Getting Started

Getting Started

Three steps, about two minutes.

1. Install

Open a terminal and paste one line.

Windows (open PowerShell from the Start menu):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anand34577/ssh-mcp/main/install.ps1 | iex

macOS or Linux (open Terminal):

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anand34577/ssh-mcp/main/install.sh | sh

This downloads SSH MCP, checks that the download is genuine, and installs it just for your user account. You don't need administrator rights, and there's nothing else to install.

Rather not paste commands? Download the file for your computer from the Releases page and double-click it (Windows) or run it (macOS/Linux). It offers to install itself.

2. Add your server

The setup starts on its own right after installing. It asks a few simple questions:

1. The server's address, like me@myserver.com
2. How you sign in: with your key file (recommended) or a password
3. What the AI may do: anything, or look only
4. Whether you trust the server's fingerprint: say yes if it matches what your provider shows

Then it signs in once to make sure everything works.

3. Connect your AI app

The setup finds the AI apps on your computer (Claude, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, Gemini CLI, Windsurf) and asks which ones to connect. Say yes, restart the app, and ask:

List my SSH servers

That's it. Try something real next:

How much disk space is left on my server?

Need to change something later?

Run the setup again at any time:

ssh-mcp-server setup

From there you can add, test, or remove servers, and connect more apps.

Next: What You Can Ask · Staying Safe