diff --git a/pyproject.toml b/pyproject.toml
index 344eb54..854525f 100644
--- a/pyproject.toml
+++ b/pyproject.toml
@@ -49,6 +49,12 @@ dev = [
 # is already a core dependency. Without this the provider is offered in the
 # admin UI with an install hint rather than silently missing.
 search = ["ddgs>=9.0"]
+# Agent chats, which run their commands on a machine reached over SSH. Optional
+# on the same terms as `search`: an instance that never turns agents on should
+# not carry the dependency, and one that does gets told how to install it rather
+# than finding the feature silently missing. `bcrypt` is what decrypts a
+# passphrase-protected OpenSSH key -- without it, pasting one fails opaquely.
+ssh = ["asyncssh[bcrypt]>=2.14"]
 
 [project.scripts]
 lembas = "lembas.cli:app"
diff --git a/src/lembas/api/admin_agents.py b/src/lembas/api/admin_agents.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d86ee84
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/api/admin_agents.py
@@ -0,0 +1,91 @@
+"""Whether agent chats exist here at all, and what they may spend.
+
+An administrator's half of the feature. The other half -- which machines, whose
+credentials -- belongs to whoever owns them and lives at `/agents`.
+
+Nothing here is about isolation, because there is none to configure: commands
+run on a host somebody chose, and its containment is that host's. The settings
+are budgets, and the two lists that decide what a mode asks about.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Form, Request, Response, status
+from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse
+from sqlalchemy import func, select
+
+from lembas.api.deps import AdminUser, Db
+from lembas.db.models import SshProfile
+from lembas.services import settings_store
+from lembas.services.agent import policy
+from lembas.services.agent import ssh as ssh_service
+from lembas.web.templating import render
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+router = APIRouter(prefix="/admin/agents", tags=["admin-agents"])
+
+
+def _lines(text: str) -> list[str]:
+    """One pattern per line, blanks dropped."""
+    return [line.strip() for line in (text or "").splitlines() if line.strip()]
+
+
+@router.get("")
+async def agents_page(request: Request, db: Db, user: AdminUser, saved: bool = False):
+    values = settings_store.agents(db)
+    return render(
+        request,
+        "admin/agents.html",
+        {
+            "values": values,
+            "allow_text": "\n".join(values.get("allow_default") or []),
+            "deny_text": "\n".join(values.get("deny_default") or []),
+            "problem": ssh_service.available(),
+            "profile_count": db.scalar(select(func.count()).select_from(SshProfile)) or 0,
+            "modes": [(m, policy.MODE_LABELS[m], policy.MODE_HINTS[m]) for m in policy.MODES],
+            "saved": saved,
+        },
+    )
+
+
+@router.post("")
+async def save_agents(
+    db: Db,
+    user: AdminUser,
+    enabled: bool = Form(False),
+    default_timeout: int = Form(60),
+    max_timeout: int = Form(600),
+    max_output_bytes: int = Form(64 * 1024),
+    max_steps: int = Form(40),
+    max_wall_seconds: int = Form(900),
+    max_total_output_bytes: int = Form(1024 * 1024),
+    approval_timeout: int = Form(900),
+    allow_default: str = Form(""),
+    deny_default: str = Form(""),
+    ask_free_text: bool = Form(False),
+) -> Response:
+    settings_store.update(
+        db,
+        {
+            "enabled": enabled,
+            # Clamped here as well as on read. A number with no bound is a way
+            # to break the instance from a form, which is the same reasoning
+            # the search settings carry.
+            "default_timeout": min(max(default_timeout, 1), 3600),
+            "max_timeout": min(max(max_timeout, 1), 3600),
+            "max_output_bytes": min(max(max_output_bytes, 1024), 1024 * 1024),
+            "max_steps": min(max(max_steps, 1), 200),
+            "max_wall_seconds": min(max(max_wall_seconds, 30), 7200),
+            "max_total_output_bytes": min(max(max_total_output_bytes, 4096), 8 * 1024 * 1024),
+            "approval_timeout": min(max(approval_timeout, 60), 3600),
+            "allow_default": _lines(allow_default),
+            "deny_default": _lines(deny_default),
+            "ask_free_text": ask_free_text,
+        },
+        key=settings_store.AGENTS,
+    )
+    log.info("agent execution %s by %s", "enabled" if enabled else "disabled", user.email)
+    return RedirectResponse("/admin/agents?saved=1", status_code=status.HTTP_303_SEE_OTHER)
diff --git a/src/lembas/api/admin_models.py b/src/lembas/api/admin_models.py
index 8e25f71..4b15a85 100644
--- a/src/lembas/api/admin_models.py
+++ b/src/lembas/api/admin_models.py
@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ TOOL_CAPABILITIES = (
     ("tool_custom", "Custom tools"),
     ("tool_mcp", "MCP servers"),
     ("tool_ask", "Ask the reader"),
+    ("tool_agent", "Agent execution"),
 )
 
 CAPABILITIES = PROTOCOL_CAPABILITIES + tuple(key for key, _ in TOOL_CAPABILITIES)
diff --git a/src/lembas/api/agents.py b/src/lembas/api/agents.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..3e97300
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/api/agents.py
@@ -0,0 +1,348 @@
+"""SSH connections, kept by the people who own them.
+
+Not an admin screen. These are somebody's own machines and somebody's own keys,
+so the pages sit beside the library rather than under `/admin` -- an
+administrator decides only whether the feature exists at all.
+
+Trust on first use, made explicit. Adding a host does not connect to it; the
+**Check** button looks at its key, shows the fingerprint, and waits. Only when
+that is accepted is the key pinned, and only then will anything authenticate.
+`asyncssh.get_server_host_key` completes the key exchange and stops, so a host
+that has not been accepted is never offered a username, let alone a credential.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+from datetime import UTC, datetime
+
+from fastapi import APIRouter, Depends, HTTPException, Request, Response, status
+from fastapi.responses import RedirectResponse
+from sqlalchemy import select
+
+from lembas.api.deps import Db, RequiredUser, require_permission
+from lembas.api.pages import sidebar_context
+from lembas.db.models import AUTH_METHODS, AUTH_PASSWORD, SshProfile
+from lembas.services import settings_store
+from lembas.services.agent import ssh as ssh_service
+from lembas.services.agent.base import ExecError
+from lembas.services.crypto import UNCHANGED_SENTINEL, decrypt, keep_or_replace, mask
+from lembas.web.templating import render
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+router = APIRouter(
+    dependencies=[Depends(require_permission("agent.ssh"))], tags=["agents"]
+)
+
+
+def _profile(db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str) -> SshProfile:
+    """One profile belonging to this person.
+
+    Ownership is the whole authorisation. `sharing.py` is deliberately not
+    involved: it grants reading, and a host somebody else can read is a host
+    they can log in to.
+    """
+    profile = db.get(SshProfile, profile_id)
+    if profile is None or profile.owner_id != user.id:
+        raise HTTPException(status.HTTP_404_NOT_FOUND, "That connection no longer exists.")
+    return profile
+
+
+def _owned(db: Db, user_id: str) -> list[SshProfile]:
+    return list(
+        db.scalars(
+            select(SshProfile).where(SshProfile.owner_id == user_id).order_by(SshProfile.name)
+        )
+    )
+
+
+def _back(message: str = "") -> Response:
+    target = f"/agents?saved={message}" if message else "/agents"
+    return RedirectResponse(target, status_code=status.HTTP_303_SEE_OTHER)
+
+
+def _number(raw, *, default: int, low: int, high: int) -> int:
+    text = str(raw or "").strip()
+    if not text.isdigit():
+        return default
+    return min(max(int(text), low), high)
+
+
+def _apply(profile: SshProfile, form) -> None:
+    """Copy a submitted form onto a profile.
+
+    Checkboxes are read by key presence: FastAPI cannot tell `x=` from an absent
+    `x`, and an absent one is exactly what an unticked box sends.
+    """
+    profile.name = str(form.get("name") or "").strip()[:120]
+    profile.host = str(form.get("host") or "").strip()[:255]
+    profile.username = str(form.get("username") or "").strip()[:120]
+    profile.port = _number(form.get("port"), default=22, low=1, high=65535)
+    profile.connect_timeout = _number(form.get("connect_timeout"), default=15, low=3, high=120)
+    profile.default_dir = str(form.get("default_dir") or "").strip()[:500]
+
+    method = str(form.get("auth") or "").strip()
+    profile.auth = method if method in AUTH_METHODS else profile.auth
+    profile.enabled = "enabled" in form
+
+
+def _detail(
+    request: Request,
+    db: Db,
+    user: RequiredUser,
+    profile: SshProfile,
+    *,
+    is_new: bool,
+    error: str = "",
+    saved: str = "",
+):
+    # The user is passed rather than read off the profile: a draft has never
+    # been attached to a session, so `profile.owner` is None on the one page
+    # that most needs a sidebar.
+    return render(
+        request,
+        "agents/detail.html",
+        {
+            **sidebar_context(db, user),
+            "profile": profile,
+            "is_new": is_new,
+            "error": error,
+            "saved": saved,
+            "unchanged": UNCHANGED_SENTINEL,
+            "masked_password": mask(decrypt(profile.password_encrypted))
+            if profile.password_encrypted
+            else "",
+            "has_key": bool(profile.private_key_encrypted),
+            "problem": ssh_service.available(),
+        },
+    )
+
+
+@router.get("/agents")
+async def agents_page(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser, saved: str = ""):
+    return render(
+        request,
+        "agents/index.html",
+        {
+            **sidebar_context(db, user),
+            "profiles": _owned(db, user.id),
+            "saved": saved,
+            "problem": ssh_service.available(),
+            "enabled": bool(settings_store.agents(db).get("enabled")),
+        },
+    )
+
+
+# Registered before /{profile_id}: FastAPI matches in registration order, so
+# with the parameterised route first "new" is captured as an id. This has been
+# a bug once already, in /admin/models.
+@router.get("/agents/new")
+async def new_profile_page(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser):
+    draft = SshProfile(
+        owner_id=user.id, name="", host="", username="", port=22, connect_timeout=15, enabled=True
+    )
+    return _detail(request, db, user, draft, is_new=True)
+
+
+@router.post("/api/agents")
+async def create_profile(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser) -> Response:
+    form = await request.form()
+    profile = SshProfile(owner_id=user.id)
+    _apply(profile, form)
+
+    if problem := _problem(db, profile, user.id):
+        return _detail(request, db, user, profile, is_new=True, error=problem)
+
+    profile.password_encrypted = keep_or_replace(str(form.get("password") or ""), "")
+    profile.private_key_encrypted = keep_or_replace(str(form.get("private_key") or ""), "")
+    profile.key_passphrase_encrypted = keep_or_replace(str(form.get("key_passphrase") or ""), "")
+    db.add(profile)
+    db.commit()
+
+    log.info("%s added ssh profile %s", user.email, profile.name)
+    return RedirectResponse(
+        f"/agents/{profile.id}?saved=Added+{profile.name}.+Check+it+to+confirm+its+fingerprint.",
+        status_code=status.HTTP_303_SEE_OTHER,
+    )
+
+
+def _problem(db: Db, profile: SshProfile, owner_id: str, *, existing_id: str = "") -> str:
+    if not profile.name:
+        return "A connection needs a name."
+    if not profile.host:
+        return "A connection needs a host."
+    if not profile.username:
+        return "A connection needs a username to log in as."
