Noden Documentation

A native macOS client for SSH, SFTP, RDP and serial console, with a dual-pane file commander, a Keychain-backed password vault and an AI assistant. This guide covers everything from your first connection to licensing.

Getting started

Noden runs on macOS 13 (Ventura) or later. After downloading the DMG, drag Noden into your Applications folder and open it. On first launch macOS may ask permission for Noden to read its own keychain item — this is expected (see Privacy & security).

1. Open Noden. The left sidebar lists your saved connections (empty at first).
2. Click New Connection at the bottom of the sidebar, or press ⌘N.
3. Enter a host, port, and username, then connect. Your session opens as a tab.

Install with Homebrew

Noden is available from the official Useroam Teknoloji Homebrew tap. Install it with one command:

brew install --cask useroamteknoloji/tap/noden

To update or uninstall Noden later:

brew upgrade --cask noden
brew uninstall --cask noden

The tap is public at github.com/useroamteknoloji/homebrew-tap.

Connections

Adding and editing

Each connection stores a name, host, port, username and authentication method. Edit any connection later by selecting it and choosing Edit. Free accounts can save up to 5 connections; Noden Pro removes the limit.

SSH keys — automatic

Noden reads the keys already in your ~/.ssh folder (ed25519 and ecdsa). If your server accepts one of your existing keys, there's nothing to configure. Passphrase-protected keys are unlocked through the macOS Keychain.

Import from ~/.ssh/config

Already keep your servers in an SSH config file? Import them in one step: Noden reads ~/.ssh/config and turns each Host entry into a saved connection.

Encrypted backup & import

Export every connection to a single password-encrypted file for safekeeping or to move to another Mac, then import it back at any time. Secrets are encrypted with your chosen password — never stored in plain text.

Older switches and appliances

Network hardware often offers only algorithms that modern SSH clients have dropped. Noden also offers diffie-hellman-group14-sha1 key exchange, ssh-rsa host keys and aes128/192/256-ctr ciphers with HMAC-SHA-1, SHA-256 or SHA-512 — always last, so a modern server still negotiates curve25519, Ed25519 and AES-GCM. Devices that announce themselves as SSH-1.99 (Ruijie, Cisco IOS, older Comware) are accepted; SSH 1.5 is refused. Sign-in through a keyboard-interactive question-and-answer exchange uses the saved password, and a session that does not finish setting up within 30 seconds fails with the reason instead of waiting forever. See SSH to old gear for the detail.

The terminal

Noden's terminal is a full xterm-compatible emulator. Open as many sessions as you like; each becomes a tab.

Tabs vs. grid

Use the layout switch in the toolbar to view a single session (tabs) or several at once in a grid. In grid mode choose 1–4 columns to watch multiple servers side by side. Click a cell to give it keyboard focus.

Local terminal

Press ⌘T for a local shell on your Mac — handy for running scp, editing files, or working locally without leaving the app.

Appearance

Open Settings (⌘,) to pick a colour theme and monospaced font. Adjust text size on the fly with ⌘+, ⌘- and ⌘0. The Terminal settings tab also controls cursor style, blink, scrollback size and the bell.

SFTP file commander

Every SSH connection includes a dual-pane file manager. Switch a session between terminal and files using the toolbar's Terminal / Files selector.

• Local and remote, side by side. Browse your Mac on one side and the server on the other.
• Drag & drop to transfer files in either direction.
• Edit in place. Open a remote file in your favourite Mac editor; Noden syncs your changes back automatically when you save.
• Separate window. Pop the file commander out into its own window to keep it open next to a terminal.
• Folders, recursively. Drag a whole folder in either direction — Noden recreates the tree and copies the files.
• Keyboard navigation. Arrow keys move the selection, Enter opens a folder or file, Backspace goes up, ⌘R refreshes, and typing letters jumps to a matching name.
• Transfer panel. Concurrent transfers with progress, and a cancel button that stops an in-progress transfer immediately.

Remote Desktop (RDP)

Noden 1.1 adds a built-in RDP client. Create a connection and switch Protocol to RDP (the port becomes 3389 automatically). The session opens as a tab beside your SSH sessions, and can share the grid layout with them.

• Dynamic resolution. The Windows desktop resizes with the Noden window, so the picture always fills the tab.
• Clipboard. Text copies both ways. Files copy both ways too — copy in Finder and paste in Windows Explorer, or the reverse.
• Shared folders. A Mac folder appears inside Windows under “This PC”. Configure it in the connection's Folders section; if you leave it empty, your home folder is shared as Mac. This is the fastest route for large transfers.
• Keyboard. ⌘C / ⌘V become Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V on the remote machine, while macOS shortcuts such as ⌘H and ⌘Q stay with macOS.
• Credentials. Enable “Ask for credentials when connecting” to be prompted at connect time; you decide whether the password is saved to your Keychain.
• Networking. RD Gateway (with bypass for local addresses), admin/console session, colour depth, swapped mouse buttons, and automatic reconnect if the link drops.

