If you've searched "AI agent control computer" or "AI assistant that can control my computer", you're looking for something beyond chat—an AI that can actually operate on your behalf, running commands, managing files, and executing tasks on your real machine.

This tutorial shows you how to connect Zo to your personal computer using SSH, giving your AI direct terminal access to your laptop or desktop.

Should you do this?

This is a power-user setup with real risks. By connecting Zo to your computer via SSH, you're giving your AI unconstrained access to everything on that machine—files, applications, system settings, and more.

Before proceeding, understand what you're signing up for:

Zo can make mistakes. An AI with terminal access can delete files, modify configurations, or run destructive commands if instructions are ambiguous.
Prompt injection is a real risk. If Zo processes untrusted content (emails, web pages, user inputs), a malicious prompt could hijack commands on your machine.
There's no undo button. Unlike a sandboxed environment, actions on your personal computer can have permanent consequences.

This setup can be genuinely useful for automation, development workflows, or controlling headless devices. It's also an impressive demonstration of what's possible. But it's not something to use casually unless you fully understand the security implications.

If you're comfortable with the risks, let's set it up.

What you'll need

A Zo Computer account
Your personal computer (macOS, Linux, or Windows with WSL)
An ngrok account (free tier works, but a paid plan is recommended for a fixed address)

Step 1: Generate an SSH key on Zo

First, create an SSH key pair on your Zo server. This key will authenticate Zo when connecting to your computer.

Open the Terminal in your Zo application and run:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "[email protected]"

Replace the email with your own. When prompted for a file location, press Enter to accept the default. When prompted for a passphrase, press Enter to leave it empty (required for automated connections).

View your public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

You'll see output like:

ssh-ed25519 AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAI... [email protected]

Copy this entire line—you'll need it in the next step.

Step 2: Register the public key on your computer

On your personal computer, open Terminal and add Zo's public key to your authorized keys:

nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

If the file doesn't exist, create the .ssh directory first:

mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh
nano ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Paste the public key from Step 1, save with Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter.

Set the correct permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Step 3: Enable SSH access on your computer

On macOS: Go to System Settings → General → Sharing → Enable "Remote Login". This starts the SSH server.

On Linux: SSH is usually pre-installed. Start and enable it:

sudo systemctl start ssh
sudo systemctl enable ssh

On Windows: Use WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux), then follow the Linux instructions inside your WSL distribution.

Step 4: Set up ngrok for remote access

Your computer is behind a firewall, so Zo can't connect directly. ngrok creates a secure tunnel that exposes your SSH port to the internet.

Sign up at ngrok.com
Install ngrok on your personal computer:

macOS (with Homebrew):

brew install ngrok

Linux:

curl -s https://ngrok-agent.s3.amazonaws.com/ngrok.asc | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/ngrok.asc >/dev/null
echo "deb https://ngrok-agent.s3.amazonaws.com buster main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ngrok.list
sudo apt update && sudo apt install ngrok

Authenticate ngrok with your token (find it in your ngrok dashboard):

ngrok config add-authtoken YOUR_TOKEN

Start the tunnel:

ngrok tcp 22

You'll see output like:

Forwarding tcp://0.tcp.ngrok.io:12345 -> localhost:22

Note the hostname (0.tcp.ngrok.io) and port (12345)—you'll need these to connect.

Recommended: For a fixed address that doesn't change each time you restart ngrok, upgrade to a paid plan and reserve a TCP address. Then run:

ngrok tcp 22 --url=YOUR_RESERVED_ADDRESS.tcp.ngrok.io:YOUR_PORT

Step 5: Connect from Zo

In your Zo terminal, test the connection:

ssh -p PORT USERNAME@HOSTNAME

Replace:

PORT with the ngrok port (e.g., 12345)
USERNAME with your computer's username (run whoami on your computer to find it)
HOSTNAME with the ngrok hostname (e.g., 0.tcp.ngrok.io)

Example:

ssh -p 12345 [email protected]

If everything is configured correctly, you'll be connected to your personal computer from Zo's terminal.

Step 6: Create an SSH shortcut

To make connections easier, add a configuration alias. In your Zo terminal:

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add this configuration (replace with your values):

Host laptop
   HostName 0.tcp.ngrok.io
   Port 12345
   User yourusername
   ServerAliveInterval 30
   ServerAliveCountMax 3
   IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Save and exit. Now you can connect with just:

ssh laptop

Step 7: Tell Zo how to use the connection

Create a rule so Zo knows how to access your computer. Go to Settings → Your AI → Rules and add:

Condition: When I ask you to do something on my laptop

Instruction: Connect to my laptop using ssh laptop, run the requested commands, then disconnect.

Now you can tell Zo things like:

"Check what's running on my laptop"
"Find all PDF files on my desktop"
"Start the local development server on my laptop"

Important limitations

Your computer must be on with ngrok running and connected to the internet for Zo to reach it.
Free ngrok addresses change each time you restart the tunnel. Use a reserved address for reliable connections.
Network-dependent latency can affect command execution speed.

What you can do with this

Once connected, Zo has full terminal access to your machine. Some practical uses:

Remote development: Start/stop servers, run builds, check logs
File management: Find, organize, or back up files across machines
System monitoring: Check disk space, running processes, or resource usage
Automation: Run scripts or scheduled tasks on your personal computer

The key advantage over remote desktop tools is that Zo can operate programmatically—it doesn't need to navigate a GUI. You describe what you want, and Zo executes the appropriate commands.

Next steps

Connect to your Zo server via SSH — The reverse direction: access Zo from your IDE
Create rules for your AI — Customize how Zo behaves
Build automated agents — Schedule tasks that run on your connected machines

How to Let AI Control Your Computer with SSH