Claude SSH Server

Direct SSH connections with IP/username/password - no config required!

This MCP server enables Claude to connect to any SSH server on-demand using just IP address, username, and password. No SSH config files needed!

🚀 Key Feature

Unlike traditional SSH MCP servers that require pre-configured hosts in ~/.ssh/config, Claude SSH Server supports ad-hoc connections with credentials passed directly in each request.

Related MCP server: MCP SSH Server

📦 Installation

NPM Global Install

npm install -g claude-ssh-server

Local Install

cd claude-ssh-server
npm install
npm run build

🔧 Configuration

Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-ssh": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "claude-ssh-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

🎯 Usage

Direct Connection (New!)

Connect to any SSH server without pre-configuration:

{
  "tool": "direct_exec",
  "host": "10.100.100.53",
  "username": "mtusa",
  "password": "your-password",
  "command": "ls -la",
  "port": 22,  // optional, defaults to 22
  "timeout": 60000  // optional, defaults to 60000ms
}

Traditional CLI Mode

You can still use the traditional mode with CLI arguments:

claude-ssh-server --host=10.100.100.53 --user=mtusa --password=mypass

Then use the exec tool (credentials from CLI args).

🛠️ Available Tools

direct_exec (Recommended)

Execute commands with credentials provided per-request:

• host: SSH server IP or hostname

• username: SSH username

• password: SSH password (optional if using privateKey)

• privateKey: SSH private key content (optional if using password)

• command: Command to execute

• port: SSH port (default: 22)

• timeout: Timeout in ms (default: 60000)

exec (Legacy)

Execute commands using CLI-configured credentials:

• command: Command to execute

🔒 Security Notes

• Credentials are passed per-request and not stored

• Supports both password and private key authentication

• Connection timeout protection (default 60s)

• Command sanitization and validation

• No persistent connections or credential storage

📝 Examples

Check disk space on remote server

{
  "tool": "direct_exec",
  "host": "192.168.1.100",
  "username": "admin",
  "password": "secure-password",
  "command": "df -h"
}

Run multiple commands

{
  "tool": "direct_exec",
  "host": "server.example.com",
  "username": "devops",
  "password": "password123",
  "command": "cd /var/log && tail -n 50 syslog"
}

Using SSH key

{
  "tool": "direct_exec",
  "host": "prod-server",
  "username": "deploy",
  "privateKey": "-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----\n...",
  "command": "systemctl status nginx"
}

🤝 Credits

Forked from tufantunc/ssh-mcp

Modified by Jason Smith to add direct connection support for Claude Desktop integration.

📄 License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

🐛 Issues & Contributions

Report issues: https://github.com/jasondsmith72/claude-ssh-server/issues

Pull requests welcome!