+
+    clash = db.scalar(
+        select(SshProfile).where(
+            SshProfile.owner_id == owner_id, SshProfile.name == profile.name
+        )
+    )
+    if clash is not None and clash.id != existing_id:
+        return f"You already have a connection called “{profile.name}”."
+    return ""
+
+
+@router.get("/agents/{profile_id}")
+async def profile_page(
+    request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str, saved: str = ""
+):
+    profile = _profile(db, user, profile_id)
+    return _detail(request, db, user, profile, is_new=False, saved=saved)
+
+
+@router.post("/api/agents/{profile_id}/check")
+async def check_profile(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str):
+    """Look at the host's key, and connect if it has already been accepted.
+
+    Two steps in one button, because they are one question: *is this the machine
+    I meant, and will it let me in?* An unseen key comes back as a fingerprint
+    to accept; an accepted one is used to log in and run something harmless.
+    """
+    profile = _profile(db, user, profile_id)
+
+    try:
+        line, fingerprint = await ssh_service.capture_host_key(
+            profile.host, profile.port, timeout=profile.connect_timeout
+        )
+    except ExecError as exc:
+        profile.last_error = exc.message
+        profile.last_checked_at = datetime.now(UTC)
+        db.commit()
+        return render(
+            request, "agents/_check.html", {"profile": profile, "error": exc.message}
+        )
+
+    if not profile.host_key:
+        # First sight. Nothing is pinned until a person says so.
+        return render(
+            request,
+            "agents/_check.html",
+            {"profile": profile, "offer": {"line": line, "fingerprint": fingerprint}},
+        )
+
+    if line.strip() != profile.host_key.strip():
+        message = (
+            "This host is presenting a different key than the one you accepted. "
+            "Nothing was sent to it. If you rebuilt the machine, forget the key "
+            "below and check again; if you did not, stop and find out why."
+        )
+        profile.last_error = message
+        profile.last_checked_at = datetime.now(UTC)
+        db.commit()
+        return render(
+            request,
+            "agents/_check.html",
+            {
+                "profile": profile,
+                "error": message,
+                "offer": {"line": line, "fingerprint": fingerprint, "changed": True},
+            },
+        )
+
+    try:
+        found = await ssh_service.check(ssh_service.spec_from(profile), profile.default_dir)
+    except ExecError as exc:
+        profile.last_error = exc.message
+        profile.last_checked_at = datetime.now(UTC)
+        db.commit()
+        return render(
+            request, "agents/_check.html", {"profile": profile, "error": exc.message}
+        )
+
+    profile.last_error = ""
+    profile.last_checked_at = datetime.now(UTC)
+    profile.server_info = {"system": found.get("system", ""), "cwd": found.get("cwd", "")}
+    db.commit()
+    return render(request, "agents/_check.html", {"profile": profile, "found": found})
+
+
+@router.post("/api/agents/{profile_id}/accept")
+async def accept_host_key(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str):
+    """Pin the fingerprint that was just shown.
+
+    The line is re-fetched rather than taken from the form: a value that made a
+    round trip through a browser is not what should end up as the thing every
+    future connection is checked against.
+    """
+    profile = _profile(db, user, profile_id)
+    try:
+        line, fingerprint = await ssh_service.capture_host_key(
+            profile.host, profile.port, timeout=profile.connect_timeout
+        )
+    except ExecError as exc:
+        return render(request, "agents/_check.html", {"profile": profile, "error": exc.message})
+
+    profile.host_key = line
+    profile.host_fingerprint = fingerprint
+    profile.last_error = ""
+    db.commit()
+    log.info("%s pinned host key for %s (%s)", user.email, profile.name, fingerprint)
+
+    return render(
+        request,
+        "agents/_check.html",
+        {"profile": profile, "accepted": fingerprint},
+    )
+
+
+@router.post("/api/agents/{profile_id}/forget")
+async def forget_host_key(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str):
+    profile = _profile(db, user, profile_id)
+    profile.host_key = ""
+    profile.host_fingerprint = ""
+    db.commit()
+    return render(request, "agents/_check.html", {"profile": profile, "forgotten": True})
+
+
+@router.post("/api/agents/{profile_id}/delete")
+async def delete_profile(db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str) -> Response:
+    profile = _profile(db, user, profile_id)
+    name = profile.name
+    db.delete(profile)
+    db.commit()
+    log.info("%s deleted ssh profile %s", user.email, name)
+    return _back(f"Deleted {name}.")
+
+
+@router.post("/api/agents/{profile_id}")
+async def update_profile(request: Request, db: Db, user: RequiredUser, profile_id: str):
+    profile = _profile(db, user, profile_id)
+    form = await request.form()
+
+    before = (profile.host, profile.port)
+    _apply(profile, form)
+
+    if problem := _problem(db, profile, user.id, existing_id=profile.id):
+        db.rollback()
+        return _detail(
+            request, db, user, _profile(db, user, profile_id), is_new=False, error=problem
+        )
+
+    profile.password_encrypted = keep_or_replace(
+        str(form.get("password") or ""), profile.password_encrypted
+    )
+    profile.private_key_encrypted = keep_or_replace(
+        str(form.get("private_key") or ""), profile.private_key_encrypted
+    )
+    profile.key_passphrase_encrypted = keep_or_replace(
+        str(form.get("key_passphrase") or ""), profile.key_passphrase_encrypted
+    )
+    if profile.auth == AUTH_PASSWORD:
+        profile.private_key_encrypted = ""
+        profile.key_passphrase_encrypted = ""
+
+    # A pinned key belongs to a host and a port. Moving either means this is a
+    # different machine until proven otherwise, and silently keeping the old
+    # key would be the one mistake this whole mechanism exists to prevent.
+    if (profile.host, profile.port) != before and profile.host_key:
+        profile.host_key = ""
+        profile.host_fingerprint = ""
+        log.info("%s moved ssh profile %s; its host key was forgotten", user.email, profile.name)
+
+    db.commit()
+    return RedirectResponse(
+        f"/agents/{profile.id}?saved=Saved.", status_code=status.HTTP_303_SEE_OTHER
+    )
diff --git a/src/lembas/db/models/__init__.py b/src/lembas/db/models/__init__.py
index 1f5d752..8f7a313 100644
--- a/src/lembas/db/models/__init__.py
+++ b/src/lembas/db/models/__init__.py
@@ -5,6 +5,12 @@ what ``init_db()`` relies on to create the schema at startup. Any new model
 module must be imported here or its table will silently never be created.
 """
 
+from lembas.db.models.agent import (
+    AUTH_KEY,
+    AUTH_METHODS,
+    AUTH_PASSWORD,
+    SshProfile,
+)
 from lembas.db.models.attachment import (
     KIND_DOCUMENT,
     KIND_IMAGE,
@@ -12,6 +18,9 @@ from lembas.db.models.attachment import (
     Attachment,
 )
 from lembas.db.models.chat import (
+    KIND_AGENT,
+    KIND_CHAT,
+    KINDS,
     ROLE_ASSISTANT,
     ROLE_SYSTEM,
     ROLE_TOOL,
@@ -68,8 +77,14 @@ from lembas.db.models.user import (
 
 __all__ = [
     "AUTHOR_MODEL",
+    "AUTH_KEY",
+    "AUTH_METHODS",
+    "AUTH_PASSWORD",
     "AUTHOR_USER",
     "Attachment",
+    "KINDS",
+    "KIND_AGENT",
+    "KIND_CHAT",
     "KIND_DOCUMENT",
     "KIND_IMAGE",
     "KIND_TEXT",
@@ -111,6 +126,7 @@ __all__ = [
     "Setting",
     "Share",
     "Skill",
+    "SshProfile",
     "SkillRevision",
     "Suggestion",
     "User",
diff --git a/src/lembas/db/models/agent.py b/src/lembas/db/models/agent.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..47d4463
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/db/models/agent.py
@@ -0,0 +1,103 @@
+"""SSH connections an agent chat can act through.
+
+User-owned, like a `Note` and unlike a `Connection`. That is the opposite of
+the rule custom tools and MCP servers follow, and the difference is the point:
+those are instance configuration an administrator could grant themselves in one
+click anyway, while this is somebody's own machine and somebody's own key.
+"Anyone in this group may log in to my server" is a different feature with a
+different blast radius.
+
+`services/sharing.py` is deliberately not involved either. Sharing grants
+reading, and a host somebody else can read is a host they can log in to.
+
+**Nothing an agent does runs on the LLeMbas machine.** A local sandbox was
+designed and dropped: every hard problem in it came from executing on the host
+that holds the database and the encryption key. Over SSH, isolation is whatever
+host somebody points this at -- which means the security of an agent chat is the
+security of that host, and nothing here can tell a throwaway container from a
+production server. The admin copy says so out loud.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from datetime import datetime
+from typing import TYPE_CHECKING, Any
+
+from sqlalchemy import Boolean, DateTime, ForeignKey, Integer, String, Text, UniqueConstraint
+from sqlalchemy.orm import Mapped, mapped_column, relationship
+
+from lembas.db.base import Base, Timestamps, UUIDPrimaryKey
+from lembas.db.types import JSONDict
+
+if TYPE_CHECKING:  # pragma: no cover - annotation only
+    from lembas.db.models.user import User
+
+# How the connection authenticates.
+AUTH_KEY = "key"
+AUTH_PASSWORD = "password"
+AUTH_METHODS = (AUTH_KEY, AUTH_PASSWORD)
+
+
+class SshProfile(UUIDPrimaryKey, Timestamps, Base):
+    """One host somebody can point an agent chat at."""
+
+    __tablename__ = "ssh_profiles"
+    __table_args__ = (UniqueConstraint("owner_id", "name", name="uq_ssh_profile_name"),)
+
+    owner_id: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(
+        String(32), ForeignKey("users.id", ondelete="CASCADE"), nullable=False, index=True
+    )
+    name: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(120), nullable=False)
+
+    host: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(255), nullable=False)
+    port: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, default=22, nullable=False)
+    username: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(120), nullable=False)
+
+    auth: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), default=AUTH_KEY, nullable=False)
+    password_encrypted: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
+    private_key_encrypted: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
+    key_passphrase_encrypted: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
+
+    # One OpenSSH known_hosts line, captured the first time this host answered
+    # and shown as a fingerprint to be confirmed, then pinned. Empty means
+    # "never seen". Handed to asyncssh as `known_hosts=<these bytes>` and never
+    # as None, which turns host key checking off altogether.
+    host_key: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
+    # The SHA256 fingerprint of the above, so the profile page can show what was
+    # accepted without parsing the line again on every render.
+    host_fingerprint: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(120), default="")
+
+    # Where a chat starts by default. A chat records its own, chosen when it is
+    # created and fixed thereafter; this is only the suggestion in the picker.
+    default_dir: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(500), default="")
+
+    connect_timeout: Mapped[int] = mapped_column(Integer, default=15, nullable=False)
+    enabled: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, default=True, nullable=False)
+
+    # What the last connection attempt found, for the list. `server_banner` is
+    # whatever the host said about itself -- useful for telling two containers
+    # apart.
+    last_checked_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True))
+    last_error: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
+    server_info: Mapped[dict[str, Any]] = mapped_column(JSONDict, default=dict)
+
+    owner: Mapped[User] = relationship()
+
+    @property
+    def label(self) -> str:
+        return self.name or f"{self.username}@{self.host}"
+
+    @property
+    def address(self) -> str:
+        return f"{self.username}@{self.host}" + (f":{self.port}" if self.port != 22 else "")
+
+    @property
+    def verified(self) -> bool:
+        """Whether this host's key has been seen and pinned."""
