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Reference

Add a computer

Adding a computer takes one command on the computer and three fields in the app. This page covers both ways the app offers: Tailscale, which it recommends, and your own SSH host.

Start in the app

On the Hosts screen, tap +. If you have no computers yet, tap Add Computer. The Add Host sheet opens with two tabs at the top: Tailscale and Own SSH Host.

As soon as the sheet opens, Melta makes a new SSH key for this phone and a notification token for this computer. The command on the Tailscale tab carries both; the one on the Own SSH Host tab carries only the token. The private half of the key is saved in the phone's Keychain or Keystore when you tap Add Host. See Keys and security.

The Tailscale tab walks you through five steps:

  1. Install Tailscale on this phone. Get the Tailscale app and sign in. The setup command installs Tailscale on your computer; sign in there with the same account.
  2. Turn on Remote Login (Mac only). Open System Settings › General › Sharing and switch on Remote Login. On Linux, make sure the SSH server is running.
  3. Run this on your computer. Tap Copy Command or Share. On a Mac, open Terminal, paste and press Return. On Windows, paste it into Ubuntu (WSL), not PowerShell.
  4. Copy the computer's Tailscale IP. The command prints it. It is also in the Tailscale admin console under Machines (Open Admin Console), and in the Tailscale menu on the computer.
  5. Enter the details. Fill in Name (anything, like MacBook), Tailscale IP and User, then tap Add Host.

The command for this tab looks like this:

$ curl -fsSL https://getmelta.app/setup.sh | sh -s -- --tailscale --key 'ssh-ed25519 AAAA… melta-iphone' --token mlt_…

This tab always uses port 22. More on what the Tailscale step does in Use Tailscale.

Own SSH host

Use this tab for a computer or server you already reach over SSH with your own credentials.

  1. Under Server, fill in Name, Host (host name or IP), Port (22 unless you changed it) and User.
  2. Under Sign-in, choose Private Key and paste the key (or tap Paste from Clipboard), with its Passphrase if it has one. Or choose Password.
  3. Under Herdr and notifications, copy the command and run it on the computer. It installs or updates Herdr and the notification plugin. It does not add a key, because you are using your own.
  4. Tap Add Host.

If you signed in with a password, you can switch to a key later from Edit Host without touching the computer's terminal; see Keys and security.

What the command does

In order, it adds the phone's public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys, checks that SSH is on, installs and signs in to Tailscale (only with --tailscale), installs or updates Herdr, installs the notification plugin with this computer's token, and prints your user name, Tailscale IP and local IP.

Every step is safe to repeat. Finished steps are skipped and installed pieces are updated, so you can run it again at any time. Every flag and message is in Setup command.

After you tap Add Host

Melta saves the computer to your account, saves the key or password on the phone, and opens the computer's screen. It connects right away and lists your Herdr panes. The first connection is covered in First connection.

Notifications for blocked and finished agents are on for a new computer. You can change that, or run the setup command again, from Edit Host. See Settings.