Shellvana: SSH Terminal Client

Shellvana is an SSH client that renders terminal output as readable text instead of a shrunken 80-column grid.

It connects to any server running standard sshd. There is nothing to install on the host.

WHAT IT DOES DIFFERENTLY

Shellvana negotiates a fixed terminal size with the server, then decides block by block how each piece of output should be shown. Paragraphs and prose reflow into comfortable proportional type sized for a phone. Tables, diffs, tree output, and anything column-aligned stay in monospace at their exact original spacing, because reflowing those destroys them.

You can switch any session to the raw terminal grid at any time. The exact bytes the server sent are always one tap away.

READS OUTPUT FROM TERMINAL AI CODING AGENTS

Command-line coding assistants such as Claude Code and opencode draw themselves as full-screen terminal interfaces. They repaint lines in place, wrap text at their own width, and surround answers with banners, spinners, and status footers.

Shellvana reads them. It separates each answer into its own message and reflows the prose the agent wrapped at its own width, with inline code in monospace. Code in an answer keeps its exact grid, one tap from the raw terminal. Ask a question on your phone and read the answer as prose.

WORKS WITH REAL TERMINAL PROGRAMS

Full terminal emulation, so vim, htop, tmux, and zellij run normally. When a program takes over the screen, Shellvana shows the live grid and renders a readable version alongside it.

HOW YOUR DATA IS HANDLED

No account. No sign-up. No analytics, advertising, or crash-reporting library. Shellvana connects directly to the servers you configure, over SSH. The one other connection is a licence check when you buy or restore Pro, which the privacy policy describes.

Specifically:

- Session transcripts are encrypted on the device with SQLCipher, keyed from the platform secure store.
- The app is excluded from operating-system backup, so transcripts and pinned host keys are not copied into Android backup.
- Private keys are held in the Android Keystore. Keys generated in StrongBox cannot be extracted from the device at all.
- You can require a fingerprint, face, or screen-lock check before a session opens on any host you mark.
- Screenshots and app-switcher previews of a session are blocked by default.
- The composer asks the keyboard not to learn or cache what you type, so commands and secrets stay out of the system dictionary.
- Shellvana pins each server's host key on first connection and warns you if it ever changes, using an allowlist of host key algorithms.
- Links found in output open only after you confirm the destination, and always in your own browser, never inside the app.

Clear one host's history or all of it whenever you want. Transcripts older than 30 days delete themselves.

FREE AND PRO

Free: one live session, password and key authentication, host profiles, and the complete readable rendering with colour and Markdown. The readability is not the paid part.

Pro is a single one-time purchase, no subscription: four concurrent sessions, hardware-backed key authentication, the additional reading fonts, and incognito sessions that write no transcript at all.

REQUIREMENTS

Any host running standard sshd. Phones. Portrait or landscape.