---
id: robotframework-sshlibrary
version: "3.8.0"
license: Apache License 2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# robotframework-sshlibrary — Robot Framework test library for SSH and SFTP

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 289.7K/mo

## What it is and what it does

robotframework-sshlibrary is a test library that extends Robot Framework with keywords for SSH and SFTP operations. It lets you write automated tests that connect to remote machines, execute commands, read and write interactive shell sessions, and transfer files over SFTP—all through Robot Framework's keyword-driven syntax. The library handles connection management and provides low-level keywords that are typically wrapped in higher-level test keywords for clarity.

The package depends on paramiko for SSH protocol support and scp for file transfers. Installation via pip automatically pulls in these dependencies along with cryptographic libraries. On containerized systems, you must pre-install system build tools. The library supports Python 2.7 and 3.4 or newer, and also runs on Jython 2.7 (with additional JAR setup).

Use it for:

- Automated testing of remote server configurations and deployments by executing shell commands and verifying output
- Transferring test data files to remote machines or retrieving results over SFTP as part of test setup and teardown
- Writing integration tests that interact with remote systems via SSH, such as verifying service status or log contents
- Automating multi-step SSH sessions with interactive shell commands for complex remote operations
- Building end-to-end test suites that validate infrastructure or application behavior across distributed systems

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

A Robot Framework test library for executing commands, transferring files, and managing interactive shells over SSH and SFTP connections.

Yes, if you are already using Robot Framework for test automation and need SSH/SFTP capabilities. The library is stable (Production/Stable status), permissively licensed, and has no known vulnerabilities. However, the last release was 2021-11-18—check whether your use case aligns with the library's current state despite active repository status. Installation requires system-level build dependencies in containerized environments.

## Install

pip install robotframework-sshlibrary
uv add robotframework-sshlibrary
poetry add robotframework-sshlibrary

## Installing robotframework-sshlibrary

Before you install: Installation requires system-level dependencies (gcc, make, openssl-dev, musl-dev, libffi-dev on Alpine/containers) and pulls in paramiko and scp as runtime dependencies. Last release was 2021-11-18, though the repository remains active with recent commits as of 2026-07-09.

License in practice: Licensed under Apache License 2.0 (permissive), allowing use in commercial and proprietary projects with minimal restrictions.

Quickstart:

pip install robotframework-sshlibrary

# In Robot Framework test file:
*** Settings ***
Library    SSHLibrary

*** Test Cases ***
Execute Remote Command
    Open Connection    hostname
    Login    username    password
    ${output}=    Execute Command    echo test
    Close All Connections

Requires system libraries (gcc, make, openssl-dev, musl-dev, libffi-dev) when installing in containers like Alpine Linux. On Windows with Python < 3.0, requires win_inet_pton >= 1.1.0. For SSH tunnels, requires robotbackgroundlogger > 1.2.

Verify before relying:

- Whether paramiko >= 1.15.3 and scp >= 0.13.0 are automatically installed and pinned by pip install
- Current compatibility with Python versions beyond 3.8 (classifiers list only up to 3.8)
- Whether the gap between last release (2021-11-18) and recent commits (2026-07-09) indicates active maintenance or stalled development

## Package facts

- License: Apache License 2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: unspecified
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 289.7K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

robot framework ssh testing, sftp file transfer automation, remote command execution testing, ssh test library, robot framework remote shell, automated ssh connections, sftp automation framework, robot-framework, ssh-sftp, test-automation

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