README.md

April 8, 2026 · View on GitHub

                         ███████╗███████╗███████╗██╗  ██╗
                         ██╔════╝██╔════╝██╔════╝██║  ██║
                         █████╗  ███████╗███████╗███████║
                         ██╔══╝  ╚════██║╚════██║██╔══██║
                         ███████╗███████║███████║██║  ██║
                         ╚══════╝╚══════╝╚══════╝╚═╝  ╚═╝
                           Enhanced SSH for people with fleets

crates.io CI License: MIT macOS supported Linux supported

One terminal. Multiple SSH sessions. Live host insight. Zero context switching.

ESSH is a pure-Rust SSH client with a sharp, Netwatch-inspired TUI for operators who want more than a bare shell.
Connect fast, watch host health in real time, move files, manage forwards, and keep a clean audit trail without leaving the terminal.

Why ESSH

Most SSH tools stop at "you are connected." ESSH is built for what happens after that.

  • Work across multiple hosts without juggling terminal windows.
  • See CPU, memory, disks, network, and process pressure while you are on the box.
  • Keep connection diagnostics, recordings, file transfer, and port forwarding in the same workflow.
  • Stay in a terminal-first interface that feels fast, dense, and operational.

ESSH is for people who manage real systems and want their SSH client to act like an operations tool, not just a transport.

What Makes It Hit

PillarWhat You Get
Fleet-first workflowBrowse hosts, filter by tag, jump between sessions, and fan commands across groups from one place.
Live machine awarenessBuilt-in host monitor shows CPU, memory, disk, load, network throughput, and top processes in real time.
Operational depthPort forwarding, file transfer, jump hosts, notifications, recordings, reconnects, and audit logs are part of the product, not bolted on later.
Pure-Rust stackBuilt on russh, ratatui, and vt100 with no OpenSSH UI dependency.

Demo

ESSH Demo

Dashboard, multi-session terminal, host monitor, split pane, command palette, file browser, and port forwarding in one flow.

Install Fast

ESSH currently supports macOS and Linux builds only.

crates.io

cargo install essh

from source

git clone https://github.com/matthart1983/essh.git
cd essh
cargo build --release
./target/release/essh

Windows is not a supported local build target at this time.

First 60 Seconds

# Launch the dashboard
essh

# Direct connect
essh connect user@host

# Use a specific key
essh connect user@host -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

# Use an encrypted key (ESSH will prompt for the passphrase)
essh connect user@host -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_encrypted

# Pull hosts from your existing SSH config
essh hosts import

# Run a command across a tagged group
essh run web-servers -- uptime

On first launch, ESSH creates ~/.essh/ and gives you a working config, SQLite host cache, diagnostics directory, and audit log path.

The Product In One Screen

┌─ ESSH ── [1] web-prod  [2] db-primary  [3] staging ───────────────┐
│ deploy@web-prod:~$                                                │
│                                                                   │
│   journalctl -u api -f                                            │
│                                                                   │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ RTT 12.3ms   ↑1.2KB/s   ↓48.5KB/s   Loss 0.0%   ● Excellent       │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ CPU  23%  ▁▂▃▄▅▆▅▃▂▁     MEM  40%  ████████████████░░░░░░░░░       │
│ LOAD 0.82 0.64 0.55      NET  RX 48.5KB/s   TX 1.2KB/s            │
│ DISK / 62%               Top: node, nginx, postgres               │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

The idea is simple: terminal fidelity when you need a shell, operational signal when you need context.

Feature Highlights

Multi-Session Without the Mess

  • Up to 9 concurrent SSH sessions.
  • Instant switching with Alt+1-9, Alt+←/→, and Alt+Tab.
  • Split-pane terminal plus host monitor with Alt+s.
  • Scrollback preserved across reconnects.

Remote Insight Without an Agent

  • CPU, memory, load, disk, network, uptime, and top processes.
  • Sparkline history and bar gauges tuned for quick scanning.
  • Collected over SSH exec channels, so there is nothing extra to install remotely.

Fleet Features That Actually Matter

  • Import hosts from ~/.ssh/config.
  • Tag hosts and define groups.
  • Run commands across a group with parallel fan-out.
  • Background fleet probes with latency history and color-coded state.

