Everyday use
Passwords
When a program in a pane asks for a password — ssh, sudo, psql, a key passphrase — Macterm notices, and a bubble appears at the cursor.
Saving a password
Type the password as usual. Once it works (the login goes through, the command runs), a bubble asks Save Password? with the command and the prompt it's for. Press Return or click Save; press Esc or click Cancel to forget it. A password that was rejected is never offered, one-time codes are never offered, and running another command in the pane dismisses the offer.
Autofill
The next time the same command shows the same prompt, the bubble offers Autofill. Press Return, click it, or press ⌥⌘F (Autofill Password in Settings → Keymaps), and confirm with Touch ID or your login password. Macterm types the password and presses Return, exactly as if you had. Esc puts the bubble away; start typing and the keys are yours again.
If a saved password stops working, the bubble says so. Type the new one, and Macterm offers to update the saved password once it works.
What a password is saved for
Each password is filed under the command that asked for it plus the prompt line it printed, so ssh -J bastion prod can keep the bastion's password and prod's separately. Two exceptions:
sudokeeps one entry for everysudo …command — it's always your login password.- Key passphrases (
Enter passphrase for key '…') belong to the key, whichever command asks.
Settings → Passwords
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Offer to save passwords | Off stops the save offer. Saved passwords still autofill. |
| Ask for Touch ID | Once, until the Mac locks (the default; also relocks on sleep and quit), or Every time. |
| Saved Passwords | Search the list; a row's menu offers Details… (the full command and prompt, editable, and the password after Touch ID — shown, copied or changed), Copy Password and Remove. |
Passwords are stored in your login keychain. Macterm never prints them, logs them, or exposes them to the macterm CLI or Shortcuts.
Limits
Macterm detects a prompt by the terminal mode the program reads it in (input by line, echo off). That covers local panes and a remote project's own ssh login, but not a prompt on a remote host inside an ssh session — for example sudo on a server — nor prompts that draw their own * characters.