Let your AI on your server without handing it your SSH key
The quick way to give Claude or Cursor a server is an SSH MCP server: it runs on your machine, holds your key, and passes every command straight to a shell. That works, until it does not. SudoWhizzy puts a gate between the AI and root.
Side by side
| SSH MCP servers | SudoWhizzy | |
|---|---|---|
| Access to the server | Your SSH key or password, stored where the MCP server runs | An agent that dials out; no key or password is stored anywhere |
| Open ports | SSH must be reachable from where the MCP server runs | None; the agent calls out over HTTPS |
| What the AI may run | Anything the SSH user can | Every call sorted by risk; destructive ones wait for your approval |
| Approvals | Your AI client's own confirm button, if you keep it on | Signed in on sudowhizzy.com, run once, exact arguments only, so planted text cannot approve |
| Undo | Whatever you set up yourself | /etc saved before changes, overwritten files kept, snapshots and rollback |
| Record | Your terminal scrollback | Every call logged with risk level, result and source address |
| Long jobs | Tied to the tool call; long installs can time out | Background jobs that survive the chat closing |
| Sites and databases | Raw shell only | Magento, WordPress and database tools that keep passwords on the server |
| Clients | Usually one machine's local client | One remote address for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and Claude Code |
SSH MCP servers is the better choice when
- A throwaway test box where nothing can go wrong.
- You want to run everything on your own machine and accept the risk.
- You read every command before you click confirm.
SudoWhizzy is the better choice when
- The server runs something that matters: a shop, client sites, production.
- You do not want an SSH key to production sitting in an AI tool's config.
- You want destructive commands to wait for you, even when you stop paying attention.
- You want to undo changes and see later exactly what happened.
- You use more than one AI client, or more than one machine.
Can I use both?
You can, but there is little reason to: SudoWhizzy covers the shell access an SSH MCP server gives, and adds the safety around it. Moving over is a matter of installing the agent and swapping the MCP address in your client.
Questions
Is SudoWhizzy open source?
No. It is a hosted service with a small agent on your server. That is what makes approvals possible that the AI cannot fake: they happen on sudowhizzy.com, where you are signed in and the AI is not.
Can't my AI client's confirm button do the same job?
It helps, but it is one click in the same window the AI works in, it is easy to switch to always allow, and it sees only the command, not its risk. SudoWhizzy's approvals happen outside the chat, for destructive actions only, so routine work stays fast.
What does SudoWhizzy see?
The tool calls your AI sends and their results, which is what lets it log and gate them. It does not see your conversation with the AI, and never holds a key to your server.
Does it work with Claude Code in the terminal?
Yes. One command adds it: claude mcp add --transport http sudowhizzy followed by your address.
What people ask their AI to do
MagentoWordPressVPS setupServer hardeningMalware cleanupServer migration
Other comparisons: SudoWhizzy vs cPanel, SudoWhizzy vs Plesk.
See it on your own server
Start free with one server in read-only mode. Your AI can look, explain and diagnose, and cannot change a thing until you upgrade.
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