Built For Real SSH Work

  • Public key, password, and SSH agent auth.
  • Encrypted OpenSSH private keys with interactive passphrase prompts.
  • TOFU host key verification with strict, prompt, and auto modes.
  • Five built-in themes with instant switching and persisted preferences.
  • Jump host / ProxyJump support.
  • Local port forwards, live add and remove.
  • Two-pane file browser for upload and download.

Built-In Safety Nets

  • Exponential backoff reconnects.
  • Structured JSON audit log.
  • Session diagnostics written as JSONL.
  • Optional asciicast v2 recording and replay.
  • Regex-based background notifications for important output.

Ease Of Use, Not Ceremony

Import what you already have

essh hosts import

Use encrypted private keys

ESSH supports passphrase-protected private keys for both direct CLI connections and the TUI.

# One-off CLI connection with an encrypted key
essh connect user@host -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_encrypted

# Add an encrypted key to the local key cache
essh keys add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519_encrypted --name laptop-key

What to expect:

  • If the key is encrypted, ESSH prompts for the key passphrase and then continues the connection.
  • Saved hosts in the TUI behave the same way: selecting a host that uses an encrypted key will prompt for the passphrase when needed.
  • Jump-host connections and group runs also honor encrypted keys.
  • If you prefer to avoid repeated prompts, loading the key into ssh-agent still works.

Bring structure to a messy fleet

[[hosts]]
name = "web-prod-1"
hostname = "10.0.1.10"
user = "deploy"
key = "~/.ssh/id_ed25519"

[hosts.tags]
env = "production"
role = "web"

[[host_groups]]
name = "web-servers"

[host_groups.match_tags]
role = "web"

Run a fleet command without leaving the toolchain

essh run web-servers -- sudo systemctl status nginx

Replay what happened later

essh session list
essh session replay <session-id>

Keyboard Flow

Global

KeyAction
? / Alt+hHelp overlay
Alt+1 - Alt+9Jump to session
Alt+← / Alt+→Cycle sessions
Alt+TabLast-used session
Ctrl+pCommand palette
Alt+tCycle theme
Alt+dDetach to dashboard
Alt+wClose session

Session Ops

KeyAction
Alt+mHost monitor
Alt+sSplit pane
Alt+[ / Alt+]Resize split
Alt+fFile browser
Alt+pPort forwarding
Alt+rRename tab

Dashboard

KeyAction
1 - 4Switch tabs
j / k / ↑ / ↓Navigate hosts
EnterConnect
/Live filter
aAdd host
dDelete host
rRefresh
tCycle theme

Themes

ESSH ships with the same built-in theme set as NetWatch: dark, light, solarized, dracula, and nord.

Use t on dashboard-style views or Alt+t from any session to cycle themes instantly. The selected theme is saved in ~/.essh/config.toml as:

theme = "dark"

CLI Cheat Sheet

essh                                  # launch dashboard
essh connect user@host                # direct SSH session
essh hosts list                       # list cached hosts
essh hosts import                     # import from ~/.ssh/config
essh keys list                        # list cached keys
essh diag <session-id>                # inspect diagnostics
essh session list                     # list recordings
essh session replay <session-id>      # replay a recording
essh audit tail --lines 20            # inspect recent audit events
essh config show                      # print active config

Configuration

ESSH stores its state in ~/.essh/.

~/.essh/
├── config.toml      # main configuration
├── cache.db         # host and key cache
├── audit.log        # structured audit trail
├── sessions/        # per-session diagnostics logs
├── recordings/      # asciicast recordings
└── known_cas/       # trusted certificate authorities

Useful commands:

essh config init
essh config edit
essh config show

If you want the full configuration and architecture spec, see SPEC.md.

Security

  • Host keys are verified and cached.
  • TOFU policy is configurable: strict, prompt, or auto.
  • Allowed ciphers and KEX algorithms can be restricted.
  • Audit events are written as structured JSON.
  • Session diagnostics and recordings are explicit, inspectable artifacts.

ESSH is built to give operators more visibility without hiding what the tool is doing on their behalf.

Build And Validate

cargo build
cargo test
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
cargo fmt --check

GitHub Actions runs the same core checks on pushes and pull requests to main.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

  1. Fork the repo.
  2. Create a branch.
  3. Make the change.
  4. Run cargo test, cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings, and cargo fmt --check.
  5. Open a pull request.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.

ESSH is terminal-native SSH with a little more ambition.