Getting started
Tandem has two parts. A background service on your PC holds the SSH connections, and a viewer (the Tandem window, or the same page in a browser) lets you use them. AI agents connect to the same service over MCP, so you and they end up in the same sessions.
Installing
Download the installer and run it. It includes the service, the Node.js runtime it needs, and the viewer, so there’s nothing else to install first.
The installer isn’t code-signed yet. If Windows shows “Windows protected your PC”, click More info and then Run anyway.
When it finishes, Tandem opens the viewer and adds an icon to the system tray.
The tray icon
Closing the viewer window doesn’t stop Tandem. It carries on in the tray, and it starts itself (without opening a window) when you sign in, so agents can use it at any time. Right-click the tray icon for:
- Show viewer, to bring the window back
- Open viewer in browser, which opens the same viewer in your browser, already signed in
- Quit Tandem (ends all sessions), which stops the service
The tray app also keeps an eye on the service and restarts it if it stops responding.
Adding a host
Open Hosts from the bar on the left of the viewer and fill in Add a host:
| Field | |
|---|---|
| Protocol | SSH, or Telnet for console servers and older network gear |
| Alias | A short name for the host. Agents use this too. |
| Hostname, username, port | The port defaults to 22. |
| Auth | password (you’ll be asked in the viewer), OpenSSH agent, or key file |
| Persistent sessions (tmux) | Keeps sessions alive through network drops. See Sessions. |
If your hosts are already in ~/.ssh/config, Import ~/.ssh/config adds them all at once.
Opening a session
Go to Sessions, choose a host, give the session a name if you like, and click Connect. For a host you don’t want to save, use Quick connect, which has its own save this host box if you change your mind.
Tick private (hidden from agents) for anything you don’t want an agent to see. It’s still recorded.
Where Tandem keeps things
| Agent (MCP) token | %LOCALAPPDATA%\SharedSSH\token |
| Settings | %LOCALAPPDATA%\SharedSSH\config.json |
| Service log | %LOCALAPPDATA%\SharedSSH\daemon.log |
| Recordings | Documents\SSH Recordings\<date>\<session>__<id>\ |
Next: Connecting an agent