SSH Connections

SSH is Knot's core entry point. Save a server alias with knot add, then open an interactive SSH session with knot ssh [alias]. The background daemon keeps reusable connections alive so later exec, sftp, cp, and forwarding operations can reuse the same connection path.

knot ssh

knot ssh [alias]

Argument	Required	Description
[alias]	Yes	Server alias to connect to.

Example:

knot ssh web-prod

Shortcut

When the root command receives an unknown first argument, it treats it as a server alias and rewrites the invocation to knot ssh [alias]:

knot web-prod

Equivalent to:

knot ssh web-prod

To avoid ambiguity, shortcut aliases cannot match built-in commands and cannot contain whitespace, path separators, or common shell metacharacters.

Command Broadcast

Interactive SSH sessions can join a daemon-local broadcast group. Input typed in one active member is forwarded to the other active members in the same group:

knot ssh web-1 --broadcast cloud
knot web-2 --broadcast cloud

Use knot broadcast list and knot broadcast show cloud to inspect groups. knot broadcast pause, resume, leave, and disband manage existing sessions without closing the SSH connection.

Session-local escape controls are disabled by default. Enable them for one connection with --escape, set a custom one-character prefix with --escape %, or force them off with --escape none:

knot ssh web-1 --broadcast cloud --escape
knot ssh web-1 --broadcast cloud --escape %
knot ssh web-1 --broadcast cloud --escape none

The global settings broadcast_escape_enable and broadcast_escape_char control the default for SSH sessions started with --broadcast. Command-line --escape always has priority over the global settings. Plain knot ssh [alias] sessions do not enable broadcast escapes from the global settings. When escape controls are enabled, Knot prints the available local shortcuts after connecting.

Add a Server

knot add [alias] [flags]

Flag	Type	Default	Description
-H, --host	string	empty	Server host name or IP address.
-P, --port	int	22	SSH port.
-u, --user	string	empty	SSH username.
-p, --password	string	empty	SSH password. Prefer interactive input when possible.
-k, --key	string	empty	Managed key alias to use for key authentication.
--auth-method	string	empty	Authentication method: password, key, or agent.
--known-hosts	string	empty	Known hosts file path for this server.
-J, --jump-host	string	empty	Comma-separated jump host alias chain.
--proxy	string	empty	Managed proxy alias.
-t, --tags	string	empty	Comma-separated server tags.

Examples:

knot add web-prod --host 1.2.3.4 --user deploy --key deploy-key --tags prod
knot add db --host 10.0.0.5 --user root --jump-host bastion

When host and user are provided, the command runs non-interactively. Otherwise it starts a guided prompt.

Edit a Server

knot edit [alias] [flags]

Most options match knot add, with these common edit-specific operations:

Flag	Description
--alias	Rename the server alias.
-J, --jump-host	Set jump hosts. Passing an explicitly changed empty value clears them.
--proxy	Set a managed proxy. Passing an explicitly changed empty value clears it.
-t, --tags	Set tags. Passing an explicitly changed empty value clears them.

Examples:

knot edit web-prod --host 1.2.3.5
knot edit web-prod --alias web-blue --tags prod,blue

If no edit flags are provided, Knot opens an interactive editor.

List and Remove Servers

knot list [pattern]
knot remove [alias]

knot list has the alias knot ls and can filter by alias, user, host, or tags with case-insensitive matching.

knot remove has the aliases knot rm and knot delete.

knot list prod
knot rm old-host

Jump Hosts and Proxy

Server profiles can describe both jump hosts and proxy paths:

knot add app --host 10.0.1.20 --user deploy --jump-host bastion --proxy corp

• --jump-host references existing server aliases. Multiple jump hosts are comma-separated.
• --proxy references a managed proxy from Proxy.