sshc

SSH config and Ansible inventory from one host database.

sshc stores your servers in a JSON database under ~/.ssh, then generates OpenSSH config and Ansible inventory from that single source of truth. Works on Linux and Windows.

Features

• One JSON DB for all hosts (names, IPs, users, keys, groups, comments).
• DB metadata and SHA-256 integrity checksum on the hosts payload.
• Generate sshc_ssh_config and sshc_ansible_inventory.json (or YAML).
• sshc status — check integrity, drift vs generated files, missing keys.
• sshc list — alias of read; optional verbose metadata output.
• Optional Include in your default ~/.ssh/config so ssh <host> works without -F.
• Safe generate — confirms before overwriting existing artifacts (-y to skip).

Installation

pip3 install sshc --upgrade

From source (development):

git clone https://github.com/fahadahammed/sshc.git
cd sshc
poetry install
poetry run sshc --version

Release notes: CHANGELOG.md.

Quick start

sshc init
sshc insert --name web1 --host 192.168.0.10 --user ubuntu --groups web prod
sshc generate
sshc list
sshc status

Use generated files:

ssh -F ~/.ssh/sshc_ssh_config web1
ansible -i ~/.ssh/sshc_ansible_inventory.json all --list-hosts

On Windows (PowerShell):

ssh -F $env:USERPROFILE\.ssh\sshc_ssh_config web1

Default paths

Artifact	Path
Host DB	<home>/.ssh/sshc_db.json
SSH config (generated)	<home>/.ssh/sshc_ssh_config
Ansible inventory	<home>/.ssh/sshc_ansible_inventory.json
OpenSSH default config	<home>/.ssh/config (optional Include only)

<home> is your user profile directory ($HOME or %USERPROFILE%).

Commands

Command	Description
init	Create or upgrade the host DB (adds metadata to legacy files).
insert	Add a host (unique name; skipped if duplicate).
update	Change only fields you pass; insert if name is new.
delete	Remove a host by name.
read / list	Show hosts; --verbose yes includes DB metadata.
generate	Rebuild SSH config and Ansible inventory from the DB.
status	Health check; --json for automation.

Global: sshc --version, sshc --help.

Most subcommands accept --destination, --dbfile, and generate/status also accept --configfile / --inventoryfile.

init

Creates { "meta": {...}, "hosts": [] }. If the file already exists as a legacy JSON array, init upgrades it in place and keeps existing hosts.

sshc init

insert

sshc insert --name myserver --host 10.0.0.5 --user deploy \
  --port 22 --groups app staging --comment "staging app"

Groups are space-separated. Default user is root; default key path is <home>/.ssh/id_rsa.

generate

Rebuilds artifacts from the DB (full replace of generated content).

sshc generate
sshc generate -y
sshc generate --include-default-config
sshc generate --filetype yaml --inventoryfile ~/.ssh/sshc_ansible_inventory.yml

• Confirmation: if SSH config or inventory already have content, you are prompted (Overwrite? [y/N]:). Use -y / --yes in scripts.
• Include in default SSH config: --include-default-config adds a managed block to <home>/.ssh/config pointing at sshc_ssh_config so you can run ssh <hostname> without -F. Your main config is not overwritten—only an Include block is added or updated.
• Prefer sshc_ssh_config over writing directly to config so personal SSH settings stay separate.

status

sshc status
sshc status --json

Exit code 0 when healthy (warnings allowed); 1 when regeneration is required or integrity fails.

update / delete / read

sshc update --name myserver --port 2222
sshc delete --hostname myserver
sshc list --verbose yes

Example output

Generated SSH config (excerpt)

# Generated At: 2023-01-24 11:35:25.885044
# sshc Version: 3.0.0

# -- <
Host server1
HostName 192.168.0.100
Port 22
User ubuntu
IdentityFile /home/user/.ssh/id_rsa
LogLevel INFO
Compression yes
# Comment: Personal Server: ONE
# -- >

Generated Ansible inventory (excerpt)

{
  "all": {
    "hosts": {
      "server1": {
        "ansible_host": "192.168.0.100",
        "ansible_port": 22,
        "ansible_user": "ubuntu",
        "ansible_ssh_private_key_file": "/home/user/.ssh/id_rsa"
      }
    },
    "children": {
      "personal": { "hosts": { "server1": null } }
    }
  },
  "others": {
    "generated_at": "2023-01-24 11:35:25.885044",
    "sshc_version": "3.0.0"
  }
}

Requirements

• Runtime: Python 3.7+, PyYAML (installed with the package).
• Platforms: Linux and Windows for sshc itself; OpenSSH and Ansible are separate installs used to consume generated files.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome—bug reports, docs, tests, and features.

1. Fork the repository and create a branch from development (not main).
2. Set up locally: poetry install, then poetry run python -m unittest tests/basic-function-test.py.
3. Change the smallest scope that fixes the issue; match existing style in src/sshc.py.
4. Document user-visible behavior in README.md and add an entry under [Unreleased] in CHANGELOG.md.
5. Open a pull request to development with a clear description and how you tested (OS, commands run).

Maintainer-oriented design notes live in the Context/ directory (architecture, CLI, data model, gotchas).

• Questions or bugs: GitHub Issues
• License: MIT

Thank you for helping improve sshc.

Author

Fahad Ahammed — DevOps enthusiast, Dhaka, Bangladesh.