What causes "Unsafe SSH key path: must not start with a dash ("${keyPath}")." in NousResearch/hermes-agent?

Use a proper absolute path to the key file, e.g. /home/user/.ssh/id_ed25519.

NousResearch/hermes-agent · error · Error

Unsafe SSH key path: must not start with a dash ("${keyPath}

Error message

Unsafe SSH key path: must not start with a dash ("${keyPath}").

What it means

Thrown by validateKeyPath() when the SSH key path starts with a dash. Since the path is passed as an -i argument to ssh, a leading dash would let it be parsed as an option flag, so it is rejected as an argument-injection hazard.

Source

Thrown at apps/desktop/electron/ssh-connection.ts:85

  const p = Number(port)

  if (!Number.isInteger(p) || p < 1 || p > 65535) {
    throw new Error(`Unsafe SSH port: ${port} (must be 1-65535).`)
  }
}

function validateKeyPath(keyPath) {
  if (!keyPath) {
    return
  }

  if (_CONTROL_CHAR_RE.test(keyPath)) {
    throw new Error('Unsafe SSH key path: contains control characters.')
  }

  if (keyPath.startsWith('-')) {
    throw new Error(`Unsafe SSH key path: must not start with a dash ("${keyPath}").`)
  }
}

// Token / secret redaction

const _REDACTIONS: Array<[RegExp, string]> = [
  [/(HERMES_DASHBOARD_SESSION_TOKEN=)(\S+)/g, '$1<redacted>'],
  [/(X-Hermes-Session-Token["']?\s*[:=]\s*["']?)([^\s"'&]+)/gi, '$1<redacted>'],
  [/(Authorization["']?\s*:\s*Bearer\s+)(\S+)/gi, '$1<redacted>'],
  [/([?&](?:token|ticket)=)([^\s&"']+)/gi, '$1<redacted>']
]

function redactSecrets(text) {
  let out = String(text == null ? '' : text)

  for (const [re, repl] of _REDACTIONS) {
    out = out.replace(re, repl)
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to c896c09c42)

Solutions

Use a proper absolute path to the key file, e.g. /home/user/.ssh/id_ed25519.
Fix the upstream bug that produced a leading-dash path string.
Validate at config save: reject keyPath.startsWith('-').

Example fix

// before
new SshConnection({ host, keyPath: '-i /home/me/.ssh/id' })

// after
new SshConnection({ host, keyPath: '/home/me/.ssh/id_ed25519' })

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (keyPath && typeof keyPath === 'string' && keyPath.startsWith('-')) {
  rejectConfig('SSH key path must be an absolute path, not an option-like string')
}

Type guard

function isDashSafeKeyPath(k: unknown): k is string {
  return typeof k === 'string' && !k.startsWith('-')
}

Try / catch

try {
  validateKeyPath(keyPath)
} catch (e) {
  if (e instanceof Error && e.message.includes('key path: must not start with a dash')) {
    invalidateRemoteConfig('key path field contains an ssh-flag-like value')
    return
  }
  throw e
}

Prevention

Use a file picker or path.normalize on user input for key paths.
Accept only absolute paths for keyPath in the settings UI.
Do not let users paste full ssh -i command fragments into config fields.

When it happens

Trigger: cfg.keyPath beginning with '-', e.g. '-oProxyCommand=...' or a malformed path like '-keys/id_rsa'.

Common situations: User pastes an ssh option into the key path field; a path-joining bug producing '-' + segment; crafted config input.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of NousResearch/hermes-agent@c896c09c42 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/c18a71c2676ecbc5. Report an issue: GitHub.