+        return bool(self.host_key)
+
+    def __repr__(self) -> str:
+        return f"<SshProfile {self.name} {self.address}>"
+
+
+__all__ = ["AUTH_KEY", "AUTH_METHODS", "AUTH_PASSWORD", "SshProfile"]
diff --git a/src/lembas/db/models/chat.py b/src/lembas/db/models/chat.py
index 091b472..a44c765 100644
--- a/src/lembas/db/models/chat.py
+++ b/src/lembas/db/models/chat.py
@@ -22,6 +22,17 @@ ROLE_USER = "user"
 ROLE_ASSISTANT = "assistant"
 ROLE_TOOL = "tool"
 
+# What a conversation is allowed to be. A plain chat can never act; an agent
+# chat is pointed at a machine before it starts and stays pointed there.
+KIND_CHAT = "chat"
+KIND_AGENT = "agent"
+KINDS = (KIND_CHAT, KIND_AGENT)
+
+# Duplicated from services/agent/policy.py rather than imported: a model module
+# importing a service would invert the dependency, and this is only the column
+# default. policy.MODES is the vocabulary; this is what a row starts as.
+MODE_MANUAL = "manual"
+
 
 class Folder(UUIDPrimaryKey, Timestamps, Base):
     """A user-owned, arbitrarily nested container for chats."""
@@ -109,6 +120,31 @@ class Chat(UUIDPrimaryKey, Timestamps, Base):
     unread: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, default=False, nullable=False)
     unread_notified: Mapped[bool] = mapped_column(Boolean, default=False, nullable=False)
 
+    # --- Agent chats ---------------------------------------------------------
+    # Whether this conversation may act, and where. Chosen on the new-chat
+    # screen and fixed once there is a message: the harness, the tools offered
+    # and the approval loop all differ, so a chat that changed kind halfway
+    # would have a transcript whose earlier turns were produced under other
+    # rules. The connection is locked with it -- a shell history and a project
+    # directory do not transplant to another machine.
+    kind: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), default=KIND_CHAT, nullable=False)
+    # A plain id rather than a ForeignKey, for the reason `compacted_through_id`
+    # below gives: migrations.py compiles only the column type, so a REFERENCES
+    # clause would exist on a fresh database and not on an upgraded one.
+    # Validated on read instead.
+    ssh_profile_id: Mapped[str | None] = mapped_column(String(32))
+    # Where commands start on the far side, and what file paths resolve against.
+    project_dir: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(500), default="")
+    # Which of the four permission modes is in force. The one agent field that
+    # IS switchable mid-chat: it decides what gets asked about, not what the
+    # conversation is.
+    agent_mode: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(String(16), default=MODE_MANUAL, nullable=False)
+    # Set when a turn was edited or regenerated in an agent chat. The project
+    # directory is deliberately NOT rewound with the transcript -- it is
+    # somebody's real working tree and deleting their work would be far worse
+    # than an inconsistency -- so the harness says so instead.
+    rewound_at: Mapped[datetime | None] = mapped_column(DateTime(timezone=True))
+
     # --- Compaction ----------------------------------------------------------
     # A summary of the turns up to `compacted_through_id`, sent in their place.
     # The messages themselves are kept and still shown; they simply stop being
@@ -174,6 +210,11 @@ class Message(UUIDPrimaryKey, Timestamps, Base):
     tool_calls_json: Mapped[list[Any]] = mapped_column(JSONList, default=list)
     usage_json: Mapped[dict[str, Any]] = mapped_column(JSONDict, default=dict)
 
+    # A plan produced in Plan mode: {"title": str, "steps": [str, ...]}. Marked
+    # on the row rather than parsed back out of the prose, so the Execute button
+    # sends exactly what was proposed and not an approximation of it.
+    plan_json: Mapped[dict[str, Any]] = mapped_column(JSONDict, default=dict)
+
     # Non-empty when generation failed. Rendered as a styled error in the
     # thread so a failed turn is never an unexplained blank bubble.
     error: Mapped[str] = mapped_column(Text, default="")
diff --git a/src/lembas/main.py b/src/lembas/main.py
index 60da32f..8312f5b 100644
--- a/src/lembas/main.py
+++ b/src/lembas/main.py
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ from starlette.exceptions import HTTPException as StarletteHTTPException
 from lembas import __version__
 from lembas.api import (
     admin,
+    admin_agents,
     admin_audio,
     admin_models,
     admin_prompts,
@@ -21,6 +22,7 @@ from lembas.api import (
     admin_suggestions,
     admin_tools,
     admin_users,
+    agents,
     audio,
     auth,
     chats,
@@ -114,6 +116,7 @@ def create_app() -> FastAPI:
     app.include_router(files.router)
     app.include_router(folders.router)
     app.include_router(library.router)
+    app.include_router(agents.router)
     app.include_router(admin.router)
     app.include_router(admin_users.router)
     app.include_router(admin_models.router)
@@ -122,6 +125,7 @@ def create_app() -> FastAPI:
     app.include_router(admin_prompts.router)
     app.include_router(admin_suggestions.router)
     app.include_router(admin_tools.router)
+    app.include_router(admin_agents.router)
 
     register_error_handlers(app)
     return app
diff --git a/src/lembas/security/permissions.py b/src/lembas/security/permissions.py
index cc9c844..ba38292 100644
--- a/src/lembas/security/permissions.py
+++ b/src/lembas/security/permissions.py
@@ -102,6 +102,23 @@ PERMISSION_DEFS: tuple[PermissionDef, ...] = (
         True,
         "Chat",
     ),
+    PermissionDef(
+        "agent.ssh",
+        "Save SSH connections",
+        "Keep connection profiles for machines of their own. The credential is "
+        "encrypted here, and whoever saves it decides which host it opens.",
+        False,
+        "Agent",
+    ),
+    PermissionDef(
+        "tools.agent",
+        "Run commands",
+        "Let a model read files, write files and run commands on one of their "
+        "SSH connections. What it may do without asking depends on the chat's "
+        "mode. Nothing runs on this server.",
+        False,
+        "Agent",
+    ),
     PermissionDef(
         "tools.ask",
         "Be asked questions",
diff --git a/src/lembas/services/agent/base.py b/src/lembas/services/agent/base.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e08f4f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/services/agent/base.py
@@ -0,0 +1,119 @@
+"""What an agent chat needs from the machine it acts on.
+
+One interface, currently one implementation. It exists as an interface anyway
+because the *snapshot* is the load-bearing part: a generation outlives the
+request that started it, so everything a runner needs -- the host, the decrypted
+credential, the mode, the project directory -- has to be read while the session
+is open and carried, not looked up later. That is the same reason `Endpoint` is
+a frozen copy of a `Connection` and `ToolContext` holds an owner id rather than
+a `User`.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import re
+from dataclasses import dataclass, field
+from typing import Any, Protocol
+
+# What a command may weigh before it is cut off. Per call; the reply also has a
+# total, in policy.Limits.
+DEFAULT_MAX_BYTES = 64 * 1024
+DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 60.0
+
+# Terminal escape sequences, stripped from anything a command produced. They are
+# inert in escaped HTML, but this text also re-enters the model's context, where
+# they are a known way of hiding instructions, and it may end up in a log a
+# person later cats, where they hijack the terminal.
+_ANSI = re.compile(r"\x1b\[[0-9;?]*[ -/]*[@-~]|\x1b\][^\x07\x1b]*(?:\x07|\x1b\\)|\x1b[@-Z\\-_]")
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class ExecRequest:
+    """One command to run."""
+
+    command: str
+    cwd: str = ""
+    timeout: float = DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
+    max_bytes: int = DEFAULT_MAX_BYTES
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class ExecResult:
+    """What running it produced.
+
+    `output` is stdout and stderr interleaved, because a shell transcript is
+    what the model needs to read and separating them loses the ordering that
+    makes an error make sense.
+    """
+
+    exit_status: int
+    output: str
+    truncated: bool = False
+    timed_out: bool = False
+    duration_ms: int = 0
+
+    @property
+    def ok(self) -> bool:
+        return self.exit_status == 0 and not self.timed_out
+
+
+class ExecError(Exception):
+    """Nothing could be run at all: the host refused, or the credential did.
+
+    Distinct from a command that ran and failed -- that is an `ExecResult` with
+    a non-zero status, which the model should read and react to. This is the
+    reply not being able to act, which is a message for a person.
+    """
+
+    def __init__(self, message: str) -> None:
+        super().__init__(message)
+        self.message = message
+
+
+@dataclass(frozen=True)
+class Target:
+    """A machine an agent chat acts on, read while the session was open.
+
+    Holds the decrypted credential and nothing else does. `generation` clears it
+    when the reply ends, because a finished `Generation` lingers for five
+    minutes so late followers get the final frames, and a private key should not
+    linger with it.
+    """
+
+    kind: str
+    label: str
+    project_dir: str = ""
+    spec: dict[str, Any] = field(default_factory=dict)
+
+
+class Executor(Protocol):
+    """How a target is acted on. See `ssh.py`; there is no local variant."""
+
+    async def run(self, request: ExecRequest) -> ExecResult: ...
+
+    async def read_file(self, path: str, *, max_bytes: int) -> str: ...
+
+    async def write_file(self, path: str, text: str) -> int: ...
+
+    async def list_dir(self, path: str) -> list[str]: ...
+
+
+def clean_output(data: bytes | str, *, limit: int) -> tuple[str, bool]:
+    """Decode, strip escape sequences, and cap. Returns (text, truncated)."""
+    text = data.decode("utf-8", "replace") if isinstance(data, bytes) else data
+    text = _ANSI.sub("", text)
+    if len(text) <= limit:
+        return text, False
+    return text[:limit].rstrip() + "\n… (truncated)", True
+
+
+__all__ = [
+    "DEFAULT_MAX_BYTES",
+    "DEFAULT_TIMEOUT",
+    "ExecError",
+    "ExecRequest",
+    "ExecResult",
+    "Executor",
+    "Target",
+    "clean_output",
+]
diff --git a/src/lembas/services/agent/ssh.py b/src/lembas/services/agent/ssh.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..812a0db
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/services/agent/ssh.py
@@ -0,0 +1,349 @@
+"""Acting on a machine over SSH.
+
+Connections are made per call, for the reason MCP sessions are, plus one more: a
+live `SSHClientConnection` is exactly the kind of state `ToolContext` exists so
+that nothing holds. A command is already a network round trip inside a reply
+that takes seconds, so a second one to open the channel is not the cost worth
+optimising.
+
+**Four asyncssh defaults are actively wrong here, and all four are passed
+explicitly on every connection.** Every LLeMbas user shares one unix account, so
+"whatever the account has lying around" is never the right answer:
+
+* `known_hosts` unset reads that shared `~/.ssh/known_hosts` -- one trust store
+  for everybody. Set to `None` it disables host key checking altogether, which
+  is never correct and is the single easiest way to make this insecure.
+* `client_keys` unset loads `~/.ssh/id_*`, so one person's chat could
+  authenticate with a key another person left there, or with the server's own.
+* `config` unset reads `~/.ssh/config`, where a `Hostname` or `ProxyCommand`
+  can send the connection somewhere else entirely.
+* `agent_path` unset silently uses `$SSH_AUTH_SOCK`.
