For Developers

For Developers

Everything you need to build, test, release, or contribute.

Project layout

Folder	What's inside
go/	The main edition (Go): one self-contained program for every platform
java/	The Java 11 edition, with the same tools and settings
config/	Example settings file and its JSON Schema
skills/ssh-mcp/	Agent skill that teaches AI models to use the tools well
wiki/	These pages, published to the GitHub wiki automatically
assets/	Logo, banners, social images, and the scripts that render them
install.sh, install.ps1	One-line installers

Build and test

Go 1.26 or newer:

cd go
go test ./...          # includes end-to-end tests against a built-in SSH server
go build ./cmd/ssh-mcp-server

Java 11 or newer, with Maven:

cd java
mvn verify

No real server is needed for the tests.

Commands

ssh-mcp-server setup [-config file]        guided setup
ssh-mcp-server connect [-app a,b]          connect AI apps, no questions
ssh-mcp-server update                      self-update (checksum verified)
ssh-mcp-server uninstall [-purge] [-yes]   remove from apps and delete the program
ssh-mcp-server -validate [-connect]        check settings (and sign in)
ssh-mcp-server -config file                run as an MCP server over stdin/stdout
ssh-mcp-server version | help

Running the program with no arguments in a terminal (or double-clicking it) opens the setup. When an AI app starts it, stdin is a pipe, so it runs as an MCP server.

Releases

Releases are fully automatic and built in public by GitHub Actions:

1. Set the version in java/pom.xml (for example 1.2.0) and merge to main.
2. Either push a tag (git tag v1.2.0 && git push origin v1.2.0), or open Actions > Release > Run workflow and type v1.2.0.

The workflow tests everything, builds the programs for Windows, macOS, and Linux (Intel/AMD and ARM), adds the Windows icon and version details, builds the Java editions, attaches the installers and a SHA256SUMS.txt, and publishes the release with friendly install notes. Running it without a version makes a test build you can download from the workflow run.

Every push and pull request runs the tests on Linux and Windows, builds all platforms, checks the installer scripts, and runs the Java tests on Java 11 and 21.

The wiki

Edit the Markdown files in wiki/ and merge to main. The Publish wiki workflow copies them to the GitHub wiki. (The very first time, create any page in the Wiki tab so the wiki exists.) Link between pages with [Text](Page-Name).

Artwork

The images in assets/ are hand-written SVG. To regenerate the PNG versions (GitHub social preview, square post image, icons) after editing:

assets/tools/render.sh

It uses headless Chrome or Chromium. Upload assets/social-preview.png in Settings > General > Social preview.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md. The most important rules:

• Keep the Go and Java editions in step when you change a tool or setting.
• Never commit real passwords, keys, server names, or known_hosts data.
• No telemetry, analytics, or automatic network calls. The program only goes online for the user's own servers or an update they asked for.