QuickSSH — Flow Launcher Plugin

QuickSSH is a Flow Launcher plugin for connecting to saved SSH and SCP profiles, running reusable remote actions, managing SSH keys, importing OpenSSH configuration, and choosing custom terminal shells.

Type ssh to open a focused menu with Profiles, Actions, Tools, and Help.

Highlights

• Guided SSH profile setup with server, port, and authentication steps
• Full SSH/SCP command support for tunnels, ProxyJump, remote commands, and file transfers
• Reusable remote actions with mandatory review and confirmation before execution
• SSH key registration, generation, discovery, clipboard helpers, and public-key installation
• Human-readable profile export/import in an SSH-config-like format
• Portable-aware storage inside the Flow Launcher plugin settings directory
• Custom terminal shells with fail-closed launch behavior
• Accent-insensitive fuzzy search and localized navigation
• English, German, Spanish, French, Polish, Russian, and Slovak interfaces

Installation

Flow Launcher Plugin Store

1. Open Flow Launcher.
2. Type pm install QuickSSH.
3. Install the plugin and restart Flow Launcher when prompted.
4. Type ssh.

Manual installation

1. Download QuickSSH.zip from the latest release.
2. Extract it as a single plugin folder inside Flow Launcher's user plugin directory.
3. Restart Flow Launcher.
4. Type ssh.

Requirements

• Windows
• Flow Launcher
• OpenSSH Client (ssh.exe) available in PATH
• ssh-keygen only when generating a new keypair

Quick start

Command	Purpose
ssh	Open the main QuickSSH menu
ssh profiles	Browse, search, connect, or manage saved profiles
ssh actions	Run or manage reusable remote commands
ssh tools	Open SSH keys, shell, and configuration tools
ssh keys	Use or manage SSH key aliases
ssh shell	Select or manage the terminal shell
ssh config	Import hosts from ~/.ssh/config
ssh help	Open this documentation
ssh user@example.com	Start a one-time SSH connection
ssh -p 2222 user@example.com	Start a one-time connection on another port
ssh -i "~/.ssh/private_key" user@example.com	Start a one-time connection with an identity file

QuickSSH commands remain in English in every localized interface. Press Enter on menu rows to navigate or perform the displayed action.

Profiles

Profiles store structured SSH or SCP connection settings. The default guided flow asks for:

1. a profile name,
2. user@host or host,
3. port 22 or another value from 1 to 65535,
4. a saved private key, or SSH agent/configuration.

Port 22 is treated as the default and is not stored explicitly. A selected identity file must exist and be recognized by content as a private SSH key. Public keys are rejected even when the file name does not end in .pub.

Common examples:

ssh profiles add demo-server demo@example.com
ssh profiles add staging admin@192.0.2.10
ssh profiles add custom-port tester@203.0.113.25

For tunnels, SCP, ProxyJump, remote commands, or other advanced options, use the full-command path:

ssh profiles add staging ssh -p 2222 admin@192.0.2.10
ssh profiles add production ssh -i "~/.ssh/private_key" -o IdentitiesOnly=yes deploy@example.com
ssh profiles add tunnel ssh -L 8443:127.0.0.1:443 user@example.com
ssh profiles add internal ssh -J bastion.example.com user@192.0.2.20
ssh profiles add upload scp "C:\example\index.html" user@example.com:/var/www/html/index.html

Manage profiles groups the regular maintenance actions:

• add,
• rename,
• copy SSH command,
• export,
• import,
• remove.

Removal requires confirmation. Rename and add operations never silently overwrite an existing name.

Export and import

ssh profiles export writes a human-readable .sshconfig file to the plugin data directory.

ssh profiles import accepts:

• .sshconfig exports,
• legacy .json profile dictionaries for migration.

Before importing, QuickSSH creates profiles.json.import.bak next to the active database. Existing profile names are skipped rather than overwritten. The result reports imported and skipped counts, and a failed save restores both the previous file and the in-memory state.

Remote actions

Actions are named, reusable single-line commands such as:

hostname
uptime
systemctl status nginx

The normal flow is:

1. choose a saved action,
2. choose an SSH profile,
3. review the action and generated SSH command,
4. run it or copy the command.

Every action execution requires explicit confirmation. QuickSSH does not support disabling confirmation per action. SCP profiles cannot run remote actions.

Action names can be added, renamed, and removed under Manage actions. Action text must be a single line. Null bytes, line breaks, and recognizable private-key payload markers are rejected.

QuickSSH executes user-provided remote commands as entered. Review every command and never store passwords, tokens, private keys, or other secrets in an action.

SSH keys

QuickSSH stores key aliases and file metadata, never private-key content.

Saved key lists identify private and public keys from file content using distinct icons and text labels. Rename and remove views preserve the key type while adding an operation-specific indicator. Missing or unrecognized key files are shown as a fail-closed error state.

Available operations include:

• register an existing private key,
• generate an Ed25519 or RSA 4096 keypair,
• scan ~/.ssh for existing private keys,
• rename or remove a saved alias,
• copy a private-key path,
• copy public-key content,
• install a public key on a remote Linux host.

Generated keypairs are created non-interactively without a passphrase. QuickSSH verifies that both private and public files exist before registering the new key.

