iCloud sync
The three tiers
Section titled “The three tiers”Sync in SigilTTY is deliberately three-tiered:
| Data | How it moves |
|---|---|
| Server profiles, folders, snippets, forwarding rules, known hosts, AI agent records | CloudKit, in your private iCloud database |
| Passwords, regular private keys, security key handles, voice transcription service records (including their API keys) | iCloud Keychain — only if you enable credential sync |
| Biometric-protected private keys | Never synced. Device-local by design |
Security keys are a special case
Section titled “Security keys are a special case”The handle for a FIDO security key rides in the middle tier, so the key shows up in your library on every device. It still cannot sign anything on its own: the physical security key has to be present wherever you connect from.
Why protected keys don’t sync
Section titled “Why protected keys don’t sync”A key protected with Touch ID or Face ID is bound to the device you enrolled it on. That’s the point — it can’t silently appear anywhere else. To use it on a second device, re-import it there or transfer it with Key Handoff.
Deliberately per-device
Section titled “Deliberately per-device”A handful of things stay on each device on purpose, because different devices genuinely need different answers — your iPhone on cellular and your Mac on the office network are not in the same situation:
- Which voice transcription service is selected. The service records themselves sync; the choice of which one to use is made per device.
- Offline agent notification switches and their decryption keys. Each device registers with its own push identity and keeps its own key.
- Log Center logs — diagnostic records never leave the device they were written on.
- Serial line options — the same serial profile can need different DTR/RTS answers on different Macs.
- App language and terminal appearance settings (font, size, theme).
Turning credential sync on or off
Section titled “Turning credential sync on or off”Credential sync (the iCloud Keychain tier) is a setting — off by default until you enable it. Profile and snippet sync follows your iCloud account availability.
Settings shows the current sync state and when the last sync happened, so you can tell the difference between “nothing has changed” and “sync isn’t actually running.”