About

About

This project is used to connect to network devices, initally over SSH and apply config or return data.

The goal is to abstract the nuances of handling this process across multiple network vendors and linux/bsd hosts.

Documentation

• Always update the README.md file with relevant information based on the changes made in code.

Project Structure

• lib_sshinto - Library functionality for project.
• sshinto - CLI utility crate.
• models - Shared data models.
• test-specs/ - Test specifications for every supported device type (see below).

Guidelines

• Never use .unwrap() except in tests.
• Prefer the gh CLI for all git and GitHub actions (commits, pushes, pull requests, etc.) over raw git commands.

Test Specifications (test-specs/)

The test-specs/ directory contains a mandatory test specification for every device type defined in models::DeviceKind. These specs exist to ensure consistent, verifiable behaviour across all supported platforms and to give clear acceptance criteria when a new device type is added or an existing one is modified.

Structure

test-specs/
  lab-devices.md     # Current lab host for each device type — edit this, not the spec files
  common.md          # Cases that every device type must satisfy
  cisco_ios.md       # Device-specific cases for cisco_ios
  cisco_iosxr.md
  cisco_nxos.md
  juniper_junos.md
  arista_eos.md
  nokia_srlinux.md
  mikrotik_ros.md
  aruba_aos.md
  cumulus_linux.md
  sonic_linux.md
  linux.md

common.md defines six baseline test cases (connectivity, single command, multiple commands, SCP upload, paging, invalid command handling) that apply to every device type without exception. Each device-specific file extends these with cases that target platform-specific behaviour such as privileged mode entry, prompt format variants, and pager commands.

Rules

1. Every DeviceKind variant must have a spec file. When adding a new device type to models::DeviceKind, create a corresponding test-specs/<device_type>.md file before merging.

2. All common cases must pass. The six cases in common.md are the minimum bar. A device type is not considered complete until all six pass against a real device.

3. Run specs against lab devices before merging. Consult test-specs/lab-devices.md for the current host assigned to each type. If none is listed, document this and test as soon as a device becomes available.

   Before running tests, copy sherpa_ssh_config to ~/.ssh/config and remove any ProxyJump lines from it (they are only needed when accessing the lab from outside the local network). The sshinto binary does not read SSH config directly, but the file must be clean for any underlying SSH operations to resolve correctly.

4. Update the spec when behaviour changes. If a bug fix or new feature changes how a device is handled, update the affected spec file in the same PR.