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cygnus-ssh-mcp

The most powerful SSH MCP server for AI assistants

Give Claude full control of your Linux, macOS, and Windows servers with 43 specialized tools

Installation · Quick Start · Features · Documentation

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Why cygnus-ssh-mcp?

Most SSH MCP servers let you run commands. cygnus-ssh-mcp lets you manage servers.

What you get	Basic SSH MCP	cygnus-ssh-mcp
Run commands	✅	✅
Pre-configured hosts with aliases	❌	✅
Sudo support (Linux/macOS)	Limited	✅
Windows Server support	❌	✅
Background task management	❌	✅
Line-level file editing	❌	✅
Command history with output	❌	✅
Recursive directory operations	❌	✅
Archive create/extract	❌	✅
Full Unicode support	?	✅

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Installation

pip install cygnus-ssh-mcp

Or run without installing using uvx:

uvx cygnus-ssh-mcp

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Quick Start

1. Create your hosts file

Create ~/.mcp_ssh_hosts.toml:

# Minimal (password auth) - only required fields
["user@server.example.com"]
password = "your_password"
port = 22

# With alias and sudo (most common setup)
["admin@production.example.com"]
password = "your_password"
port = 22
sudo_password = "sudo_pass"        # optional: for use_sudo operations
alias = "prod"                     # optional: connect by alias
description = "Production server"  # optional: for documentation

# SSH key authentication
["deploy@staging.example.com"]
keyfile = "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"
port = 22
alias = "staging"

# Windows Server (requires OpenSSH)
["administrator@winserver.example.com"]
password = "your_password"
port = 22
alias = "win-prod"

Required fields: port + (password OR keyfile) Optional fields: alias, description, sudo_password, key_passphrase

Host file locations: Default is ~/.mcp_ssh_hosts.toml. Falls back to ./mcp_ssh_hosts.toml if not found. Use --config /path/to/hosts.toml for a custom location.

2. Add to Claude Desktop

Edit your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh": {
      "command": "cygnus-ssh-mcp"
    }
  }
}

Or with a custom hosts file location:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh": {
      "command": "cygnus-ssh-mcp",
      "args": ["--config", "/path/to/my_hosts.toml"]
    }
  }
}

3. Start managing servers

In Claude, just say:

"Connect to prod and show me the disk usage"

"Edit /etc/nginx/nginx.conf and change worker_connections to 2048"

"Find all .log files larger than 100MB in /var/log"

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Platform Support

cygnus-ssh-mcp works from any client (Windows, Linux, macOS) to any target server:

<div align="center"> <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cygnussystems/cygnus-ssh-mcp/master/assets/ssh_mcp_platforms.png" alt="Platform Support" width="600"> </div>

From (Client)	To (Target)	Status
Windows	Linux	✅ Tested
Windows	Windows	✅ Tested
Linux	Linux	✅ Tested
Linux	Windows	✅ Tested
macOS	Any	✅ Supported

Windows targets require OpenSSH Server installed and running.

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Features

Host Configuration

Stop typing credentials. Connect by alias.

["admin@server.com"]
password = "secret"
port = 22
alias = "web"

Then just: "Connect to web"

Supports password, SSH key, and encrypted keys with passphrase.

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Line-Level File Editing

Edit config files with surgical precision—no download/upload needed.

# Replace a single line
ssh_file_replace_line(
    file_path="/etc/nginx/nginx.conf",
    match_line="worker_connections 1024;",
    new_line="worker_connections 4096;"
)

# Insert lines after a match
ssh_file_insert_lines_after_match(
    file_path="/etc/hosts",
    match_line="# Custom entries",
    lines_to_insert=["192.168.1.10 app.local", "192.168.1.11 db.local"]
)

Safety built-in: Operations fail if the match isn't unique—no accidental mass edits.

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Background Task Management

Launch long-running processes and check back later.

# Start a backup (returns immediately)
ssh_task_launch(command="./backup.sh", stdout_log="/var/log/backup.log")

# Check status anytime
ssh_task_status(pid=12345)  # → 'running' or 'exited'

# Kill if needed
ssh_task_kill(pid=12345, force=True)

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Comprehensive Sudo Support

Every tool supports use_sudo. Password is handled automatically.

ssh_file_write(path="/etc/app/config.yaml", content="...", use_sudo=True)
ssh_dir_mkdir(path="/opt/myapp", use_sudo=True)
ssh_archive_extract(archive="/backup.tar.gz", dest="/", use_sudo=True)

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Dual Timeout System

Never get stuck on a hanging command.

ssh_cmd_run(
    command="./long_script.sh",
    io_timeout=60.0,       # Kill if no output for 60s
    runtime_timeout=3600.0  # Kill if total time exceeds 1 hour
)

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Full Unicode Support

Write and read files with emojis, international text, and special characters—on all platforms.

