llms.txt
# CtrlOps
> CtrlOps is a local-first desktop application for Linux server management, built for developers and DevOps teams who run multiple servers. It brings SSH, an AI-powered terminal with approve-before-execute safety, real-time monitoring, log access, automated backups, and one-click deployments onto one screen, so routine server work takes minutes instead of hours. Everything runs entirely on the user's local machine with no cloud sync.
CtrlOps runs on macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows, and Linux. It connects to any Linux server over standard SSH with no agents, no plugins, and no changes required on the server. SSH keys and credentials are stored locally and never transmitted to third-party services. The AI terminal supports natural language commands and integrates with OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, or any OpenAI-compatible provider via bring-your-own-key. Deployment time for Node.js, React, and Next.js apps is reduced from 60+ minutes to under 5 minutes. Pricing starts at $7/month with a 1-month free trial, no credit card required.
## Machine-Readable Content
Fetch these instead of rendering HTML. Any single page is also served as clean markdown: `https://ctrlops.io/blog/llms.mdx/<slug>` for a blog post and `https://ctrlops.io/docs/llms.mdx/<path>` for a docs page.
- [Documentation index](https://ctrlops.io/docs/llms.txt): Every docs page with a one-line summary.
- [Blog index](https://ctrlops.io/blog/llms.txt): Every blog post with a one-line summary.
- [Documentation, full text](https://ctrlops.io/docs/llms-full.txt): All docs pages as markdown in one file.
- [Security checklist, full text](https://ctrlops.io/security-checklist/llms-full.txt): Every audit checklist page, with the manual command and the exact PASS, WARN and FAIL thresholds for each check.
- [Audit fixes, full text](https://ctrlops.io/audit-fixes/llms-full.txt): Every published fix page: what the check reads, why it fails, the fix, and how to verify it.
- [Case studies, full text](https://ctrlops.io/case-studies/llms-full.txt): All customer case studies as markdown in one file.
- [Blog, full text](https://ctrlops.io/blog/llms-full.txt): All blog posts as markdown in one file. Over 1 MB; prefer the blog index and per-post markdown.
- [Docs, blog and case studies combined](https://ctrlops.io/llms-full.txt): The three collections above in one file. Over 1 MB, larger than most assistants ingest in one fetch; prefer the section files.
## Why CtrlOps
- [CtrlOps home](https://ctrlops.io): Product overview, the feature tour, and download links for macOS, Windows, and Linux.
- [About CtrlOps](https://ctrlops.io/about): CtrlOps is built by TST Tech Matrix Pvt Ltd in Ahmedabad, India. Who we are, what we build, and the registered company details behind the product.
- [Why CtrlOps](https://ctrlops.io/why-ctrlops): The case for consolidating server work into one app, told job by job - connecting to servers, deploying from GitHub, finding logs, running commands in plain English, moving files, offboarding and onboarding people, and scheduled S3 backups. Includes a jobs-based comparison against the usual multi-tool setup, and states plainly what CtrlOps does not do: no fan-out across servers, no log aggregation, and no backup restore.
## Getting Started
- [Documentation](https://ctrlops.io/docs): Learn CtrlOps, the local-first desktop app for Linux server management. Covers AI terminal, SSH, deployment, backups, and file management.
- [Quick Start](https://ctrlops.io/docs/getting-started/quick-start): Install CtrlOps, activate your license, and connect to your first Linux server in under 5 minutes.
- [Download & Install](https://ctrlops.io/docs/getting-started/download): Download links for macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel), Windows, and Linux with installation steps.
- [Your First Connection](https://ctrlops.io/docs/getting-started/first-connection): Step-by-step guide to connecting CtrlOps to a Linux server using SSH key or password authentication.
- [Migrate from Termius](https://ctrlops.io/docs/getting-started/migrate-from-termius): Move saved Termius servers into CtrlOps with the built-in importer. Reads hosts, ports, usernames, and SSH keys locally, no export file and no manual re-entry.
## Core Platform
- [Server Management](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/server-management): Add, connect, and manage Linux servers from the Home dashboard. Quick-connect via SSH string, set a custom port or proxy, run the SSH setup wizard, and import/export your server list. Tag a server by environment and filter the home screen by it. Once connected, the header shows the role the session logged in with (Sudo, Standard, or Restricted) and the server's environment tag.
