diff --git a/docs/manual-checks.md b/docs/manual-checks.md
index 1cb9058..6e3a2bd 100644
--- a/docs/manual-checks.md
+++ b/docs/manual-checks.md
@@ -1437,7 +1437,7 @@ time)" — is the worse failure of the two: it rebinds a host as a side effect o
 
 ## Phase 8 — Adding and removing on the phone's host list
 
-Twenty-one checks, and the reason there are twenty-one rather than none is worth stating: **the layout suite
+Twenty-two checks, and the reason there are twenty-two rather than none is worth stating: **the layout suite
 cannot see any of this and structurally never will.** `DodoSSH.Client.App.Layout.Tests` targets `net10.0` and
 `DodoSSH.Client.Android` targets `net10.0-android`, so a project reference is impossible; Avalonia's
 application, dispatcher and platform are one-shot process globals, so a second head cannot share the
@@ -1810,6 +1810,23 @@ follow, and try disconnecting and reconnecting instead.
 
 ---
 
+### 8.20 Connecting from the search box to a machine that is not saved
+
+With a terminal already open on some other machine, go back to HOSTS and type `user@host` for a reachable
+machine that is **not** in the list into the search box at the top. Type its password into the card that
+appears, and press CONNECT.
+
+**Pass:** the card appears only once there is an `@` in the box, names the address with `:22` on the end, and
+says NOT SAVED. CONNECT opens a second tab for `user@host` — the first is still there — and the fingerprint
+card asks about an unknown key over the terminal. Back on HOSTS the search box is empty, the list is the whole
+list again, and there is no new host in it. A port the parser refuses (`root@box:70000`) gives a sentence in
+amber under the box rather than a card.
+
+**Failure means:** the card sitting *over* the list rather than pushing it down is the panels' arrangement
+having been lost — see the remark above `IsSendingChosenHostsToAVault` in `HostsScreen.axaml`. A password that
+shows in the keyboard's suggestion strip is `Classes="secret"` missing from the box. Everything behind the
+card is `ShellFlowTests`' hosts-search cases; this is the rectangles, and the software keyboard.
+
 ## Phase 9 — Tag chips and the picker
 
 The desktop half is measured by the layout suite, which now seeds three tags and puts all of them on one
diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/HostsScreen.axaml b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/HostsScreen.axaml
index 484fc26..d5b0a72 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/HostsScreen.axaml
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/HostsScreen.axaml
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@
       <Grid ColumnDefinitions="Auto,*">
         <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" Classes="icon" Text="&#xE8B6;" Foreground="{StaticResource TextFaint}"
                    FontSize="20" Margin="12,0,0,0" />
-        <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Text="{Binding HostFilter}" PlaceholderText="Search hosts"
+        <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Text="{Binding HostFilter}" PlaceholderText="Search hosts, or type user@host"
                  Padding="9,0" VerticalContentAlignment="Center"
                  Background="Transparent" BorderThickness="0"
                  Foreground="{StaticResource Text}" FontSize="14" />
@@ -82,6 +82,42 @@
     <!-- ============ sync + conflicts ============ -->
     <StackPanel Grid.Row="1" Margin="16,4,16,0" Spacing="7">
 
+      <!--
+        ◆ A MACHINE THAT IS NOT SAVED. When the search box holds user@host, this card offers to connect to it
+        with a password, and nothing is written to the keychain — the desktop palette's typed-address row, in
+        this screen's shape. The terminal screen's own box does the same but is drawn only while nothing is
+        open; this one is here whatever is running. See VaultViewModel.FilterAddress.
+
+        Above the list rather than over it, like the panels below: the hosts that also match what was typed
+        stay in view, and one of them may be the same machine with a key already bound to it.
+
+        Classes="field secret" on the password for the reason the terminal screen's box gives: the class is
+        what keeps the password out of the software keyboard's dictionary, not only off the screen.
+      -->
+      <Border IsVisible="{Binding HasFilterAddress}" Background="{StaticResource Panel}"
+              BorderBrush="{StaticResource BorderMid}" BorderThickness="1" CornerRadius="12" Padding="13,11">
+        <StackPanel Spacing="9">
+          <Grid ColumnDefinitions="*,Auto">
+            <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" Classes="mono" Text="{Binding FilterAddressText}" FontSize="13"
+                       Foreground="{StaticResource Text}" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis"
+                       VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+            <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="label" Text="NOT SAVED" Margin="10,0,0,0"
+                       VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+          </Grid>
+          <TextBox Classes="field secret" Text="{Binding FilterAddressPassword}" PlaceholderText="password">
+            <TextBox.KeyBindings>
+              <KeyBinding Gesture="Enter" Command="{Binding ConnectToFilterAddressCommand}" />
+            </TextBox.KeyBindings>
+          </TextBox>
+          <Button Classes="primary" Height="44" Content="CONNECT"
+                  Command="{Binding ConnectToFilterAddressCommand}" />
+        </StackPanel>
+      </Border>
+
+      <!-- Why what was typed is not an address yet, or why CONNECT refused — a sentence about the box. -->
+      <TextBlock Classes="detail" TextWrapping="Wrap" Foreground="{StaticResource WarnText}"
+                 Text="{Binding FilterAddressRefusal}" IsVisible="{Binding HasFilterAddressRefusal}" />
+
       <TextBlock Classes="detail" Text="{Binding Status}" TextWrapping="Wrap" />
 
