SSH MCP Server

An MCP server that gives AI assistants full SSH/SFTP remote operations — session management, command execution, interactive shells, file transfers, port forwarding, and system diagnostics.

Works with Claude Desktop, VS Code + GitHub Copilot, and any MCP-compatible client.

Packages

Package	Description
`ssh-mcp-server`	MCP server (29 tools) — standalone CLI & npm package
`ssh-mcp-vscode`	VS Code extension — auto-registers the server with GitHub Copilot

Features

Session Management — Connect/disconnect/ping with password or key-based auth
Command Execution — Run commands with stdout/stderr capture, timeouts, exit codes
Sudo Execution — Elevated commands with password injected via stdin (never logged)
Background Jobs — Long-running commands with polling and cancellation
Interactive Shells — PTY shells with read/write/resize
SFTP Operations — Upload, download, read, write, delete, list, stat
Port Forwarding — Local (-L) and remote (-R) SSH tunnels
System Diagnostics — OS, CPU, memory, disk, network, load, processes
Audit Logging — NDJSON structured logs with filtering

Quick Start

Standalone (npm)

npm install -g simple-ssh-mcp-server

Claude Desktop

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["ssh-mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SSH_MCP_MAX_CONNECTIONS": "10",
        "SSH_MCP_HOST_KEY_MODE": "accept"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code + GitHub Copilot

Install the SSH MCP VS Code extension — the server starts automatically when VS Code launches. Requires VS Code 1.99+ and GitHub Copilot.

Tools (29)

Category	Tools
Sessions	`ssh_connect`, `ssh_disconnect`, `ssh_list_sessions`, `ssh_session_ping`
Exec	`ssh_exec`, `ssh_sudo_exec`
Background	`ssh_exec_background`, `ssh_exec_poll`, `ssh_exec_poll_list`, `ssh_exec_cancel`
Shells	`ssh_shell_open`, `ssh_shell_write`, `ssh_shell_read`, `ssh_shell_resize`, `ssh_shell_close`, `ssh_shell_list`
SFTP	`ssh_sftp_list`, `ssh_sftp_upload`, `ssh_sftp_download`, `ssh_sftp_read`, `ssh_sftp_write`, `ssh_sftp_delete`, `ssh_sftp_stat`
Port Forward	`ssh_port_forward_local`, `ssh_port_forward_remote`, `ssh_port_forward_list`, `ssh_port_forward_remove`
Diagnostics	`ssh_system_info`, `ssh_get_logs`

Configuration

All settings via environment variables:

Variable	Default	Description
`SSH_MCP_MAX_CONNECTIONS`	`10`	Max concurrent SSH sessions
`SSH_MCP_LOG_DIR`	`~/.ssh-mcp/logs`	Audit log directory
`SSH_MCP_DEFAULT_TERM`	`xterm-256color`	Default TERM for PTY shells
`SSH_MCP_DEFAULT_COLS`	`220`	Terminal width
`SSH_MCP_DEFAULT_ROWS`	`50`	Terminal height
`SSH_MCP_EXEC_TIMEOUT_MS`	`30000`	Command timeout (ms)
`SSH_MCP_HOST_KEY_MODE`	`accept`	Host key: `accept`, `strict`, `ask`
`SSH_MCP_ENV`	`development`	`production` defaults to `strict` host keys

See server README for the full configuration reference.

Security

Sudo passwords injected via stdin, never logged
ANSI escape sequences stripped from output
Output truncation prevents unbounded memory
SSH keepalives detect dead connections
ESLint security plugin + Gitleaks + CodeQL + Trivy in CI

License

MIT

Simple SSH MCP Server