Tired of manually updating your ~/.ssh/config file every time you spin up a RunPod instance?

runpod_ssh_setup is a simple command-line tool that automates this. It takes the standard SSH connection command provided by RunPod and automatically creates or updates a corresponding Host entry in your SSH configuration file.

This allows you to connect to your pods using a simple alias (e.g., ssh runpod) instead of the full command.

1. Copy the SSH command from the RunPod UI:

   Pods → your pod → Connect → Connection Options → SSH → SSH over exposed TCP

2. Run the tool with your desired host alias:

   runpod_ssh_setup \
     --host runpod \
     --ssh_cmd "ssh [email protected] -p 19090 -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519"

3. The tool adds or updates the entry in ~/.ssh/config:

   Host runpod
      HostName 157.517.221.29
      User root
      Port 19090
      IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
      IdentitiesOnly yes

• --config: Path to your SSH config file (default: ~/.ssh/config).
• --host: The alias to use in the Host <ALIAS> entry (required).
• --disable_host_key_checking: If present, adds lines that disable host key checks.
• --ssh_cmd: Must be in the exact format ssh <USER>@<HOST> -p <PORT> -i <IDENTITY_FILE>, as provided by RunPod.

Adding --disable_host_key_checking inserts the following lines into the Host block:

Host runpod
    ...
    UserKnownHostsFile /dev/null
    StrictHostKeyChecking no

By default, host key checking is enabled.

Security Note: Disabling host key checking can be convenient for frequently changing or ephemeral hosts (such as cloud instances), but it increases the risk of man-in-the-middle attacks. We recommend keeping host key checks enabled in production or untrusted environments.

Using pip:

pip install runpod_ssh_setup

This installs runpod_ssh_setup in your current environment (system-wide or virtualenv).

For a global, isolated install, use pipx (recommended):

pipx install runpod_ssh_setup

If you have Poetry installed:

poetry lock
poetry install

Then run:

poetry run runpod_ssh_setup ...

Or build a wheel and install it via pipx:

poetry build
pipx install dist/runpod_ssh_setup-*.whl

Then you can run runpod_ssh_setup directly.

MIT License