Removing a saved key removes only the QuickSSH entry. The key files remain unchanged.

Public-key installation appends the key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys only when it is not already present. It does not transmit private-key content and does not modify sshd_config.

Shells

QuickSSH uses cmd.exe when no custom shell is selected. You can register and select another executable, including optional arguments:

ssh shell add PowerShell pwsh.exe -NoLogo
ssh shell add GitBash "C:\Program Files\Git\bin\bash.exe" --login -i -c
ssh shell add WSL wsl.exe --
ssh shell manage

Quoted executable paths are supported.

A selected custom shell is exclusive. When its definition is invalid, the executable is missing, or startup fails, QuickSSH shows an error and does not retry the command through cmd.exe or another shell. Deselect the custom shell to return to the default.

SSH configuration import

ssh config imports supported hosts from ~/.ssh/config.

Supported fields include:

• HostName
• User
• Port
• IdentityFile
• IdentitiesOnly
• LocalForward
• RemoteForward
• DynamicForward
• ProxyJump
• ProxyCommand

Wildcard entries such as Host * are skipped. Existing profile names are preserved.

Data and portability

QuickSSH stores profiles.json in the Flow Launcher plugin settings directory. The database contains:

• SSH/SCP profiles,
• reusable actions,
• custom shells and the selected shell,
• SSH key aliases and metadata.

Installed and portable Flow Launcher environments therefore keep QuickSSH data in their own settings tree. When the new database does not yet exist, QuickSSH can copy a legacy ~/.ssh/profiles.json once into the active plugin settings directory.

Database writes are atomic. Export and import files are stored in the plugin's data directory.

Search and navigation

• Bare ssh shows Profiles, Actions, Tools, and Help.
• Tools groups SSH keys, shell selection, and SSH config import.
• Direct expert commands such as ssh keys, ssh shell, and ssh config remain available.
• Saved profiles and actions can be filtered by name or displayed text.
• Search is accent-insensitive and supports fuzzy matching.
• Every submenu starts with a Back row.
• Menu icons use consistent semantics: green for saved/run/add operations, orange for rename/edit, red for remove/errors, and blue for navigation or neutral operations.

Command reference

Profiles

Command	Purpose
ssh profiles [filter]	Browse or filter saved profiles
ssh profiles add	Open guided profile creation
ssh profiles manage	Open profile management
ssh profiles rename	Rename a profile
ssh profiles copy	Copy a generated SSH/SCP command
ssh profiles export	Export profiles to .sshconfig
ssh profiles import	Import .sshconfig or legacy .json profiles
ssh profiles remove	Select and confirm profile removal

Actions

Command	Purpose
ssh actions [filter]	Browse or filter saved actions
ssh actions add	Save a new single-line remote command
ssh actions manage	Open action management
ssh actions rename	Rename an action
ssh actions remove	Select and confirm action removal
ssh actions run	Compatibility route: profile first, then action

SSH keys

Command	Purpose
ssh keys	Browse saved keys and key operations
ssh keys install	Install a selected public key remotely
ssh keys manage	Open key management
ssh keys add	Register an existing private key
ssh keys generate	Generate and register a new keypair
ssh keys scan	Find private-key candidates in ~/.ssh
ssh keys rename	Rename a key alias
ssh keys copy-path	Copy a private-key path
ssh keys copy-pub	Copy public-key content
ssh keys remove	Remove only the saved alias

Shell and tools

Command	Purpose
ssh tools	Open keys, shell, and configuration tools
ssh shell	Select a saved shell
ssh shell manage	Open shell management
ssh shell add	Register a shell executable and optional arguments
ssh shell remove	Remove a saved shell entry
ssh config	Import ~/.ssh/config
ssh help	Open documentation

Languages

• English
• German
• Spanish
• French
• Polish
• Russian
• Slovak

Flow Launcher selects the matching interface language from the current locale.

Troubleshooting

OpenSSH client not found

Install the Windows OpenSSH Client optional feature and confirm that ssh.exe is available in PATH.

A key cannot be selected for a profile

QuickSSH accepts only existing files recognized as private SSH keys. Select the corresponding private key rather than a .pub file.

A custom shell does not start

Verify the executable path and arguments. QuickSSH deliberately does not fall back to another shell after a selected-shell failure.

Import files are not listed

Place .sshconfig or legacy .json files in the QuickSSH plugin data directory, then reopen ssh profiles import.

Icons are blank after a manual replacement

Restart Flow Launcher so it reloads the plugin assets.

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome. User-facing behavior changes should include corresponding public README updates.

Release automation

Every Pull Request must carry exactly one release outcome label: release:patch, release:minor, release:major, or skip-release. For same-repository PRs, the release preparation workflow derives the exact next strict SemVer version from the latest tag and updates only plugin.json when a release bump is required.

The build check is required on the current PR SHA. After a release PR is merged, a successful CI run on the exact main commit supplies the publish output to the release workflow. Publishing stops before creating anything when the version does not match the label or when the target tag or release already exists. A new release is first created as a draft, its ZIP hash, embedded manifest version, and tag-to-source binding are verified, and only then is it published as the latest release. Existing release assets are never clobbered.

License

QuickSSH is released under the MIT License.

QuickSSH was inspired by Melv1no/Flow.Launcher.Plugin.easyssh.