NoxSSH

NoxSSH is a lightweight SSH client built on a standalone SSH common protocol layer and NoxTLS cryptographic primitives. It provides a simple CLI for connecting to SSH servers, with password authentication and support for both interactive sessions and one-shot remote command execution.

Version	0.1.0
Language	C99
Build	CMake 3.16+

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Features

• SSH-2 client — Version exchange, KEXINIT exchange, and session channel handling
• Password authentication — ssh-userauth with password method
• Interactive or one-shot — Connect for a shell or run a single remote command
• Portable — Windows (Winsock) and Unix (BSD sockets); transport is pluggable via callbacks
• Small footprint — Uses root noxtls crypto libraries;

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Quick start

Prerequisites

• CMake 3.16 or newer
• C99 compiler (MSVC, GCC, Clang)
• NoxTLS submodule — initialize before building:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Build

From the repository root:

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

The noxssh executable is produced in bin/ (or build/bin/ depending on your generator).

Usage

Usage: noxssh [-h] [-d|-dd|-ddd] [-p port] [-w password] [user@]host [command]

Example	Description
noxssh user@example.com	Connect to example.com as user (default port 22)
noxssh -p 2222 user@example.com	Connect on port 2222
noxssh user@example.com "uname -a"	Run a single command and exit
noxssh -d user@example.com	Basic debug logging
noxssh -ddd user@example.com	Packet-level debug logging

If user@ is omitted, the default username is user. You are prompted for the password when using password authentication unless -w is provided.

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Repository layout

noxssh/
├── client/                 # noxssh CLI application
│   ├── main.c              # CLI, TCP connect, and SSH common integration
│   └── CMakeLists.txt
├── common/                 # Standalone SSH protocol layer used by noxssh
│   ├── noxssh_common.c
│   ├── noxssh_common.h
│   └── noxssh_common_config.h
├── noxtls/                 # NoxTLS submodule (crypto)
├── bin/                    # Build output (noxssh executable)
├── CMakeLists.txt
├── CODE_STYLE_DOXYGEN.md   # Doxygen comment style for the codebase
└── README.md

The SSH protocol API is in common/noxssh_common.h. The CLI in client/main.c uses it with host TCP sockets and send/recv callbacks.

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Protocol library (noxssh_common)

The noxssh_common module provides a C API for SSH-2 client behavior without tying you to a specific transport:

• Transport — You supply send and recv callbacks (e.g., over a TCP socket or custom stream).
• Crypto — Uses root noxtls libraries directly;
• Flow — netnox_ssh_client_connect (version + KEXINIT), netnox_ssh_client_authenticate (password), netnox_ssh_client_open_session, then netnox_ssh_client_exec or send/recv channel data.

See common/noxssh_common.h for function and context documentation.

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License and attribution

Dual-licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later or commercial terms from Argenox Technologies LLC. See LICENSE.md, COPYING.md, and source file SPDX headers for details.