- [SSH & Key Management](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/ssh-management): Manage authorized keys on a connected server, add, copy, and revoke access from a visual registry without using the terminal. Adding someone is one form: it creates the Linux user, sets the account role (Restricted, Standard, or Sudo) and authorizes their public key in a single step, with optional session restrictions that block port forwarding, agent forwarding, or X11 forwarding on that key.
- [Access Management](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/access-management): Scan every server to see who can log in, offboard a person from all servers at once, and onboard new users to many servers with per-server roles. All data stays local.
- [Security Audit](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/security-audit): Run any of 25 predefined security audits against a connected Linux server over SSH, covering the server itself, databases, Docker, and web servers. Each run returns a hardening score, a severity breakdown, and a downloadable PDF report. Findings can be handed to the AI Terminal, which writes the fix command and waits for approval. Read-only, no agent, no schedule - it is a configuration audit, not a vulnerability scanner or compliance attestation.
- [SSH & Security](https://ctrlops.io/docs/core/ssh-security): How CtrlOps stores SSH keys locally, encrypts credentials, and enforces security best practices.
- [Server Discovery & Setup](https://ctrlops.io/docs/core/server-discovery): Discover, group, and tag Linux servers by environment or role. Connect with one click.
- [Permissions & Access Control](https://ctrlops.io/docs/core/permissions): Linux file permissions explained - read, write and execute for owner, group and others, chmod and chown, octal modes, and the special bits. All of it can be set from the File Manager's Permissions dialog instead of typing chmod.
- [Infrastructure Details](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/infra-details): Real-time dashboard showing CPU, RAM, disk, and process stats across all connected servers.
## AI Terminal
- [AI Terminal](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/ai-terminal): Full Linux terminal with an AI assistant that translates natural language to bash, explains commands, and suggests fixes. All commands require user approval before execution. Open several terminals on one server, each in its own tab that names itself after the command you ran. Read output as plain shell scrollback (Terminal view) or as one block per command you can copy, filter and re-run (Block view). Command suggestions are configurable, including what the Tab key does, whether the completions menu opens as you type, and inline autosuggestions.
- [Scripts](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/ai-terminal/scripts): Save frequently used Linux commands as one-click scripts with run-time variables, categories and tags, available across all connected servers. Ships 18 built-in monitoring and alert scripts (disk, CPU, memory, swap, inodes, services, SSH logins, SSL, websites) that can be run as-is or customized into a copy, with a category filter, sort, and a toggle to hide the built-in set.
- [Web Search](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/ai-terminal/web-search): Enables the AI terminal to look up live documentation, error messages, and package versions in real time. Supports Tavily, Brave, and DuckDuckGo.
- [MCP Servers](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/ai-terminal/mcps): Extend the CtrlOps AI Assistant with external tool servers - docs, GitHub repos, local files, and anything else that speaks MCP.
## Deployments & Operations
- [Application Deployment](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/deployment): Deploy Node.js, React, or Next.js apps from GitHub to a Linux server using a guided form. No CI/CD setup required.
- [PM2 Process Manager](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/pm2-process-manager): A GUI for PM2. See every PM2 process with live CPU, memory, event loop lag, and heap usage, then restart, reload, stop, or delete it in one click. Expand a cluster to manage individual instances, and stream a single process's logs live. No pm2 commands.
- [Log Management](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/log-management): Read Linux server logs from a dedicated tab. CtrlOps auto-discovers every log file, groups them by web server and app, and lets you search, tail live, download, or clear them without SSH.
- [File Manager](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/file-manager): Browse, upload, edit, and organise files on a Linux server via a visual drag-and-drop GUI with full root access. Set read, write and execute permissions for owner, group and others from a dialog instead of running chmod. A git bar along the bottom shows the branch, how far ahead or behind the remote it is, and what changed, with fetch, pull, push, commit, discard and branch switching as buttons, plus initialize and clone for a folder that is not a repository yet. A Terminal button opens a shell already in the folder you are browsing. Tick several files or folders to copy, move, download, or delete them in one go from a selection bar.
- [Backups](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/backup): Schedule automatic Linux server backups to S3-compatible storage (AWS, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MinIO, DigitalOcean Spaces). Configure, schedule and monitor without writing rclone configs or cron. Copies files off the server; restoring is done from your own bucket.
