csshx

This repository contains two related cluster-SSH tools:

	path	language	platform
Original csshX (Gavin Brock's 2011 release)	csshX	Perl 5	macOS only
csshx-latest — modern rewrite	csshx-latest/	Python 3.10+ (stdlib only)	macOS / Linux

If you want the classic, terminal-coupled, Perl version of csshX, run ./csshX --man. The historical install/usage notes live in README.txt.

The rest of this file is a quick-start for the new csshx-latest/ rewrite. For the full architecture diagram, backend support matrix, and design notes, see csshx-latest/README.md.

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csshx-latest — quick start

A modern, terminal-agnostic cluster-SSH tool. PTY end-to-end (no TIOCSTI), with pluggable backends for WaveTerm, tmux, iTerm2, Terminal.app, Kitty, WezTerm, and a Manual fallback that prints attach commands you can paste into any terminal.

Install

cd csshx-latest/
python3 -m venv .venv && source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e '.[test]'

Or with uv:

cd csshx-latest/
uv venv && uv pip install -e '.[test]'

Run

csshx-latest web01 web02 web03
csshx-latest --launcher tmux web0{1..5}
csshx-latest --login deploy --ssh-args "-i ~/.ssh/cluster_key" host1 host2
csshx-latest --launcher manual host1 host2   # prints attach commands

Type in the master TUI to broadcast to every host at once. Click any host's terminal block to type to just that host. Press Ctrl-Q to exit.

--launcher choices: auto (default), waveterm, tmux, iterm2, terminal, kitty, wezterm, manual. With auto, csshx-latest auto-detects via $TERM_PROGRAM, $KITTY_PID, $TMUX, etc., and falls back to manual if it doesn't recognize the environment (no surprise tmux sessions).

Tests

cd csshx-latest/
pytest -q

The package itself is Unix-only (uses pty, termios, tty, fcntl); tests assume a Unix-like host.

License

The original Perl csshX is released under the same terms as Perl itself (Artistic + GPL — see README.txt). The csshx-latest/ rewrite is MIT.