ellipse Software releases Bast.sh, a faster way to manage SSH

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM — ellipse Software today released Bast.sh, an open-source SSH host and key manager built for developers who work in the terminal.

Bast provides a single place to organise SSH connections, manage keys and move between infrastructure without relying on lengthy configuration files or heavyweight desktop software. Its interactive command-line interface is designed to feel familiar from the first launch, while remaining fast enough to become part of a developer’s everyday workflow.

Cloud connectors allow Bast to discover and synchronise virtual machines from Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure. Bast works with the providers’ existing command-line tools and authenticated accounts, allowing developers to use the access controls they already have in place.

“SSH is one of the most dependable tools in computing, but managing everything around it has become unnecessarily fragmented,” said Ted Brine, founder of ellipse Software. “Bast keeps the simplicity of SSH while making it much easier to work across machines, keys and cloud providers.”

Bast can also synchronise encrypted configuration through Bast Vault, giving developers access to their hosts across multiple computers. Data remains under the user’s control, and the project’s open-source foundation makes its behaviour transparent and extensible.

The project began as a practical replacement for the growing collection of aliases, configuration files and applications commonly used to manage remote infrastructure. Every part of Bast has been shaped around the terminal, from its keyboard-driven navigation to its compact ASCII interface.

Bast is available today for macOS and Linux. Developers can install it and contribute to the project at bast.sh.