Install assh with Homebrew, MacPorts, Nix

Project links

• Homepage
• Repository
• Upstream docs
• Package manager page

Commands and aliases

• assh

Project history

The public GitHub repository dates to 2011 and the official project page describes the rename from Advanced SSH Config to assh. The README frames the tool as a transparent wrapper around SSH: lib-ssh uses assh as a ProxyCommand, so the generated behavior works through normal ssh, scp, rsync, git, and desktop tools that rely on SSH rather than through a separate protocol stack.

The project grew around pain points in large SSH estates: gateway chaining, dynamic hostnames, inherited host templates, generated known-host entries, and automatic regeneration of ~/.ssh/config. Its README also notes that OpenSSH 7.3 later gained native Include support, which is useful context for package maintainers because some early assh value moved into the base OpenSSH feature set while assh kept broader YAML/gateway/template behavior.

Adoption history

assh sits in the package-manager culture of personal infrastructure tools: the supplied Homebrew facts also list MacPorts and Nix packaging. Its README and project page emphasize integration with standard SSH consumers rather than a new client, which made it useful to developers and operators who wanted one enriched configuration layer to affect many existing commands.

How it is used

Typical use starts with ~/.ssh/assh.yml, optional split files under ~/.ssh/assh.d/*.yml, and generated ~/.ssh/config output. Package users mostly care about the executable because it can build or refresh OpenSSH config, graph the host topology, manage sockets, and let normal ssh invocations resolve aliases and gateway chains.

Why package nerds care

For package nerds, assh is an example of a small Unix-style wrapper with outsized workflow impact: it compiles declarative YAML into OpenSSH-native config, keeps compatibility with existing SSH tooling, and exposes enough introspection output to make SSH inventories scriptable. Its config-path defaults are also important because installing the package can affect a user's core ~/.ssh/config workflow.

Timeline

• 2011: moul/assh repository created on GitHub.
• 2016: OpenSSH 7.3 added native Include support, later noted in assh's README as overlapping with one assh configuration feature.
• 2026: GitHub repository metadata showed continued activity and the README still documented assh as an SSH wrapper/config generator.

Related projects

• OpenSSH provides the ssh client, ~/.ssh/config, and ProxyCommand behavior that assh generates around.
• Graphviz is used by assh for host graph output.
• Other SSH inventory and config-management tools overlap with assh's generated-configuration use case, but assh's official docs emphasize staying compatible with ssh, scp, rsync, git, and lib-ssh consumers.

Sources

• https://api.github.com/repos/moul/assh
• https://github.com/moul/assh#readme
• https://v1.manfred.life/assh
• source_facts.package-manager