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connect

crabbox connect resolves a lease and opens an interactive SSH session to it. It accepts the same provider, target, and network resolution flags as crabbox ssh, but runs the local ssh client directly instead of printing a command string.

crabbox connect swift-crab
crabbox connect --id swift-crab --network tailscale
crabbox connect --provider ssh --target macos --static-host mac-studio.local

The first positional argument is treated as the lease id or slug, so crabbox connect swift-crab is equivalent to crabbox connect --id swift-crab.

What it opens

The command uses the resolved SSH target directly: host, user, port, per-lease private key, optional certificate, optional provider ProxyCommand, host-key policy, and connection keepalives. It does not pass through a shell and does not print token-based SSH auth material.

crabbox connect touches the lease as a side effect. Opening an interactive session signals intended manual use, so the lease's idle timer is refreshed and the local repo claim is validated. While the SSH process is running, Crabbox keeps coordinator-backed leases heartbeating and marks direct-provider leases running/ready where supported. Pass --reclaim when you are intentionally taking over a lease that is claimed by another repo checkout.

Network selection

The --network flag controls which path to the box the SSH session targets:

  • auto (default) prefers the tailnet host when the lease carries Tailscale metadata and this client can reach it, otherwise falls back to the public provider host.
  • tailscale requires the tailnet path and fails if it is unavailable.
  • public always uses the provider's public host.

Provider-specific behavior

crabbox connect works for any provider that exposes an SSH-reachable box. A few providers resolve access lazily or wrap the connection:

  • provider=ssh (aliases static, static-ssh) resolves the configured static target from --static-host/--static-user/--static-port (or the matching config keys / CRABBOX_STATIC_HOST) instead of a leased machine.
  • Token-as-username providers are rejected by connect because safely handing their secret username to every supported OpenSSH client is not portable. Use crabbox ssh --show-secret in a trusted terminal.
  • Proxy-based providers pass the provider ProxyCommand directly to ssh.
  • Provider-routed direct providers accept the same provider-specific routing flags here as status, stop, and ssh; for example --kubevirt-context or --external-routing-file can select the exact lease backend when config defaults are not enough.

Flags

--id <lease-id-or-slug>     Lease to resolve (also accepted as the first argument).
--provider <name>           Provider to resolve against (default from config).
--target linux|macos|windows
--windows-mode normal|wsl2
--static-host <host>        Static target host (provider=ssh).
--static-user <user>        Static target user (provider=ssh).
--static-port <port>        Static target SSH port (provider=ssh).
--static-work-root <path>   Static target work root (provider=ssh).
--local-container-runtime <path-or-name>
                              Local container CLI override (provider=local-container).
--network auto|tailscale|public
--reclaim                   Claim this lease for the current repo before touching it.

--provider accepts any provider that supports SSH access; run crabbox providers to see the available set and their capabilities.

See also