DMS SSH Plus

A DankMaterialShell launcher plugin for SSH that remembers the hosts you actually connect to. Type ssh: in the launcher to connect to any host, and the plugin records the ones that connect successfully with their last-used time and connection count.

Features

• ssh: <host> connects to any host, including ones never seen before.
• Successful connections are recorded automatically — the plugin runs a quick BatchMode check first, so typos and unreachable hosts are not saved.
• Each recorded host shows its last connection time and connection count.
• Sort recorded hosts by most frequent (default) or most recent connection.
• Remove hosts with ssh: rm <host>, or right-click/Tab a host in the results and choose Remove from history.
• ssh: clear wipes all recorded hosts.
• When enabled and available, SSH sessions run in a transient systemd user scope, so restarting DMS does not kill them; otherwise the plugin falls back to a detached launch.

Requirements

• DankMaterialShell >= 1.5.0 (uses the plugin state API)
• ssh
• A terminal binary with -e support; ghostty is only the fallback default
• systemd-run (optional; the plugin falls back to a plain detached launch)

Install

./install.sh
dms ipc call plugins reload sshPlus

install.sh is the development install: it creates a symlink from the DMS plugins directory to this checkout. For a pinned deployment, copy or version-pin the repository into the plugin directory yourself and update that deployment separately. The script refuses to replace an existing real plugin directory, so it cannot overwrite a pinned copy. The live deployment used for the observations below is a manually pinned/copy deployment, not the development symlink.

Usage

Query	Result
ssh:	Recorded hosts, most frequent first
ssh: web	Filtered recorded hosts matching web
ssh: host.example	"SSH to: host.example" — connect and record on success
ssh: rm host.example	Remove a host from history
ssh: clear	Remove all recorded hosts

When the check confirms the host is reachable, it is recorded and the terminal opens with ssh <host>. Key-based logins record because authentication succeeded; password logins record because the probe reached a real SSH server (after all, BatchMode can never satisfy a password prompt). Typos and unreachable hosts are not recorded. If the check fails the terminal still opens. Disable the check in settings to record every launch attempt.

Hosts are stored in ~/.local/state/DankMaterialShell/plugins/sshPlus_state.json via the DMS state API.

Settings

• Trigger Prefix — launcher trigger (default ssh:)
• Terminal — terminal binary used to host the session
• SSH Command — binary used to connect
• Sort Recorded Hosts — Most frequent (default) or Most recent
• Verify Before Recording — run the BatchMode success check
• Connect Timeout — seconds allowed for the success check
• Maximum Recorded Hosts — cap on the history size
• Launch in Systemd Scope — keep sessions alive across DMS restarts

Validation status

The implemented plugin was observed running under DMS 1.5.3 on 2026-08-18: sshPlus loaded, the state file contained one host, the current boot loaded the plugin cleanly, and journal evidence showed launches through systemd user scopes. The deployed pinned/copy directory matched this checkout at the time of those observations.

Those observations cover startup and ordinary use. They are not a fresh test of surviving a deliberately triggered DMS restart, every probe failure classification, or interactive password authentication. Run ./scripts/check for deterministic repository validation; it checks manifest structure and paths, shell syntax, and diff whitespace. It does not provide QML semantic or live DMS validation. When a DMS/Quickshell import environment is available, run qmllint on both QML files separately.

See docs/DESIGN.md for the design rationale.