odysseus-dev/odysseus · error · ValueError

Invalid SSH remote host

Error message

Invalid SSH remote host

What it means

ValueError raised by _ssh_exec_argv while building an ssh command line. The remote specifier is validated for argument-injection: it must be non-empty, must not start with '-', and the host part (after the last '@') must be non-empty and not start with '-'. Any violation raises before ssh is invoked.

Source

Thrown at core/platform_compat.py:374

                        return path
    except Exception:
        pass
    return None


def _ssh_exec_argv(
    remote: str,
    ssh_port: str | None,
    *,
    remote_cmd: str | None = None,
    connect_timeout: int | None = None,
    strict_host_key_checking: bool | None = None,
) -> list[str]:
    """Build a consistent ssh argv for remote command execution."""
    remote_value = str(remote or "").strip()
    remote_host = remote_value.rsplit("@", 1)[-1]
    if not remote_value or remote_value.startswith("-") or not remote_host or remote_host.startswith("-"):
        raise ValueError("Invalid SSH remote host")
    argv = ["ssh"]
    if connect_timeout is not None:
        argv.extend(["-o", f"ConnectTimeout={int(connect_timeout)}"])
    if strict_host_key_checking is not None:
        argv.extend(
            [
                "-o",
                "StrictHostKeyChecking=yes"
                if strict_host_key_checking
                else "StrictHostKeyChecking=no",
            ]
        )
    if ssh_port and ssh_port != "22":
        argv.extend(["-p", str(ssh_port)])
    argv.append(remote)
    if remote_cmd is not None:
        argv.append(remote_cmd)
    return argv

View on GitHub (pinned to f9235ebbf1)

Solutions

1. Set the remote to a well-formed 'user@host' or 'host' string
2. Strip whitespace and reject leading '-' in the config/UI before calling
3. Quote nothing — this is argv-based; just avoid dashes at the start of the host
4. If the host genuinely starts with a digit-letter name, ensure no leading '-' or use an ssh config alias

Example fix

# before
remote = cfg.get('ssh_remote', '')  # '' passes into _ssh_exec_argv → ValueError
# after
remote = (cfg.get('ssh_remote') or '').strip()
if not remote or remote.startswith('-'):
    raise ValueError('SSH remote must be set to user@host')

def is_valid_ssh_remote(remote: str) -> bool:
    v = str(remote or '').strip()
    host = v.rsplit('@', 1)[-1]
    return bool(v) and not v.startswith('-') and bool(host) and not host.startswith('-')

try:
    argv = _ssh_exec_argv(remote, ssh_port)
except ValueError:
    raise ConfigError(f'SSH remote {remote!r} is invalid — use user@host') from None

When it happens

Trigger: Passing remote='' or whitespace-only, a remote like '-oProxyCommand=...', 'user@-something', or '@hostwithemptyparts' (e.g. 'user@' or '@-flag') to any SSH remote-execution feature built on this helper.

Common situations: Empty SSH remote field in settings; user-entered remote beginning with a dash (treated as an ssh option); malformed user@host strings from config parsing; CI env vars with stray characters.

Related errors

• HTTP ${res.status}${body ? ': ' + body.slice(0, 160) : ''}
• Invalid remote_host — must be host or user@host, no SSH opti
• Invalid ssh_port
• Invalid local_dir — path segments cannot start with '-'
• Invalid pip package name

AI-assisted analysis of odysseus-dev/odysseus@f9235ebbf1 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ddb576d36a430093. Report an issue: GitHub.