How to install SSH — policy-gated remote access in Cursor

Policy-gated, audited SSH for Linux and Windows hosts: roles, approvals, and an audit log.

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We found SSH — policy-gated remote access in the official MCP registry. Our automated check passed on Nov 1, 2026 (it confirms the server is published and reachable), but no one at CuratedMCP has reviewed its code, permissions or credentials handling. Check what it can access before you give it keys. Scan your machine free to see every MCP server you have installed.

Steps

1Install Node.js 18 or newer (for npx)
2Open .cursor/mcp.json in your project (or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects)
3Add the entry below. If the file already has "mcpServers", add just the inner entry
4Check Cursor Settings → MCP and enable the server

Configuration

.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ssh": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "ssh-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Environment variable	Required	What it is
SSH_MCP_PASSWORDsecret	No	Password for the configured profile; a per-profile SSH_MCP_<PROFILE>_PASSWORD takes precedence. Credentials are never accepted as CLI arguments.
SSH_MCP_KEY	No	Path to the private key file to authenticate with — the path, not the key material. A per-profile SSH_MCP_<PROFILE>_KEY takes precedence.
SSH_MCP_PASSPHRASEsecret	No	Passphrase for an encrypted private key.
SSH_MCP_SUDO_PASSWORDsecret	No	Password the sudo tool escalates with, when the policy in force allows the privileged class.

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