+
+`asyncssh` is an optional dependency, imported inside the functions that need it
+so an instance with agents switched off never pays for it and an instance that
+forgot to install it gets a sentence rather than an ImportError at startup.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import logging
+import time
+from typing import Any
+
+from lembas.db.models import AUTH_PASSWORD, SshProfile
+from lembas.services.agent.base import (
+    ExecError,
+    ExecRequest,
+    ExecResult,
+    clean_output,
+)
+from lembas.services.crypto import decrypt
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+# A file read into a model's context, and one written out of it. Both bounded:
+# the first because a 40 MB log would fill the window, the second because
+# nothing a model writes in one call should be larger than this.
+MAX_READ_BYTES = 256 * 1024
+MAX_WRITE_BYTES = 1024 * 1024
+
+# How many entries a directory listing returns before it is cut short.
+MAX_ENTRIES = 500
+
+INSTALL_HINT = (
+    "SSH support is not installed. Run `pip install -e \".[ssh]\"` in the "
+    "LLeMbas virtual environment and restart."
+)
+
+
+def available() -> str:
+    """Empty when SSH can be used, else why it cannot.
+
+    Shaped like `search.availability`, and used the same way: the feature stays
+    visible in the UI with an install hint rather than silently missing.
+    """
+    try:
+        import asyncssh  # noqa: F401
+    except ImportError:
+        return INSTALL_HINT
+    return ""
+
+
+def spec_from(profile: SshProfile) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """A session-free snapshot of one profile, credential decrypted.
+
+    Called while the session is open. The plaintext lives in the returned dict
+    and nowhere else; `generation` drops it when the reply ends.
+    """
+    return {
+        "id": profile.id,
+        "label": profile.label,
+        "host": profile.host,
+        "port": int(profile.port or 22),
+        "username": profile.username,
+        "auth": profile.auth,
+        "password": decrypt(profile.password_encrypted),
+        "private_key": decrypt(profile.private_key_encrypted),
+        "key_passphrase": decrypt(profile.key_passphrase_encrypted),
+        "host_key": profile.host_key,
+        "connect_timeout": int(profile.connect_timeout or 15),
+    }
+
+
+def _connect_kwargs(spec: dict[str, Any]) -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Everything asyncssh must be told rather than left to discover.
+
+    See the module docstring: every one of these has a default that is wrong
+    when one unix account is shared by every user of the instance.
+    """
+    if not spec.get("host_key"):
+        raise ExecError(
+            "This connection's host key has not been confirmed yet. Open it "
+            "under Agents and press Check, then accept the fingerprint."
+        )
+
+    keys: list = []
+    if spec.get("auth") != AUTH_PASSWORD and spec.get("private_key"):
+        import asyncssh
+
+        try:
+            keys = [
+                asyncssh.import_private_key(
+                    spec["private_key"], passphrase=spec.get("key_passphrase") or None
+                )
+            ]
+        except Exception as exc:  # noqa: BLE001 - any failure here is one message
+            raise ExecError(f"That private key could not be read: {exc}") from exc
+
+    timeout = int(spec.get("connect_timeout") or 15)
+    return {
+        "username": spec["username"],
+        "port": int(spec.get("port") or 22),
+        # Bytes, never None. None turns host key checking off entirely.
+        "known_hosts": spec["host_key"].encode(),
+        "client_keys": keys,
+        "password": (spec.get("password") or None) if spec.get("auth") == AUTH_PASSWORD else None,
+        "config": None,
+        "agent_path": None,
+        "connect_timeout": timeout,
+        "login_timeout": timeout,
+    }
+
+
+async def capture_host_key(host: str, port: int, *, timeout: int = 15) -> tuple[str, str]:
+    """The host's key as a known_hosts line, and its SHA256 fingerprint.
+
+    `get_server_host_key` completes the key exchange and stops, so nothing is
+    offered to a host that has not been accepted yet -- no username, no
+    password, no key. That is what makes trust-on-first-use safe to do from a
+    button rather than only from a terminal.
+    """
+    if problem := available():
+        raise ExecError(problem)
+    import asyncio
+
+    import asyncssh
+
+    try:
+        key = await asyncio.wait_for(
+            asyncssh.get_server_host_key(host, port=port), timeout=timeout
+        )
+    except TimeoutError as exc:
+        raise ExecError(f"{host} did not answer within {timeout}s.") from exc
+    except (OSError, asyncssh.Error) as exc:
+        raise ExecError(f"Could not reach {host}: {exc}") from exc
+
+    if key is None:
+        raise ExecError(f"{host} offered no host key.")
+
+    algorithm = key.get_algorithm()
+    encoded = key.export_public_key("openssh").decode().split()[1]
+    where = f"[{host}]:{port}" if port != 22 else host
+    return f"{where} {algorithm} {encoded}\n", key.get_fingerprint("sha256")
+
+
+class SshExecutor:
+    """One target, reached over SSH. A connection per call."""
+
+    def __init__(self, spec: dict[str, Any], project_dir: str = "") -> None:
+        self.spec = spec
+        self.project_dir = project_dir or ""
+        self.label = str(spec.get("label") or spec.get("host") or "the remote host")
+
+    def _connect(self):
+        if problem := available():
+            raise ExecError(problem)
+        import asyncssh
+
+        return asyncssh.connect(self.spec["host"], **_connect_kwargs(self.spec))
+
+    def _wrap(self, exc: Exception) -> ExecError:
+        import asyncssh
+
+        if isinstance(exc, asyncssh.HostKeyNotVerifiable):
+            return ExecError(
+                f"{self.label} presented a different host key than the one that "
+                "was confirmed. Nothing was sent. If the host was rebuilt, open "
+                "it under Agents and confirm the new fingerprint."
+            )
+        if isinstance(exc, asyncssh.PermissionDenied):
+            return ExecError(f"{self.label} refused the credential.")
+        return ExecError(f"Could not reach {self.label}: {exc}")
+
+    async def run(self, request: ExecRequest) -> ExecResult:
+        """Run one command and read back what it said.
+
+        Every command is a fresh shell, so `cd` does not carry between calls --
+        the working directory is set here, from `cwd` or the chat's project
+        directory, and never spliced into the command string.
+        """
+        import asyncssh
+
+        started = time.monotonic()
+        directory = request.cwd or self.project_dir
+        # A single-quoted path, with any embedded quote escaped. `cd` needs a
+        # shell, so this is the one place a path meets one -- and it is a path
+        # from the chat's own configuration, not from the model, except when the
+        # model passed `cwd`, which is why it is quoted rather than trusted.
+        command = request.command
+        if directory:
+            command = f"cd {_quote(directory)} && {command}"
+
+        try:
+            async with self._connect() as conn:
+                result = await conn.run(
+                    command,
+                    check=False,
+                    timeout=request.timeout,
+                    # Interleaved, because a shell transcript is what the model
+                    # has to read and separating them loses the ordering.
+                    stderr=asyncssh.STDOUT,
+                    # A command that waits for input fails at once instead of
+                    # sitting out its whole timeout in silence.
+                    stdin=asyncssh.DEVNULL,
+                )
+        except TimeoutError:
+            elapsed = int((time.monotonic() - started) * 1000)
+            return ExecResult(
+                exit_status=-1,
+                output=f"The command was still running after {request.timeout:g}s and was stopped.",
+                timed_out=True,
+                duration_ms=elapsed,
+            )
+        except (OSError, asyncssh.Error) as exc:
+            raise self._wrap(exc) from exc
+
+        output, truncated = clean_output(result.stdout or "", limit=request.max_bytes)
+        return ExecResult(
+            exit_status=result.exit_status if result.exit_status is not None else -1,
+            output=output,
+            truncated=truncated,
+            duration_ms=int((time.monotonic() - started) * 1000),
+        )
+
+    # --- Files go over SFTP, never through a shell ---------------------------
+    # The SSH exec protocol carries one command *string* that the far side's
+    # shell parses; there is no argv form. So a path in a command line is
+    # unavoidably a quoting problem, and a model-supplied path is exactly the
+    # input that must not become one. Over SFTP a path is a path.
+    async def read_file(self, path: str, *, max_bytes: int = MAX_READ_BYTES) -> str:
+        import asyncssh
+
+        try:
+            async with (
+                self._connect() as conn,
+                conn.start_sftp_client() as sftp,
+                sftp.open(self._resolve(path), "rb") as handle,
+            ):
+                data = await handle.read(max_bytes + 1)
+        except asyncssh.SFTPNoSuchFile as exc:
+            raise ExecError(f"There is no file at {path}.") from exc
+        except asyncssh.SFTPPermissionDenied as exc:
+            raise ExecError(f"Not allowed to read {path}.") from exc
+        except (OSError, asyncssh.Error) as exc:
+            raise self._wrap(exc) from exc
+
+        text, _truncated = clean_output(data[:max_bytes], limit=max_bytes)
+        return text
+
+    async def write_file(self, path: str, text: str) -> int:
+        import asyncssh
+
+        payload = text.encode("utf-8")[:MAX_WRITE_BYTES]
+        try:
+            async with (
+                self._connect() as conn,
+                conn.start_sftp_client() as sftp,
+                sftp.open(self._resolve(path), "wb") as handle,
+            ):
+                await handle.write(payload)
+        except asyncssh.SFTPPermissionDenied as exc:
+            raise ExecError(f"Not allowed to write {path}.") from exc
+        except (OSError, asyncssh.Error) as exc:
+            raise self._wrap(exc) from exc
+        return len(payload)
+
+    async def list_dir(self, path: str = "") -> list[str]:
+        import asyncssh
+
+        try:
+            async with self._connect() as conn, conn.start_sftp_client() as sftp:
+                target = self._resolve(path) if path else (self.project_dir or ".")
+                names = await sftp.listdir(target)
+        except asyncssh.SFTPNoSuchFile as exc:
+            raise ExecError(f"There is no directory at {path or self.project_dir}.") from exc
+        except (OSError, asyncssh.Error) as exc:
+            raise self._wrap(exc) from exc
+
+        visible = sorted(n for n in names if n not in (".", ".."))
+        return visible[:MAX_ENTRIES]
+
+    def _resolve(self, path: str) -> str:
+        """A path relative to the project directory, unless it is absolute.
+
+        Deliberately *not* a containment check. The account on the far side is
+        the boundary -- a profile whose user can only see /srv/project can only
+        reach things under it -- and pretending otherwise here would be a
+        comfort rather than a control, since `shell_run` could walk out of it in
+        one line anyway.
+        """
+        if not path:
+            return self.project_dir or "."
+        if path.startswith("/") or not self.project_dir:
+            return path
+        return f"{self.project_dir.rstrip('/')}/{path.lstrip('/')}"
+
+
+def _quote(value: str) -> str:
+    return "'" + value.replace("'", "'\\''") + "'"
+
+
+async def check(spec: dict[str, Any], project_dir: str = "") -> dict[str, Any]:
+    """Connect, confirm the project directory, and report what was found.
+
+    Used by the Check button on a profile. Runs one harmless command rather than
+    only opening a connection, because "the credential works" and "the directory
+    is there" are the two things somebody is actually asking about.
