SSH port forwards · for macOS

Tunnels,
on a switch.

A dead-simple, native SSH port-forward manager. Flip one on to bring a forward up; if it drops — sleep, network blip, server hiccup — it quietly reconnects. Lives in your menu bar and a proper window.

Download for macOS View on GitHub

Free & open source · macOS 26+ · Apple Silicon · v0.1.2

Mirrorball's management window: a forward shown as a row with a status dot, a LOCAL badge, its address mapping, and an on/off switch

One window. Every forward is a row with a status dot, an address mapping, and a switch.

Open source · GPL-3.0 Auto-updates No telemetry Drives your system ssh

What it does

Everything you reach for, nothing you don’t.

It drives the system ssh binary, so it reuses your existing config, keys and agent. Nothing to set up twice.

Menu bar & window

A status-bar item with quick toggles, plus a full management window. Close the window — it stays running up top.

Auto-reconnect

Per-forward supervision with exponential backoff. Tunnels survive sleeps and blips; real failures surface the actual reason.

1s → 30s backoff

Local, remote & dynamic

Every forward type you actually use — pull a remote port home, expose a local one, or run a SOCKS proxy.

-L · -R · -D

Keychain-backed auth

SSH agent, a private key with passphrase, or a password — secrets live at rest in your Keychain, never on the command line.

Uses your SSH setup

Inherits ~/.ssh/config, keys and agent. Host aliases populate the editor’s picker automatically.

Native throughout

SwiftUI switches, grouped forms, SF Symbols, automatic light/dark, launch-at-login, and notifications on drops & reconnects.

How a forward works

A remote port, mirrored to your Mac.

Your Mac
localhost:3000
your browser hits this
Studio Server
elysia:3000
runs over there
01

Add a forward

Pick a host alias, choose local / remote / dynamic, set the ports. The editor knows every option you reach for.

02

Flip the switch

Mirrorball spawns a supervised ssh -N and watches it. Green means it’s up.

03

Forget about it

It reconnects through sleeps and blips, and tears every child down cleanly on quit. No leaked tunnels.

Mirrorball's menu bar dropdown with a quick toggle and Open, Settings, Check for Updates, and Quit items
Always one click away

Right from the menu bar.

The status-bar glyph reflects the aggregate state at a glance. Toggle any forward without leaving what you’re doing.

  • ✓ Quick toggles for every forward
  • ✓ Open the window, Settings, or check for updates
  • ✓ Stays running here when the window is closed

Built carefully

Your secret never touches the command line.

Anyone running ps can read a process’s arguments. So Mirrorball never puts a password or passphrase there. Secrets stay in the Keychain and reach ssh through SSH_ASKPASS on the child’s environment alone.

# never — visible in `ps`
ssh -L 3000:… host -p 'hunter2'
# Mirrorball — via the environment
SSH_ASKPASS=… ssh -N -L 3000:… host
✓ secret stays in the Keychain

Get Mirrorball.

Download the disk image and drag Mirrorball into Applications. It keeps itself up to date from there.

Download for macOS View source on GitHub

macOS 26+ · Apple Silicon · v0.1.2