- [Alerts](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/alerts): Switch on ready-made server alerts from a dedicated tab: high CPU, memory and swap, out-of-memory kills, low disk space and inodes, a stopped or failed systemd service, a reboot, a website down, an expiring SSL certificate, SSH brute force, and your own cron jobs failing. Set a limit and how many bad checks in a row before it alerts, preview the message, and send it to Slack, Telegram or a webhook. Most alerts can be added more than once (CPU at 75% and at 90%, a second service or site). A paused alert keeps its settings. Each alert runs on the server as a cron job, so it fires while CtrlOps is closed. No agent, no metric history, no on-call escalation.
- [Cron Jobs](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/cron-jobs): Schedule work on a connected Linux server without writing cron syntax. A four-step panel sets the frequency, picks what runs (a shell command, a saved script from the Script Directory, or an HTTP request), and chooses which outcomes alert you. Cron jobs already on the server are listed and can be adopted in one click. Every run is kept with its full output, and failure, timeout, success or output-pattern alerts go to Slack, Telegram or a webhook. Alerts are installed into the job on the server, so they fire while CtrlOps is closed.
- [Port Forwarding](https://ctrlops.io/docs/modules/port-forwarding): Create and manage SSH port forwards on a connected Linux server from a GUI, with no terminal open. Three types: local (reach a service behind the server firewall on your own machine), remote (publish something running on your machine to the server network), and dynamic (a SOCKS5 proxy that routes your browser through the server). Forwards are named, grouped, tested before saving, started and stopped in one click, and can start automatically when CtrlOps opens. An existing ssh -L command can be pasted in and imported. The tunnel rides the existing SSH connection, so nothing is exposed to the internet and no firewall rule changes.
## Features
- [All Features](https://ctrlops.io/features): Overview of every CtrlOps capability, from SSH and the AI terminal through monitoring, logs, backups, and deployments.
- [Multi-Server Management](https://ctrlops.io/features/multi-server-management): Manage all your Linux servers from one visual dashboard. Named cards, one-click connect, connection status. No spreadsheets.
- [AI Terminal](https://ctrlops.io/features/ai-terminal): Ask your server anything in plain English. CtrlOps generates the Linux command and runs it only when you approve. Multiple terminal tabs per server, a block view that keeps each command with its own output for copying and re-running, and command suggestions you can tune or switch off.
- [Infrastructure Monitoring](https://ctrlops.io/features/infra-monitoring): Monitor Linux servers in real time. Live CPU, memory, and disk gauges with no agent and no setup, running over SSH.
- [Application Deployment](https://ctrlops.io/features/deployment): Deploy Node.js, React, and Next.js apps to a VPS with one click. Paste a GitHub repo, add env vars, and CtrlOps handles PM2, Nginx, and SSL.
- [PM2 Process Manager](https://ctrlops.io/features/pm2-process-manager): A GUI for PM2. Live CPU, memory, event loop lag and restart counts for every process, then restart, reload, stop or delete it in one click. Expand a cluster to manage single instances. No alerting and no metric history - it is a control panel, not an APM.
- [File Manager](https://ctrlops.io/features/file-manager): Manage server files visually - upload, download, edit, and unzip over SSH through a GUI file manager for any Linux server. Set file permissions from a checkbox grid, run git from a status bar along the bottom, and open a terminal in the folder you are browsing.
- [SSH Key Management](https://ctrlops.io/features/ssh-management): Manage SSH keys on every server from a visual registry. Add keys, revoke access, and set each account's role - Restricted, Standard, or Sudo - in the same form that authorizes the key, with no manual editing.
- [Access Management](https://ctrlops.io/features/access-management): See exactly who has SSH access to every server. Grant, revoke, and audit access from one screen, with no agents needed.
- [Security Audit](https://ctrlops.io/features/security-audit): Run 25 predefined security audits on a Linux server over SSH, covering the server, databases, Docker, and web servers. Every run returns a hardening score, a severity breakdown, and a downloadable PDF report, and findings can be handed to the AI Terminal, which writes the fix command and waits for approval. Read-only, no agent, no schedule - a configuration audit, not a vulnerability scanner or a compliance attestation.
- [Log Management](https://ctrlops.io/features/log-management): View, search, and clean server logs without memorising commands. AI-powered log search, visual file browsing, and one-click cleanup.
- [Automated Backups](https://ctrlops.io/features/backup): Automated server backups to S3, R2, B2, or any S3-compatible storage. Schedule jobs, track progress, and view logs with no scripts.