+    """
+    executor = SshExecutor(spec, project_dir)
+    result = await executor.run(
+        ExecRequest(command="uname -sr 2>/dev/null; pwd", timeout=15, max_bytes=4096)
+    )
+    lines = [line for line in result.output.splitlines() if line.strip()]
+    return {
+        "ok": result.ok,
+        "system": lines[0] if lines else "",
+        "cwd": lines[-1] if len(lines) > 1 else "",
+        "output": result.output,
+    }
+
+
+__all__ = [
+    "INSTALL_HINT",
+    "MAX_READ_BYTES",
+    "SshExecutor",
+    "available",
+    "capture_host_key",
+    "check",
+    "spec_from",
+]
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/static/css/admin.css b/src/lembas/web/static/css/admin.css
index 0f096a3..014fcec 100644
--- a/src/lembas/web/static/css/admin.css
+++ b/src/lembas/web/static/css/admin.css
@@ -471,3 +471,9 @@ a.tabs__tab { text-decoration: none; }
   background: var(--code-bg);
   border: 1px solid var(--code-border);
 }
+
+/* --- The permission modes, explained on the agents page ------------------- */
+.mode-list { margin: 0; display: flex; flex-direction: column; gap: var(--sp-2); }
+.mode-list__row { display: flex; gap: var(--sp-3); align-items: baseline; }
+.mode-list__row dt { flex: 0 0 5rem; color: var(--ink); }
+.mode-list__row dd { margin: 0; color: var(--ink-muted); font-size: var(--text-sm); }
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/_layout.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/_layout.html
index f88de21..3a02485 100644
--- a/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/_layout.html
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/_layout.html
@@ -47,6 +47,10 @@
           {{ icon("link", "icon--sm") }}
           <span class="nav-item__label">Tools</span>
         </a>
+        <a class="nav-item {{ 'is-active' if section == 'agents' }}" href="/admin/agents">
+          {{ icon("sparkle", "icon--sm") }}
+          <span class="nav-item__label">Agents</span>
+        </a>
         <a class="nav-item {{ 'is-active' if section == 'mcp' }}" href="/admin/mcp">
           {{ icon("server", "icon--sm") }}
           <span class="nav-item__label">MCP servers</span>
@@ -70,13 +74,6 @@
         </a>
       </div>
 
-      <div class="nav-group">
-        <div class="nav-group__label">Not yet built</div>
-        <span class="nav-item is-disabled">
-          {{ icon("server", "icon--sm") }}
-          <span class="nav-item__label">Agents</span>
-        </span>
-      </div>
     </nav>
 
     <div class="sidebar__footer">
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/agents.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/agents.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..281e2fd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/admin/agents.html
@@ -0,0 +1,184 @@
+{% extends "admin/_layout.html" %}
+{% from "_macros.html" import icon %}
+{% set section = "agents" %}
+
+{% block title %}Agents - LLeMbas{% endblock %}
+{% block heading %}Agents{% endblock %}
+
+{% block admin_content %}
+<p class="admin-lede">
+  An <strong>Agent</strong> chat can read files, write files and run commands on
+  a machine reached over SSH. Nothing runs on this server. People add their own
+  connections under <strong>Connections</strong>; what you decide here is
+  whether the feature exists and what one reply may spend.
+</p>
+
+<div class="alert">
+  {{ icon("shield", "icon--sm") }}
+  <span>
+    There is no sandbox to configure, and that is deliberate: containment is
+    whatever host somebody points a connection at. A container built for the
+    job is a very different thing from a key to a live server, and LLeMbas
+    cannot tell them apart. What a model reads — a web page, a file, the output
+    of the last command — is untrusted, and in <strong>Auto</strong> mode
+    nothing stands between that and a command running.
+  </span>
+</div>
+
+{% if problem %}
+<div class="alert alert--error">{{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ problem }}</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if saved %}
+<div class="alert alert--success">{{ icon("check", "icon--sm") }} <span>Saved.</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+
+<form method="post" action="/admin/agents" class="form-grid">
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">Switch</h2>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="checkbox">
+        <input type="checkbox" name="enabled" value="true" {{ 'checked' if values.enabled }}>
+        <span>Allow agent chats</span>
+      </label>
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        Off, nobody can start one and no agent tool is offered, whatever
+        permissions they hold. {{ profile_count }} connection{{ '' if profile_count == 1 else 's' }}
+        saved across all accounts.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+    <p class="field__hint">
+      People also need the <strong>Run commands</strong> permission, a model
+      flagged <strong>Agent execution</strong>, and a connection of their own.
+    </p>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">The modes</h2>
+    <p class="field__hint">
+      Set per chat and switchable at any time. This is what each one means; the
+      two lists below adjust them.
+    </p>
+    <dl class="mode-list">
+      {% for value, label, hint in modes %}
+      <div class="mode-list__row">
+        <dt><strong>{{ label }}</strong></dt>
+        <dd>{{ hint }}</dd>
+      </div>
+      {% endfor %}
+    </dl>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">What never needs asking</h2>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="allow_default">Always allow</label>
+      <textarea class="textarea input--mono" id="allow_default" name="allow_default" rows="5"
+                spellcheck="false">{{ allow_text }}</textarea>
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        One per line: a tool name like <code>file_read</code>, or a command with
+        wildcards like <code>git *</code>. A command containing anything that
+        joins two commands together — a semicolon, a pipe, backticks — can never
+        match one of these, so <code>git *</code> does not quietly also mean
+        <code>git status; curl … | sh</code>.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">What always needs asking</h2>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="deny_default">Always ask</label>
+      <textarea class="textarea input--mono" id="deny_default" name="deny_default" rows="5"
+                spellcheck="false">{{ deny_text }}</textarea>
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        Checked before everything, including <strong>Auto</strong>. Treat it as
+        a guard against an accident rather than against an adversary:
+        <code>rm -rf /*</code> here does not stop <code>/bin/rm -rf /</code>, and
+        nothing pattern-shaped could.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">What one command may spend</h2>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="default_timeout">Timeout (seconds)</label>
+      <input class="input" id="default_timeout" name="default_timeout"
+             value="{{ values.default_timeout }}" inputmode="numeric">
+    </div>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="max_timeout">Longest a command may ask for</label>
+      <input class="input" id="max_timeout" name="max_timeout"
+             value="{{ values.max_timeout }}" inputmode="numeric">
+    </div>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="max_output_bytes">Most output to keep</label>
+      <input class="input" id="max_output_bytes" name="max_output_bytes"
+             value="{{ values.max_output_bytes }}" inputmode="numeric">
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        Characters. The rest is cut off and the model is told so.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">What one reply may spend</h2>
+    <p class="field__hint">
+      Three separate bounds, because they fail differently: steps stop a loop,
+      the clock stops one slow command eating an afternoon, and output stops a
+      model filling its own context with build logs and having no room to answer.
+    </p>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="max_steps">Most rounds of tool calls</label>
+      <input class="input" id="max_steps" name="max_steps"
+             value="{{ values.max_steps }}" inputmode="numeric">
+    </div>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="max_wall_seconds">Longest a reply may take</label>
+      <input class="input" id="max_wall_seconds" name="max_wall_seconds"
+             value="{{ values.max_wall_seconds }}" inputmode="numeric">
+      <p class="field__hint">Time spent waiting for you to answer does not count.</p>
+    </div>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="max_total_output_bytes">Most output across a reply</label>
+      <input class="input" id="max_total_output_bytes" name="max_total_output_bytes"
+             value="{{ values.max_total_output_bytes }}" inputmode="numeric">
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">Asking you things</h2>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="approval_timeout">How long a question waits</label>
+      <input class="input" id="approval_timeout" name="approval_timeout"
+             value="{{ values.approval_timeout }}" inputmode="numeric">
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        Seconds. After this the reply carries on without an answer and says so.
+        At least a minute, whatever is typed here.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="checkbox">
+        <input type="checkbox" name="ask_free_text" value="true"
+               {{ 'checked' if values.ask_free_text }}>
+        <span>Let people write their own answer</span>
+      </label>
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        When a model asks a question it can offer answers to pick from, and by
+        default a box to write something else. Turn this off if you would rather
+        nobody typed free text into a prompt a model composed.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <div class="btn-row">
+    <button class="btn btn--primary" type="submit">Save changes</button>
+  </div>
+</form>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/_check.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/_check.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..7d3b319
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/_check.html
@@ -0,0 +1,72 @@
+{% from "_macros.html" import icon %}
+{#
+  What looking at a host found.
+
+  Everything here came from the far side and is escaped accordingly. The
+  fingerprint especially: it is the one string a person is being asked to
+  compare against something they know, so it is shown plainly and never
+  reformatted.
+#}
+{% if error %}
+<div class="alert alert--error">{{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ error }}</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if offer %}
+<div class="card" style="margin-top: var(--sp-4)">
+  <h3 class="card__title">
+    {{ "This host's key has changed" if offer.changed else "Is this the machine you meant?" }}
+  </h3>
+  <p class="field__hint">
+    {% if offer.changed %}
+      Accept only if you know why it changed — a rebuilt container will do this,
+      and so will something pretending to be your machine.
+    {% else %}
+      Compare this with what the host reports for itself. On the machine, that
+      is <code>ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub</code>.
+    {% endif %}
+  </p>
+
+  <pre class="tool-result__text">{{ offer.fingerprint }}</pre>
+
+  <div class="btn-row">
+    <button class="btn btn--primary" type="button"
+            hx-post="/api/agents/{{ profile.id }}/accept"
+            hx-target="#check-result"
+            hx-confirm="Accept this fingerprint and pin it? Every future connection will be checked against it."
+            data-confirm-label="Accept"
+            data-confirm-danger="{{ 'true' if offer.changed else 'false' }}">
+      {{ icon("check", "icon--sm") }} Accept and pin
+    </button>
+    {% if profile.verified %}
+    <button class="btn" type="button"
+            hx-post="/api/agents/{{ profile.id }}/forget"
+            hx-target="#check-result">
+      Forget the old key
+    </button>
+    {% endif %}
+  </div>
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if accepted %}
+<div class="alert alert--success">
+  {{ icon("check", "icon--sm") }}
+  <span>Pinned <code>{{ accepted }}</code>. Check again to log in.</span>
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if forgotten %}
+<div class="alert">
+  {{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }}
+  <span>Key forgotten. Check again to see the new one.</span>
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if found %}
+<div class="alert alert--success">
+  {{ icon("check", "icon--sm") }}
+  <span>Connected{% if found.system %} to {{ found.system }}{% endif %}.</span>
+</div>
+<p class="field__hint">What it said:</p>
+<pre class="tool-result__text">{{ found.output }}</pre>
+{% endif %}
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/_layout.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/_layout.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1bb2d42
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/_layout.html
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+{% extends "base.html" %}
+{% from "_macros.html" import icon %}
+{#
+  Connections, kept by the person who owns them.
+
+  Shares the chat sidebar with the library for the same reason: this is part of
+  using LLeMbas, not administering it. You come here to add a machine and go
+  straight back to a conversation.
