Super Smart Hosts

A small local web app to read, write and compile the SSH config files in ~/.ssh/config.d/, and to launch terminals with them — including quick, unsaved edits before you connect.

It runs on your machine, binds to 127.0.0.1, and never sends anything anywhere.

What it does

• Browse and edit every file in ~/.ssh/config.d (any name or extension, just like Include ~/.ssh/config.d/*) — create, rename by file, delete. Files can hold as many Host blocks as you like.
• Understands ssh: comments and blank lines are preserved on round-trip, and the editor knows the common options with inline help.
• Guided compilation: pick options from a catalog grouped by purpose (connection, auth, forwarding, proxy, multiplexing, keepalive, security). Port forwarding is edited with structured fields instead of raw syntax: LocalForward, RemoteForward and DynamicForward become bind/destination fields, and ProxyJump suggests the aliases you already have.
• Launch a terminal: each host has a Run button that opens your default terminal with the connection.
• On-the-go edits: the Run sheet opens with the host's options, lets you change them, shows the exact command live, and connects — without saving anything to disk. Tunnels, jump hosts and every other option are fair game.
• Templates: start a new host from a ready-made recipe — dynamic SOCKS proxy, local or reverse tunnel, database tunnel, jump host, resilient session, cloud VM, agent forwarding and more. You can also apply a template to an existing host (existing values are kept).
• Inspect effective config: run ssh -G against a host to see what ssh actually resolves after includes and your edits, without connecting.
• System hosts editor: a raw editor for /etc/hosts (the machine's name resolution file). Writes are backed up automatically and, on macOS, performed through the standard admin-password prompt; you can restore any earlier backup.
• Everyday conveniences: per-host colour badge, copy ssh/scp commands, duplicate a host, a warning when a tunnel is malformed or HostName is missing, and Cmd/Ctrl+S to save.
• Back up your config: snapshot all files at once, or a single file from its toolbar. Backups are timestamped folders you can restore from the Backups panel.
• Rename a file: hover a file in the sidebar and click the pencil to rename it in place (Enter to confirm, Esc to cancel). Any environment tags and the open editor follow the new name.
• Global search: the sidebar box searches everything — file names, aliases, HostName/IPs, users, ports and any other directive value. Results are grouped by file with the matched text highlighted; click a hit to open the file and jump straight to that host.
• Environment colours: hosts and files whose names look like production or test are colour-coded from the current theme — production uses the theme's primary colour, test/staging the secondary — on the host badge and the file dot. Everything else stays neutral.
• Many looks: switch themes from the sidebar footer — from green-, amber- and blue-phosphor CRTs to light Material, 2000s (Windows XP) and pastel Kawaii. See Themes for the full list.

Finding things

The sidebar search matches across every file, not just the names:

• Type an IP (10.0.0.), a user, a port, an alias or part of any directive value and every matching host appears, grouped by file, with the match highlighted.
• Clicking a result opens the file and briefly flashes the host block, so you land exactly where the value lives.

Environment colour coding

Hosts and files are colour-tagged from the active theme — production uses the theme's primary colour, test / staging the secondary — shown on the host badge and the file dot in the sidebar.

You decide the environment, not the file name. Click a host badge or a file dot to open a small menu:

• Automatic (default) — guess from well-known words (prod, production, prd, live → production; staging, stage, test, qa, dev, sandbox, uat, preprod, preview, demo, … → test). prod wins over test.
• Production / Test / staging — force that colour.
• None — force neutral, so an auto-guessed name no longer counts.

A host override wins over a file override, which wins over the automatic guess. The choices are saved in ~/.super-smart-hosts/environments.json (override the location with SMH_ENV_DIR) — your .conf files are never modified.

Themes

Pick a theme from the sidebar footer. The choice is remembered in localStorage and applies instantly — no reload. There are 16 presets across two families: phosphor CRTs (scanlines, vignette, glow, a bitmap display face, a blinking cursor and a tube warm-up) and flat modern themes (no CRT effects, sans-serif, rounded).

CRT phosphor

Theme	Look
Phosphor (default)	P1 green monochrome terminal — the classic look.
Amber	Warm amber monochrome monitor.
Blue	Cool blue phosphor.
Sunburn	Hot orange / red.
Lilac	Soft lavender (Catppuccin-ish).
Violet	Deep violet (Dracula-ish).
Neon	High-contrast yellow / cyan / pink arcade glow.
Frost	Pale icy blue.
Graphite	Neutral grayscale terminal.
Grimdark	Parchment gold on near-black.

