ssh-mcp-pro

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ssh-mcp-pro is a secure Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for SSH automation. It lets MCP-capable clients open SSH sessions, inspect hosts, run guarded commands, manage files, transfer artifacts, create tunnels, and perform idempotent package or service work through policy-controlled tools.

Prerequisites

• Node.js >=22.22.2 or >=24.15.0 or >=26.3.0
• pnpm >=11.0.9
• SSH access to the target hosts
• Docker, only for local integration tests and container image builds

Installation

Install globally with pnpm:

pnpm add --global ssh-mcp-pro
ssh-mcp-pro --version

Run without a global install:

npx ssh-mcp-pro

For pnpm-only environments, use:

pnpm dlx ssh-mcp-pro

Container images are published to GitHub Container Registry for release tags:

docker run --rm ghcr.io/oaslananka/ssh-mcp-pro:1.0.0 --version

Images are published for linux/amd64 and linux/arm64 with exact semver and Git tag aliases. Production deployments should prefer the digest-pinned reference recorded by the release workflow. See Docker Usage for the tag policy, digest-pinned examples, and registry verification steps.

Quickstart

Generic stdio MCP config:

{
  "name": "ssh-mcp-pro",
  "command": "ssh-mcp-pro",
  "type": "stdio"
}

VS Code settings style:

{
  "mcp.servers": {
    "ssh-mcp-pro": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "ssh-mcp-pro",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop style:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh-mcp-pro": {
      "command": "ssh-mcp-pro",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

After registration, start with discovery and a strict host-key policy:

List configured SSH hosts, open a session to bastion.example.com as deploy with hostKeyPolicy=strict, then run os_detect.

Usage

Use ssh-mcp-pro from an MCP client over stdio, or run the HTTP transport for remote-safe connector profiles. Start with read-only discovery tools, inspect the active policy, and create explicit sessions before running remote commands:

List configured SSH hosts, explain the active SSH policy, connect to the selected host, then report its operating system and disk usage.

See examples/README.md for additional workflows and INSTALL.md for client-specific setup.

Configuration

All SSH_MCP_* environment variables parsed by src/config.ts are listed below. Comma-separated settings also accept newline-separated values.