+#}
+
+{% block head %}
+<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ url_for('static', path='css/chat.css') }}">
+<link rel="stylesheet" href="{{ url_for('static', path='css/admin.css') }}">
+{% endblock %}
+
+{% block body_attrs %} data-authenticated="true"{% endblock %}
+
+{% block body %}
+<div class="shell">
+  {% include "partials/sidebar.html" %}
+
+  <main class="main">
+    <header class="topbar">
+      <h1 class="topbar__title">{% block heading %}Connections{% endblock %}</h1>
+      <div class="topbar__actions">{% block actions %}{% endblock %}</div>
+    </header>
+
+    <div class="admin-scroll">
+      <div class="admin-page">
+        {% block agents_content %}{% endblock %}
+      </div>
+    </div>
+  </main>
+</div>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/detail.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/detail.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..bb35a6f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/detail.html
@@ -0,0 +1,183 @@
+{% extends "agents/_layout.html" %}
+{% from "_macros.html" import icon %}
+
+{% block title %}{{ "New connection" if is_new else profile.name }} - LLeMbas{% endblock %}
+{% block heading %}{{ "New connection" if is_new else profile.name }}{% endblock %}
+
+{% block agents_content %}
+<nav class="crumbs">
+  <a class="crumbs__back" href="/agents">
+    {{ icon("chevron-right", "icon--sm crumbs__icon") }} All connections
+  </a>
+</nav>
+
+{% if error %}
+<div class="alert alert--error">{{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ error }}</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+{% if problem %}
+<div class="alert alert--error">{{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ problem }}</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+{% if saved %}
+<div class="alert alert--success">{{ icon("check", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ saved }}</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if not is_new %}
+<section class="card">
+  <h2 class="card__title">Check it</h2>
+  <p class="field__hint">
+    {% if profile.verified %}
+      Confirms the host is still the one you accepted, then logs in and runs
+      something harmless to see that it works.
+    {% else %}
+      Looks at this host's key and shows you its fingerprint. Nothing is sent to
+      it — not your username, not your credential — until you accept.
+    {% endif %}
+  </p>
+
+  <div class="btn-row">
+    <button class="btn" type="button"
+            hx-post="/api/agents/{{ profile.id }}/check"
+            hx-target="#check-result">
+      {{ icon("refresh", "icon--sm") }} Check
+    </button>
+  </div>
+
+  <div id="check-result">
+    {% if profile.verified %}
+    <p class="field__hint">
+      Accepted fingerprint: <code>{{ profile.host_fingerprint }}</code>
+    </p>
+    {% endif %}
+  </div>
+</section>
+{% endif %}
+
+<form method="post" class="form-grid"
+      action="{{ '/api/agents' if is_new else '/api/agents/' ~ profile.id }}">
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">The machine</h2>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="name">Name</label>
+      <input class="input" id="name" name="name" value="{{ profile.name }}" required
+             maxlength="120" placeholder="Project container">
+      <p class="field__hint">What you will pick from when starting an agent chat.</p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="host">Host</label>
+      <input class="input input--mono" id="host" name="host" value="{{ profile.host }}" required
+             maxlength="255" placeholder="127.0.0.1">
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="port">Port</label>
+      <input class="input" id="port" name="port" value="{{ profile.port }}" inputmode="numeric">
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="username">Log in as</label>
+      <input class="input input--mono" id="username" name="username" required
+             value="{{ profile.username }}" maxlength="120" placeholder="root">
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="default_dir">Project directory</label>
+      <input class="input input--mono" id="default_dir" name="default_dir"
+             value="{{ profile.default_dir }}" maxlength="500" placeholder="/project">
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        Where a chat starts by default. Each chat records its own when it is
+        created, so changing this later does not move a conversation already
+        under way.
+      </p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="connect_timeout">Connect timeout (seconds)</label>
+      <input class="input" id="connect_timeout" name="connect_timeout"
+             value="{{ profile.connect_timeout }}" inputmode="numeric">
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">How it logs in</h2>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <div class="checkbox-row">
+        <label class="checkbox">
+          <input type="radio" name="auth" value="key"
+                 {{ 'checked' if profile.auth != 'password' }}>
+          <span>A private key</span>
+        </label>
+        <label class="checkbox">
+          <input type="radio" name="auth" value="password"
+                 {{ 'checked' if profile.auth == 'password' }}>
+          <span>A password</span>
+        </label>
+      </div>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="private_key">Private key</label>
+      <textarea class="textarea input--mono" id="private_key" name="private_key" rows="5"
+                spellcheck="false"
+                placeholder="-----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY-----"
+                >{{ unchanged if has_key else '' }}</textarea>
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        {% if has_key %}
+          A key is saved. Leave the dots alone to keep it, or clear the box to
+          remove it.
+        {% else %}
+          Pasted whole, encrypted at rest, and never shown again.
+        {% endif %}
+      </p>
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="key_passphrase">Key passphrase</label>
+      <input class="input input--mono" id="key_passphrase" name="key_passphrase"
+             type="password" autocomplete="off" placeholder="If the key has one">
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="field__label" for="password">Password</label>
+      <input class="input input--mono" id="password" name="password" type="password"
+             autocomplete="off" placeholder="No password set"
+             value="{{ unchanged if profile.password_encrypted else '' }}">
+      <p class="field__hint">
+        {% if profile.password_encrypted %}
+          Currently <code>{{ masked_password }}</code>. Leave the dots alone to
+          keep it, or clear the field to remove it.
+        {% else %}
+          Only used when this connection logs in with a password.
+        {% endif %}
+      </p>
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <section class="card">
+    <h2 class="card__title">Availability</h2>
+    <div class="field">
+      <label class="checkbox">
+        <input type="checkbox" name="enabled" value="true" {{ 'checked' if profile.enabled }}>
+        <span>Enabled — can be picked when starting an agent chat</span>
+      </label>
+    </div>
+  </section>
+
+  <div class="btn-row">
+    <button class="btn btn--primary" type="submit">
+      {{ "Add connection" if is_new else "Save changes" }}
+    </button>
+    <a class="btn btn--ghost" href="/agents">Back to all connections</a>
+    {% if not is_new %}
+    <button class="btn btn--danger" type="submit" formnovalidate
+            formaction="/api/agents/{{ profile.id }}/delete"
+            data-confirm-button="Delete the connection “{{ profile.name }}”? Chats that used it keep their transcripts.">
+      Delete
+    </button>
+    {% endif %}
+  </div>
+</form>
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/index.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/index.html
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..4838985
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/agents/index.html
@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+{% extends "agents/_layout.html" %}
+{% from "_macros.html" import icon %}
+
+{% block title %}Connections - LLeMbas{% endblock %}
+{% block heading %}Connections{% endblock %}
+{% block actions %}
+<a class="btn btn--primary btn--sm" href="/agents/new">
+  {{ icon("plus", "icon--sm") }} Add a connection
+</a>
+{% endblock %}
+
+{% block agents_content %}
+<p class="admin-lede">
+  Machines an <strong>Agent</strong> chat can work on. A model with one of these
+  can read files, write files and run commands <em>there</em> — never here.
+  Which of those it may do without asking you first is the chat's mode.
+</p>
+
+<div class="alert">
+  {{ icon("shield", "icon--sm") }}
+  <span>
+    Whatever this connection can reach, a model in an agent chat can reach. A
+    container built for the job, with one project mounted into it, is a very
+    different thing from a key to a machine you care about — and LLeMbas cannot
+    tell them apart.
+  </span>
+</div>
+
+{% if problem %}
+<div class="alert alert--error">
+  {{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ problem }}</span>
+</div>
+{% elif not enabled %}
+<div class="alert alert--error">
+  {{ icon("warning", "icon--sm") }}
+  <span>
+    Agent chats are switched off for this instance. You can still add
+    connections here, but nothing will use them until an administrator turns
+    them on.
+  </span>
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if saved %}
+<div class="alert alert--success">{{ icon("check", "icon--sm") }} <span>{{ saved }}</span></div>
+{% endif %}
+
+{% if not profiles %}
+<div class="empty">
+  {{ icon("server", "empty__mark") }}
+  <h2 class="empty__title">No connections yet</h2>
+  <p class="empty__text">
+    Add the host, the user to log in as, and a key or password. Then press
+    <strong>Check</strong> — you will be shown its fingerprint to confirm before
+    anything is sent to it.
+  </p>
+  <a class="btn btn--primary" href="/agents/new">
+    {{ icon("plus", "icon--sm") }} Add a connection
+  </a>
+</div>
+{% else %}
+
+<div class="model-rows">
+  {% for profile in profiles %}
+  <div class="model-row {{ 'is-off' if not profile.enabled }}">
+    <div class="model-row__main">
+      <div class="model-row__title">
+        <a class="model-row__name" href="/agents/{{ profile.id }}">{{ profile.name }}</a>
+        {% if profile.verified %}
+        <span class="badge badge--leaf">key confirmed</span>
+        {% else %}
+        <span class="badge badge--danger">not checked</span>
+        {% endif %}
+        {% if not profile.enabled %}<span class="badge">disabled</span>{% endif %}
+        {% if profile.auth == "password" %}<span class="badge">password</span>{% endif %}
+      </div>
+      <code class="model-row__id">
+        {{ profile.address }}{% if profile.default_dir %} · {{ profile.default_dir }}{% endif %}
+      </code>
+      {% if profile.last_error %}
+      <p class="text-xs danger">{{ profile.last_error }}</p>
+      {% elif profile.server_info.system %}
+      <p class="text-xs faint">{{ profile.server_info.system }}</p>
+      {% endif %}
+    </div>
+
+    <div class="model-row__actions">
+      <a class="btn btn--sm" href="/agents/{{ profile.id }}">Open</a>
+    </div>
+  </div>
+  {% endfor %}
+</div>
+{% endif %}
+{% endblock %}
diff --git a/src/lembas/web/templates/partials/sidebar.html b/src/lembas/web/templates/partials/sidebar.html
index 015cd09..2932345 100644
--- a/src/lembas/web/templates/partials/sidebar.html
+++ b/src/lembas/web/templates/partials/sidebar.html
@@ -77,6 +77,13 @@
     </a>
     {% endif %}
 
+    {% if can.get("agent.ssh") %}
+    <a class="nav-item" href="/agents">
+      {{ icon("server", "icon--sm") }}
+      <span class="nav-item__label">Connections</span>
+    </a>
+    {% endif %}
+
     <a class="nav-item" href="/settings">
       {{ icon("user", "icon--sm") }}
       <span class="nav-item__label">{{ user.name }}</span>
diff --git a/tests/test_agent_profiles.py b/tests/test_agent_profiles.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..0c1234a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_agent_profiles.py
@@ -0,0 +1,445 @@
+"""SSH connections, and who may do what with them.
+
+The pages are user-facing rather than admin, because these are somebody's own
+machines and somebody's own keys. Most of what is worth pinning here is about
+that ownership, and about the host key -- the one thing standing between "this
+is my container" and "this is something answering on its address".
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import pytest
+from fastapi.testclient import TestClient
+from sqlalchemy import select
+
+from lembas.db.models import SshProfile, User
+from lembas.services import settings_store
+from lembas.services.crypto import UNCHANGED_SENTINEL, decrypt, encrypt
+
+asyncssh = pytest.importorskip("asyncssh")
+
+
+def _form(**overrides) -> dict:
+    base = {
+        "name": "Project box",
+        "host": "127.0.0.1",
+        "port": "2222",
+        "username": "root",
+        "default_dir": "/project",
+        "connect_timeout": "15",
+        "auth": "key",
+        "enabled": "true",
+    }
+    base.update(overrides)
+    return {k: v for k, v in base.items() if v is not None}
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def ssh_host():
+    """A real SSH server, on a thread and an event loop of its own.
+
+    Its own loop matters: these tests drive the app through the synchronous
+    TestClient, so a server sharing the test's loop could not accept a
+    connection while a `client.post(...)` was blocking it, and the check would
+    time out rather than succeed. Yields the port it is listening on.