Modern

Theme	Look
Mist	Light and clean, blue primary.
Slate	Dark navy with an indigo primary.
Material	Light, purple primary, soft elevation shadows.
2000s	Windows XP "Luna" — grey faces, blue chrome, green buttons, Tahoma.
Kawaii	Pastel pink & lavender, pill-shaped buttons, a ♡ by the logo.
Plain	Flat black & white, square, every effect off — the cheapest render.

Because every theme only re-points the design tokens, colours, the environment coding, search highlights and every component follow the active palette automatically.

Requirements

• Node.js 18+ (tested on 24)
• ssh on your PATH
• For launching: Terminal.app or iTerm2 on macOS, or a common terminal emulator on Linux (gnome-terminal, konsole, kitty, alacritty, xterm, …)

Run it

npm install
npm start

Then open http://127.0.0.1:4317. To open the browser automatically use the bin entry:

npx super-smart-hosts        # installed via `npm link`
# or
node server/cli.js

Make ssh read these files

Super Smart Hosts manages every file in ~/.ssh/config.d (any name or extension), but ssh only reads them if your main config includes them. If the sidebar shows a warning, add this line to ~/.ssh/config:

Include ~/.ssh/config.d/*

The * matches .conf, .config and files with no extension alike. Super Smart Hosts checks this for you and warns when it is missing.

Configuration

All optional, via environment variables (see .env.example):

Variable	Default	Meaning
PORT	4317	HTTP port
HOST	127.0.0.1	Bind address (keep it on loopback)
SMH_DIR	~/.ssh/config.d	Directory of config files
SMH_MAIN	~/.ssh/config	Main config used for the include check
SMH_TERMINAL	auto	auto, iterm, terminal, system
SMH_NO_OPEN	unset	Do not open a browser on start (CLI)
SMH_HOSTS	/etc/hosts	Path of the system hosts file to edit
SMH_HOSTS_PRIVILEGED	auto	Force privileged host writes: 1/0
SMH_BACKUP_DIR	~/.super-smart-hosts/backups	Where hosts-file backups are stored
SMH_CONFIG_BACKUP_DIR	~/.super-smart-hosts/config-backups	Where config-file backups are stored
SMH_ENV_DIR	~/.super-smart-hosts	Where manual environment tags are stored

Load them from a file with node --env-file=.env server/index.js (Node ≥ 20.6).

Editing the system hosts file

The sidebar's System hosts button opens a raw editor for /etc/hosts.

• Saving first copies the current file into the backup directory, then writes the new content atomically. Whitespace-only content is rejected.
• On macOS the write is done as root through osascript … with administrator privileges, so you get the normal password dialog. On Linux the server uses sudo -n (configure passwordless sudo for the server user).
• The side panel lists recent backups; click one to restore it (the current file is backed up again first).
• Set SMH_HOSTS to point at another file (useful for testing) — writes to a non-/etc/hosts path are done directly, without a password.

Backing up your config

Every config file can be snapshotted to the config backup directory, each snapshot its own timestamped folder.

• All files: the archive button in the sidebar's file header, or Back up all files in the Backups panel.
• One file: the Back up button in the toolbar of the open file.
• The Backups panel (sidebar) lists snapshots with their files, size and age; Restore copies them back over the live files.

How launching works

• Nothing changed in the Run sheet → ssh <alias>, resolved through your own config exactly as you would type it.
• You changed options → Super Smart Hosts writes a throw-away config to the OS temp directory that pins the connection to a synthetic alias, then re-includes your real config for global settings and jump hosts. It is launched with ssh -F <tempfile> <synthetic> and never saved to config.d. Temp files are pruned after a day.

Security notes

• The server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default and executes ssh locally. Do not expose it to a network.
• File names are validated and confined to the config directory.
• State-changing requests from another origin are rejected, so a random web page cannot drive the local API.
• Option names are validated and every value is shell-quoted before a terminal is asked to run it.

Tests

npm test

Project layout

server/
  index.js       Express app and JSON API
  sshConfig.js   parser / serializer for ssh config files
  options.js     catalog of ssh options that powers the UI
  sshCommand.js  builds the ssh invocation (incl. temp override config)
  launcher.js    opens the native terminal
  hostsFile.js   reads/writes the system hosts file (+ backups)
  configBackup.js snapshots config files to a backup folder
  environments.js stores manual production/test tags per file and host
  cli.js         bin entry
public/
  index.html     import map + fonts
  app.js         application shell and state
  styles.css     design system
  lib/           api client, formatting, search and environment helpers
  components/    sidebar, host cards, option editor, run sheet
test/            parser, launcher, search and environment tests