Conan – Cross-Platform Connection Manager

Conan is a fast, minimal, and extensible connection manager built with Go and Qt 5. Also there is CLI interface with a rich curses-based UI.

It offers a native system tray menu with fuzzy search and instant-launch capabilities for various remote access tools like SSH, Winbox, and RDP.

Conan is designed for system administrators, network engineers, and developers who manage hundreds of remote systems and need fast, keyboard-driven access with minimal UI.

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✨ Features

• 🖥️ Native system tray integration (macOS, Windows, Linux)
• 🔍 Spotlight-style launcher with fuzzy search
• 🧠 Protocol-aware connection manager: supports ssh, rdp, winbox, and custom command formats
• 📝 Sticky notes system (Markdown + metadata),
• ☁️ GitHub Gist sync for note and server lists (encrypted or plaintext)
• 🔐 YAML-based server configuration, supports tags and metadata
• ⚙️ Terminal embedding (via external window)
• 🪄 Global hotkey support to open launcher instantly
• 🎛️ Server manager GUI to edit connections visually
• 🧑‍💻 Terminal UI (curses-based) for CLI access
• 📦 Cross-platform builds: .app, .exe, AppImage

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In action

conan-gui-quickconnect.mp4

conan-gui-serverstable-edit.mp4

conan-gui-notes.mp4

conan-tui-connect.mp4

🚀 Usage Overview

Conan runs in the background with a tray icon. You can:

• Click the tray icon to see categorized connection entries
• Use a global hotkey to open the launcher
• Type a hostname, description or tag to fuzzy search your connections
• Press Enter to instantly launch your session with the correct protocol

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🖥️ Terminal UI Mode (CLI)

Conan includes a curses-style CLI interface for terminal environments:

conan --tui

🔗 Supported Protocols

Conan understands the following protocols natively:

• ssh://user@host
• rdp://hostname
• winbox://192.168.88.1
• Custom launchers via YAML config (e.g., tmux, telnet, mosh, etc.)

The correct external tool is launched based on the protocol:

• ssh → kitty, xterm, or your defined terminal
• rdp → xfreerdp, mstsc
• winbox → wine winbox.exe or native

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🧾 Notes System

Conan allows you to create sticky notes for each topic. Notes are:

• Written in Markdown
• Stored as .md files in a designated folder
• Include YAML front-matter metadata:

🔐 Security

Conan is designed for security-conscious system administrators and infrastructure engineers. It includes multiple layers of protection to keep credentials, notes, and configuration safe:

• 🔐 Encrypted Configuration Files
  The main server list (servers.yml) can be fully AES-256 encrypted. This includes:

  • Server addresses
  • Protocols
  • Usernames
  • Tags and metadata

• 🔑 Credentials Encryption
  Individual connection credentials (e.g., usernames, ports, passwords, secret keys) are securely encrypted and stored only locally. No plaintext credentials are left on disk.

• 📝 Encrypted Notes
  Markdown-based sticky notes can be individually encrypted using the same symmetric encryption. The app decrypts them in-memory and never saves plaintext unless explicitly exported.

• 🔐 Master Password Prompt
  On launch, Conan can optionally prompt the user for a master password. This password is required to:

  • Unlock the encrypted server list
  • Access private notes
  • Decrypt credentials

• ☁️ Secure GitHub Gist Sync (Optional)
  If Gist sync is enabled:

  • Notes are encrypted before upload
  • Only a securely stored GitHub token is used
  • Private gists are used for syncing between machines
  • Version history is preserved locally (encrypted)

• 🧠 Zero Background Communication

  • No telemetry, no hidden requests, no cloud dependencies
  • Conan is fully offline unless syncing to GitHub is explicitly triggered

All encryption is performed using strong, modern AES-256-GCM in authenticated mode. Secrets are stored only in memory during the runtime session and are wiped from disk.

Building

Read Building.md

Configuration

Read Configuration.md

3rd party software/material used

• Golang

• Qt 5 bindings for Go

• Qt 5.15 – Native GUI toolkit

• Icons