+    """
+    import asyncio
+    import threading
+
+    loop = asyncio.new_event_loop()
+    thread = threading.Thread(target=loop.run_forever, daemon=True)
+    thread.start()
+
+    async def start():
+        server = await asyncssh.create_server(
+            asyncssh.SSHServer,
+            "127.0.0.1",
+            0,
+            server_host_keys=[asyncssh.generate_private_key("ssh-ed25519")],
+        )
+        return server, next(iter(server.sockets)).getsockname()[1]
+
+    server, port = asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(start(), loop).result(10)
+    try:
+        yield port
+    finally:
+
+        async def stop():
+            server.close()
+            await server.wait_closed()
+
+        asyncio.run_coroutine_threadsafe(stop(), loop).result(10)
+        loop.call_soon_threadsafe(loop.stop)
+        thread.join(timeout=5)
+
+
+def _grant(db, user_id: str) -> None:
+    """Give a plain account the two agent permissions."""
+    settings_store.update(
+        db, {"default_permissions": {"agent.ssh": True, "tools.agent": True}}
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def second_user(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    """Another signed-in account, so ownership can be tested."""
+    client.post("/auth/logout")
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/register",
+        data={"name": "Sam", "email": "sam@shire.test", "password": "correct horse battery"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    user = db.scalar(select(User).where(User.email == "sam@shire.test"))
+    user.role = "user"
+    user.active = True
+    db.commit()
+    _grant(db, user.id)
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/login",
+        data={"email": "sam@shire.test", "password": "correct horse battery"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    return user
+
+
+# --- Guards --------------------------------------------------------------------
+def test_the_pages_need_the_permission(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    """Administrators pass everything, so this needs a plain account."""
+    client.post("/auth/logout")
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/register",
+        data={"name": "Merry", "email": "m@shire.test", "password": "correct horse battery"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    user = db.scalar(select(User).where(User.email == "m@shire.test"))
+    user.role = "user"
+    user.active = True
+    db.commit()
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/login",
+        data={"email": "m@shire.test", "password": "correct horse battery"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+
+    assert client.get("/agents").status_code == 403
+    assert client.post("/api/agents", data=_form()).status_code == 403
+
+
+def test_new_is_not_parsed_as_a_profile_id(client: TestClient, registered):
+    response = client.get("/agents/new")
+    assert response.status_code == 200
+    assert "New connection" in response.text
+
+
+# --- Creating and editing ------------------------------------------------------
+def test_creating_a_connection(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(private_key="KEY MATERIAL"), follow_redirects=False)
+
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+    assert profile.name == "Project box"
+    assert profile.port == 2222
+    assert profile.default_dir == "/project"
+    assert decrypt(profile.private_key_encrypted) == "KEY MATERIAL"
+    assert profile.verified is False, "nothing is trusted until a key is accepted"
+
+
+def test_a_duplicate_name_is_refused_per_person(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(), follow_redirects=False)
+    response = client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(), follow_redirects=False)
+
+    assert "already have a connection" in response.text
+    assert len(list(db.scalars(select(SshProfile)))) == 1
+
+
+def test_two_people_may_use_the_same_name(client: TestClient, db, registered, second_user):
+    """The uniqueness is per owner. Two people each calling theirs "box" is not
+    a conflict, and treating it as one would be a surprise."""
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(name="box"), follow_redirects=False)
+
+    client.post("/auth/logout")
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/login",
+        data={"email": "frodo@shire.test", "password": "speak-friend-and-enter"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(name="box"), follow_redirects=False)
+
+    assert len(list(db.scalars(select(SshProfile)))) == 2
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    ("field", "message"),
+    [("name", "needs a name"), ("host", "needs a host"), ("username", "username")],
+)
+def test_the_essentials_are_required(client: TestClient, db, registered, field, message):
+    response = client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(**{field: ""}), follow_redirects=False)
+    assert message in response.text
+    assert db.scalar(select(SshProfile)) is None
+
+
+def test_a_secret_is_never_rendered_in_full(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(private_key="SUPER SECRET KEY"), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+
+    page = client.get(f"/agents/{profile.id}").text
+    assert "SUPER SECRET KEY" not in page
+    assert UNCHANGED_SENTINEL in page
+
+
+def test_leaving_the_dots_alone_keeps_the_key(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(private_key="KEY MATERIAL"), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+
+    client.post(
+        f"/api/agents/{profile.id}",
+        data=_form(private_key=UNCHANGED_SENTINEL),
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    db.refresh(profile)
+    assert decrypt(profile.private_key_encrypted) == "KEY MATERIAL"
+
+
+def test_switching_to_a_password_drops_the_key(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    """Keeping a key that is no longer used would leave a credential lying in
+    the database with nothing pointing at it."""
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(private_key="KEY MATERIAL"), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+
+    client.post(
+        f"/api/agents/{profile.id}",
+        data=_form(auth="password", password="hunter2", private_key=UNCHANGED_SENTINEL),
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    db.refresh(profile)
+    assert profile.private_key_encrypted == ""
+    assert decrypt(profile.password_encrypted) == "hunter2"
+
+
+# --- Ownership ------------------------------------------------------------------
+def test_another_account_cannot_see_or_touch_your_connection(
+    client: TestClient, db, registered, second_user
+):
+    """`sharing.py` is deliberately not involved: it grants reading, and a host
+    somebody else can read is a host they can log in to."""
+    mine = SshProfile(
+        owner_id=db.scalar(select(User).where(User.email == "frodo@shire.test")).id,
+        name="Not yours",
+        host="10.0.0.5",
+        username="root",
+    )
+    db.add(mine)
+    db.commit()
+
+    # `second_user` is the one signed in.
+    assert client.get(f"/agents/{mine.id}").status_code == 404
+    assert client.post(f"/api/agents/{mine.id}", data=_form()).status_code == 404
+    assert client.post(f"/api/agents/{mine.id}/delete").status_code == 404
+    assert client.post(f"/api/agents/{mine.id}/check").status_code == 404
+    assert client.get("/agents").text.count("Not yours") == 0
+
+
+def test_deleting_a_connection(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+
+    client.post(f"/api/agents/{profile.id}/delete", follow_redirects=False)
+    assert db.scalar(select(SshProfile)) is None
+
+
+# --- The host key ----------------------------------------------------------------
+def test_checking_an_unseen_host_offers_a_fingerprint_and_pins_nothing(
+    client: TestClient, db, registered, ssh_host
+):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(port=str(ssh_host)), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+
+    response = client.post(f"/api/agents/{profile.id}/check")
+    assert "SHA256:" in response.text
+    assert "Accept and pin" in response.text
+
+    db.refresh(profile)
+    assert profile.host_key == "", "looking is not accepting"
+
+
+def test_accepting_pins_the_key_and_the_fingerprint(
+    client: TestClient, db, registered, ssh_host
+):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(port=str(ssh_host)), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+
+    response = client.post(f"/api/agents/{profile.id}/accept")
+    assert "Pinned" in response.text
+
+    db.refresh(profile)
+    assert profile.verified is True
+    assert profile.host_fingerprint.startswith("SHA256:")
+    assert "ssh-ed25519" in profile.host_key
+
+
+def test_a_host_whose_key_changed_is_reported_and_not_silently_accepted(
+    client: TestClient, db, registered, ssh_host
+):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(port=str(ssh_host)), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+    # Pin something else entirely.
+    profile.host_key = f"[127.0.0.1]:{ssh_host} ssh-ed25519 {'A' * 68}\n"
+    profile.host_fingerprint = "SHA256:old"
+    db.commit()
+
+    response = client.post(f"/api/agents/{profile.id}/check")
+    assert "different key" in response.text
+    assert "Nothing was sent" in response.text
+
+    db.refresh(profile)
+    assert profile.host_fingerprint == "SHA256:old", "the old pin is left alone"
+
+
+def test_moving_a_connection_to_another_host_forgets_its_key(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    """A pinned key belongs to a host and a port. Keeping it across a move is the
+    one mistake the whole mechanism exists to prevent."""
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+    profile.host_key = "127.0.0.1 ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n"
+    profile.host_fingerprint = "SHA256:whatever"
+    db.commit()
+
+    client.post(f"/api/agents/{profile.id}", data=_form(host="10.0.0.9"), follow_redirects=False)
+    db.refresh(profile)
+
+    assert profile.host_key == ""
+    assert profile.host_fingerprint == ""
+
+
+def test_editing_something_harmless_keeps_the_key(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+    profile.host_key = "127.0.0.1 ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n"
+    db.commit()
+
+    client.post(
+        f"/api/agents/{profile.id}", data=_form(default_dir="/elsewhere"), follow_redirects=False
+    )
+    db.refresh(profile)
+
+    assert profile.host_key == "127.0.0.1 ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n"
+    assert profile.default_dir == "/elsewhere"
+
+
+def test_forgetting_a_key_clears_it(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/api/agents", data=_form(), follow_redirects=False)
+    profile = db.scalar(select(SshProfile))
+    profile.host_key = "127.0.0.1 ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n"
+    db.commit()
+
+    client.post(f"/api/agents/{profile.id}/forget")
+    db.refresh(profile)
+    assert profile.host_key == ""
+
+
+# --- The admin half --------------------------------------------------------------
+def test_the_admin_page_is_refused_to_a_plain_user(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post("/auth/logout")
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/register",
+        data={"name": "Pip", "email": "p@shire.test", "password": "correct horse battery"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    user = db.scalar(select(User).where(User.email == "p@shire.test"))
+    user.role = "user"
+    user.active = True
+    db.commit()
+    client.post(
+        "/auth/login",
+        data={"email": "p@shire.test", "password": "correct horse battery"},
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    assert client.get("/admin/agents").status_code == 403
+
+
+def test_agents_are_off_until_an_administrator_says_otherwise(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    assert settings_store.agents(db)["enabled"] is False
+
+    client.post(
+        "/admin/agents",
+        data={
+            "enabled": "true",
+            "default_timeout": "30",
+            "max_timeout": "600",
+            "max_output_bytes": "65536",
+            "max_steps": "40",
+            "max_wall_seconds": "900",
+            "max_total_output_bytes": "1048576",
+            "approval_timeout": "900",
+            "allow_default": "file_read\ngit *\n\n",
+            "deny_default": "shutdown *",
+            "ask_free_text": "true",
+        },
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    values = settings_store.agents(db)
+    assert values["enabled"] is True
+    assert values["default_timeout"] == 30
+    assert values["allow_default"] == ["file_read", "git *"], "blank lines dropped"
+    assert values["deny_default"] == ["shutdown *"]
+
+
+def test_the_numbers_are_clamped(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    client.post(
+        "/admin/agents",
+        data={
+            "enabled": "true",
+            "default_timeout": "0",
+            "max_timeout": "99999",
+            "max_output_bytes": "1",
+            "max_steps": "9999",
+            "max_wall_seconds": "1",
+            "max_total_output_bytes": "1",
+            "approval_timeout": "0",
+            "allow_default": "",
+            "deny_default": "",
+        },
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    values = settings_store.agents(db)
+    assert values["default_timeout"] == 1
+    assert values["max_timeout"] == 3600
+    assert values["max_steps"] == 200
+    assert values["approval_timeout"] == 60, "a zero would park a task forever"
+
+
+def test_an_unticked_checkbox_turns_it_off(client: TestClient, db, registered):
+    settings_store.update(db, {"enabled": True}, key=settings_store.AGENTS)
+    client.post(
+        "/admin/agents",
+        data={
+            "default_timeout": "60",
+            "max_timeout": "600",
+            "max_output_bytes": "65536",
+            "max_steps": "40",
+            "max_wall_seconds": "900",
+            "max_total_output_bytes": "1048576",
+            "approval_timeout": "900",
+            "allow_default": "",
+            "deny_default": "",
+        },
+        follow_redirects=False,
+    )
+    assert settings_store.agents(db)["enabled"] is False
+
+
+def test_encrypted_credentials_never_appear_in_the_database_in_the_clear(db, user_id):
+    profile = SshProfile(
+        owner_id=user_id,
+        name="box",
+        host="h",
+        username="u",
+        password_encrypted=encrypt("hunter2"),
+    )
+    db.add(profile)
+    db.commit()
+
+    raw = db.execute(
+        select(SshProfile.password_encrypted).where(SshProfile.id == profile.id)
+    ).scalar_one()
+    assert "hunter2" not in raw
+    assert decrypt(raw) == "hunter2"
diff --git a/tests/test_agent_ssh.py b/tests/test_agent_ssh.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..1cab43c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_agent_ssh.py
@@ -0,0 +1,327 @@
+"""Acting on a machine over SSH.
