You can access your Zo Computer using our built-in ways to interact, but sometimes it’s useful to connect to your Zo server directly. This guide will walk you through connecting to your Zo server over SSH. One powerful use case SSH enables is using your Zo as a remote development environment, allowing you to use Zo from your favorite IDE running on your computer.

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1. Generate an SSH key on your computer

Open the Terminal application on your computer. Run the command below, replacing the email used in the example with your own email address. 
ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"
When you’re prompted to “Enter a file in which to save the key”, you can press Enter to accept the default file location. When you’re prompted to “Enter a passphrase”, you can press Enter to leave it empty, or choose a passphrase.
Run the command below to view your public key: 
cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
You’ll see something like this: ssh-ed25519 YOUR_ECDSA_PUBLIC_KEY [email protected]

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2. Register your public key on your Zo

Open the Terminal in your Zo application. Run the command below to edit your authorized keys file: 
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
Paste your public key in the editor. Save and exit the editor by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y, and finally Enter.

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3. Set up a SSH service on your Zo

Open the System page in your Zo. Click “Add service” to create a new service and fill in the details below:
Labelssh
Local port2222
Typetcp
Entrypoint/usr/sbin/sshd -D -p 2222
Working directoryLeave empty
Environment variablesNone
When your SSH service is up and running, take note of the Host and Port.

An SSH service with port 10872 and host ts1.zocomputer.io

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4. Connect to your Zo

Open the Terminal on your computer. Run the command below, replacing the port and host with your service’s port and host. 
ssh -p <port> root@<host>
# example: ssh -p 10000 [email protected]
If all is well, you should find yourself inside your Zo. You can exit the SSH session by typing exit or Ctrl + D.

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Create a shortcut to connect

In your computer’s terminal, run the command below to edit your SSH configuration file: 
nano ~/.ssh/config
Paste the following configuration, replacing the Port and HostName with your service’s port and host: 
Host zo
   HostName ts1.zocomputer.io
   Port 10872
   User root
   ServerAliveInterval 30
   ServerAliveCountMax 3
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
Save and exit the editor by pressing Ctrl + X, then Y, and finally Enter. Now, you can run ssh zo to connect to your Zo from your computer’s terminal.

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5. Connect your IDE

Different IDEs have different ways to connect to remote servers. In this guide, we’ll show you how to connect Cursor to Zo, but other IDEs can be connected in a similar way. First, install Cursor’s official Remote SSH extension. In the extension’s settings, enter your SSH config file path:
Also in the extension’s settings, enable Remote Command Execution:
In the command palette, find Remote-SSH: Connect to Host... and select zo.
Another Cursor window will open, connected to your Zo. In this new window, open the /home/workspace folder on your Zo.
That’s it! Now you can use your Zo from Cursor.