Glyph

Glyph is a modern, high-performance SSH client and server management application built with Electron and React. Designed for power users, developers, and system administrators, Glyph combines a beautiful user interface with powerful networking, automation, and AI-agent features.

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Table of Contents

1. Features
2. Installation
3. Architecture
4. Security
5. AI Agent Setup (MCP)
6. Development

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Features

Comprehensive Server Management

• Secure Vault: Store server credentials and configurations in a secure, encrypted vault.
• Master Password Encryption: Optionally encrypt your entire server database with a master password.
• Quick Connect: Seamlessly connect to your saved environments with a single click.

Advanced Terminal & UI

• Multi-Tab Interface: Manage multiple SSH sessions concurrently with a clean tabbed layout.
• Customizable Themes: Switch between various syntax and terminal color themes (Dracula, Monokai, One Dark, Solarized).
• Live System Dashboard: View real-time metrics including CPU usage, RAM, and Disk space for connected servers.

Next-Level Connectivity

• Universal Protocol Tunneling: Forward any TCP or UDP traffic from your local machine to remote destinations.
• Built-in ZeroTier Integration: Connect directly to ZeroTier virtual networks from within the application.
• Visual SFTP Client: Transfer, read, and edit files on remote servers using the integrated file browser.

Automation & AI

• Command Snippets: Save and execute frequently used shell commands.
• Secret Injection: Store environment variables and secrets, securely injecting them into your terminal when needed.
• In-App AI Agent Setup: Configure any MCP-compatible AI assistant to control your servers — directly from the home screen, no manual config editing required.
• Agentic AI Support (MCP): Once connected, AI agents can list servers, run commands, manage files via SFTP, control tunnels, manage secrets, and more.

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Installation

Prerequisites

• Node.js v18 or newer
• npm

Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/TheLunatic1/Glyph.git
   cd Glyph

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Run the application in development mode:

   npm run dev

Building for Production

npm run build   # bundles MCP server + compiles app
npm run dist    # packages a distributable installer

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Architecture

Glyph utilises a modern stack to ensure high performance and maintainability:

• Frontend: React 18, Tailwind CSS, Lucide React (Icons).
• Backend (Main Process): Electron, Node.js, ssh2 for core networking.
• Terminal Emulator: xterm.js for high-fidelity shell emulation.
• IPC Bridge: Secure context bridging between the Electron main process and the React renderer via a typed preload/index.js API.
• MCP Server: src/mcp/index.js — compiled into a self-contained resources/mcp.js bundle for production installs.

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Security

Security is a first-class citizen in Glyph:

• Local-Only: All data, credentials, and settings remain on your local machine.
• Zero Telemetry: Glyph does not track your usage or send data to third parties.
• AES-256 Encryption: The server vault and exported configurations are encrypted using industry-standard AES-256.

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AI Agent Setup (MCP)

Glyph natively supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), letting AI assistants interact with your infrastructure securely.

In-App Setup (Recommended)

Open Glyph and expand the "AI Agent Setup" panel at the bottom of the home screen. It will automatically detect which AI clients are installed on your machine and show their current configuration status. Click Auto-Install next to any client to have Glyph write the correct config in one step.

Supported clients (auto-install):

Client	Config location
Antigravity IDE	~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json
Claude Desktop	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Cursor	~/.cursor/mcp.json
VS Code	%APPDATA%\Code\User\settings.json (under mcp.servers)

For any other MCP-compatible tool, use the Custom / Manual Setup drawer to browse to its config file, pick the key format, preview the JSON, and write it in one click.

Manual Config Snippet

If you prefer to configure manually, add the following entry to your AI client's MCP config:

"glyph_mcp": {
  "command": "node",
  "args": ["/path/to/Glyph/resources/mcp.js"],
  "env": { "NODE_ENV": "production" }
}

Dev mode: use src/mcp/index.js instead of resources/mcp.js.

Available MCP Tools

Tool	Description
glyph_list_servers	Returns all saved servers
glyph_connect_server	Opens a connection to a server in the Glyph UI
glyph_execute_command	Executes a shell command and returns the output
glyph_read_file / glyph_write_file	Read and write files via SFTP
glyph_start_tunnel / glyph_stop_tunnel	Start and stop port-forwarding tunnels
glyph_list_secrets / glyph_add_secret	Manage vault secrets
glyph_list_containers	View Docker containers on the server
glyph_list_commands / glyph_add_command / glyph_remove_command	Manage command snippets

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Development

Glyph uses electron-vite for rapid development.

• src/main — Electron backend (SSH, Vault, API, Updater, MCP IPC handlers).
• src/renderer — React frontend application.
• src/preload — Typed IPC bridge exposed as window.api.
• src/mcp — Standalone MCP server (compiled to resources/mcp.js at build time via scripts/bundle-mcp.cjs).

Contributions, pull requests, and bug reports are highly welcome.