Span

A modern, fast, open-source SSH terminal for network engineers.

Built to replace SecureCRT with a lightweight, keyboard-driven workflow — jump host proxying, tabbed sessions, device inventory, and Lua scripting.

Tech Stack

• Backend: Rust (Tauri)
• Frontend: Svelte + TypeScript
• Terminal: xterm.js
• SSH: russh (pure Rust)
• Storage: SQLite (rusqlite)
• Scripting: Lua (mlua)
• License: MIT

Features (MVP)

• SSH connections (password + key auth)
• Tabbed sessions with reorder/rename
• Jump host / SSH proxy chains
• Device inventory (tree view, folders, search)
• Quick connect bar
• Session logging
• Credential vault (OS keyring + encrypted SQLite)
• SecureCRT session import
• Scrollback search
• Keyboard-first navigation
• Color schemes + font config

Future

• Split panes
• Multi-send (command to N sessions)
• SFTP sidebar
• Serial/console support
• Lua scripting engine
• Netbox inventory integration
• WASM plugin system

Development

Prerequisites

• Rust (stable)
• Node.js >= 20
• System deps for Tauri (see platform-specific setup below)

macOS Setup

# Install Homebrew (if needed)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

# Install Rust
brew install rustup
rustup-init

# Install Node.js
brew install node

# Xcode Command Line Tools (required by Tauri for macOS builds)
xcode-select --install

# Clone and run
git clone https://github.com/ndtobs/span.git
cd span
npm install
npm run tauri dev

Linux Setup (Ubuntu/Debian)

# Install Rust
curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh

# Tauri system dependencies
sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.1-dev libappindicator3-dev librsvg2-dev patchelf

# Clone and run
git clone https://github.com/ndtobs/span.git
cd span
npm install
npm run tauri dev

Build for Production

npm run tauri build

Note: First build takes several minutes to compile Rust dependencies. Subsequent builds are fast with hot reload for both frontend and backend.

Project Structure

span/
├── src/                    # Svelte frontend
│   ├── lib/
│   │   ├── components/     # UI components
│   │   ├── stores/         # Svelte stores (state)
│   │   └── types/          # TypeScript types
│   ├── App.svelte          # Root component
│   └── main.ts             # Entry point
├── src-tauri/              # Rust backend
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs         # Tauri entry
│   │   ├── commands/       # IPC command handlers
│   │   ├── ssh/            # SSH connection manager
│   │   ├── inventory/      # Device inventory (SQLite)
│   │   ├── credentials/    # Credential vault
│   │   └── scripting/      # Lua engine
│   ├── migrations/         # SQLite migrations
│   └── Cargo.toml
├── static/                 # Static assets
└── package.json