Skip to main content
The desktop app includes the KolaOS CLI. Editors use your computer’s SSH configuration, so you do not need a KolaOS editor plugin.

​
Desktop app

Download the app for your operating system from KolaOS downloads, sign in and select your workspace. The app opens your own workstation. To connect an editor, open Settings, choose SSH & terminal, and select Set up editors. Complete browser sign-in if requested. Then use Open in to choose an installed editor. The desktop app keeps its own sign-in session. Network interruptions show a reconnecting state, and terminals reattach to their persistent sessions after the connection returns. You can review and end sessions under Account, then Sign-in and sessions, in the dashboard.

​
Install the CLI

On macOS or Linux, run:
The installer checks the signed release and needs OpenSSH 8.1 or newer. On Windows, download kola-windows-amd64.exe, rename it kola.exe, and place it on your PATH. Sign in and prepare SSH:
Setup creates a key in ~/.ssh/kola/, registers its public key with your account, and writes SSH configuration and known hosts. It adds Include ~/.ssh/kola/config to ~/.ssh/config. Run setup again when new workstations need to appear in your editor.

​
Connect

The examples use a workspace with the slug backend. Replace it with your workspace’s slug. Supported --editor values are vscode, cursor, windsurf and zed. For JetBrains, create an SSH remote development connection using the generated SSH configuration and the backend.kola host. When workspace slugs collide, setup uses a host name based on the workstation ID. Use the host written to ~/.ssh/kola/config. kola ssh uses a persistent tmux session and forwards detected development ports to your computer. Use --plain for a plain shell or --no-forward to disable port forwarding.

​
Access and startup

Connections go through the node gateway and need your sign-in and SSH key. Only the workstation’s owner can connect. kola ssh asks before starting a stopped workstation. Plain SSH and editors start it automatically when you connect. If VS Code times out during startup, reconnect or raise remote.SSH.connectTimeout. If your editor shows the wrong organization’s workstations, run kola login --org <organization-id>, followed by kola ssh setup. See troubleshooting for key and connection errors.