XSH

Stop typing long SSH commands. Save hosts, run commands, and switch environments instantly.

Overview

XSH extends SSH functionality by providing a unified interface for storing, managing, and executing SSH connections. It eliminates the need to remember complex SSH commands, IP addresses, and configuration details by storing everything in a local SQLite database.

Features

• Centralized Configuration — Store all SSH connection details in a structured SQLite database
• Simple Identifiers — Connect to hosts using easy-to-remember names instead of IP addresses
• Jump Host Support — Built-in support for SSH jump hosts (bastion servers)
• Identity Management — Manage multiple SSH identity files with ease
• Region Tagging — Organize hosts by region with custom slugs
• Flexible Output — Retrieve connection details in various formats for scripting

Installation

Install From Github

• Go to release section of xsh repo, https://github.com/killshotrevival/xsh/releases

• Download the desired cli

or you can use the following script directly

curl https://raw.githubusercontent.com/killshotrevival/xsh/refs/heads/main/install.sh | bash -

Build From Source

git clone https://github.com/killshotrevival/xsh.git
cd xsh

make build

# Placing the binary in required directory
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
mv xsh ~/.local/bin/
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/xsh

# Make sure the binary directory is present under $PATH
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc   # or ~/.zshrc

System Init

xsh init

This command will initialize the xsh environment as well as read the following files to populate the database for configurations:

• Identities in .ssh: Will look for all the identities files present in the .ssh directory and populate them in the database
• .zshrc / .bashrc / .bash_history / .zsh_history: Read the config file for populating the already present host configurations
• .ssh/config (TODO): Read the config file for populating the already present host configurations

Quick Start

Add New Resources

# This command will add a new region in the database that can be mapped to hosts
xsh put region us-east-1

# This command will add a new identity file using a unique name and its complete path
xsh put identity twelcon-development /Users/twelcon/.ssh/development

# Create an example file, that can be used for creating a new host
xsh example host -f host.json

# This command will add a new host according to the values declared in host.
xsh put host -f host.json

# This command can be used for viewing a list of all the hosts present
xsh get host

Connecting To A Host

xsh connect host-1

# To connect in verbose mode
xsh connect host-1 -v

Pro Tips 😉

Clone A Host

In situation where maximum properties of a new host matches a host already present in the database, it makes more sense to clone a host instead of creating a new one from scratch

xsh put h

Delete Resources interactively

Select resource to delete interactively and delete them

xsh delete

For More Details

Please follow this for more information

Roadmap 🚴🏻

For a detailed look at upcoming features — including remote backend support, SCP integration, direct SSH config management, and resource tagging — see the Roadmap.

Database Schema

XSH uses SQLite to store configuration with the following structure:

Table	Description
hosts	Host connection details (address, user, identity, jumphost)
identities	SSH identity files (name, path)
regions	Geographic regions for organization (name)

Configuration

The database is stored at ~/.xsh/xsh.db by default. Override with:

export XSH_DB_PATH=/custom/path/config.db

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.