SSH Bot

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A Telegram bot that allows you to run specified commands on a selected host in your home network and returns the results of their execution in real time. The bot establishes a persistent SSH connection with the remote host, which allows for the real-time execution of long-running commands, with pseudo-terminal (PTY) support for utilities like top and the ability to stop running processes. Built-in sftp support allows for easy uploading and downloading of files.

The bot saves you the time and money required to set up a VPN server, a static IP address, or a VPS for local network access. It also eliminates the need for third-party applications (like VPN and ssh clients) on a remote device and does not require a stable internet connection.

demo.mp4

Command Execution & Interactivity

• Executing commands in a local or remote (via SSH) environment.
• Output streaming for long-running commands (e.g., ping, tail) with real-time message updates.
• Pseudo-terminal (PTY) support for interactive programs (e.g., top, htop) with a special screen refresh mode (/tty_refresh).
• Ability to forcibly stop running remote commands via a button in Telegram.
• Support for parallel (asynchronous) command execution.
• Support for directory navigation (cd).

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File Management (SFTP)

• Uploading files to the remote server (/upload).
• Downloading files from the remote server directly to the Telegram chat (/download).

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SSH Connection Management

• Dynamic host manager: adding (/add_host) and deleting (/del_host) servers with the list persisted in a hosts.json file.
• Combined access to hosts via key and/or an interactive password prompt.
• Interactive host key verification on the first connection, with the ability to add new keys to known_hosts.

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User Experience & Interface

• Pagination for long command outputs with convenient navigation buttons.
• Automatic cleaning of output from ANSI codes (colors) for a clean and readable display.
• Graceful error handling for commands that require an interactive terminal.

Launch

You can download the pre-compiled executable from the releases page and run the bot locally.

Note

Before launching, you need to create your Telegram bot using @BotFather and get its API Token, which must be specified in the configuration file.

• Create a working directory:

mkdir ssh-bot
cd ssh-bot

• Create and fill the .env file file inside the working directory:

# Telegram api key from https://telegram.me/BotFather
TELEGRAM_BOT_TOKEN=XXXXXXXXXX:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
# Your Telegram id from https://t.me/getmyid_bot
TELEGRAM_USER_ID=7777777777

# Interpreter used only when running the bot local in Windows
# Available values: powershell/pwsh
WIN_SHELL=pwsh
# Interpreter used on local and remote hosts in Linux
# Available values: sh/bash/zsh or other
LINUX_SHELL=bash

# Parallel (async) execution of commands (default: false)
PARALLEL_EXEC=true

# Global parameters for ssh connection (low priority)
SSH_PORT=22
SSH_USER=rand1l

# Use password to connect (optional)
SSH_PASSWORD=

# Path to the private key INSIDE THE CONTAINER.
# This tells the bot where to find the key after it has been mounted.
# IMPORTANT: This path MUST match the right side of the volume mount in docker-compose.yml.
# For this project, it should always be '/root/.ssh/id_rsa'.
# If you leave this empty, the bot will use this default path.
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH=
SSH_CONNECT_TIMEOUT=2

# Save and reuse passed variables and functions (default: false)
SSH_SAVE_ENV=true

# Path to the private key ON YOUR HOST MACHINE.
# This is used by docker-compose to find the key and mount it into the container.
SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH_HOST=~/.ssh/id_rsa

# Log the output of command execution
LOG_MODE=DEBUG
# User personal PIN hash
PIN_HASH=

Note

Access to the bot is limited by user ID. You can find out the Telegram id using @getmyid_bot or in the bot logs when sending a message to it.

• Run the bot in a container:

docker run -d \
    --name ssh-bot \
    -v ./.env:/ssh-bot/.env \
    -v $HOME/.ssh/id_rsa:/root/.ssh/id_rsa \
    -v $HOME/.ssh/known_hosts:/ssh-bot/known_hosts \
    -v ./hosts.json:/ssh-bot/hosts.json \
    --restart unless-stopped \
    rand1l/ssh-bot:latest

Note

The bot environment is not stored in an image, but uses a mounting mechanism. To access remote hosts using a key, you need to forward the private key file from the host system to the container (as in the example above) and leave the contents of the SSH_PRIVATE_KEY_PATH variable empty.

Build

git clone https://github.com/rand1l/ssh-bot
cd ssh-bot
cp .env.example .env
docker-compose up --build