SSH MCP

SSH MCP is an MCP server that runs locally on your host that provides the ability to manage and interact with remote SSH hosts. It supports organizing hosts into groups and executing commands across multiple hosts simultaneously.

Tools

Host Management

• add_host - Adds a new Linux or Windows host to the SSH configuration with automatic OS detection. Username and password are optional in the connection string - if not provided, the current user and SSH agent will be used for authentication.
• remove_host - Removes a host from the SSH configuration by group and name.
• get_groups - Retrieves the list of all groups from the SSH configuration.
• get_hosts - Retrieves the list of hosts from the SSH configuration. Can optionally filter by group.
• get_os_info - Retrieves the cached operating system information for Linux and Windows hosts. You can specify individual hosts or an entire group.
• update_os_info - Updates the cached operating system information for Linux and Windows hosts. You can specify individual hosts or an entire group.

Command Execution

• perform_command - SSH into a remote machine and executes a command. You can specify individual hosts or an entire group. Commands that take longer than 30 seconds are automatically moved to background execution. Use background=true to run immediately in background.

Command Management

• get_command_status - Retrieves the status and results of a background command by its command ID. If no ID is provided, returns the most recent command.
• list_commands - Lists all background commands with their current status. Useful for tracking long-running commands.
• cancel_command - Cancels a running background command by its command ID.

Features

• Cross-platform support - Works with both Linux and Windows remote hosts with automatic OS detection
• Group-based organization - Organize hosts into groups for easier management
• Multiple authentication methods - Supports password, SSH agent, and SSH key files (~/.ssh/id_rsa, id_ed25519, etc.)
• Secure host verification - Uses ~/.ssh/known_hosts for host key verification with automatic host addition
• Concurrent execution - Execute commands across multiple hosts simultaneously
• Automatic background execution - Commands that take longer than 30 seconds are automatically moved to background, with command IDs returned for status tracking
• Persistent storage - Uses BadgerDB for efficient local storage

Limitations

• SSH agent support is Unix-only (SSH_AUTH_SOCK) - password and key file authentication work on all platforms
• Remote hosts can be Linux or Windows (automatic OS detection)

How to Setup

Checkout the repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/blakerouse/ssh-mcp

Build the binary:

$ go build .

Update the MCP configuration for Claude Desktop:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh": {
      "command": ""
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

How to Use

Adding Hosts

Add a host to a group (multiple formats supported - ssh:// prefix is optional):

add host to production group connecting with 10.0.1.5
add host named web01 to production group connecting with user@10.0.1.5:2222
add host to staging group connecting with user:pass@10.0.1.10

Listing Groups and Hosts

List all groups:

show me all groups

List all hosts:

list all my hosts

List hosts in a specific group:

show me hosts in production group

Getting OS Information

Get OS info for all hosts in a group:

show OS information for production group

Get OS info for specific hosts:

show OS information for production:web01 and production:web02

Executing Commands

Run a command on all hosts in a group:

run "uptime" on production group
check disk space on staging group

Run a command on specific hosts:

run "systemctl status nginx" on production:web01 and production:web02

Commands that complete within 30 seconds will return results immediately. Longer commands are automatically moved to background:

run "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y" on production group
# If this takes >30s, you'll get a command ID to check later

Force a command to run in background immediately:

run "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade -y" on production group in the background

Managing Background Commands

Check the status of a background command:

show me the status of command abc-123-def
show me the status of the last command

List all background commands:

list all background commands
show me all running commands

Cancel a running command:

cancel command abc-123-def
stop the running command abc-123-def

Updating OS Information

Update cached OS information:

update OS information for production group
refresh OS info for staging:db01

Managing Hosts

Remove a host:

remove production:web01
remove host web02 from staging group