       <!--
diff --git a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.cs b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.cs
index f0ece0f..0a28ccb 100644
--- a/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.cs
+++ b/src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.cs
@@ -4278,6 +4278,54 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     [ObservableProperty]
     private string manualStatus = string.Empty;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The machine the hosts search box names, when what was typed into it reads as <c>user@host[:port]</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>The phone's version of the desktop palette's typed-address row.</b> The manual box on the terminal
+    /// screen is the other way in, and it is only drawn while nothing is open — a second machine reached while
+    /// a first one's session is up had no box at all. The search well at the top of HOSTS is always there, the
+    /// design already calls it "Search or connect…", and <c>user@host</c> is what people type into a box, so
+    /// it reads the address rather than the screen growing a second field.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Read with <see cref="TryParseManualTarget"/>, the manual box's own parser, and only for a filter with an
+    /// <c>@</c> in it: without one, everything typed is a search, and a card offering to dial three letters
+    /// would arrive on every keystroke.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(HasFilterAddress))]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(FilterAddressText))]
+    private ManualEndpoint? filterAddress;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether the search box holds an address that can be connected to.</summary>
+    internal bool HasFilterAddress => FilterAddress is not null;
+
+    /// <summary>The typed address as it will be dialled, port and all.</summary>
+    internal string FilterAddressText => FilterAddress?.Address ?? string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Why a search with an <c>@</c> in it is not an address, or why its CONNECT was refused; empty otherwise.
+    /// </summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(HasFilterAddressRefusal))]
+    private string filterAddressRefusal = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether there is a refusal to show under the search box.</summary>
+    internal bool HasFilterAddressRefusal => FilterAddressRefusal.Length > 0;
+
+    /// <summary>The password typed for <see cref="FilterAddress"/>.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Its own box rather than <see cref="ManualPassword"/>, for the reason that one is not
+    /// <see cref="ConnectPassword"/>: these are different screens, and a password typed on one is not a
+    /// password offered on the other. Cleared when the address changes, so the next machine typed never
+    /// arrives with the last one's password already in the box.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string filterAddressPassword = string.Empty;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// The attempt an unanswered host-key question belongs to, so that trusting the key can replay it.
     /// </summary>
@@ -11483,6 +11531,77 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         await ConnectToEndpointAsync(endpoint, ManualPassword, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Connects to the address typed into the hosts search box, with the password typed under it.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Through <see cref="ConnectToEndpointAsync"/>, so the tab, the host-key question and the connection-log
+    /// entry are the ones the manual box and the desktop palette produce, and nothing is written to the
+    /// keychain.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The search box and the password are cleared before the dial, from copies taken first. The list left
+    /// filtered to an address would be a list of nothing to come back to, and the password is a secret nobody
+    /// asked to keep.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// It takes no cancellation token and allows concurrent executions, for the two reasons
+    /// <see cref="ConnectAsync"/> carries.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    [RelayCommand(AllowConcurrentExecutions = true)]
+    private async Task ConnectToFilterAddressAsync()
+    {
+        if (FilterAddress is not { } endpoint)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (FilterAddressPassword.Length == 0)
+        {
+            FilterAddressRefusal = $"Type the password for {endpoint.Address}.";
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var password = FilterAddressPassword;
+
+        // In this order: clearing the filter clears the address and the password with it — see
+        // OnHostFilterChanged — and the endpoint and password above are what is dialled.
+        HostFilter = string.Empty;
+
+        await ConnectToEndpointAsync(endpoint, password, CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Reads the hosts search box as an address, if it has an <c>@</c> in it.</summary>
+    private void RefreshFilterAddress(string filter)
+    {
+        var previous = FilterAddress;
+        var trimmed = filter.Trim();
+
+        if (!trimmed.Contains('@', StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            FilterAddress = null;
+            FilterAddressRefusal = string.Empty;
+        }
+        else if (TryParseManualTarget(trimmed, out var endpoint, out var reason))
+        {
+            FilterAddress = endpoint;
+            FilterAddressRefusal = string.Empty;
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            FilterAddress = null;
+            FilterAddressRefusal = reason;
+        }
+
+        // A different machine, or none, is a different question: the password typed for the last one goes.
+        if (FilterAddress != previous)
+        {
+            FilterAddressPassword = string.Empty;
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Opens a terminal on a typed address with a typed password, saving neither.
     /// </summary>
@@ -13504,6 +13623,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     /// </remarks>
     partial void OnHostFilterChanged(string value)
     {
+        RefreshFilterAddress(value);
         RebuildVisibleHosts();
         RebuildHostSections();
         OnPropertyChanged(nameof(NoHostBoardMessage));
diff --git a/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs b/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs
index 7f88b5a..b8f27c0 100644
--- a/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs
+++ b/tests/DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests/ShellFlowTests.cs
@@ -1130,6 +1130,116 @@ public sealed partial class ShellFlowTests : IAsyncLifetime
         ssh.Requests.ShouldBeEmpty();
     }
 
