ssh-docs 0.1.0

Expose documentation via SSH - browse docs using familiar Unix commands

SSH-Docs

Expose documentation via SSH - Browse your documentation using familiar Unix commands over SSH.

Features

• 🔒 Secure SSH Access - Standard SSH protocol with authentication options
• 📁 Read-Only Browsing - Safe exploration of documentation files
• 🛠️ Unix Commands - Familiar commands: ls, cd, cat, grep, find, head, tail
• ⚙️ Zero Config - Works out of the box with sensible defaults
• 🎨 Customizable - Optional YAML configuration for advanced setups
• 🚀 Easy Setup - Single command to start serving docs

Installation

pip install ssh-docs

Quick Start

Serve Documentation (Zero Config)

# Serve current directory
ssh-docs serve

# Serve specific directory
ssh-docs serve ./docs

# Custom port
ssh-docs serve ./docs -p 3000

Then connect:

ssh localhost -p 2222

Basic Commands

Once connected, use familiar Unix commands:

/site$ ls                    # List files
/site$ cd docs              # Change directory
/site$ cat README.md        # View file
/site$ grep "API" -R .      # Search content
/site$ find . -name "*.md"  # Find files
/site$ head -n 20 file.txt  # First 20 lines
/site$ tail -n 10 file.txt  # Last 10 lines
/site$ pwd                  # Current directory
/site$ help                 # Show commands
/site$ exit                 # Close session

Configuration

Initialize Config File

# Create .ssh-docs.yml with defaults
ssh-docs init

# Interactive setup
ssh-docs init --interactive

Configuration File (.ssh-docs.yml)

# Basic settings
site_name: "My Project Documentation"
content_root: "./docs"
port: 2222
host: "0.0.0.0"

# Authentication
auth:
  type: "public"  # Options: public, key, password
  # For key-based auth:
  # authorized_keys: "~/.ssh/authorized_keys"
  # For password auth:
  # password: "${SSH_DOCS_PASSWORD}"

# Server settings
server:
  banner: |
    Welcome to {site_name} Documentation
    Type 'help' for available commands
  max_connections: 10
  timeout: 300
  log_level: "info"

# Ignore patterns
ignore:
  - "*.pyc"
  - "__pycache__"
  - ".git"
  - "node_modules"

Authentication

Public Access (Default)

No authentication required - anyone can connect:

ssh-docs serve ./docs

Password Authentication

ssh-docs serve ./docs --auth password --password secret123

Or use environment variable:

export SSH_DOCS_PASSWORD="secret123"
ssh-docs serve ./docs --auth password

Key-Based Authentication

ssh-docs serve ./docs --auth key --keys-file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Advanced Usage

Generate Host Keys

# Generate keys in default location
ssh-docs keygen

# Custom location
ssh-docs keygen --output-dir ./keys

Validate Configuration

# Validate default config
ssh-docs validate

# Validate specific config
ssh-docs validate custom-config.yml

Using Config File

# Use default .ssh-docs.yml
ssh-docs serve

# Use custom config
ssh-docs serve --config production.yml

# Ignore config file
ssh-docs serve --no-config

CLI Reference

ssh-docs serve

Start SSH documentation server.

Options:

• CONTENT_DIR - Directory to serve (default: auto-detect)
• -p, --port - Port to listen on (default: 2222)
• -n, --site-name - Site name for banner (default: auto-detect)
• -c, --config - Config file path (default: .ssh-docs.yml)
• --host - Host to bind to (default: 0.0.0.0)
• --auth - Auth type: public, key, password (default: public)
• --keys-file - Authorized keys file (for key auth)
• --password - Password (for password auth)
• --no-config - Ignore config file
• --log-level - Log level: debug, info, warn, error

Examples:

# Basic usage
ssh-docs serve ./docs

# Custom port and name
ssh-docs serve ./docs -p 3000 -n "My API Docs"

# Password auth
ssh-docs serve --auth password --password secret123

# Use config file
ssh-docs serve --config production.yml

ssh-docs init

Initialize configuration file.

Options:

• --interactive - Interactive setup wizard
• --template - Template: basic, advanced

Examples:

# Create basic config
ssh-docs init

# Interactive setup
ssh-docs init --interactive

ssh-docs validate

Validate configuration file.

Examples:

# Validate default config
ssh-docs validate

# Validate specific config
ssh-docs validate custom-config.yml

ssh-docs keygen

Generate SSH host keys.

Options:

• --output-dir - Where to save keys (default: ~/.ssh-docs/keys)
• --force - Overwrite existing keys

Examples:

# Generate in default location
ssh-docs keygen

# Custom location
ssh-docs keygen --output-dir ./keys

Use Cases

Local Development

# Serve docs while developing
cd my-project
ssh-docs serve ./docs

CI/CD Integration

# In Dockerfile or CI script
pip install ssh-docs
ssh-docs serve /app/docs --port 2222 &

Production Deployment

# docker-compose.yml
services:
  docs:
    image: python:3.11
    command: sh -c "pip install ssh-docs && ssh-docs serve /docs"
    ports:
      - "2222:2222"
    volumes:
      - ./docs:/docs:ro

Documentation Server

# Production setup with auth
ssh-docs init --interactive
ssh-docs keygen
ssh-docs serve --auth key --keys-file ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

Security Considerations

• Read-Only: All operations are read-only by default
• Path Traversal Protection: Prevents access outside content root
• Authentication: Supports password and key-based auth
• Connection Limits: Configurable max connections
• Timeouts: Automatic session timeouts

Auto-Detection

SSH-Docs automatically detects:

• Content Directory: Looks for docs/, documentation/, public/, dist/
• Site Name: Reads from package.json, pyproject.toml, or directory name
• Host Keys: Generates if not present

Requirements

• Python 3.8+
• asyncssh
• click
• pyyaml (optional, for config files)

Development

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/ssh-docs/ssh-docs.git
cd ssh-docs

# Install in development mode
pip install -e .

# Run tests
pytest

# Run locally
python -m ssh_docs serve ./demo-website

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Contributing

Contributions welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

Support

• GitHub Issues: https://github.com/ssh-docs/ssh-docs/issues
• Documentation: https://github.com/ssh-docs/ssh-docs#readme

Roadmap

• Syntax highlighting for code files
• Search index for faster grep
• Custom command plugins
• Docker image
• NPM package wrapper
• Web-based terminal viewer
• Session recording/replay
• Multi-user support with permissions

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Made with ❤️ for developers who love the terminal