Variable	Default	Purpose
SSH_MCP_MAX_SESSIONS	20	Maximum concurrent SSH sessions.
SSH_MCP_SESSION_TTL	900000	Session time-to-live in milliseconds.
SSH_MCP_COMMAND_TIMEOUT	30000	Default remote command timeout in milliseconds.
SSH_MCP_MAX_COMMAND_OUTPUT_BYTES	1048576	Maximum buffered stdout/stderr bytes per command result.
SSH_MCP_MAX_STREAM_CHUNKS	4096	Maximum retained streaming chunks.
SSH_MCP_MAX_FILE_SIZE	10485760	Maximum bytes returned by text-focused file reads.
SSH_MCP_MAX_FILE_WRITE_BYTES	10485760	Maximum accepted write payload before buffering.
SSH_MCP_MAX_TRANSFER_BYTES	52428800	Maximum upload or download transfer size.
SSH_MCP_DEBUG	false	Enables debug-oriented configuration behavior.
SSH_MCP_RATE_LIMIT	true	Enables the global MCP request rate limiter.
SSH_MCP_RATE_LIMIT_MAX	100	Maximum requests per rate-limit window.
SSH_MCP_RATE_LIMIT_PER_SESSION	true	Enables per-session MCP request rate limiting when tool arguments include sessionId.
SSH_MCP_RATE_LIMIT_PER_SESSION_MAX	50	Maximum requests per SSH session per rate-limit window.
SSH_MCP_RATE_LIMIT_PER_SESSION_WINDOW_MS	60000	Per-session rate-limit window in milliseconds.
SSH_MCP_RATE_LIMIT_WINDOW_MS	60000	Rate-limit window in milliseconds.
SSH_MCP_STRICT_HOST_KEY	unset	Legacy boolean alias for strict vs insecure host-key checking.
SSH_MCP_HOST_KEY_POLICY	strict	Host-key mode: strict, accept-new, or insecure.
SSH_MCP_KNOWN_HOSTS_PATH	~/.ssh/known_hosts	Known hosts file used for strict host-key verification.
SSH_MCP_ALLOW_ROOT_LOGIN	false	Allows SSH login as root and mirrors into policy.
SSH_MCP_ALLOWED_CIPHERS	empty	Optional SSH cipher allowlist.
SSH_MCP_POLICY_FILE	unset	JSON file containing partial policy overrides.
SSH_MCP_POLICY_MODE	enforce	Policy decision mode: enforce or explain.
SSH_MCP_ALLOW_RAW_SUDO	false	Allows raw proc_sudo; prefer ensure_* tools.
SSH_MCP_ALLOW_DESTRUCTIVE_COMMANDS	false	Allows commands matching destructive command policy.
SSH_MCP_ALLOW_DESTRUCTIVE_FS	false	Allows destructive filesystem operations such as fs_rmrf.
SSH_MCP_ALLOWED_HOSTS	empty	Host allowlist for policy and remote connector safety checks.
SSH_MCP_COMMAND_ALLOW	empty	Command allow patterns.
SSH_MCP_COMMAND_DENY	empty	Command deny patterns.
SSH_MCP_PATH_ALLOW_PREFIXES	/tmp,/var/tmp,/home,/Users	Remote path prefixes allowed by filesystem policy.
SSH_MCP_PATH_DENY_PREFIXES	/etc/sudoers,/etc/shadow,/etc/passwd,/boot,/dev,/proc	Remote path prefixes denied by filesystem policy.
SSH_MCP_LOCAL_PATH_ALLOW_PREFIXES	OS temp directory	Local paths allowed for transfer operations.
SSH_MCP_LOCAL_PATH_DENY_PREFIXES	empty	Local paths denied for transfer operations.
SSH_MCP_TUNNEL_ALLOW_BIND_HOSTS	127.0.0.1,localhost,::1	Local bind hosts allowed for tunnels.
SSH_MCP_TUNNEL_DENY_BIND_HOSTS	0.0.0.0,::	Local bind hosts denied for tunnels.
SSH_MCP_TUNNEL_ALLOW_REMOTE_HOSTS	empty	Optional remote tunnel target host allowlist.
SSH_MCP_TUNNEL_DENY_REMOTE_HOSTS	empty	Optional remote tunnel target host denylist.
SSH_MCP_TUNNEL_ALLOW_PORTS	empty	Optional tunnel port allowlist.
SSH_MCP_TUNNEL_DENY_PORTS	empty	Optional tunnel port denylist.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_HOST	127.0.0.1	Streamable HTTP bind host.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_PORT	3000	Streamable HTTP bind port.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_ALLOWED_ORIGINS	http://127.0.0.1,http://localhost	Browser origins allowed for HTTP clients.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_BEARER_TOKEN_FILE	unset	Bearer token file for HTTP transport. Required for non-loopback bearer deployments.
SSH_MCP_ENABLE_LEGACY_SSE	false	Enables legacy SSE compatibility.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_MAX_REQUEST_BODY_BYTES	1048576	Maximum HTTP request body size.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_MAX_SESSIONS	20	Maximum active Streamable HTTP MCP sessions. Expired sessions are cleaned first; if capacity is still full, the oldest idle session is evicted so abandoned clients do not cause persistent 502s. Use 100 for ChatGPT/Cloudflare production deployments.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_SESSION_IDLE_TTL_MS	900000	HTTP MCP session idle timeout in milliseconds. Use 300000 for ChatGPT/Cloudflare production deployments where clients may abandon sessions without DELETE.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_PUBLIC_URL	unset	Stable public HTTPS MCP URL for protected resource metadata.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_TRUST_PROXY	false	Trust reverse proxy forwarded headers.
SSH_MCP_TOOL_PROFILE	full	Active tool exposure profile.
SSH_MCP_CONNECTOR_PROFILE	full	Alias for SSH_MCP_TOOL_PROFILE.
SSH_MCP_CONNECTOR_CREDENTIAL_PROVIDER	none	Credential provider: none, agent, or command.
SSH_MCP_CONNECTOR_CREDENTIAL_COMMAND	unset	External credential command when provider is command.
SSH_MCP_CONNECTOR_CREDENTIAL_COMMAND_ARGS	empty	Arguments passed to the external credential command.
SSH_MCP_CONNECTOR_CREDENTIAL_COMMAND_TIMEOUT_MS	5000	Credential command timeout in milliseconds.
SSH_MCP_CONNECTOR_DEFAULT_USERNAME	unset	Default username for connector broker flows.
SSH_MCP_HTTP_AUTH_MODE	bearer	HTTP auth mode: bearer or oauth.
SSH_MCP_OAUTH_ISSUER	unset	Expected OAuth issuer.
SSH_MCP_OAUTH_AUDIENCE	unset	Expected OAuth audience.
SSH_MCP_OAUTH_JWKS_URL	unset	OAuth JWKS URL.
SSH_MCP_OAUTH_RESOURCE	unset	OAuth protected resource identifier.
SSH_MCP_OAUTH_REQUIRED_SCOPES	ssh-mcp-pro.read	Required OAuth scopes.
SSH_MCP_OAUTH_ALLOWED_ALGORITHMS	unset	Optional comma-separated JWT algorithm allowlist, for example RS256,ES256. When unset, the built-in OAuth verifier defaults are used.
SSH_MCP_REMOTE_AGENT_MCP_PASSTHROUGH	unset	When enabled with 1, true, yes, or on, lets /mcp requests bypass the remote control plane and reach the Streamable HTTP MCP handler. Use only for connector routing migrations.