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The phone's hosts search box, read as an address: the card that dials it appears for <c>user@host</c>
+    /// and for nothing else. A plain search must not grow one on every keystroke.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("root@box", "root@box:22")]
+    [InlineData("  deploy@build.internal:2222 ", "deploy@build.internal:2222")]
+    public async Task AnAddressTypedIntoTheHostsSearch_IsOfferedAsAMachineToConnectTo(
+        string typed,
+        string offered)
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        vault.HostFilter = "prod";
+        vault.HasFilterAddress.ShouldBeFalse("a search without an @ is a search");
+        vault.HasFilterAddressRefusal.ShouldBeFalse();
+
+        vault.HostFilter = typed;
+
+        vault.HasFilterAddress.ShouldBeTrue();
+        vault.FilterAddressText.ShouldBe(offered);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The whole path from the search box: the address and the password typed there are what is dialled, a tab
+    /// opens for it, and the keychain is exactly as it was — that is the point of connecting this way. The box
+    /// and the password are both empty afterwards, so the list is not left filtered to a machine it does not
+    /// hold and the password does not wait in the box for the next one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task TheHostsSearchConnectsToATypedAddress_AndSavesNothing()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        await using var renderer = await FakeRenderer.AttachAsync(workspace, Token);
+
+        var hostsBefore = vault.Hosts.Count;
+
+        vault.HostFilter = "deploy@build.internal:2222";
+        vault.FilterAddressPassword = "hunter2";
+
+        await vault.ConnectToFilterAddressCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+
+        var request = ssh.Requests.ShouldHaveSingleItem();
+        request.Host.ShouldBe("build.internal");
+        request.Port.ShouldBe(2222);
+        request.Username.ShouldBe("deploy");
+        request.Credential.ShouldBeOfType<SshPasswordCredential>().Password.ShouldBe("hunter2");
+
+        shell.Tabs.ShouldHaveSingleItem().Label.ShouldBe("deploy@build.internal");
+        vault.Hosts.Count.ShouldBe(hostsBefore, "connecting without saving saves nothing");
+
+        vault.HostFilter.ShouldBeEmpty();
+        vault.FilterAddressPassword.ShouldBeEmpty();
+        vault.HasFilterAddress.ShouldBeFalse();
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// An empty password is refused under the box rather than sent, as the manual box refuses one — and the
+    /// address stays where it was typed, so filling the password in is all that is left to do.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task TheHostsSearchRefusesAnEmptyPassword_AndKeepsTheAddress()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        await using var renderer = await FakeRenderer.AttachAsync(workspace, Token);
+
+        vault.HostFilter = "root@box";
+
+        await vault.ConnectToFilterAddressCommand.ExecuteAsync(null);
+
+        vault.FilterAddressRefusal.ShouldContain("password");
+        vault.HostFilter.ShouldBe("root@box");
+        ssh.Requests.ShouldBeEmpty();
+        shell.Tabs.ShouldBeEmpty();
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A search that looks like an address and cannot be one says why, in the manual parser's own words,
+    /// rather than offering nothing and leaving the box looking ignored.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task AnAddressInTheHostsSearchThatCannotBeRead_SaysWhy()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        vault.HostFilter = "root@box:70000";
+
+        vault.HasFilterAddress.ShouldBeFalse();
+        vault.FilterAddressRefusal.ShouldContain("between 1 and 65535");
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A password belongs to the machine it was typed for. Changing the address in the box has to take it
+    /// away, or the next machine typed would be dialled with somebody else's password.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [Fact]
+    public async Task ChangingTheAddressInTheHostsSearch_DropsThePasswordTypedForTheLastOne()
+    {
+        var vault = await ReadyToConnectAsync();
+
+        vault.HostFilter = "root@box";
+        vault.FilterAddressPassword = "hunter2";
+
+        vault.HostFilter = "root@other-box";
+
+        vault.FilterAddressPassword.ShouldBeEmpty();
+    }
+
     /// <remarks>
     /// <b>The retry used to re-run whichever host was selected.</b> That was right while a selected host was
     /// the only way to connect; with a manual target it would answer "do you trust this key" by dialling a