Your SSH config, and sshbar's comments
Everything in sshbar's server list comes from one plain-text file you may already have: ~/.ssh/config. This chapter explains the file from scratch, then the comment markers sshbar understands.
What ~/.ssh/config is
When you run ssh, it checks a plain-text file at ~/.ssh/config for saved connection settings. Instead of typing this every time:
ssh -i ~/.ssh/key -p 2222 deploy@203.0.113.5
You save those settings once, under a short alias. Each entry starts with Host <alias>:
Host gateway
HostName gateway.example.com # the real address ssh dials
User admin # who to log in as
Port 22 # the SSH port
IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 # which key to use
Now ssh gateway connects with all of that. If you've never made this file, you can. ~ is your home folder, so the file lives at ~/.ssh/config. Create it with any text editor.
How sshbar uses it
sshbar reads your real ~/.ssh/config and turns every Host alias into a clickable menu item. It never edits the file.
A full example
The config on the left produces the menu on the right:
Host gateway Host laptop-vpn # sshbar:group Production Host prod-web Host prod-db Host prod-old # sshbar:ignore # sshbar:group Personal Host home-nas
gateway and laptop-vpn sit at the top, ungrouped and always visible. Then a Production group (hosts sorted alphabetically) and a Personal group. prod-old is hidden by its ignore marker.
sshbar's special comments
SSH ignores comment lines (anything after #), so sshbar uses them to organize the menu, without changing how ssh behaves at all.
Begins a named group. Hosts below it appear under a collapsible <name> heading, until the next marker. Hosts before any marker sit at the top of the menu, always visible.
Placed inside a Host entry, hides that host from the menu. ssh can still use it; sshbar just doesn't show it.
(inside a Host entry)
Overrides the group for just that one host, regardless of which section of the file it sits in.