SSH Config Generator

Output style

• warnHost #4: HostName is empty. Without HostName, ssh resolves the alias itself as the DNS name.

# Generated by Zero Signup Tools SSH Config Generator.
# Save to ~/.ssh/config and run: chmod 600 ~/.ssh/config
# Reference: man 5 ssh_config

# Front-end web tier. Use the deploy key, no agent forwarding.
Host prod-web
  HostName web-01.prod.example.com
  User deploy
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  ForwardAgent no
  ServerAliveInterval 30
  ServerAliveCountMax 3

# Jump host for the private VPC.
Host bastion
  HostName bastion.example.com
  User alice
  Port 2222
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  ForwardAgent no
  Compression yes

# Private DB. Tunnels Postgres to local 5433.
Host db-primary
  HostName 10.0.4.21
  User ops
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  ProxyJump bastion
  LocalForward 5433 localhost:5432

# Personal GitHub account key. Override the default GitHub key.
Host github.com
  User git
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/github_ed25519
  IdentitiesOnly yes
  PreferredAuthentications publickey

# Defaults that apply to every host below unless overridden.
Host *
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  UseKeychain yes
  ServerAliveInterval 60
  ServerAliveCountMax 3

ssh_config quick reference

From man 5 ssh_config. The full per-option reference lives in the OpenSSH manual.

Host

One alias or a list of aliases (space separated). Wildcards * and ? are allowed. Prefix a token with ! to exclude it from a wildcard match.

HostName

The real hostname or IP the alias maps to. If omitted, ssh uses the alias name itself.

User

Remote username. Avoids typing user@host on every command.

Port

TCP port (default 22). Saved in config so you do not need ssh -p.

IdentityFile

Path to a private key. Combine with IdentitiesOnly yes to stop ssh from trying every key the agent holds.

ProxyJump

Chain through a bastion host. Modern replacement for ProxyCommand with ssh -W.

ForwardAgent

Forward your ssh-agent to the remote. Convenient but risky on untrusted machines.

StrictHostKeyChecking

Use accept-new for first-connect convenience without the risk of disabling host key verification entirely.

ServerAliveInterval

Send keepalives to the server every N seconds. Combined with ServerAliveCountMax, drops dead sessions cleanly.

LocalForward

Tunnel a local port to a remote host:port through the ssh connection (ssh -L equivalent).

RemoteForward

Expose a local service on a remote port through the ssh connection (ssh -R equivalent).

DynamicForward

Open a SOCKS proxy on a local port that routes traffic through ssh (ssh -D equivalent).

ControlMaster / ControlPath / ControlPersist

Reuse a single ssh connection for many sessions. Big speed win for tools that fork lots of short ssh calls.

AddKeysToAgent + UseKeychain

On macOS, add keys to ssh-agent and remember the passphrase in the Keychain so you only enter it once.