ssh-client

Recipe card from the charly-infrastructure plugin (Images — the deployable catalog).

ssh-client – OpenSSH client tools

Candy Properties

Property	Value
Install files	`charly.yml` (packages only)

Packages

RPM: openssh-clients · PAC: openssh · DEB: openssh-client (singular — Debian splits client/server, unlike Arch’s unified openssh).

Note: On Arch Linux, openssh is a single package that includes both client and server. The sshd candy also installs this package but adds a systemd service and opens port 22. On Debian/Ubuntu, openssh-client ships only the client tools; openssh-server is a separate package installed by the sshd candy.

Usage

my-image:
  candy:
    - ssh-client

Typically used as part of the agent-forwarding composition candy rather than directly. Use the sshd candy instead if you need an SSH server.

Runtime Behavior

Provides ssh, ssh-add, ssh-keygen, ssh-agent, scp, sftp binaries. When combined with SSH agent forwarding (charly shell, charly start direct mode), the container’s SSH commands use the host’s SSH agent via a forwarded socket at /run/host-ssh-auth.sock.

No SSH agent runs inside the container — the SSH_AUTH_SOCK environment variable points to the forwarded host socket.

Used In Boxes

Part of agent-forwarding composition candy, used in 27 application boxes.

/charly-distros:agent-forwarding – metalayer that includes gnupg + direnv + ssh-client
/charly-coder:sshd – SSH server + client (includes systemd service, port 22)
/charly-coder:gh – GitHub CLI + git (uses SSH for git operations)

When to Use This Skill

Use when the user asks about:

SSH client tools inside containers
SSH agent forwarding
The ssh-client candy
The difference between ssh-client and sshd candies

/charly-image:layer — candy authoring reference (charly.yml schema, task verbs, service declarations)
/charly-check:check — declarative testing (check: block, charly check box, charly check live)