A look inside
-L mapping, spelled out for you.
Why Shazbot
Managing SSH tunnels by hand means juggling terminal windows and
long ssh -L commands. Shazbot keeps your servers and forwards
organized in one tidy popover, and keeps the connections alive in the background.
It's a true native Mac app — a lightweight menu bar utility with no Dock icon,
built entirely in Swift and SwiftUI. SSH is handled by a pure-Swift stack, so
Shazbot never shells out to the ssh binary or spawns subprocesses.
Features
Menu bar native
Lives in the menu bar, not the Dock. A two-panel popover: servers on the left, tunnels on the right.
Pure-Swift SSH
Connections run on a native Swift SSH stack — no subprocesses, no bundled OpenSSH binary.
Flexible authentication
Password or key files — ed25519, RSA, and ECDSA. Passphrase-protected ed25519 and RSA keys are supported.
Auto-reconnect
Optional per-server retries keep tunnels alive across flaky networks and dropped connections.
Connection diagnostics
If a connection fails, a built-in log captures every step so you can review it or copy it to support.
iCloud sync
Optionally sync your server list across your Macs through your own iCloud account. Off by default.
Private by design
Passwords and key passphrases live in your macOS Keychain. Nothing is sent to us or anyone else.
Launch at login
Start Shazbot automatically and have your tunnels ready when you sit down.
Frequently asked
What authentication methods are supported?
Passwords, and SSH key files in ed25519, RSA, and ECDSA (P-256/384/521) formats. Passphrase-protected ed25519 and RSA keys are supported — Shazbot prompts you to store the passphrase securely in your Keychain.
Does Shazbot use the SSH agent (ssh-agent / $SSH_AUTH_SOCK)?
No. Shazbot runs in the macOS App Sandbox, which blocks access to the SSH agent socket. Instead, point Shazbot at a key file via Browse in server settings (or use password authentication).
Where are my passwords and keys stored?
Passwords and key passphrases are stored in the macOS Keychain. Your private key files stay wherever you keep them — Shazbot only reads them to connect. Server details are stored locally on your Mac, and optionally in your own iCloud key-value store if you enable sync. None of this is ever transmitted to Zardecki.dev. See the privacy policy.
What macOS version do I need?
macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later, on both Apple silicon and Intel Macs.
A connection failed — how do I find out why?
When a connection fails, the server shows a red banner. Click it to open the connection log, which records each step of the attempt and the underlying error. Use Copy or Save… to send it along when you contact support.
Known issues
Passphrase-protected ECDSA keys are not yet supported. Encrypted ed25519 and RSA keys work today. If your ECDSA key is encrypted, Shazbot will tell you so — use an ed25519 or RSA key, or an unencrypted ECDSA key, in the meantime. ECDSA passphrase support is planned for a future update.