Connecting to a session

Once a session is running, you can connect to it in several ways. Which methods are available depends on the operating system: macOS sessions add a graphical desktop over VNC, while Linux sessions are terminal and IDE only.

Web terminal

The Bitrise RDE UI includes a browser-based terminal on the session detail page. It connects straight to the machine, supports multiple tabs, and needs no local setup — it's the quickest way to run a command in a session.

SSH

Each session has an SSH address and a one-time password, shown on the session detail page and available from the CLI with bitrise-cli rde session view. Use them with any SSH client.

For passwordless access, register your SSH public key as a saved input. Bitrise adds it to the session's authorized keys, so you can connect without copying a password each time. macOS sessions sign in as the vagrant user and Linux sessions as the ubuntu user.

VNC

macOS sessions expose a graphical desktop over VNC, which is useful for watching a simulator or a GUI app. The session detail page shows the VNC address and credentials, and builds a vnc:// link that opens your VNC viewer. From the CLI, run bitrise-cli rde session open-vnc SESSION_ID to open the viewer directly.

Linux sessions don't have a desktop, so VNC isn't available for them.

VS Code Remote - SSH

To edit code in a session from VS Code, use Open in VS Code on the session detail page. It opens VS Code with the Remote - SSH extension connected to the session. If the session's template defines workspace links, you can open a specific folder directly.

The dedicated Bitrise VS Code plugin can also create and manage sessions for you.

Transferring files

You can move files between your machine and a session at any time:

• With the CLI, use bitrise-cli rde session upload and bitrise-cli rde session download.
• With an AI coding agent started by bitrise-cli rde claude, just ask the agent to upload or download a file — see the Quickstart.