Pty MCP vs MCP Remote Ssh

ssh_connect

Connect to a remote host via SSH. Returns a session_id for use with all other tools. Supports password and key-based authentication.

ssh_list_sessions

List all active SSH sessions with their connection status and details. Returns: List of session info dicts.

ssh_close_session

Close an SSH session and release all its resources (shell, SFTP, port forwards). WARNING: this kills any running processes in the session.

ssh_execute

Execute a command on the remote host and return structured output. Each call runs in an independent exec channel -- no state is shared between calls (use ssh_shell_* tools for persistent state). If secrets have been loaded via ssh_load_env_file, they are automatically injected as environment variables for this command.

ssh_sudo_execute

Execute a command with sudo on the remote host. If the user already has passwordless sudo, leave sudo_password empty. If secrets have been loaded via ssh_load_env_file, they are automatically injected as environment variables for this command.

ssh_forward_port

Create an SSH port forward (local -> remote). Connections to 127.0.0.1:local_port will be tunneled through SSH to remote_host:remote_port. If local_port is 0, a random available port is chosen.

ssh_list_forwards

List all active port forwards for an SSH session.

ssh_close_forward

Close a specific port forward.

ssh_load_env_file

Load environment variables from a LOCAL file (on the machine running this MCP server) into the remote SSH session. The file is read from the local filesystem -- it does NOT need to exist on the remote host. Variable VALUES are never returned to the caller; only variable names are confirmed. Loaded values are: 1. Registered for automatic redaction -- any subsequent tool output (ssh_execute, ssh_shell_send, ssh_shell_read, ssh_read_remote_file) that contains a secret value will have it replaced with '***'. 2. Exported into the remote shell (if open) via builtins, avoiding exposure in the process tree on the remote host.

ssh_clear_secrets

Clear all loaded secrets from the redaction registry. Secrets will no longer be redacted from tool output. Does NOT unset the environment variables from the remote shell.

ssh_upload_file

Upload a local file to the remote host via SFTP.

ssh_download_file

Download a file from the remote host to the local machine via SFTP.