The parser also accepts non-SSH_MCP_* compatibility aliases PORT, KNOWN_HOSTS_PATH, and STRICT_HOST_KEY_CHECKING.

Tool Profiles

full exposes every registered tool, resource, and prompt. Every other profile uses an explicit per-profile allowset. chatgpt and claude currently expose the same baseline connector tools as remote-safe, with empty client-specific extension sets reserved for future additions.

Profile	Exposed tools	Exposed resources	Exposed prompts
full	All SSH, process, filesystem, transfer, ensure, tunnel, connector, and system tools.	All runtime resources.	All prompts.
remote-safe	connector_status, ssh_hosts_list, ssh_policy_explain, ssh_host_inspect, ssh_mutation_plan.	ssh-mcp-pro://capabilities/support-matrix.	inspect-host-capabilities, plan-mutation.
chatgpt	Baseline remote connector tools plus an empty ChatGPT extension set.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.
claude	Baseline remote connector tools plus an empty Claude extension set.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.
remote-readonly	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.
remote-broker	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.	Same remote connector subset as remote-safe.

Security Defaults

ssh-mcp-pro starts with strict SSH host-key verification, denies root login, denies raw sudo, blocks destructive commands and filesystem operations unless policy allows them, and refuses non-loopback HTTP startup unless authentication, origins, public HTTPS URL, strict host-key verification, a remote-safe tool profile, and host allowlists are configured. See SECURITY.md for vulnerability reporting and SECURITY_DECISIONS.md for the design rationale behind these defaults.

More Documentation

• INSTALL.md covers full client setup and troubleshooting.
• API reference is generated from the published TypeScript entry points.
• CHANGELOG.md records release history in Keep a Changelog format.
• AGENTS.md describes agent-facing operational guidance.
• examples/README.md contains workflow examples.
• ARCHITECTURE.md explains the major subsystems and ADRs.
• REGISTRY_SUBMISSION.md tracks MCP Registry submission readiness.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for setup, quality gates, commit rules, and pull request expectations.

License

ssh-mcp-pro is available under the MIT License.