- [Script Directory](https://ctrlops.io/features/script-directory): Save the Linux commands you retype every week as one-click scripts with run-time variables. The library lives on your machine and works on every server.
- [Port Forwarding](https://ctrlops.io/features/port-forwarding): Save SSH tunnels as named forwards and start one with a click. Three kinds: local (reach a private database or internal dashboard on your own machine), remote (publish something running on your machine to the server network), and dynamic (a SOCKS5 proxy that routes your browser through the server). Test a forward before you save it, import an existing ssh -L command, and start the ones you use daily automatically. Nothing is exposed to the internet and no firewall rule changes. It is not a VPN, it does not reconnect itself, and it gives you no public URL.
- [Cron Jobs](https://ctrlops.io/features/cron-jobs): Schedule work on a Linux server without writing cron syntax. Pick a frequency and CtrlOps writes the crontab entry, pointing it at a wrapper script that records every run, enforces a timeout and an overlap rule, and sends a Slack, Telegram or webhook alert on failure, timeout, success or a matched output pattern. Because the alert lives in the job on the server it fires with CtrlOps closed. Cron jobs already on the server are listed and can be adopted without changing their schedule. It is not an orchestrator (no DAGs, no dependencies between jobs), it does not fan out across servers, it does not replace cron itself, and a job that never starts cannot alert on itself.
- [Docker Manager](https://ctrlops.io/features/docker-management): NOT YET RELEASED - in development, targeted at CtrlOps v2.0. A pre-launch page, not a shipped feature: do not describe it as available. Planned scope is containers, logs and shells (list every container on every connected server with live CPU, memory, state and ports; start, stop, restart, remove; stream logs; exec a shell), Compose stacks detected and grouped by project with whole-stack up/down/restart and in-place compose file editing, images/volumes/networks with real sizes and reclaimable disk, and registry pull plus redeploy and builds from a Dockerfile on the server. It reaches Docker over the existing SSH connection with nothing installed on the host, which is the difference from Portainer (an agent container per managed host). It is not Kubernetes, does not schedule or place containers, does not alert, and keeps no container history. Docker capability that DOES ship today is in the AI Terminal, the Security Audit's Docker category, and the free YAML Validator.
## Free Tools
Browser-based utilities, free and with no signup. Every tool listed as "nothing uploaded" runs fully client-side and never transmits your input.
- [All Free Tools](https://ctrlops.io/tools): Hub for 22 free SSH, DevOps, networking, and config utilities for Linux server work.
- [SSH Key Generator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/ssh-key-generator): Generate Ed25519 or RSA key pairs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
- [SSH Config Generator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/ssh-config-generator): Build a clean ~/.ssh/config from hosts, ports, identities, and jump hosts.
- [SCP / Rsync Command Builder](https://ctrlops.io/tools/scp-rsync-command-builder): Construct scp and rsync file-transfer commands without memorizing the flags.
- [SSH Tunnel Generator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/ssh-tunnel-generator): Generate local, remote, and dynamic (SOCKS) SSH port-forwarding commands.
- [PPK to OpenSSH Converter](https://ctrlops.io/tools/ppk-to-openssh-converter): Convert a PuTTY .ppk key to the standard OpenSSH format for ssh and scp.
- [OpenSSH to PPK Converter](https://ctrlops.io/tools/openssh-to-ppk-converter): Convert an OpenSSH key to PuTTY .ppk format for PuTTY, Pageant, and WinSCP.
- [SSL Certificate & CSR Decoder](https://ctrlops.io/tools/ssl-certificate-decoder): Decode certificates, CSRs, and chains - expiry, SANs, fingerprints, chain order. Nothing uploaded.
- [Chmod Calculator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/chmod-calculator): Convert Linux file permissions between octal and symbolic notation and copy the chmod command.
- [Cron Expression Generator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/cron-expression-generator): Build and decode crontab schedules with a plain-English preview.
- [Nginx Config Generator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/nginx-config-generator): Generate an nginx server block for a reverse proxy, static site, SPA, or PHP - with SSL.
- [Systemd Service Generator](https://ctrlops.io/tools/systemd-service-generator): Build a systemd .service unit with hardening, resource limits, and an optional timer.
- [curl Command Builder](https://ctrlops.io/tools/curl-command-builder): Assemble curl requests with heade
