Serial console on your Mac, next to your servers

Why a serial console on a Mac?

When a switch, router or firewall is misconfigured, freshly unboxed, or simply not reachable over the network, the console port is the way in. That is the out-of-band path: it does not depend on an IP address, a working config or a reachable management VLAN. On a Mac the usual answer has been a separate terminal utility and a USB-to-serial cable in a different window. Noden folds it in — the console session sits in the same sidebar and tab strip as your SSH terminals, so recovering a device and jumping back to a working host is one window, not three apps.

What Noden's serial console does

• USB-to-serial, detected automatically. Plug in an adapter and it appears in the connection list; Noden refreshes the device list on its own, so you do not restart to see a cable you just connected.
• Vendor baud presets. Cisco 9600, FortiGate 9600, Sophos XG 38400, MikroTik 115200, Aruba CX 115200 and Ubiquiti 115200 — from the vendors' own console documentation, so you are not guessing the speed of an unfamiliar box.
• Correct serial defaults. 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit (8N1) and no flow control — the standard three-wire console setup. Hardware flow control on a three-wire cable makes the link look dead; Noden leaves it off.
• Uses the call-out device. Noden opens /dev/cu.*, not /dev/tty.*, so a console cable that never asserts carrier does not hang the connection on open.
• Survives an unplugged cable. Pull the cable and the session ends cleanly instead of spinning the CPU — normal for a technician who moves a cable from box to box.
• Same terminal, same habits. The console uses the same terminal view, themes and history as an SSH session; carriage-return line endings are handled for gear that expects CR.
• Saved like any connection. A serial connection is stored, grouped and reopened exactly like SSH and RDP; there is nothing extra to configure each time.

Vendor console speeds at a glance

Cisco IOS / IOS-XE	9600 · 8N1 · no flow control
FortiGate	9600 · 8N1 · no flow control
Sophos XG / XGS	38400 · 8N1 · no flow control
MikroTik RouterBOARD	115200 · 8N1 · no flow control
Aruba AOS-CX	115200 · 8N1 · no flow control
Ubiquiti EdgeRouter	115200 · 8N1 · no flow control

These are the presets Noden offers; you can set any other speed by hand. When a device does not respond, the speed is almost always the reason — pick the vendor preset and the prompt appears.

Noden's serial console at a glance

Platform	macOS 13 Ventura or later, Apple Silicon and Intel
Protocols	SSH, SFTP, RDP and serial console in one app
Hardware	Any USB-to-serial adapter macOS exposes as /dev/cu.*
Defaults	8N1, no flow control; per-vendor baud presets
Use case	Out-of-band access to switch, router and firewall console ports
Price	Free for up to 5 connections of any type; Pro is USD 10/year

Frequently asked

Do I still need a separate serial terminal app?

No — that is the point. The console session lives in the same window as your SSH, SFTP and RDP sessions, so you configure a device over the cable and jump straight back to a working host without switching apps.

My device shows nothing when I connect. Why?

It is almost always the baud rate or flow control. Pick the vendor preset for your device (they are listed above), confirm 8N1 with no flow control, and press Enter. On a three-wire console cable, hardware flow control must be off or the link looks dead.

Is the serial console included in the free version?

Yes. Serial connections count toward the free tier's five saved connections of any type, so you can use the console without buying Pro. Pro removes the connection limit, keeps full history and adds the AI assistant.

Download Noden for Mac

Free to start, no account required.

brew install --cask useroamteknoloji/tap/noden