diff --git a/lib/do_ssh.js b/lib/do_ssh.js
index 5f97ca4..5f0b492 100644
--- a/lib/do_ssh.js
+++ b/lib/do_ssh.js
@@ -19,6 +19,14 @@ function do_ssh(subcmd, opts, args, callback) {
     }
 
     var id = args.shift();
+
+    var user = 'root';
+    var i = id.indexOf('@');
+    if (i >= 0) {
+        user = id.substr(0, i);
+        id = id.substr(i + 1);
+    }
+
     this.triton.getInstance(id, function (err, inst) {
         if (err) {
             callback(err);
@@ -31,7 +39,7 @@ function do_ssh(subcmd, opts, args, callback) {
             return;
         }
 
-        args = ['-l', 'root'].concat(ip).concat(args);
+        args = ['-l', user].concat(ip).concat(args);
 
         self.triton.log.info({args: args}, 'forking ssh');
         var child = spawn('ssh', args, {stdio: 'inherit'});