LABSCO SUMMARY

The interesting part is where the tools run, not what they do.

This server has no tools of its own — it inherits whatever the remote host publishes. That is useful in two specific situations: tools that need credentials or data you do not want on your laptop, and a shared box where one team maintains the tool set for everyone. The key server makes first contact painless, but note the trade — with --disable-host-key-checking you have given up man-in-the-middle protection, so keep that flag for local testing.

What it is

A client-side proxy. It opens an SSH connection to a remote host running an MCP SSH server, mirrors whatever that server exposes — tools, prompts and resources — and forwards every request through the encrypted channel.

What you get

A local server that mirrors the capabilities of the remote one, so your client sees the remote tools as its own
Key-based SSH authentication, with --client-key and --passphrase for a specific key
--use-key-server handles keys automatically: it fetches the server's public key, registers yours, and writes a temporary known_hosts for the connection
--known-hosts for the manual path, and --disable-host-key-checking for trusted networks only — the three are mutually exclusive
--log-level DEBUG for connection troubleshooting
A public demo host is available at mcp-beta.machinetomachine.ai with HackerNews, MLB Stats and Formula 1 tool already wired up

Requirements

The PyPI package m2m-mcp-server-ssh-client, version 0.1.3, run with uvx. --host defaults to localhost and --port to 8022; --username defaults to mcp and --client-key to ~/.ssh/m2m_mcp_server_ssh_client. The other end needs m2m-mcp-server-ssh-server running.

Setup effort

One command — uvx m2m-mcp-server-ssh-client --host mcp-beta.machinetomachine.ai --use-key-server

See installation options

USE CASES

01

Using tools that must stay on a server

Keep the credentials and data on the remote host and reach the tools through SSH from your laptop.

02

Sharing one tool set across a team

Maintain the MCP servers in one place; everyone connects to the same host instead of installing their own.

03

Trying remote MCP without setting up a host

Point it at the public demo host with automatic key exchange and see what comes back.

04

Debugging a connection that will not come up

Turn on debug logging and read where in the SSH or key-exchange sequence it stops.

BEFORE YOU INSTALL

What to know first

Requires

pip on PATH

Where it runs

The documented client runs the server on your machine.

INSTALLATION

Connect your client

Server setup

TERMINAL

uvx m2m-mcp-server-ssh-client --host mcp-beta.machinetomachine.ai --use-key-server

MCP Clients

Claude Desktop

CLAUDE DESKTOP · JSON

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remote-mcp-tools": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "m2m-mcp-server-ssh-client",
        "--host",
        "mcp-beta.machinetomachine.ai",
        "--port",
        "8022",
        "--use-key-server"
      ]
    }
  }
}

MCP Server SSH Client