If you use Bifrost on more than one Mac, iCloud sync keeps everything in step: add a server on your laptop and it’s there on your desktop too. Sync is a Bifrost Pro feature and uses your own private iCloud — your data is never shared with us or anyone else.
Turn it on
- Make sure you’re signed in to iCloud on the Mac (System Settings → your name).
- In Bifrost, open Settings → iCloud.
- Switch on iCloud Sync.
Do the same on each Mac, signed in to the same Apple Account. The first sync uploads everything already on that Mac; after that, only changes are sent, in the background.
What gets synced
| Synced | Not synced |
|---|---|
| Connections (and their settings & tags) | Known hosts (SSH host keys) |
| Groups / folders | |
| Credentials (usernames & key references) | |
| Snippets | |
| Tags | |
| Terminal profiles (custom themes) | |
| Custom group icons |
Your customizations come along too: the terminal themes you create (colors, font) and your custom group icons show up on every Mac. Known hosts, by contrast, stay local to each Mac by design — an SSH host key is a per-machine trust decision.
Secrets: two separate, secure switches
By default, sync carries the structure of your credentials — names, usernames, which key they use — but not the secrets themselves. Passwords, key passphrases and private keys never travel through iCloud’s regular database. Two extra switches, just under the main one, opt those in — and both store the data in the iCloud Keychain, which is end-to-end encrypted (Apple can’t read it, and neither can we):
- Sync Passwords — your saved passwords and SSH key passphrases.
- Sync SSH & Kubernetes keys — the secrets Bifrost manages for you: SSH keys it generated, and the Kubernetes kubeconfigs you imported. A connection that relies on one then works on every Mac. This covers only what Bifrost manages — never your own keys in
~/.ssh.
Each is independent. Turn one off and that data immediately goes back to living only on the local Mac.
If a connection relies on a Bifrost-managed key or kubeconfig and Sync SSH & Kubernetes keys is off, the connection still appears on your other Macs but can’t connect there — Bifrost shows a clear warning on the connection (and the credential), telling you to turn the switch on (on both Macs) or import the kubeconfig locally.
Keeping an eye on it
In Settings → iCloud you’ll see the last sync time. If something looks out of date, use Force Sync to re-push everything from that Mac.
When two Macs change the same thing
If you edit the same connection on two Macs before they sync, Bifrost keeps the most recent change (by edit time) — there’s no merge dialog to deal with.
Troubleshooting
- The toggle is greyed out or missing — iCloud sync requires Bifrost Pro. Unlock it in Settings.
- Nothing appears on the other Mac — confirm both are signed in to the same Apple Account, both have iCloud Sync on, then hit Force Sync. Give it a moment; the first sync can take a little longer.
- Connections sync but passwords don’t — turn on Sync Passwords on both Macs. Secrets only travel when that switch is on.
- Sync suddenly stopped — if you sign out of iCloud or switch Apple Account, Bifrost turns sync off automatically. Sign back in and re-enable it.