mcp-multi-ssh

MCP server for managing and executing commands on multiple remote servers via SSH.

Built for use with Claude Desktop and other MCP-compatible clients.

Features

• Multi-host SSH — configure and manage multiple server connections
• Connection pooling — automatic reconnect, keepalive, concurrent sessions
• CRUD for connections — create, read, update, delete connections at runtime
• Auth validation — requires password or private key, prevents invalid configs
• Command history — tracks executed commands with timestamps and exit codes
• Password masking — sensitive data never exposed in tool responses
• Minimal footprint — ~500 lines, SSH-only, no bloat

Installation

With Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-multi-ssh": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-multi-ssh"]
    }
  }
}

Local install

npm install -g mcp-multi-ssh

Then in claude_desktop_config.json:

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

Configuration

Config file is loaded from (in order):

1. Path specified via --config flag
2. ./config.json in current directory
3. ~/.mcp-multi-ssh/config.json

Example config

{
  "ssh": {
    "enabled": true,
    "defaultTimeout": 60,
    "maxConcurrentSessions": 10,
    "keepaliveInterval": 5000,
    "keepaliveCountMax": 3,
    "readyTimeout": 30000,
    "connections": {
      "my-server": {
        "host": "example.com",
        "port": 22,
        "username": "deploy",
        "privateKeyPath": "/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa"
      },
      "db-server": {
        "host": "10.0.0.5",
        "port": 22,
        "username": "admin",
        "password": "secret"
      }
    }
  },
  "logging": {
    "enabled": true,
    "maxHistorySize": 1000
  }
}

To generate a default config:

npx mcp-multi-ssh --init-config ~/.mcp-multi-ssh/config.json

Tools

| Tool | Description | |---|---| | ssh_execute | Execute a command on a remote host | | ssh_disconnect | Close an SSH connection | | create_ssh_connection | Add a new connection to config | | read_ssh_connections | List all configured connections | | update_ssh_connection | Modify an existing connection | | delete_ssh_connection | Remove a connection from config | | get_command_history | View recent SSH command history |

Connection Config

Each connection requires:

| Field | Required | Description | |---|---|---| | host | yes | Hostname or IP address | | port | yes | SSH port | | username | yes | SSH username | | password | one of | Password authentication | | privateKeyPath | one of | Path to private key file | | keepaliveInterval | no | Override global keepalive (ms) | | keepaliveCountMax | no | Override max failed keepalives | | readyTimeout | no | Override connection timeout (ms) |

At least password or privateKeyPath must be provided.

Background

This project started as a fork of win-cli-mcp-server (now archived/deprecated). It has been rebuilt as a focused SSH-only MCP server — all Windows CLI functionality was removed, bugs were fixed, and the codebase was reduced by over 50%.

License

MIT