ssh.place recreates r/place over SSH. No accounts or installs needed—just connect with any SSH key. The canvas spans 200×60 cells, with one placement allowed every 15 seconds.

Users move cursors via arrow keys, wasd, or hjkl, then select colors 0–9 or cycle through 16 hues with tab. Solid blocks are placed with spacebar. Text input is rejected; only colored pixels are accepted.

Cooldowns are tied to individual SSH keys, preventing reconnection abuse. The canvas reads live from the server and updates only via SSH sessions. Currently, 22 users are online with 731 of 12,000 cells drawn.

Panning works by scrolling or jumping screens with shift+arrow keys. This minimalist approach strips away complexity while preserving collaborative drawing. The project mirrors Reddit’s r/place experiment but removes authentication barriers entirely.

Participants draw simultaneously under uniform rules. Each placement contributes to a collective artwork governed by timing constraints. The simplicity invites spontaneous creativity without friction.

Technical elegance lies in leveraging existing SSH infrastructure for real-time interaction. No web frontend or JavaScript required—just terminal access and imagination.