Do I need an ssh key to open a session in my editor?

No. The isolation CLI carries ssh over HTTPS and signs in with your account, so no key is added anywhere and nothing asks you to trust a host.

Does it work on any network?

Yes. Your machine only makes HTTPS connections to Isolation Cloud, the same as the website, so an IPv4-only or locked-down network is fine.

Can I ssh into a session?

No. Everything goes through the isolation CLI while you are signed in. The only ssh is the one an IDE uses for its Remote-SSH, which the CLI carries for it; a person typing ssh gets no shell.

What does the CLI change on my machine?

One marked block at the top of ~/.ssh/config that lets your IDE reach editor views (*.isolation) through the CLI. Nothing else in the file is touched, and isolation ssh-config --remove takes it out.

Work from your IDE · Isolation Docs

Open an editor view in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or Zed, or a terminal, an agent or an editor's files in your own terminal, all with the isolation CLI.

Every command names a view, never a session. A session has as many terminals, editors and agents as you open in it, from none to several, and each has an id like v-3f9a2c. isolation open view <view> opens it in your terminal; isolation connect view <view> opens it from outside, in a new window or the IDE you pick. Everything goes through the isolation CLI while you are signed in, over HTTPS, so you need no ssh key and any network works.

Install the CLI once

The CLI is a single binary.

isolation login

Signing in writes one marked block at the top of ~/.ssh/config. It exists for your IDE: VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf and Zed only know how to reach a remote machine over ssh, so the block sends editor views' hosts (*.isolation) through isolation ssh-proxy, an HTTPS WebSocket to the session's Doorman.

Finding a view's id

isolation views <session> lists a session's views with their ids, and isolation launch prints them when the session is ready. On the website, "Open externally" on a view shows its commands with the id filled in; /connect in a chat and view_connect over MCP answer the same.

Frontend  v-1a2b3c  terminal  isolation open view v-1a2b3c
Editor    v-7a8b9c  editor    isolation connect view v-7a8b9c
Isla      v-4d5e6f  agent     isolation open view v-4d5e6f

A local editor

isolation connect view on an editor view asks which IDE to open: VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf or Zed, or Helix in a new terminal window. --ide skips the question. The IDE opens its own Remote-SSH on the view, in the view's folder.

isolation connect view v-7a8b9c
isolation connect view v-7a8b9c --ide cursor

The editor uploads its own server into the sandbox, so the first connection takes a moment and the next ones open straight away. Two editor views open two folders.

That ssh connection is the IDE's alone. The Doorman gives it what an IDE needs (running its server, transferring files, forwarding ports) and no interactive shell, so ssh typed by hand gets nothing. The terminal inside your IDE is the IDE's own.

A terminal

A terminal view attaches the very tmux session the browser is showing, so your local terminal and the browser tab are two windows on one shell.

isolation open view v-1a2b3c       # here
isolation connect view v-1a2b3c    # in a new terminal window

Moving files between the session and your machine

An editor view's Files mode is a file manager. In the browser you drag files in to upload and download them out (a folder comes down as a .tar.gz). In your terminal, isolation open view <view> opens the editor; press 3 for Files, which shows the session's files next to your own machine's, with upload, download and paste across the two sides.

Joining the agent's conversation

An agent view opens in your terminal as a rendering of the thread the session screen is showing, live in both directions; quitting ends only your connection. /steps opens a folded turn, /cancel interrupts one and /exit leaves.

isolation open view v-4d5e6f

The conversation is stored in the workspace and outlives the session; see memory and conversations.

Every one of these doors ends at the session's Doorman: bytes go from your machine over HTTPS to Isolation Cloud, to the Doorman, to the sandbox. What that means for what is public is in tunnels, the doorman and what is public. Git credentials inside the session are a separate thing, covered in Git, SSH and custom credentials.

Work from your IDE