ssh-tui-rs

A read-only, keyboard-first TUI for browsing OpenSSH configuration, inspecting effective host options, and starting SSH sessions.

The demo is generated reproducibly with demo/record.py.

Features

• Foldable, alphabetically sorted tree with nested groups and host details
• Native Include support for split configurations such as ~/.ssh/config.d/
• Metadata comments for groups, descriptions, hidden hosts, and default expansion
• Effective inherited options resolved during the in-process configuration scan
• Compact fuzzy search across aliases, hostnames, usernames, descriptions, and group paths
• On-demand TCP reachability indicators for hosts
• Embedded SSH terminal that keeps the host tree visible
• Keyboard and mouse navigation
• Read-only operation: SSH configuration files are never modified

Requirements

• OpenSSH client (ssh) in PATH
• Rust stable when building from source

Installation & Usage

Prebuilt x86_64 binaries for Linux and Windows are attached to tagged GitHub releases. Extract the Linux archive and place ssh-tui-rs in a directory included in PATH. On Windows, download the executable, rename it to ssh-tui-rs.exe, and place it in a directory included in PATH.

To build and install from source with Cargo:

cargo install --locked --path .

Cargo installs binaries to ~/.cargo/bin on Linux and %USERPROFILE%\.cargo\bin on Windows by default. Make sure that directory is included in PATH.

By default, ssh-tui-rs reads the current user's OpenSSH configuration: ~/.ssh/config on Linux or %USERPROFILE%\.ssh\config on Windows.

ssh-tui-rs

Command-line options:

Keyboard-first SSH config browser

Usage: ssh-tui-rs [OPTIONS]

Options:
  -c, --config <PATH>     Read OpenSSH configuration from PATH
      --no-network-check  Disable host reachability checks
      --embedded-ssh      Run SSH sessions inside the details pane
  -h, --help              Print help
  -V, --version           Print version

Normal mode

Key	Action
j, k, Up, Down	Move through the tree
Space	Fold/unfold the selected group
h, l, Left, Right	Fold/unfold groups
Enter	Connect to a host or toggle a group
Alt+Enter	Open the selected host in a new inline terminal tab
/	Enter search mode
r	Reload SSH config from disk
F5	Switch focus between the tree and the active embedded session
Alt+Left, Alt+h	Switch to the previous tab (when multiple tabs are open)
Alt+Right, Alt+l	Switch to the next tab (when multiple tabs are open)
x	Close the active embedded session tab
q	Quit

Search mode

Key	Action
Up, Down	Move through search results
Enter	Reveal result in tree
Alt+Enter	Reveal result in tree and open it in the inline terminal
Esc	Leave search mode

Mouse scrolling and selection are supported. Click the search box to start typing, click groups to toggle them, and double-click hosts to connect.

Use Alt+Enter for an inline session, or --embedded-ssh to make inline sessions the default. Each activation opens a new tab in the details pane while keeping the tree visible. Switch between tabs with Alt+Left/Alt+Right (or Alt+h/Alt+l). Drag over text to select and copy it on mouse release.

Reachability checks run when groups are unfolded. Ungrouped hosts and hosts in groups marked with @expanded are checked at startup. The probe is a direct TCP connection to the effective HostName and Port; proxy-only hosts may therefore appear unreachable.

Linux and Windows release artifacts are built when a v* or release-* tag is pushed. Their filenames include the tag, such as ssh-tui-rs-v0.4.0-linux-x86_64-glibc.tar.gz. The linux-x86_64-glibc artifact uses the standard GNU C library; the linux-x86_64-musl artifact is statically linked and does not depend on the host's glibc version. Both Linux archives contain an executable named ssh-tui-rs. Windows releases are provided as an x86_64 .exe.

Limitations

• Conditional options from Match blocks are not included in the TUI's displayed effective values or reachability targets. OpenSSH still applies them when connecting. OpenSSH provides no bulk configuration query, so exact resolution would require a separate ssh -G evaluation for every host and could execute Match exec commands many times.

Config Examples

Use OpenSSH's native Include directive in the main configuration:

# ~/.ssh/config
Include ~/.ssh/config.d/*.conf

Host arch
  HostName localhost
  User m3nix

Each included file starts without an active group. This makes one file per environment an easy way to organize the tree. Hosts without @group, such as arch above, remain at the root.

# ~/.ssh/config.d/work.conf
# @group Work
# @description Company systems
# @expanded

Host work-*
  User bob
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/work_ed25519

# @description SSH jump host
Host work-bastion
  HostName bastion.example.com

# @group Work/Production
# @description Customer-facing systems

Host work-web
  HostName web.internal
  ProxyJump work-bastion

# @description Primary database
Host work-db
  HostName db.internal
  ProxyJump work-bastion

# ~/.ssh/config.d/homelab.conf
# @group Personal/Lab
# @description Home lab systems

Host lab-controller
  HostName 192.168.1.50
  User m3nix

# @hidden
Host lab-helper
  HostName helper.internal

Supported metadata:

Comment	Effect
# @group Work/Production	Assign following hosts to a nested group
# @description text	Describe the active group or next host
# @expanded	Open the active group on startup
# @hidden	Hide the next Host block from the TUI

The first @description after @group describes that group. Later descriptions apply to the following host. A group remains active until another @group appears in the same physical file. Wildcard Host blocks are hidden from the tree but their options are inherited by matching concrete hosts.

Acknowledgments

This project was inspired by sshclick, created by karlot. Thank you for the original idea.

Disclaimer

The code in this project was written by AI and may contain mistakes. Review and test it before relying on it in sensitive or production environments.

License

This project is free and open-source software licensed under the MIT License.