MCP SSH Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that bridges VS Code on Windows with remote Linux servers via SSH. This enables AI assistants like GitHub Copilot to seamlessly interact with remote development environments.

Features

• 🔐 Password-to-Key Bootstrap: Connect once with a password, then automatically use SSH keys for all future connections

• 📁 Remote File System Access: Expose remote directories through MCP Resources

• 🛠️ Remote Command Execution: Run shell commands on remote servers with full stdout/stderr capture

• 📝 Direct File Operations: Read and write files directly to remote servers via SFTP

• 🔄 Connection Management: Automatic reconnection and connection pooling

• 🔑 Secure Key Storage: ED25519 keys stored locally in ~/.mcp-ssh/

Related MCP server: SSH MCP Server

Architecture

┌─────────────────────┐
│  VS Code + Copilot  │
└──────────┬──────────┘
           │ stdio (MCP Protocol)
           ▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│   MCP SSH Server    │
│  ┌───────────────┐  │
│  │ Resource      │  │  Exposes remote file system
│  │ Handler       │  │
│  └───────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────┐  │
│  │ Tool Handler  │  │  Provides remote operations
│  └───────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────┐  │
│  │ SSH Manager   │  │  Password-to-key bootstrap
│  └───────────────┘  │
│  ┌───────────────┐  │
│  │ SFTP Client   │  │  File operations
│  └───────────────┘  │
└──────────┬──────────┘
           │ SSH/SFTP
           ▼
┌─────────────────────┐
│  Remote Linux       │
│  Server             │
└─────────────────────┘

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone <repository-url> mcp-ssh-server
   cd mcp-ssh-server

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install

3. Configure VS Code MCP Settings:

   Add this configurationto to your MCP settings file. The location depends on your VS Code configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "ssh-server": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["path\\mcp-ssh-server\\src\\index.js"],
         "env": {
           "LOG_LEVEL": "info"
         }
       }
     }
   }

Password-to-Key Bootstrap Flow

The MCP SSH Server implements an intelligent authentication flow:

First Connection

1. User provides SSH password

2. Server connects using password authentication

3. Server automatically generates an ED25519 key pair

4. Public key is deployed to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the remote server

5. Private key is stored in ~/.mcp-ssh/keys/id_ed25519_<host>

6. Connection is re-established using the new key

Subsequent Connections

1. Server detects existing key for the host

2. Connects directly using key-based authentication

3. No password required!

Security Notes

• Keys are stored with 0600 permissions (owner read/write only)

• Each host gets a unique key pair

• Keys are never transmitted after initial deployment

• Password is only used once and not stored

Available Tools

The MCP server provides the following tools that can be invoked by AI assistants:

1. connect_ssh

Connect to a remote SSH server.

Parameters:

• host (required): Remote host address or IP

• username (required): SSH username

• password (optional): SSH password (only needed for first connection)

• port (optional): SSH port (default: 22)

Example:

{
  "host": "example.com",
  "username": "developer",
  "password": "initial-password",
  "port": 22
}

2. execute_command

Execute a shell command on the remote server.

Parameters:

• command (required): Shell command to execute

• workingDirectory (optional): Working directory for the command

Example:

{
  "command": "gcc main.c -o main && ./main",
  "workingDirectory": "/home/developer/project"
}

3. read_file

Read contents of a file from the remote server.

Parameters:

• path (required): Absolute or relative path to the file

Example:

{
  "path": "/home/developer/config.json"
}

4. write_file

Write content to a file on the remote server.

Parameters:

• path (required): Absolute or relative path to the file

• content (required): Content to write

Example:

{
  "path": "/home/developer/script.sh",
  "content": "#!/bin/bash\necho 'Hello World'"
}

5. list_directory

List contents of a directory on the remote server.

