Welcome screen

The welcome screen is Zync’s home workspace when no host tab is active. It gives you a local terminal, quick SSH connection, saved host access, and shortcuts for common actions.

Quick Connect

Quick Connect accepts a connection string such as:

Quick Connect

user@host
user@host:2222

You can also paste a full SSH command. Zync reads the user, host, port, and private key path when those options are present. Use the key button to reveal password, port, and private key options. Leave Save enabled to keep the connection in your saved list, or clear it for a temporary session.

Press Ctrl+L on Windows and Linux or Cmd+L on macOS to focus Quick Connect. As you type, Zync shows a parsed preview of the user, host, and port, validates that the port is between 1 and 65535, and can show matching saved hosts and recent connections.

When the field is empty, open the suggestions to revisit recent hosts. The templates button provides starting values for common server types. Use the arrow keys to move through suggestions or templates, then press Enter to select or connect when the input is valid.

Quick Connect is intentionally small

For folders, jump hosts, Vault credentials, or detailed connection settings, choose New > New Host and use the full connection form. See Connections.

Quick actions

The welcome screen provides these actions:

• Local Terminal opens a shell on your own computer. No SSH host is required.
• New > New Host opens the full connection form.
• New > New Folder creates a folder for organizing saved hosts.
• New > New Tunnel starts a tunnel setup flow.
• Port Forwarding opens the port forwarding workspace.
• Palette opens the command palette. Its shortcut is shown in the button and follows your platform.

Saved hosts

When saved hosts exist, the welcome screen shows:

• Favorites, which you can mark with the bookmark control.
• Recent, ordered by connection activity when the screen is not filtered.
• Matches, which appears while searching.

Select a card to open the host. The card can show its display name, connection status, authentication indicator, and relative last-connected time. Right-click a card for actions such as connect, copy host, edit, or delete.

Use the Search field above the cards to filter by display name, host, or username. If there are no saved hosts, choose Add Connection or use Quick Connect.

Host addresses can be sensitive

Connection lists use display names by default. If you need raw hostnames or IP addresses visible in list surfaces, enable the host-address privacy setting in Zync settings.

Local terminal first

You can use Zync as a local terminal before configuring SSH. On Windows, choose PowerShell, Command Prompt, Git Bash, or a WSL distribution in terminal settings. On Linux and macOS, Zync uses the system shell available to the app.

Local and remote terminals use the same workspace, so you can start locally and add a host when you are ready.

Recommended first session

Open a local terminal, try the command palette, then add one SSH host. The local and remote shells use the same tabs, split panes, ghost suggestions, and session restore.

Next steps

• Install Zync
• Add and organize connections
• Set up the optional Vault