✅ ❌ 🎉 • → ≥ ∞ │ ┌ ─ 你好 مرحبا Привет café naïve

How it works: ssh_file_read and ssh_file_write use SFTP for direct binary transfer, completely bypassing shell encoding issues. This means Unicode works perfectly even on Windows targets where PowerShell's console encoding would normally corrupt special characters.

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Windows Server Support

Full support for Windows targets with OpenSSH Server:

• PowerShell & CMD command execution
• Windows path handling (backslashes, drive letters, UNC paths)
• Administrator detection — shows if session has elevated privileges
• SFTP-based file operations — Unicode-safe, no encoding issues

Note: use_sudo is ignored on Windows (no sudo equivalent). For elevated operations, connect with an Administrator account.

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And Much More...

• Command history with output retention and pattern filtering
• Recursive directory operations: search, copy, delete with dry-run
• Archive operations: create and extract tar.gz
• System info: OS version, memory, disk, CPU, uptime
• Pattern search: regex and plain text in files

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All 43 Tools

Connection & Host Management (10 tools)

Tool	Description
ssh_conn_connect	Connect using pre-configured host (by key or alias)
ssh_conn_is_connected	Check if SSH connection is active
ssh_conn_status	Get connection status (user, host, OS, cwd)
ssh_conn_host_info	Get detailed system information
ssh_conn_verify_sudo	Verify sudo access
ssh_conn_add_host	Add new host to configuration
ssh_host_list	List all configured hosts
ssh_host_remove	Remove host from configuration
ssh_host_disconnect	Disconnect current session
list_tools	List all available tools

Command Execution (6 tools)

Tool	Description
ssh_cmd_run	Execute command with I/O and runtime timeouts
ssh_cmd_kill	Terminate running command
ssh_cmd_check_status	Check command status
ssh_cmd_output	Retrieve output from command
ssh_cmd_history	Get command history with filtering
ssh_cmd_clear_history	Clear command history

Background Tasks (3 tools)

Tool	Description
ssh_task_launch	Launch command in background
ssh_task_status	Check if task is running
ssh_task_kill	Send signal to task

File Operations (12 tools)

Tool	Description
ssh_file_stat	Get file metadata
ssh_file_read	Read file contents via SFTP (Unicode-safe)
ssh_file_write	Create/overwrite/append file
ssh_file_copy	Copy file
ssh_file_move	Move or rename file
ssh_file_transfer	Upload or download files
ssh_file_find_lines_with_pattern	Search for pattern in file
ssh_file_get_context_around_line	Get context around match
ssh_file_replace_line	Replace single line
ssh_file_replace_line_multi	Replace with multiple lines
ssh_file_insert_lines_after_match	Insert lines after match
ssh_file_delete_line_by_content	Delete line by content

Directory Operations (10 tools)

Tool	Description
ssh_dir_mkdir	Create directory
ssh_dir_remove	Remove directory
ssh_dir_list_files_basic	Basic directory listing
ssh_dir_list_advanced	Recursive listing with metadata
ssh_dir_search_glob	Search files by pattern
ssh_dir_search_files_content	Search text in files
ssh_dir_calc_size	Calculate directory size
ssh_dir_delete	Delete with dry-run support
ssh_dir_batch_delete_files	Batch delete by pattern
ssh_dir_copy	Copy directory recursively

Archive Operations (2 tools)

Tool	Description
ssh_archive_create	Create tar.gz archive
ssh_archive_extract	Extract archive

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Documentation

Detailed guides available in docs/:

• Overview
• Installation
• Platform Compatibility
• Windows Support
• Host Configuration
• Tools Reference
• Command Execution
• Process Management
• Logging
• Claude Desktop Setup

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Use Cases

• DevOps Automation — Deploy, configure, and manage servers via AI
• Log Analysis — Search and analyze logs across multiple servers
• Configuration Management — Edit configs with precision line operations
• Backup & Recovery — Create archives, transfer files, restore backups
• System Monitoring — Check status, verify services, monitor processes
• Security Auditing — Search for sensitive patterns, verify configurations

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License

GPL-3.0 — Free and open source.

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