+
+Driven against a real asyncssh server on 127.0.0.1 with a generated host key, so
+nothing here touches an outside network and the host-key path is exercised for
+real rather than mocked.
+"""
+
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import asyncio
+
+import pytest
+
+from lembas.services.agent import ssh
+from lembas.services.agent.base import ExecError, ExecRequest
+
+asyncssh = pytest.importorskip("asyncssh")
+
+
+# --- A server to talk to -------------------------------------------------------
+def _generate_key():
+    return asyncssh.generate_private_key("ssh-ed25519")
+
+
+class _Server(asyncssh.SSHServer):
+    def begin_auth(self, username: str) -> bool:
+        return False  # no authentication wanted; every login succeeds
+
+
+async def _handler(process):
+    """A shell that understands just enough to be tested against."""
+    command = process.command or ""
+    if "sleep" in command:
+        await asyncio.sleep(5)
+        process.exit(0)
+        return
+    if "flood" in command:
+        process.stdout.write("x" * 200_000)
+        process.exit(0)
+        return
+    if "fail" in command:
+        process.stderr.write("it went wrong\n")
+        process.exit(3)
+        return
+    if "colour" in command:
+        process.stdout.write("\x1b[31mred\x1b[0m\n")
+        process.exit(0)
+        return
+    process.stdout.write(f"ran: {command}\n")
+    process.exit(0)
+
+
+async def _start(host_key=None):
+    server = await asyncssh.create_server(
+        _Server,
+        "127.0.0.1",
+        0,
+        server_host_keys=[host_key or _generate_key()],
+        process_factory=_handler,
+        sftp_factory=True,
+    )
+    port = next(iter(server.sockets)).getsockname()[1]
+    return server, port
+
+
+def _spec(port: int, host_key: str, **overrides) -> dict:
+    base = {
+        "id": "p1",
+        "label": "test box",
+        "host": "127.0.0.1",
+        "port": port,
+        "username": "tester",
+        "auth": "key",
+        "password": "",
+        "private_key": "",
+        "key_passphrase": "",
+        "host_key": host_key,
+        "connect_timeout": 5,
+    }
+    base.update(overrides)
+    return base
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+async def project(tmp_path):
+    """A directory of its own.
+
+    Not `tmp_path` itself: the autouse database fixture points the data
+    directory there, so a listing would find lembas.db and the uploads folder.
+    """
+    path = tmp_path / "project"
+    path.mkdir()
+    return path
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+async def box(project):
+    """A running server, its pinned host key line, and a project directory."""
+    key = _generate_key()
+    server, port = await _start(key)
+    line, fingerprint = await ssh.capture_host_key("127.0.0.1", port)
+    try:
+        yield {
+            "port": port,
+            "host_key": line,
+            "fingerprint": fingerprint,
+            "dir": str(project),
+            "server": server,
+        }
+    finally:
+        server.close()
+        await server.wait_closed()
+
+
+# --- The four defaults that must never be left to asyncssh --------------------
+def test_the_dangerous_defaults_are_all_passed_explicitly():
+    """Every LLeMbas user shares one unix account, so "whatever the account has
+    lying around" is never the right answer. This is the most important test in
+    the file and it needs no server at all."""
+    kwargs = ssh._connect_kwargs(_spec(22, "127.0.0.1 ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n"))
+
+    # Bytes, never None: None turns host key checking off entirely.
+    assert isinstance(kwargs["known_hosts"], bytes)
+    assert kwargs["known_hosts"] != b""
+    # Not left to load ~/.ssh/id_*, which could be another person's key.
+    assert kwargs["client_keys"] == []
+    # Not left to read ~/.ssh/config, where ProxyCommand could redirect us.
+    assert kwargs["config"] is None
+    # Not left to use $SSH_AUTH_SOCK.
+    assert kwargs["agent_path"] is None
+
+
+def test_a_profile_with_no_confirmed_host_key_refuses_to_connect():
+    with pytest.raises(ExecError, match="host key has not been confirmed"):
+        ssh._connect_kwargs(_spec(22, ""))
+
+
+def test_a_password_profile_sends_a_password_and_no_keys():
+    kwargs = ssh._connect_kwargs(
+        _spec(22, "h ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n", auth="password", password="hunter2")
+    )
+    assert kwargs["password"] == "hunter2"
+    assert kwargs["client_keys"] == []
+
+
+def test_a_key_profile_sends_no_password():
+    kwargs = ssh._connect_kwargs(_spec(22, "h ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n", password="stale"))
+    assert kwargs["password"] is None
+
+
+# --- Trust on first use --------------------------------------------------------
+async def test_the_first_look_captures_a_key_and_a_fingerprint(box):
+    assert box["host_key"].startswith(f"[127.0.0.1]:{box['port']} ssh-ed25519 ")
+    assert box["fingerprint"].startswith("SHA256:")
+
+
+async def test_capturing_a_key_offers_no_credential():
+    """get_server_host_key completes the key exchange and stops, which is what
+    makes accepting a fingerprint from a button safe: nothing is sent to a host
+    that has not been accepted yet.
+
+    The server here records every authentication attempt, so an empty list is
+    evidence rather than an absence of it.
+    """
+    attempts: list[str] = []
+
+    class Watchful(asyncssh.SSHServer):
+        def begin_auth(self, username: str) -> bool:
+            attempts.append(username)
+            return False
+
+    server = await asyncssh.create_server(
+        Watchful, "127.0.0.1", 0, server_host_keys=[_generate_key()]
+    )
+    port = next(iter(server.sockets)).getsockname()[1]
+    try:
+        line, fingerprint = await ssh.capture_host_key("127.0.0.1", port)
+        assert line and fingerprint.startswith("SHA256:")
+        assert attempts == [], "a host not yet accepted was offered a username"
+    finally:
+        server.close()
+        await server.wait_closed()
+
+
+async def test_a_host_that_answers_with_a_different_key_is_refused(box):
+    """The pinned key is the whole of the protection. A host presenting another
+    one is either rebuilt or is not the host."""
+    other_line, _ = await ssh.capture_host_key("127.0.0.1", box["port"])
+    wrong = other_line.rsplit(" ", 1)[0] + " " + "A" * 68 + "\n"
+
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], wrong), box["dir"])
+    with pytest.raises(ExecError):
+        await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="echo hi", timeout=5))
+
+
+async def test_an_unreachable_host_says_so():
+    with pytest.raises(ExecError, match="Could not reach"):
+        await ssh.capture_host_key("127.0.0.1", 1, timeout=3)
+
+
+# --- Running commands ----------------------------------------------------------
+async def test_a_command_runs_and_comes_back(box):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="echo hi", timeout=5))
+
+    assert result.ok
+    assert result.exit_status == 0
+    assert "echo hi" in result.output
+
+
+async def test_the_working_directory_is_set_and_never_spliced_in(box):
+    """Every command is a fresh shell, so `cd` cannot carry between calls. The
+    directory is quoted, because `cwd` may come from the model."""
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), "/tmp/a dir")
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="echo hi", timeout=5))
+    assert "cd '/tmp/a dir' && echo hi" in result.output
+
+
+async def test_a_directory_with_a_quote_in_it_cannot_end_the_quoting(box):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), "/tmp/it's; rm -rf /")
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="echo hi", timeout=5))
+    assert "'/tmp/it'\\''s; rm -rf /'" in result.output
+
+
+async def test_a_failing_command_is_a_result_not_an_error(box):
+    """A command that ran and failed is something the model should read and
+    react to. Only being unable to act at all is an ExecError."""
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="fail", timeout=5))
+
+    assert result.exit_status == 3
+    assert result.ok is False
+    assert "it went wrong" in result.output, "stderr is interleaved, not dropped"
+
+
+async def test_a_slow_command_times_out_and_says_so(box):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="sleep", timeout=1))
+
+    assert result.timed_out is True
+    assert result.ok is False
+    assert "was stopped" in result.output
+
+
+async def test_a_flood_of_output_is_capped(box):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="flood", timeout=10, max_bytes=2000))
+
+    assert result.truncated is True
+    assert len(result.output) < 2200
+    assert result.output.endswith("(truncated)")
+
+
+async def test_terminal_escapes_are_stripped(box):
+    """Inert in escaped HTML, but this text re-enters the model's context, where
+    they are a known way to hide instructions -- and a log a person later cats."""
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    result = await executor.run(ExecRequest(command="colour", timeout=5))
+
+    assert "red" in result.output
+    assert "\x1b" not in result.output
+
+
+# --- Files, over SFTP ----------------------------------------------------------
+async def test_a_file_is_written_and_read_back(box):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+
+    written = await executor.write_file("hello.txt", "a mallorn tree\n")
+    assert written == len("a mallorn tree\n")
+    assert await executor.read_file("hello.txt") == "a mallorn tree\n"
+
+
+async def test_a_relative_path_resolves_against_the_project_directory(box, project):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    await executor.write_file("nested.txt", "here")
+
+    assert (project / "nested.txt").read_text() == "here"
+
+
+async def test_a_missing_file_is_reported_plainly(box):
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    with pytest.raises(ExecError, match="no file at"):
+        await executor.read_file("nope.txt")
+
+
+async def test_a_directory_lists(box, project):
+    (project / "one.txt").write_text("1")
+    (project / "two.txt").write_text("2")
+
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    assert await executor.list_dir() == ["one.txt", "two.txt"]
+
+
+async def test_reading_a_file_is_capped(box, project):
+    (project / "big.txt").write_text("y" * 50_000)
+    executor = ssh.SshExecutor(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+
+    text = await executor.read_file("big.txt", max_bytes=1000)
+    assert len(text) <= 1000
+
+
+# --- The check a person presses ------------------------------------------------
+async def test_check_reports_what_it_found(box):
+    found = await ssh.check(_spec(box["port"], box["host_key"]), box["dir"])
+    assert found["ok"] is True
+    assert "uname" in found["output"]
+
+
+# --- The snapshot --------------------------------------------------------------
+def test_spec_from_decrypts_the_credential_and_the_row_does_not_hold_it(db, user_id):
+    from lembas.db.models import SshProfile
+    from lembas.services.crypto import encrypt
+
+    profile = SshProfile(
+        owner_id=user_id,
+        name="box",
+        host="10.0.0.5",
+        username="root",
+        private_key_encrypted=encrypt("PRIVATE KEY MATERIAL"),
+        host_key="h ssh-ed25519 AAAA\n",
+    )
+    db.add(profile)
+    db.commit()
+
+    spec = ssh.spec_from(profile)
+    assert spec["private_key"] == "PRIVATE KEY MATERIAL"
+    assert "PRIVATE KEY MATERIAL" not in profile.private_key_encrypted