Switchboard

macOS SSH tunnel manager built around OpenSSH.

Create and run local, remote, and dynamic port forwards from a native app — with menu bar control, Keychain passwords, and the OpenSSH options you already know.

• Switchboard
  • Features
  • Installation
    • Homebrew
    • Download
    • Build from source
  • Build and Run
  • Configuration
  • Gatekeeper note

Features

• Local, remote & dynamic forwards — classic -L / -R / -D, plus reverse dynamic forwarding
• Multiple tunnels — manage many profiles; connect one or connect all
• ProxyJump — reach hosts through one or more jump hosts
• Auto-connect & reconnect — bring tunnels up at launch; recover when the link drops
• Sleep/wake recovery — after Mac sleep or unlock, probe live sessions and bounce half-dead ssh processes
• OpenSSH advanced options — full -o coverage with Quick Help from ssh_config(5)
• macOS Keychain — store passwords securely; never write secrets into config files
• Import / Export — move tunnel configs between machines without leaking credentials
• Menu bar & Dock — show as menu bar icon, Dock icon, or both; tray brightens when tunnels are live
• Open at login — start Switchboard with your session
• Pins & tags — keep favorites on top; filter the sidebar by tag; tray menu groups tunnels by tag with Connect/Disconnect All
• Status notifications — optional alerts when a tunnel connects, drops, or reconnects
• Identity & certificates — IdentityFile, CertificateFile, agent forwarding, compression, and more

Installation

Homebrew

brew tap stenstromen/tap
brew install --cask switchboard

Download

Download the latest macOS DMG from the Releases page.

Build from source

Requires macOS 12+, Go, Node.js, and Wails v3.

git clone https://github.com/Stenstromen/switchboard.git
cd switchboard
make app

Build and Run

make run          # build Switchboard.app and launch it
make demo         # fake tunnels + statuses for README screenshots
make dmg          # styled .dmg installer (current architecture)
make dmg-universal  # universal arm64 + amd64 .dmg

make demo loads dev/demo-tunnels.json into an isolated config (dev/runtime/) with SWITCHBOARD_DEMO=1, so the UI shows connected/retrying states without real SSH. Your normal ~/Library/Application Support/Switchboard/ data is left alone.

Configuration

Tunnel profiles and preferences live under:

~/Library/Application Support/Switchboard/

Passwords are stored in the macOS Keychain under se.stenstromen.switchboard, not on disk. Export writes tunnels and preferences only — secrets stay in Keychain.

Gatekeeper note

Release builds are ad-hoc signed until Developer ID notarization is enabled. On first open, macOS may ask you to allow the app under System Settings → Privacy & Security. You can also right-click the app and choose Open.