Use SSH and the terminal
After pairing, SSH works in both directions: from the app's built-in terminal and from any other program that uses SSH.
Open a terminal in the app
On the machine card, select Terminal.
A session window opens with three tabs: Terminal, Files and Forwards.
Type commands as you would on that machine.
For another shell on the same machine, select New terminal.
| Action | Keys |
|---|---|
| New terminal | Ctrl + Shift + T |
| Close terminal | Ctrl + Shift + W |
| Copy | Ctrl + Shift + C |
| Paste | Ctrl + Shift + V |
Plain Ctrl + C is not copy in a terminal: it interrupts the running command.
When you paste several lines, CrossShell asks first, because each line is sent to the shell as if you typed it and pressed Enter, so a paste can run more than one command.
If the connection drops, the session shows Reconnect. If a shell ends, select Restart shell.
Windows shell
On a Windows machine, This machine has the option Use PowerShell as the SSH shell (instead of cmd.exe), offered when you set up the SSH server. It decides which shell other machines get when they sign in.
Use SSH from any terminal
Each paired machine gets a short name. Use it anywhere SSH is used:
ssh winbox
scp report.pdf winbox:
rsync -a project/ winbox:project/The name also appears in VS Code Remote-SSH. From the machine card, More has Open in system terminal and Open in VS Code as shortcuts.
Typing with an input method
The built-in terminal takes keys directly from the keyboard, so input methods (IME) and dead-key sequences for accented letters do not reach it. Use Open in system terminal for those.
Where the SSH settings live
CrossShell keeps its own files in ~/.ssh/crossshell/ (config, known_hosts and the key id_ed25519) and adds one Include line at the top of your ~/.ssh/config. Your existing SSH settings are left as they are.
The other machine's key is added to your authorized_keys file with a crossshell: marker, so unpairing removes exactly that line.