Tool reference

Tool reference

51 tools across 7 groups. Claude picks them based on your intent — you rarely name them directly. This page exists so you can audit what Claude has access to and disable groups you don't need.

Tip

ssh-manager tools list prints the currently-enabled tools and the token cost of your active set. ssh-manager tools configure flips groups on/off interactively.

Groups at a glance

Group	Tools	Purpose
core	5	execute, upload, download, list servers, health check
sessions	4	persistent shells that survive across turns
monitoring	6	services, processes, logs, alerts
backup	4	create, list, restore, schedule
database	4	dump, import, list, read-only query
advanced	14	tunnels, keys, sync, deploy, hooks, groups, aliases
gamechanger	14	cat, diff, edit, docker, journalctl, port test, tail streams, session v2, deploy artifact, plan

---

core (5)

Tool	Signature summary	Example prompt
ssh_list_servers	—	"list my servers"
ssh_execute	server, command, cwd?, timeout_ms?	"run uptime on prod01"
ssh_upload	server, local_path, remote_path	"upload ./deploy.sh to prod01:/tmp"
ssh_download	server, remote_path, local_path	"download /var/log/app.log from prod01"
ssh_health_check	server	"health check prod01"

sessions (4)

Persistent shells. The session keeps its cwd, env, and shell state across multiple Claude turns.

Tool	Purpose
ssh_session_start	open a named session, returns session_id
ssh_session_send	send a command to an existing session
ssh_session_list	list active sessions with age and last activity
ssh_session_close	close a session and release the channel

Tip

Use sessions for long workflows that need shell state (e.g. activating a venv, set -x debug mode, or multi-step migrations).

monitoring (6)

Tool	Purpose
ssh_service_status	systemd unit status (active, enabled, etc.)
ssh_process_manager	list / filter / kill processes
ssh_tail	real-time log tail with regex filter
ssh_monitor	CPU / RAM / disk / net snapshot
ssh_alert_setup	configure threshold alerts
ssh_history	per-server command history

backup (4)

Tool	Supports
ssh_backup_create	MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, plain file tarballs
ssh_backup_list	all backups on a server with size + timestamp
ssh_backup_restore	restore any backup to same or different host
ssh_backup_schedule	cron-based automatic backups

database (4)

Tool	Notes
ssh_db_dump	mysqldump, pg_dump, mongodump with env-var creds
ssh_db_import	restore SQL dumps, transactional
ssh_db_list	list databases, tables, collections
ssh_db_query	SELECT only — token-level SQL parser rejects writes

Caution

ssh_db_query is intentionally read-only. For writes, use ssh_execute against the DB CLI so the intent is explicit and audited.

advanced (14)

Click to expand

Tool	Purpose
ssh_tunnel_create	local, remote, or SOCKS forwarding
ssh_tunnel_list	active tunnels
ssh_tunnel_close	close a tunnel by id
ssh_deploy	atomic upload with rollback on healthcheck fail
ssh_sync	rsync-based bidirectional sync
ssh_execute_group	run a command across a server group
ssh_group_manage	define, edit, list server groups
ssh_key_manage	list, generate, rotate SSH keys
ssh_alias	server aliases
ssh_command_alias	per-server command aliases
ssh_hooks	pre/post-connection hooks
ssh_profile	tool profile management
ssh_execute_sudo	sudo with stdin-piped password
ssh_connection_status	inspect the pool

gamechanger (14)

Click to expand

Tool	Purpose
ssh_cat	read a remote file with head / tail / grep / line-range filters
ssh_diff	diff a local file against a remote file
ssh_edit	in-place edit via sed-style ops
ssh_docker	docker ps / logs / exec / stats on remote
ssh_journalctl	systemd journal with unit filter and time range
ssh_systemctl	start / stop / restart / status / list-unit-files
ssh_port_test	TCP probe chain across hosts (reachability matrix)
ssh_tail_start	start a persistent tail; returns session_id
ssh_tail_read	read buffered lines from an active tail
ssh_tail_stop	close a tail session
ssh_session_memory	store/retrieve notes scoped to a session
ssh_session_replay	replay recorded session commands
ssh_deploy_artifact	multi-file deploy with manifest
ssh_plan	propose a tool plan for a complex task, user confirms before execution

---

Token cost by group

Enabling every group costs ~43k tokens of tool schemas per turn. The minimal profile (core only) is ~3.5k.

xychart-beta
  title "Token cost per tool group"
  x-axis ["core", "sessions", "monitoring", "backup", "database", "advanced", "gamechanger"]
  y-axis "tokens" 0 --> 15000
  bar [3500, 2800, 4200, 2900, 3100, 12000, 14000]

Loading

Disable the groups you don't use. You can always toggle them back with ssh-manager tools enable <group>.