Parameters:

• path (optional): Directory path (defaults to home directory)

Example:

{
  "path": "/home/developer/projects"
}

VS Code Integration

Using with GitHub Copilot Chat

Once configured, you can interact with your remote server through Copilot:

Example prompts:

• "Connect to my server at dev.example.com as user john"

• "List files in the /var/www directory"

• "Read the nginx configuration file"

• "Compile and run the C++ program in ~/projects/app"

• "Write this code to ~/app/server.js on the remote server"

Chat Variables (Future Enhancement)

To create a custom chat variable like @ssh-server, you would need to:

1. Create a VS Code extension that registers the chat participant

2. Use the MCP client library to communicate with this server

3. Register slash commands like /connect, /exec, /read, /write

Example extension.js (conceptual):

vscode.chat.createChatParticipant(
  "ssh-server",
  async (request, context, stream, token) => {
    // Connect to MCP server via stdio
    // Forward user's request to appropriate tool
    // Stream response back to chat
  }
);

Configuration

Environment Variables

• LOG_LEVEL: Set logging level (debug, info, warn, error) - default: info

• LOG_TO_FILE: Enable file logging - default: false

Directory Structure

~/.mcp-ssh/
├── keys/                    # SSH private keys
│   ├── id_ed25519_user@host_22
│   └── id_ed25519_user@other_22
├── config/                  # Configuration files (future)
└── logs/                    # Log files (if enabled)

Usage Examples

Example 1: Connect and Compile Code

User: "Connect to dev.example.com as developer with password 'mypass'"
AI: Uses connect_ssh tool
Server: Connects, generates keys, deploys public key
AI: "Connected! Future connections will use keys."

User: "Compile the C program in ~/project"
AI: Uses execute_command tool
Server: Executes "cd ~/project && gcc main.c -o main"
AI: Returns stdout/stderr and exit code

Example 2: Edit Remote Configuration

User: "Read the nginx config"
AI: Uses read_file tool with path "/etc/nginx/nginx.conf"
Server: Returns file contents
AI: Displays configuration

User: "Add this server block to the config..."
AI: Uses write_file tool
Server: Writes updated configuration
AI: "Configuration updated successfully"

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

Problem: "Connection timeout"

• Check firewall rules on both Windows and Linux

• Verify SSH service is running: systemctl status sshd

• Test connection manually: ssh user@host

Problem: "Key authentication failed"

• Check ~/.ssh/authorized_keys permissions on remote server (should be 600)

• Verify ~/.ssh directory permissions (should be 700)

• Check server logs: sudo tail -f /var/log/auth.log

Key Bootstrap Issues

Problem: "Failed to deploy public key"

• Ensure user has write access to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

• Check if ~/.ssh directory exists on remote server

• Verify password authentication is enabled in /etc/ssh/sshd_config

File Operation Issues

Problem: "Failed to write file"

• Check file path permissions

• Verify user has write access to the directory

• Ensure parent directories exist

Development

Project Structure

mcp-ssh-server/
├── src/
│   ├── index.js              # Entry point
│   ├── config.js             # Configuration
│   ├── mcp/
│   │   ├── MCPServer.js      # Main MCP server
│   │   ├── ResourceHandler.js # MCP Resources implementation
│   │   └── ToolHandler.js    # MCP Tools implementation
│   ├── ssh/
│   │   ├── SSHConnectionManager.js  # SSH connection management
│   │   └── KeyManager.js     # Key generation and deployment
│   ├── sftp/
│   │   └── SFTPClient.js     # SFTP operations wrapper
│   └── utils/
│       └── logger.js         # Logging utility
├── package.json
└── README.md

Running in Development Mode

npm run dev

This starts the server with Node.js inspector enabled for debugging.

Security Considerations

1. Key Storage: Private keys are stored in ~/.mcp-ssh/keys/ with restrictive permissions

2. Password Handling: Passwords are only used once and never stored

3. Connection Security: Uses modern SSH algorithms (ED25519, Curve25519)

4. File Operations: All file writes are atomic to prevent corruption

5. Logging: Passwords are redacted from logs

License

MIT

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues and pull requests.

Acknowledgments

• Built with the Model Context Protocol SDK

• Uses ssh2 for SSH connectivity

• Uses ssh2-sftp-client for SFTP operations