SSH2incus web ssh and more

[arthurpro (Arthur)]

The ssh2incus project is excited to announce the release of v0.9, a major milestone that introduces a web-based ssh access to Incus instances.

Overview

SSH2Incus v0.9 transforms how developers and admins interact with Incus by introducing a sleek, intuitive web dashboard alongside the existing command-line interface. This release brings professional-grade instance management capabilities to the browser without sacrificing the power and flexibility that command-line users expect.

Modern Web Dashboard

The new web interface provides a responsive, dark-mode-enabled dashboard for managing Incus instances and access terminal with optional session persistence using tmux or screen.

Web-Based Terminal

Access instance shells directly from the browser with the new terminal emulation:

• xterm.js integration for full terminal support
• Persistent sessions using tmux/screen
• Terminal resizing and interactive command support
• Real-time updates via WebSocket connection
• Automatic package installation for tmux/screen

Instance Creation Wizard

Creating new instances is now as easy as filling out a form. The new 4-step wizard guides users through every configuration option without requiring command-line syntax:

Step 1: Basic Configuration

• Instance name and project selection
• Automatic name uniqueness validation
• Profile selection with merging
• Image selection with searchable dropdown
• Resource allocation (CPU, Memory, Disk)
• Ephemeral toggle

Step 2: Advanced Settings

• Configuration key-value pairs (e.g., security.privileged: true)
• Specialized device editors:
  • Proxy devices with TCP/UDP/Unix socket support and NAT mode
  • Disk devices for mounting volumes and directories
  • Generic devices for other device types
• Device name conflict detection
• Real-time validation with helpful error messages

Step 3: Cloud-Init Configuration

• Code editor with syntax highlighting
• Support for YAML cloud-config and shell scripts
• Auto-detection of bash script via shebang
• Smart warning: Alerts users when selected image doesn’t support cloud-init
• Preloaded cloud-init data from selected profile

Step 4: Review & Create

• Complete configuration summary before creation
• Applied profiles

Download from GitHub

GitHub - mobydeck/ssh2incus: SSH server for Incus instances

Community Feedback

Your feedback is valuable! Please share it via our community board:

• Feature requests for additional functionality
• Bug reports with reproduction steps
• Ideas for improving the user experience
• Comments on the new profile merging behavior

[CodyRobertson]

This looks like a really nice idea. I like the approach of not needing to run an SSH server inside every container or VM and instead handling access from the Incus host itself. That alone can simplify a lot of setups, especially when you’re managing many instances.

The web-based SSH console is a cool addition too. Being able to jump into a container from the browser without extra tooling feels very practical for day-to-day admin work, testing, or quick checks. It also makes Incus feel more accessible for people who don’t want to rely entirely on CLI workflows.

From a security perspective, it does seem important to be careful about how the web UI is exposed. Putting it behind a reverse proxy with proper TLS and auth would definitely be a must if it’s reachable from outside your LAN — similar to how you’d lock things down before routing traffic through external services.

Overall, this feels like a solid evolution of the old ssh2lxd idea, adapted well for Incus. Curious to see how people end up using it long-term and whether it becomes part of more standard Incus setups.

[arthurpro (Arthur)]

We’ve just released ssh2incus v0.10 with a whole lot of little improvements in the web UI and a few new features to simplify instance deletion using ssh. Here are some highlights:

Added

• Instance Removal via SSH: Delete instances using ssh /rm/instance.project@host or ssh /remove/instance.project@host commands
  • Force deletion with /rm-f/ or /remove-force/ to skip confirmation
  • Requires root host user for security
  • Automatically handles ephemeral instance cleanup
  • Shows instance details before confirmation
• Login String Explanation: New /explain/ command decodes complex login strings
  • Example: ssh /explain/root@myinstance.default@host shows parsed components
  • Helps troubleshooting and onboarding

Improved

• Image Selection: Web UI now supports selecting images from local or remote repositories
• OS Detection: Enhanced OS detection for better web UI display of instance information
• Config Viewer: Read-only CodeMirror modal for viewing multi-line configuration values
• Terminal Font: Bundled monospace nerd font for consistent terminal/editor rendering
• Web UI Reliability: Fixed empty instance list display when no containers are running
• NixOS Compatibility: SSH authentication now checks /etc/ssh/authorized_keys.d/<user> in addition to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
• Non-Root Operation: Auto-detects process owner instead of hardcoding “root” as default host user for authentication

[arthurpro (Arthur)]

We’re excited to share what’s coming in the next ssh2incus release in March 2026.

The web interface continues to improve, and you can now manage multiple remote Incus servers from a single ssh2incus instance.

New features include:

New Dashboard — See Incus server statistics, CPU, Memory, Storage utilization.

Secrets Management — Manage secrets for instance creation for use in environment variables and cloud-init scripts.

Instance Lifecycle — Import/export instances locally and to S3.

Config Editor — Create, manage, and test instance setup profiles and cloud-init files. An integrated AI assistant helps you edit or generate cloud-init configurations effortlessly.

Coming soon:

Infrastructure Services — Application Load Balancer (similar to AWS ALB), DNS Server (similar to AWS Route53), and SSL certificate management (similar to AWS ACM).

Best of all, everything runs self-hosted on your own infrastructure.