Internal
Public Access
ksmithandClaude Sonnet 5
776db5ec04
Closes #21. SSH and RDP profiles previously hard-required a username to even save the profile; that validation is dropped, and SessionTab::requestConnectOptions() now prompts for it at connect time when blank, reusing the existing password-prompt bar in unmasked mode -- the same pattern already used for a blank password. VNC's username is trickier: most VNC servers never use one (plain VNC Authentication and no-auth don't), only the two Apple auth schemes (security types 30/33) do, and which auth method gets used isn't known until mid-connection, after the server's security-type list has been negotiated -- too late for the pre-connect prompt SSH/RDP uses. Adds a new async request/response pair to SessionBackend, usernameRequested() signal / provideUsername() slot, mirroring the existing SSH host-key- confirmation pattern. VncSessionBackend pauses its state machine right before computing an Apple-auth response if no username is available -- without consuming the already-buffered prime/host-key bytes, so resuming re-parses them identically -- emits the request, and resumes via provideUsername(). Cancelling (or submitting blank) fails the connection cleanly instead of sending Apple auth an empty username. The username is kept on the tab's in-memory profile copy for its lifetime, not written back to the saved profile, matching how passwords are already handled. Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
OrbitHub
OrbitHub is a cross-platform native desktop app for managing and launching remote sessions from one place.
It is implemented in C++17 with Qt6 Widgets and built with CMake.
Supported target platforms:
- Windows
- Linux
- macOS
Current Status
OrbitHub is in active development.
- Milestones completed: M0-M9
- Current milestone: Milestone 10 (v1.0 Stabilization)
- Latest checkpoint tag:
v2026.9.15 - VNC (M6) covers standard VNC Authentication and no-auth servers; see docs/PROGRESS.md for known gaps (Apple Screen Sharing auth, compression encodings, resize, cursor sync, clipboard)
Progress and milestone details:
Latest release (installers for Windows, Linux, and macOS):
User Guide:
- docs/USER_GUIDE.md (also available as a PDF attached to each release, and in-app via
Help -> User Guide)
Screenshots
Profiles organized into folders, with protocol, host, and tags shown at a glance. (Sample data shown; not real hosts.)
An interactive SSH terminal session in a tab, with the event log below.
An embedded RDP session in a tab.
Implemented Features
Profile Management
- SQLite-backed profile storage
- Create, edit, delete profiles
- Protocol-aware profile validation (SSH/RDP/VNC)
- Profile search and sorting
- Tags support
- Folder/subfolder support
ListandFoldersprofile views- Right-click profile tree actions:
- New Folder
- New Connection
- Drag-and-drop profile moves between folders with persistence
Session Experience
- Multi-tab session window
- Auto-connect on tab open
- Disconnect on tab close
- Session state indicators on tabs
- Timestamped event log with filtering and export
SSH
- Embedded interactive terminal (in-app typing)
- Theme support (
Dark,Light,Solarized Dark) - Password and private-key auth flows
- Known-hosts policy support
RDP
- Embedded in-window RDP rendering surface (no external launcher)
- Keyboard/mouse input forwarding
- Resize handling and resolution renegotiation
- Domain-aware authentication support
- RDP security/performance profile options
App UX
- App icon and themed About dialog
Filemenu:- New Profile
- New Folder
- Quit
Helpmenu:- About OrbitHub
Build and Run
Detailed platform instructions:
Quick start (Linux/macOS with Ninja):
cmake -S . -B build -G Ninja
cmake --build build
./build/orbithub
Packaging
Detailed packaging instructions for all platforms:
Linux (.deb):
./packaging/linux/build-deb.sh
Linux (Flatpak):
./packaging/flatpak/build-flatpak.sh
Windows (Inno Setup installer):
.\packaging\windows\build-installer.ps1
macOS (.dmg):
./packaging/macos/build-dmg.sh
Dependencies
Core dependencies:
- Qt 6 (Widgets, SQL)
- CMake 3.21+
- C++17 toolchain
Protocol/runtime dependencies:
- SSH client (
ssh) available onPATHfor SSH sessions
Bundled/vendored third-party components:
- KodoTerm
- libvterm
- FreeRDP/WinPR
Licensing
Project license:
- MIT (see LICENSE)
License links:
- MIT License: https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
- GNU LGPLv3: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html
- Apache License 2.0: https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Important third-party license notes:
- Qt6 is dynamically linked in this project build setup.
- Qt6 is used under LGPLv3 terms in this project build setup.
- KodoTerm and libvterm are MIT-licensed.
- FreeRDP/WinPR is Apache-2.0 licensed.
Repository license files:
- Project: LICENSE
- KodoTerm: third_party/KodoTerm/LICENSE
- FreeRDP: third_party/FreeRDP/LICENSE
See in-app Help -> About OrbitHub for license links and third-party inventory.
Repository Structure
src/- application source codedocs/- build guide, spec, and progress trackingthird_party/- vendored third-party dependenciesbuild/- local build output (generated)
Notes
- Passwords are requested at connect time and are not stored in the profile database.
- VNC support covers standard VNC Authentication and no-auth servers (e.g. TigerVNC, x11vnc, TightVNC); it doesn't yet reach macOS's built-in Screen Sharing server, which uses a different authentication scheme (see docs/PROGRESS.md, Milestone 6).