

Question 18

Can AI assistants use purple?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Run purple mcp to start a Model Context Protocol server over JSON-RPC 2.0. Claude Code, Cursor and other MCP-compatible AI agents can use five tools: list_hosts, get_host, run_command, list_containers and container_action. No API keys needed. Approval behavior depends on your AI client.

purple. One terminal. All your servers.