Tabby: Terminal Emulator for SSH & Serial
/tabby
Tabby is a genuine PuTTY replacement, built around one idea: put the SSH client, the serial terminal, and the shell in a single configurable window. That saves people managing several remote boxes from switching between PuTTY, a separate serial tool, and their normal terminal. The catch is weight — the README says flatly that Tabby isn't lightweight and points RAM-conscious users toward Conemu or Alacritty instead.
What is Tabby?
Tabby (formerly called Terminus) is a terminal emulator for Windows, macOS, and Linux that also works as an SSH and serial client. It replaces the built-in terminal on each platform — conhost on Windows, Terminal.app or iTerm on macOS — plus dedicated SSH tools like PuTTY. On Windows it also runs PowerShell, WSL, Git-Bash, Cygwin, and Cmder shells, with tab completion via Clink.
Who Tabby is built for
- •Sysadmins and SREs who manage multiple SSH connections and want jump-host handling and agent forwarding built into the connection manager instead of a separate config file.
- •Embedded and hardware developers who need a serial terminal with hex byte input and hexdump output for talking to routers, dev boards, or IoT devices over a serial port.
- •Windows developers who want a real shell experience — PowerShell, WSL, Git-Bash, Cygwin, MSYS2, or Cmder — with actual tab completion via Clink instead of the default Command Prompt.
- •Anyone replacing PuTTY who wants split panes, a saved connection list, and Zmodem file transfer without stitching together separate utilities.
- •Teams who want to hand out a browser-based SSH/SFTP/Telnet client too — Tabby's connection engine also ships as a self-hosted web app (tabby-web).
Key features that set Tabby apart
- ✓Integrated SSH2 client with a connection manager that handles jump hosts automatically and supports agent forwarding, including Pageant and the Windows native OpenSSH agent.
- ✓A serial terminal with saved connections, readline input, optional byte-wise hexadecimal input with hexdump formatting, newline conversion, and automatic reconnection.
- ✓Direct file transfer to and from SSH sessions via Zmodem, so you can push or pull files mid-session without dropping to a separate SFTP client.
- ✓An encrypted container stores SSH secrets and configuration, rather than plaintext config files.
- ✓A dockable 'Quake console' mode with a global hotkey drops the whole app down from the top of the screen.
- ✓Split panes nest arbitrarily and tabs can sit on any side of the window; Tabby also remembers open tabs between restarts.
- ✓A plugin system, installed from the Settings view, covers things like Docker container connections, output recording, and Gist-based config sync, on top of a handful of community themes.
Installing Tabby on Windows, macOS, and Linux
Tabby ships prebuilt installers through its GitHub releases page for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Linux users who want package-manager updates instead of manual downloads can add Eugeny's packagecloud repository, which has separate instructions for Debian/Ubuntu (.deb) and RPM-based distros. A nightly build channel is also available via nightly.link for people who want unreleased fixes. The README doesn't walk through exact install commands beyond linking to those pages. There's also a portable mode on Windows: drop a `data` folder next to `Tabby.exe` and it stops writing to the usual per-user config location.
Strengths
- ✓One app replaces three: SSH client, serial terminal, and shell all live in the same window instead of separate downloads.
- ✓The SSH connection manager handles jump hosts automatically and supports agent forwarding through Pageant or the native Windows OpenSSH agent.
- ✓Zmodem file transfer works directly inside an SSH session, so quick file moves don't require switching to a dedicated SFTP client.
- ✓Config and secrets sit in an encrypted container rather than a plaintext dotfile.
- ✓The plugin and theme system installs straight from the in-app Settings view, no manual file editing required to add something like the Catppuccin theme.
Where Tabby falls short
- △Not lightweight: the README itself steers RAM-conscious users toward Conemu or Alacritty instead of Tabby.
- △It's explicitly not a new shell or a Cygwin/MinGW replacement — you still need one of the supported shells installed underneath it.
- △Install instructions in the README point to download pages and repositories rather than walking through exact commands, so first-time setup on Linux takes some figuring out.
- △Plugin quality varies since they're community-maintained third-party packages — the README even lists one, 'clippy,' whose own description says it exists just to annoy you.
Best Tabby alternatives
Frequently asked questions about Tabby
Tabby is fully open source under the MIT license, so it's free to download, modify, and redistribute — there's no paid tier or license key required.
Tabby runs natively on Windows, macOS, and Linux, with installers on the GitHub releases page and packagecloud repositories for Debian/Ubuntu and RPM-based Linux distributions.
Tabby includes a full SSH2 client with a saved-connection manager, X11 and port forwarding, automatic jump host handling, and agent forwarding, which covers the core reasons people reach for PuTTY or SecureCRT.
Tabby has a built-in serial terminal with saved connections, readline input, automatic reconnection, and an optional hex byte-by-byte view for inspecting raw serial output — no separate serial utility needed.
Tabby's plugin list, installed from its Settings view, includes a Docker connector, a quick-commands sender, an output recorder, a Gist-based config sync tool, and several community color themes like Catppuccin and Gruvbox.
Tabby's SSH client supports both: X11 and port forwarding are built into the connection manager, and agent forwarding covers Pageant as well as the native Windows OpenSSH agent.
The problem it solves
Anyone who manages more than one remote server ends up running three separate programs: PuTTY (or Terminal.app) for local shells, a second SSH client for tunnels and jump hosts, and a third tool — sometimes literally a serial cable utility — for talking to routers, embedded boards, or IoT devices over a serial port. That's three tools too many. Tabby's README frames it directly as a PuTTY, conhost, and Terminal.app replacement, and folds the SSH connection manager and serial terminal into the same window instead of leaving them as separate downloads.
Who should try it — and who should skip
Reach for Tabby if you're already juggling PuTTY, a serial cable utility, and a stack of terminal windows across Windows, macOS, and Linux machines — collapsing that into one configurable app with split panes and Zmodem transfer is the actual win. Skip it if you're on a resource-constrained machine or just want a fast, minimal terminal for local shell work; the README's own advice for that case is Conemu or Alacritty. It's also not the right pick if you need a genuinely new shell — Tabby still runs on top of PowerShell, WSL, or whatever shell you already have installed, it doesn't replace them.
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