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Creating Tunnels

Create a New Tunnel

  1. Click + in the toolbar (or press Cmd+N)
  2. Choose SSH Tunnel or AWS Session Manager
  3. Fill in the configuration
  4. Click Save

SSH Tunnel Configuration

Required Fields

Field Description Example
Name Descriptive name dev-postgres
SSH Host Server to connect through user@server.com
Local Port Port on your Mac 5432
Remote Host Destination service localhost
Remote Port Port on remote host 5432

SSH Host Formats

user@hostname.com      # Direct connection
user@192.168.1.100     # IP address
my-server              # SSH config alias

SSH Config Aliases

If you have servers defined in ~/.ssh/config, enter the alias name. StormTunnel reads the hostname, user, port, and key automatically.

Authentication

Choose one:

  • SSH Key (recommended) -- Select from your imported keys
  • Password -- Enter SSH password (stored in Keychain)

See Authentication for details.

AWS Session Manager Tunnel

For EC2 instances using AWS Session Manager instead of SSH.

Required Fields

Field Description Example
Name Descriptive name aws-prod-db
Instance ID EC2 instance ID i-0123456789abcdef0
Region AWS region us-east-1
Local Port Port on your Mac 5432
Remote Host Destination service mydb.rds.amazonaws.com
Remote Port Port on remote 5432

AWS Profile

Select your AWS profile in Settings > AWS or per-tunnel in the configuration.

Port Forwarding Examples

Database (PostgreSQL)

Access a database on the SSH server:

Field Value
Local Port 5432
Remote Host localhost
Remote Port 5432

Connect your database client to localhost:5432.

Web Server

Access a web app running on port 80:

Field Value
Local Port 8080
Remote Host localhost
Remote Port 80

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

Internal Service

Reach a service on the remote network:

Field Value
Local Port 6379
Remote Host redis.internal
Remote Port 6379

Connect to localhost:6379 to reach redis.internal:6379.

Duplicate a Tunnel

  1. Select the tunnel
  2. Press Cmd+D (or right-click > Duplicate)
  3. Edit the copy
  4. Save

Advanced Options

Auto-Reconnect

Automatically reconnect if the tunnel drops:

  1. Edit the tunnel
  2. Enable Auto-Reconnect in Advanced settings
  3. Save

Connection Timeout

Adjust how long to wait for connections:

  • Settings > General > Connection Timeout (global)
  • Or per-tunnel in Advanced settings

Verbose Logging

Enable detailed SSH output for debugging:

  1. Edit tunnel > Advanced > Enable Verbose Output
  2. Connect the tunnel
  3. Check Console.app for detailed logs

For connection issues, see Troubleshooting.