How to manage DigitalOcean Droplets from one Windows app

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   Step 1: Create a token with custom scopes

   In the DigitalOcean control panel, go to API → Tokens → Generate New Token. Choose Custom Scopes and tick droplet:read. Add droplet:update only if you want to power Droplets on and off and reboot them from the app.

   Give it an expiry date you're comfortable with, then copy the token. DigitalOcean shows it only once.

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   Step 2: Add the account in the app

   In the RemoteAccessApp app, open the Connections page, click the arrow next to Add host and choose Cloud accounts…, then DigitalOcean. Paste the token as the Personal access token and give the account a name if you have more than one.

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   Step 3: Test the connection

   Click Test connection. It shows the email address of the DigitalOcean account and how many Droplets it can see. Then click Save.

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   Step 4: Pick the Droplets to import

   Click Import servers…. The list shows each Droplet with its IP addresses, size, tags, region, state and OS. Tick the ones you want, or Only new to skip those you've already saved.

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   Step 5: Choose your SSH key and import

   Under Key for the Linux servers, choose the private key whose public half you added to DigitalOcean (an OpenSSH key, a .pem or a .ppk file). It's added to your key list once and used by every imported Droplet. Click Import.

If you also have servers elsewhere, the same Cloud accounts window takes them too. Here's how to manage Azure virtual machines and manage AWS EC2 and Lightsail servers, and the help article on cloud servers at AWS, DigitalOcean and Azure lists what each provider needs.

• An SSH host on port 22, signing in as root, the user DigitalOcean's Linux images set up. Change the user on a host if you've made your own.
• Its address is the Droplet's public IP, or its private IP if you tick Connect to private IPs instead of public ones (for Droplets you reach over a VPN).
• It goes in a folder called Cloud, or DigitalOcean if you tick A folder per region or resource group.
• With Add their tags, the Droplet's tags become host tags, so you can filter the list by them.

On the first connection, compare the server's key fingerprint before you trust it (see server keys). From then on, a Droplet opens in a tab with a click, and its SFTP file browser and dashboard are right there. The SSH client page shows what else a host can do.

Your Windows PCs on the Devices page have a similar shortcut: you can run a command on a PC without opening a remote session and read its output, the way you'd run a quick command over SSH on a Droplet.

Imported Droplets have a small DO badge on their row, with the state when one isn't running, such as DO · stopped. Right-click a Droplet (or use its ⋯ menu) and open the DO submenu:

• Start powers it on straight away.
• Stop… asks first, then asks the Droplet to shut down gracefully, as if you'd shut it down from its own console. A Droplet that's off is still billed by DigitalOcean.
• Reboot… asks first, because anyone connected is disconnected while it restarts.
• Refresh from cloud reads its state and IP address again.

The row's state follows along while the Droplet starts or stops, for up to 3 minutes. If the token only has droplet:read, the error says the droplet:update scope is needed.

Your PC talks to DigitalOcean directly; nothing goes through RemoteAccessApp's servers. The token is stored encrypted for your Windows account, is never shown again after you save it, and is never written to logs. With Save to my vault on and your password vault syncing (Pro), it's also kept in your end-to-end encrypted vault, so your other PCs get the account. Otherwise it stays on the PC where you added it.

Deleting the account in Cloud accounts removes it from the app and your vault. Its hosts stay, and nothing changes at DigitalOcean. Revoke the token there too if you won't use it again. The post one place for your cloud servers and your PCs says more about how the app keeps cloud keys safe, and why your Droplets belong next to your PCs.

All of this works on the free plan. Each imported Droplet is a saved host, and the free plan has up to 5 saved hosts and web panels together, with 3 open at once. Pro removes the limits and syncs your cloud accounts between your PCs. Ready? Download RemoteAccessApp.