5 posts tagged with "SSH"

Remote development used to mean a chain of compromises: carry a sufficiently powerful laptop, connect through a sometimes unreliable VPN, then open separate tools for SSH, remote desktop, and development. The server may have more CPU, more memory, and a more stable runtime, yet the working environment remains tied to the device in front of us.

I recently inverted that model: make the Linux server the real development machine, and use the Larktun app as the portable way in.

Once Larktun is installed on the server, I can SSH from a phone or tablet and hand coding, troubleshooting, and environment setup to an agent such as Hermes. When the agent builds a web page, I open the development service directly in Larktun's built-in WebView to inspect the real result. When I need an IDE or another desktop application, I enter the same Linux machine through RDP. I can even ask Hermes to prepare the available ChatGPT/Codex desktop package before switching to the graphical session.

The mobile device no longer does all the computation. Its job is to bring me safely back to the same persistent development workspace.

Accessing your own servers, NAS, router, or Windows PC from Android has traditionally required a toolkit. First connect to the private network, open an admin panel in a browser, switch to an SSH client to run commands, and then reach for yet another app when you need an RDP desktop. The network may be connected, but getting work done still means bouncing between apps.

We have always believed that mesh networking should do more than open a path. It should tell you what is available on the network and give you the tools to open those services immediately.

The latest Larktun Android app takes a major step in that direction. It adds Smart Discovery, gives the built-in WebView a comprehensive upgrade, and improves both SSH and RDP. Most importantly, all of it is free to use.

When you build an app for people running many different network setups, the hardest part is not the features. It is the front door.

Some people use Larktun's managed network. They type in an account and password, and they are in. Some prefer auth keys — a string of characters is all the identity they need. And a significant portion of users run networks that are not on Larktun at all. They operate their own Tailscale network, or maintain a self-hosted Headscale instance on a VPS somewhere.

Letting everyone walk in their own way is something the Larktun iOS app has considered from day one.

Accessing a private network from iPad or iPhone has often meant turning on system VPN first, then switching between an SSH client, an SFTP client, a browser, or a remote desktop app. Each tool solves one part of the workflow, but in practice users keep jumping between apps while also checking whether the system VPN is still connected.

Larktun is taking a more direct path: put the network access workflow into one app.

The iPad/iOS version has been submitted for App Store review and is expected to meet everyone soon. It does not rely on system VPN permission. Instead, it joins the Larktun network inside the app, so users can view devices, test connectivity, SSH into hosts, manage files with SFTP, and open private Web services from one interface.

I recently provisioned a free Oracle Cloud server with 4 CPU cores and 24 GB of memory. For a development server, that is generous enough for test services, build jobs, database experiments, and the occasional production-support workload.

But as soon as I needed remote SSH access, the classic question appeared: should I expose port 22 to the public internet?

My answer is clear: no.