robotframework-okw-remote-ssh

Standalone Robot Framework library for deterministic, synchronous remote interaction via SSH.

Session-based command execution, structured verification (stdout, stderr, exit code, duration), and SFTP file transfer. Designed for CI pipelines, infrastructure validation, and cross-platform automation (Linux, macOS, Windows with OpenSSH).

Keyword Documentation (Libdoc)

Features

• Session-based SSH connections via Paramiko
• Strict separation of execution and verification
• Command queuing: Set Remote collects commands, Execute Remote sends them in one SSH call (preserves shell context)
• Three match modes: EXACT, WCM (wildcard: *, ?), REGX (regex)
• SFTP file transfer: upload, download, verify, clear, remove (files and directories)
• OKW token support: $IGNORE (skip), $EMPTY (assert empty)
• Value expansion: $MEM{KEY} placeholders across all parameters
• No GUI coupling, no dependency on OKW Core

Three-Phase Model

All keywords follow a fixed pattern:

Phase	Keywords	Purpose
Prepare	Set Remote	Queue commands (no SSH call)
Execute	Execute Remote, Execute Remote And Continue	Send commands and store result
Verify	Verify Remote Response, Verify Remote Stderr, Verify Remote Exit Code, ...	Evaluate stored result

Note: Prepare is optional — Execute Remote can also be called directly with a command. When multiple Set Remote calls are queued, Execute Remote joins them with && and sends them as one SSH call. This preserves shell context (working directory, variables).

Alternative

Looking for a general-purpose SSH library? See SSHLibrary. A detailed feature comparison explains the differences in approach.

Installation

pip install robotframework-okw-remote-ssh

Quick Start

*** Settings ***
Library    robotframework_okw_remote_ssh.RemoteSshLibrary

*** Test Cases ***
Single Command
    Open Remote Session      myhost    my_server
    Execute Remote           myhost    echo Hello
    Verify Remote Response   myhost    Hello
    Close Remote Session     myhost

Multi Command With Context
    Open Remote Session          myhost    my_server
    Set Remote                   myhost    cd /opt/app
    Set Remote                   myhost    ls -la
    Execute Remote               myhost
    Verify Remote Response WCM   myhost    *app*
    Close Remote Session         myhost

Tolerate Expected Errors
    Open Remote Session              myhost    my_server
    Execute Remote And Continue      myhost    cat /no/such/file
    Verify Remote Exit Code          myhost    1
    Verify Remote Stderr WCM         myhost    *No such file*
    Close Remote Session             myhost

Session Configuration

Sessions are configured via YAML files in remotes/ (or a custom config directory).

Example remotes/my_server.yaml:

host: 10.0.0.1
port: 22
username: testuser
auth:
  type: password
  secret_id: "my_server/testuser"

Passwords are stored separately in ~/.okw/secrets.yaml (never in the repository).

Keywords

Session Lifecycle

Keyword	Description
Open Remote Session	Opens a named SSH session using a YAML config reference
Close Remote Session	Closes the session and releases all resources
Close All Remote Sessions	Closes all open sessions (idempotent, for suite teardown)

Execution

Keyword	Description
Set Remote	Queues a command for later execution (no SSH call). Supports $MEM{KEY} expansion.
Execute Remote	With command: executes immediately. Without: joins all queued Set Remote commands with && and executes. FAIL on exit_code != 0.
Execute Remote And Continue	Same as Execute Remote, but never fails on nonzero exit code.

Verification -- stdout

Keyword	Description
Verify Remote Response	EXACT match on stdout
Verify Remote Response WCM	Wildcard match on stdout (* = any chars, ? = one char)
Verify Remote Response REGX	Regex match on stdout

Verification -- stderr

Keyword	Default	Description
Verify Remote Stderr	$EMPTY	EXACT match on stderr. Without argument: asserts empty
Verify Remote Stderr WCM	$EMPTY	Wildcard match on stderr
Verify Remote Stderr REGX	$EMPTY	Regex match on stderr

Verification -- exit code / duration

Keyword	Description
Verify Remote Exit Code	Numeric exact compare
Verify Remote Duration	Expression check: >, >=, <, <=, ==, range a..b

Memorize

Keyword	Description
Memorize Remote Response Field	Stores a response field (stdout, stderr, exit_code, duration_ms) in $MEM{KEY} for later use

File Transfer -- Upload / Download

Keyword	Description
Put Remote File	Uploads a file via SFTP
Get Remote File	Downloads a file via SFTP
Put Remote Directory	Recursively uploads a directory via SFTP
Get Remote Directory	Recursively downloads a directory via SFTP

File Transfer -- Verify

Keyword	Default	Description
Verify Remote File Exists	YES	Asserts file exists (YES) or does not exist (NO)
Verify Remote Directory Exists	YES	Asserts directory exists (YES) or does not exist (NO)

The expected parameter accepts YES/NO, TRUE/FALSE, or 1/0 (case-insensitive).

File Transfer -- Verify Directory Contents

Keyword	Description
Verify Remote Directory Contains	EXACT name match against directory entries
Verify Remote Directory Contains WCM	Wildcard match (*, ?) against directory entries
Verify Remote Directory Contains REGX	Regex match against directory entries
Verify Remote Directory Count	Verifies number of entries in directory

File Transfer -- Memorize

Keyword	Description
Memorize Remote Directory Contents	Stores directory listing (newline-separated) in $MEM{KEY}

File Transfer -- Permissions

Keyword	Description
Set Remote File Mode	Sets file permissions via SFTP chmod (e.g. 0755)
Verify Remote File Mode	Verifies file permissions via SFTP stat (EXACT octal match)
Memorize Remote File Mode	Stores file permissions (4-digit octal) in $MEM{KEY}

Put Remote File and Put Remote Directory accept an optional mode parameter.

File Transfer -- Clear

Keyword	Description
Clear Remote Directory	Deletes files in the directory (not in subdirectories), keeps directory structure
Clear Remote Directory Recursively	Deletes all files recursively, keeps entire directory tree

File Transfer -- Remove (idempotent)

All remove keywords are idempotent: if the target does not exist, they return PASS.

Keyword	Description
Remove Remote File	Removes a single file
Remove Remote Directory	Removes an empty directory
Remove Remote Directory Recursively	Removes a directory and all its contents

OKW Token Support

Token	Behavior
$IGNORE	Keyword becomes a no-op (PASS). Execution/verification/transfer is skipped.
$EMPTY	For verify keywords: asserts that the checked field is empty.

AI Test Generation

Test cases can be generated with any LLM (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, ...). The system prompts for test generation are maintained centrally in robotframework-okw4robot/prompts/.

Copy the prompt into your LLM and describe what you want to test in natural language. The LLM produces a ready-to-run .robot file.

License

AGPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE for details.