![\"\"](\"docs/images/icon.png\"){kind=icon}
\n\n \n
\n ![\"SSH](\"docs/images/wordmark-dark.png\")
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\n An MCP server for SSH. Let Claude Code, Claude Desktop and OpenAI Codex (or any MCP client)
\n work on your real servers — run commands, move files, query databases, take backups, check health —
\n and watch over their shoulder while they do it.\n
\n ![\"An](\"docs/images/control-plane-dark.gif\")
\n
\n Twenty seconds, unedited — watch full size. Real SSH, real SFTP, three throwaway hosts on the loopback.\n
\n\n---\n\n## The problem, in one line\n\nAn MCP SSH server is the most dangerous tool you can hand an agent: a shell on machines that matter. Today, when your agent runs something on production, you find out afterwards — if you find out at all.\n\n**This one lets you watch, and lets you say no.** It is also, on the boring days, simply a very good way to let an assistant do the server work you were going to do yourself.\n\n---\n\n## Choose your workspace\n\n**Desktop application (`4.0.2`):** one installation with its own runtime,\nterminal, file browser and server settings. No separate Node.js or npm\ninstallation. [Download it](https://github.com/bvisible/mcp-ssh-manager/releases/tag/v4.0.2):\n\n| Platform | File | Signature |\n|---|---|---|\n| macOS, Apple silicon / Intel | `…-arm64.dmg` / `…-x64.dmg` | **Signed and notarized by Apple** — opens normally |\n| Windows x64 / arm64 | `…-setup.exe` | **Not code-signed in 4.0.x.** Windows shows *\"Windows protected your PC\"*: *More info → Run anyway*. Check the file against the SHA-256 in `release-manifest-win32.json` on the release (`ssh-manager app` does it for you). Signing comes in a later release. |\n| Linux x64 | `.deb`, `.AppImage` | Unsigned, as Linux packages usually are |\n\n**Already using npm / the CLI?** `npm update -g mcp-ssh-manager` brings 4.0.2,\nand the V4 engine runs without an interface, from your existing `.env`, TOML or\nprocess variables — no automatic import, no forced wizard, no approval prompt\nunless you enable one per server. The one behaviour that tightens is **SSH\nhost-key verification**; read that section of the\n[upgrade and rollback guide](docs/MIGRATION.md) before upgrading. To stay on 3.8\nfor now, pin it: `npm install -g mcp-ssh-manager@3`.\n\n**From the engine to the application in one step.** With a V4 engine installed,\n`ssh-manager app` downloads the desktop application of the engine's own version,\nchecks it against the release (size and SHA-256 from the release manifest, and\non macOS Apple's signature and notarization), installs it and opens it — or just\nopens it when it is already there. The browser interface of `ssh-manager control`\noffers the same as one button. Your agents keep using the npm engine; the\napplication is the window on top of it. Nothing is downloaded unless you ask.\n\n**Without npm at all.** The application carries the engine too, and your AI\ntools can start that one: *Options → AI tools* lists Claude Code, Claude Desktop\nand Codex, says which ssh-manager each one starts (npm's, the application's, or\nnone yet) and switches it in one click — no Node, no terminal. The same tab, in\n`ssh-manager control`, shows npm users which version each tool really runs.\nA switch rewrites that tool's one `ssh-manager` entry, keeps its environment\nvariables, and takes effect when the tool next starts; switching back is the\nsame click.\n\n**Updates.** The application checks for a new version at launch and every six\nhours and says so where you will see it: a mark on the sidebar, *Options →\nUpdates* (the running version, the one on offer, a *Check now* button, release\nnotes) and, once per version, a notification. Downloading is a click, and\ninstalling is a second one (*Restart to update*) or happens when you quit. The\nnpm engine updates with npm, on its own schedule. A change to the interface\nreaches npm users with the next npm release and application users with the next\napplication release.\n\n## Up and running with npm\n\n```bash\nnpm install -g mcp-ssh-manager # or: brew tap bvisible/mcp-ssh-manager https://github.com/bvisible/mcp-ssh-manager && brew install ssh-manager\n\nssh-manager server add # guided: host, user, key or password\nclaude mcp add ssh-manager mcp-ssh-manager\n```\n\nThat's it. Restart Claude Code and ask it something.\n\n\n ![\"The](\"docs/images/ssh-manager-cli-menu.png\")
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\n There is a CLI too, for when you'd rather do it yourself: ssh-manager with no arguments opens this.\n
\n ![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-servers-browser.png\")
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\n ![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-waiting-app.png\")
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\n ![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-live-app.png\")
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![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-files-app.png\")
\n![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-health-app.png\")
\n![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-terminal-app.png\")
\n![\"The](\"docs/images/v4-servers-app.png\")
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