jumpgate
  1. Docs
  2. Getting started
  3. 2. Pair a box

2. Pair a box

Install the agent on a box and confirm its host key.

How you got here: Desktop app What a box needs 1. Create the controller key

Show previous steps 3
Install 1
  1. Desktop app

    Download the desktop app for your OS and open it.

    The macOS zip holds Jumpgate.app and Jumpgate Terminal.app; Windows has jumpgate-tray.exe and jumpgate.exe; Linux has install.sh. Every download carries both Linux agents.

    Show image
    The app panel's Home tab: the gateway running two networks.
    Illustration from the jumpgate.app demo, with made-up boxes; not a screenshot of the app.
Getting started 2
  1. What a box needs

    A Debian or Ubuntu box with systemd, reachable as root over SSH.

    Setup needs root (or passwordless sudo with --sudo) and checks Linux, systemd and disk first. The node itself runs as an unprivileged account.

  2. 1. Create the controller key

    Create the key that signs every command to your boxes.

    jumpgate keys init stores it in the Keychain, Credential Manager, Secret Service, 1Password or an owner-only file. It never leaves your computer.

    Show image
    The Signers screen: this controller's address and key store, and the boxes it signs for.
    The TUI, from its test snapshot; empty rows removed.
Adding a box: the TUI shows the host key's fingerprint and asks you to type yes.
The TUI, from its test snapshot; empty rows removed.
jumpgate hosts add box-a --ssh [email protected]

You confirm the box's host key by its fingerprint. Jumpgate then installs a small agent, jumpgate-agent.service, a restricted jumpgate tunnel user, and an sshd drop-in that confines that user to the agent's socket. --jump USER@HOST reaches the box through a jump host. On Linux, --local pairs the machine you are on (as root, or with sudo on the terminal).