SSHHelper

Terminal UI SSH manager on Node.js.

Features

• Reads hosts from ~/.ssh/config
• Shows host table in TUI (alias | url/hostname | port)
• Supports Include directives and wildcard host patterns
• Connects to selected host in the same terminal (ssh <host>)
• Creates and manages background SSH tunnels:
  • Local forward (-L)
  • Remote forward (-R)
  • Dynamic SOCKS (-D)
• Persists tunnel records and PIDs in ~/.sshhelper/state.json
• Can stop previously started tunnels after app restart
• Prepared for localization (English and Russian dictionaries included)

Install

npm install

Global CLI Install

# local source (from this folder)
npm i -g .

# from npm registry (after publish)
npm i -g @ushastoe/sshhelper

Command names: sshhelper, sshh

Run

npm start

Build Binaries

# Windows .exe
npm run build:win

# Linux executable
npm run build:linux

# Both
npm run build:all

Build artifacts are written to dist/.

Publish to npm

# 1) login once
npm login

# 2) check package contents/version
npm pack --dry-run

# 3) publish
npm publish

Package name is configured as @ushastoe/sshhelper (scoped public package).

Keybindings

• Tab: switch focus (hosts/tunnels)
• Enter or c: connect selected host
• a: add tunnel
• s: start selected tunnel
• x: stop selected tunnel
• d or Delete: delete selected tunnel record
• e: run command on selected remote host (via SSH) and view its output
• i: run ssh-copy-id for selected remote host
• o: export SSHHelper config (tunnels + locale) to JSON file
• p: import SSHHelper config from JSON file
• r: reload hosts and tunnel statuses
• l: switch UI language
• q or Ctrl+C: quit

Notes

• SSH options like ProxyJump, Host *, identities, and include-based defaults are resolved by your local ssh client.
• Password mode uses SSH_ASKPASS and does not store passwords in state.
• Tunnel logs are written to ~/.sshhelper/logs.
• In step-by-step input dialogs: Enter = Next, Cancel closes the current dialog, and buttons are clickable with mouse.