Open a browser shell

A terminal on the device, in a page. Nothing to install.

1. Go to Devices. Connected devices show Open browser shell.
2. Pick the account to log in as.
3. A terminal opens in the page.

Who can open one

The operator role or higher. A viewer can see the device but not open a shell. See roles.

How it logs in

The device keeps its own list of trusted keys, and our servers cannot add a key or an account to it. So the page asks for one of your keys. SSH runs in your browser with that key. Either load the key from a file for this session only, or use one you saved, encrypted by your passkey. The key goes into a separate, signed frame in the page. The relay only forwards encrypted bytes and never sees your key or the session. Before it connects anything, the device asks the key to sign a fresh challenge; the signing happens in the frame, and our servers cannot answer it.

Your second factor

Every new shell asks for your passkey or authenticator app. Add one before you add your first device and it works right away. A passkey or authenticator added after your team has devices can open a shell 24 hours after you added it, and you get an email with a link to remove it if it was not you. If you join a team that already has devices, the same wait applies to a factor you added in the last 24 hours, even if you added it before you joined.

Lost passkey or key

A saved key is encrypted by your passkey. If you lose the passkey, the saved copy cannot be opened. Remove the saved key in the page, then save it again from your key file. The key itself is still trusted by the device, so nothing changes on the device.

If you lost the private key too, add a new key to the device with a trust change signed by another key the device already trusts:

rescueshell trust DEVICE --sign-with ~/.ssh/other_key --add-key ~/.ssh/new_key.pub

If no trusted key is left, run the install command on the device again as root, with --trust-key and --allow-user for the new key. See SSH keys.

If it is refused

A device with device trust refuses a key it does not trust. Use a key you added to the device. The first time you open a shell, the page asks for the host key line the installer printed. You can print it again with rescueshell-agent --status.

If the device's host key changed, the shell is refused until an admin accepts the new key. See host key changed.