Full-screen the session with the button in the top-right corner of the RDP view.

Serial console

Since 1.1.7 Noden also talks to a console port. Plug a USB-to-serial adapter into a switch, router or firewall, create a connection and switch Protocol to Serial. The device appears in the same sidebar as your SSH and RDP entries and opens in the same terminal. The device list refreshes while the connection editor is open, so you can plug the adapter in after you have opened the form.

• Line settings. Baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits and flow control are all configurable.
• Vendor presets. Cisco 9600, FortiGate 9600, Sophos XG and XGS 38400, MikroTik 115200, Aruba CX 115200, Ubiquiti 115200 — all 8N1, no flow control. The figures come from the vendors' own console documentation.
• Free. Serial connections are included in the free version.

Password vault

Version 1.3.0 added a Vault tab next to Connections in the sidebar. It stores passwords, SSH private keys, API tokens and secure notes. Secrets live only in the macOS Keychain on that Mac — they are never written to a plain file, never synced to iCloud and never included in a Time Machine backup.

• Unlocking. Every access asks for Touch ID or your user password. A sudo-style grace window is yours to set: every time, 5 minutes, or 30.
• Clipboard. A copied secret clears from the clipboard after 30 seconds.
• Connections reference the vault. A connection can point at a vault password or key instead of keeping its own copy, so rotating the secret once updates every connection that uses it — SFTP, jump hosts and RDP included.
• Type Password from Vault. At a sudo prompt, right-click in the terminal and pick it. The secret is typed rather than pasted, so it never lands in your shell history.
• Generator, export, backup. A cryptographic password generator, encrypted vault export and import, and connection backups that carry the vault with them.

The free version stores up to 20 vault items; Pro is unlimited. Background on the problem it solves: an SSH password manager for the Mac.

AI assistant

Open the assistant with ⇧⌘A or the wand icon in the toolbar. Describe what you want in plain English and Noden proposes the exact shell commands — then runs them on the active server with one click, with a guard that flags dangerous operations before they execute.

Noden brain, or bring your own

By default the assistant uses Noden's own tuned model. Prefer your own provider? Add a key for OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter, or point it at a local model — Noden's SSH-aware reasoning rides along either way. The AI assistant is a Pro feature.

Command history

Toggle the history panel with ⌘Y. Noden records the commands you run across sessions so you can find and reuse them. Each row can be copied or run again with a single click, and the text is fully selectable. Free accounts keep the most recent 50 commands; Pro keeps your full, unlimited history.

Language

The Noden interface ships in five languages: English, Turkish, German, Spanish and French. Choose one in Settings → General → Language, or set it for Noden alone in macOS System Settings → General → Language & Region → Applications.

Keyboard shortcuts

Pro & licensing

Noden is free to use with up to 5 saved connections of any type — SSH, RDP or serial — the last 50 commands of history and up to 20 password-vault items. Noden Pro unlocks unlimited connections, full command history, an unlimited vault, and the AI assistant. It is USD 5.99 for the first year as a launch offer, then USD 10.99 per year.

Two ways to buy

• Direct download (this site): a yearly license. After purchase you receive a license key by email. Enter it in Noden → Noden Pro and click Activate.
• Mac App Store: an auto-renewing yearly subscription managed by Apple. From 1.3.1 the store build has the local macOS terminal too: ⌘T opens a shell on your own Mac over SSH — your real PATH, Homebrew and home folder, not a sandboxed stand-in. macOS asks you to switch Remote Login on once, and Noden takes you to the setting.

Managing your license

Bought from this site? Sign in to your account with your email — no password, we send a one-time link — to view your license key, renewal date, and to request a refund within the eligibility window.

Privacy & security

Passwords, key passphrases and private keys live only in your Mac's Keychain — never on our servers. File contents are never collected. The same holds for everything in the vault: nothing is written to a plain file, synced to iCloud or included in a Time Machine backup.

Updates

The direct-download build updates itself automatically: Noden checks for new versions in the background and installs signed updates in place. App Store builds update through the App Store as usual.

Support

Questions or trouble? Email noden@useroamteknoloji.com. For refunds and pricing see the pricing and refund pages.

See also: How to use SSH on a Mac · How to use SFTP on a Mac · RDP client for Mac · Serial console for Mac · AI SSH client