Use hop mcp to list SSH connections first

Who it is for

For people who want an AI assistant to manage server connections: search connections, run commands, check status across projects. hop is also an SSH connection manager, but the MCP path uses hop mcp, not the interactive panel.

It is not a cloud jump host. Connection config lives locally. Official text says Config file location: ~/.config/hop/config.yaml. Do not edit ~/.ssh/config: hop only reads it through hop import.

Official page:

https://github.com/danmartuszewski/hop

First try in 3 minutes

Install the official binary first:

brew install danmartuszewski/tap/hop

Then register MCP. Claude Code: claude mcp add hop -- hop mcp. Codex CLI: codex mcp add hop -- hop mcp. Claude Desktop / Cursor / Windsurf write { "hop": { "command": "hop", "args": ["mcp"] } }. Do not hunt for an installer that does not appear.

Prerequisites: this machine can run brew; do not execute bare hop in a non-interactive session. Official warning: bare hop starts an interactive TUI and will hang. Use subcommands such as hop version and hop list.

Config location: the MCP config of the clients above, plus ~/.config/hop/config.yaml. Official docs do not write a YAML field table.

The first call must use the named tool list_connections. Success: the assistant can list connections (the list may be empty), with no commands run on a remote. An empty list only means nothing has been imported yet, not that hop mcp failed to attach.

Do not treat a connection list as zero risk: it reads the local hop config; later run commands will actually hit servers. Confirm list_connections works before talking about execution.

Use cases

Case 1: confirm MCP tools are reachable. Call list_connections. Official text uses this as the example for "Confirm hop's MCP tools are reachable." It does not give filter or project fields.

Case 2: after connections can be listed, follow official capabilities to search connections or check status across projects. Continuous notes do not give tool function names for those two actions; do not invent them. Running a command is a write: confirm the target connection first, and remember this is not a local simulation. Import existing SSH config only with hop import; do not hand-edit ~/.ssh/config.

Limits

Process boundary: in non-interactive environments, do not run bare hop, or the TUI will hang. Config boundary: the main file is ~/.config/hop/config.yaml; ~/.ssh/config is import-only.

Capability boundary: the named MCP tool is list_connections. search / run commands / check status are mentioned only as capabilities. Official docs do not write a key agent, jump-host fields, or a remote install method.