vmuxTV
A native Apple TV terminal for monitoring servers and running remote sessions on the big screen.
What vmuxTV is
vmuxTV is the tvOS member of the vmux family. It runs a real GPU-accelerated terminal on Apple TV, connects to your servers over SSH or Mosh, and renders the output on whatever screen the Apple TV is plugged into. The same Metal renderer that powers vmux on Apple Vision Pro draws the screen here, so text stays sharp on a 4K television and scrollback feels instant.
vmuxTV is built around the way an Apple TV is actually used. You sit on a couch, you control the app with a Siri Remote or a paired game controller, and you read more than you type. The interface is a three-tab layout — Sessions, Hosts, Settings — and a dictation bar that lets you dictate or type a command when you need to send one. Saved hosts, themes, and font sizes are stored on the device, so the next time you open the app, your servers are one click away.
Highlights
- Real SSH and Mosh sessions on the big screen, no helper computer required.
- Saved hosts with per-host authentication — password or Secure Enclave key.
- Three-tab layout — Sessions, Hosts, Settings — navigated with the Siri Remote.
- Voice dictation bar for entering commands without a keyboard.
- Game controller support — any MFi or PlayStation/Xbox controller paired to the Apple TV is recognized as a terminal input device.
- iPhone Keyboard support — when a text field is focused on the TV, an iOS notification offers to type from your iPhone.
- Multiple sessions in one app, with a session switcher accessible from the remote's Menu/Back button.
- Themes shared with the rest of the vmux family — JetBrains Mono Nerd Font ships built in.
- A connection indicator at the top of every session shows live status (connected, connecting, disconnected, failed).
Who it is for
vmuxTV is for the read-mostly side of remote access. It is the right app when you want to:
- Watch a long-running deploy, build, or training run on the TV in your office.
- Keep a
htop,journalctl -f, orkubectl logs -fwindow visible while you do something else. - Glance at server status from the couch and occasionally type a command.
- Demo or pair-program by mirroring a session to the room.
It is intentionally not optimized for heavy editing. If you need to do real terminal work, use vmuxMac at the desk, vmuxPhone on the go, or vmux on visionOS for an immersive workstation.
System requirements
| Requirement | Minimum |
|---|---|
| tvOS | tvOS 17 or later |
| Hardware | Apple TV 4K (any generation). The Apple TV HD is not officially supported. |
| Network | Required for SSH and Mosh sessions. Wired Ethernet recommended for stable Mosh on busy networks. |
| Display | Any HDMI display the Apple TV supports. 4K is preferred for legible terminal text at typical TV viewing distances. |
| Optional | A paired MFi, PlayStation, or Xbox controller for faster typing and shortcut control. |
| Optional | An iPhone or iPad on the same iCloud account for the iPhone Keyboard quick-typing feature. |
vmuxTV ships through the tvOS App Store. The bundle identifier is com.workstation.tv.
How vmuxTV compares to other vmux apps
| Feature | vmuxTV | vmuxMac | vmuxPhone | vmux (visionOS) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SSH | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mosh | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Local shell | No | Yes | No | No |
| Voice dictation | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Game controller input | Yes | No | No | No |
| Multiple sessions | Yes (cycled with Menu) | Yes (tabs and windows) | Yes (canvas) | Yes (spatial windows) |
| Custom keyboard | iPhone Keyboard | Hardware | Embedded | VKeyboard |
| Themes shared with vmux family | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| CRT effects | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Glass backgrounds | No | No | Yes | Yes |
vmuxTV deliberately keeps a smaller feature surface than the other apps. There are no panes, tabs, or splits — one session at a time fills the screen — and there is no command palette. Settings live in a simple Form view sized for ten-foot navigation.
What is not on tvOS
A few features from the rest of the vmux family are intentionally omitted on Apple TV:
- No panes, tabs, or splits. One session fills the screen. Switch between open sessions with the Menu/Back button on the Siri Remote.
- No command palette. Settings and host management live in the tab bar.
- No CRT or glass effects. The renderer pipes directly to the Apple TV display; CRT post-processing and glass materials only run on devices that own a display layer (visionOS and iOS).
- No
vshshell, no SSH agent, no companion-app signing. Authentication on tvOS is password or on-device Secure Enclave key only. - No clipboard. tvOS does not expose a system pasteboard, so copy and paste are unavailable inside the terminal. Use the dictation bar to send text instead.
- No file or theme import. Themes are limited to the bundled set.
If you depend on any of those, treat vmuxTV as a viewer and pair it with vmuxMac or vmuxPhone for full editing.
Where to go next
- Getting started walks through your first launch on Apple TV.
- Connecting covers adding hosts, password and key authentication, and Mosh on tvOS.
- Input — Remote and Gamepad is the button reference for the Siri Remote and paired controllers.
- Voice Dictation explains the dictation bar, command mode, and what voice can and cannot do.
- Themes and Settings is the Settings tab reference.
- Troubleshooting is the place to look when something goes wrong.