Configuration

Bayesian SSH provides sensible defaults out of the box. You can customize global settings such as default users, default ports, jump hosts, and authentication methods using the bssh config command.

View current settings

Run bssh config without arguments to display your active configuration:

bssh config

The output shows current settings: default user, bastion, bastion user, port, Kerberos default, log level, search mode, session recording, prediction, and working directory capture.

Set default values

Update one or more settings by passing flags to bssh config:

bssh config --default-user deploy --default-port 2222

When you add a new connection with bssh add, omitting --user or --port applies these configured defaults.

Configure a default bastion

If your infrastructure routes connections through a central jump host, configure a default bastion:

bssh config --default-bastion bastion.example.com --default-bastion-user jump

New connections created with bssh add will route through this bastion by default. To create a direct connection that bypasses the default bastion, pass --no-bastion when adding the host:

bssh add web-direct 192.168.1.50 --no-bastion

To remove the default bastion and route new connections directly:

bssh config --clear-bastion

Kerberos authentication

If your network relies on Kerberos or GSSAPI tickets (such as FreeIPA or Active Directory), enable Kerberos by default:

bssh config --use-kerberos true

New connections will attempt Kerberos authentication automatically. To turn it off by default, run bssh config --use-kerberos false.

Search mode

Bayesian SSH supports two search ranking modes:

bssh config --search-mode bayesian

• bayesian: Combines match quality with usage frequency and recency. This is the default.
• fuzzy: Standard substring matching without history weighting.

Configuration file

Configuration is stored per environment in ~/.config/bayesian-ssh/environments/<env>/config.json (using ~/.config/bayesian-ssh/environments/default/config.json for the default environment). For environment variables, file locations, and an exhaustive list of all configuration fields, see the configuration reference.

Next steps

Quick startAdd a host and connect in two minutes.

Bastion hostsSet up jump hosts, chaining, and interactive bastions.

AuthenticationManage SSH keys, ssh-agent, and Kerberos.

Configuration referenceComplete reference for all settings, files, and environment variables.