SSH-MCP Server

A Rust implementation of an SSH client server with Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration, allowing Large Language Models (LLMs) to connect to a SSH server and utilize SSH features.

Lightweight and Efficient:

• 🚀 ssh-mcp: only 4.3MB binary size, 1.8MB memory footprint
• 🔄 ssh-mcp-stdio: only 1.5MB binary size, 2.3MB memory usage
• 🐳 docker: only 27.5MB final image size

Features

• SSH Client Integration: Connect to SSH servers via MCP commands
• SSH Command Execution: Run commands on remote SSH servers
• Port Forwarding: Setup SSH tunnels and port forwards (enabled by default via the port_forward feature)
• Session Management: Track and manage multiple SSH sessions
• MCP Protocol Support: Built with poem-mcpserver to enable AI/LLM compatibility
• Stateful Connections: Maintain SSH sessions across multiple commands

Installation and Integration

You have two options for installation:

Option 1: Using Docker (Recommended)

No Rust toolchain required - just Docker!

# Pull the pre-built image from Docker Hub
docker pull mingyang91/ssh-mcp

# Run the server
docker run -p 8000:8000 mingyang91/ssh-mcp

Or build the image yourself:

# Build the Docker image
docker build -t ssh-mcp .

# Run the server
docker run -p 8000:8000 ssh-mcp

Option 2: Installing via Cargo

Prerequisites:

• Rust 1.70.0 or later
• Cargo package manager

cargo install ssh-mcp

Integration with mcpServers

To use SSH-MCP with mcpServers, add the following configuration to your mcpServers JSON configuration:

If installed via Cargo:

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

If using Docker:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": ["run", "--entrypoint", "ssh-mcp-stdio", "-i", "--rm", "ssh-mcp"]
    }
  }
}

This will register the SSH handler, allowing LLMs to manage SSH connections through your MCP server.

Usage

Connecting to an SSH Server

Using Password Authentication

{
  "command": "ssh_connect",
  "params": {
    "address": "example.com:22",
    "username": "user",
    "password": "password"
  }
}

Using Key Authentication

{
  "command": "ssh_connect",
  "params": {
    "address": "example.com:22",
    "username": "user",
    "key_path": "/path/to/private_key"
  }
}

Using SSH Agent Authentication

{
  "command": "ssh_connect",
  "params": {
    "address": "example.com:22",
    "username": "user"
  }
}

Response:

{
  "session_id": "c8a3b2e1-4f5d-6e7c-8a9b-0c1d2e3f4a5b",
  "message": "Successfully connected to [email protected]:22",
  "authenticated": true
}

If connection fails:

{
  "error": "Failed to connect: Connection refused"
}