Tasker Integration

ZestSSH integrates with Tasker through Android broadcast intents. You can trigger SSH commands, snippets, batch operations, workflows, and connection checks from Tasker tasks, and receive the command output and exit code back in Tasker variables.

Intent Actions

ZestSSH registers a broadcast receiver for five intent actions:

Intent Action	Purpose
com.affluentlabs.zestssh.CONNECT	Verify a connection is reachable
com.affluentlabs.zestssh.EXECUTE	Run a shell command
com.affluentlabs.zestssh.SNIPPET	Run a saved snippet
com.affluentlabs.zestssh.BATCH	Run a command on multiple servers
com.affluentlabs.zestssh.WORKFLOW	Trigger a saved workflow

Setting Up in Tasker

1. Open Tasker and create a new Task (or add an action to an existing one).
2. Add action: System > Send Intent.
3. Set the Action field to one of the intent actions above.
4. Set Target to Broadcast Receiver.
5. Add the required extras in the Extra fields (one per line, key=value format).

Intent Extras

EXECUTE

Extra	Required	Description
key	Yes	Your automation API key
connection_id	Yes	Connection label or UUID
command	Yes	The shell command to run
timeout	No	Timeout in seconds (default: 30)
grep	No	Filter output to lines matching this pattern
head	No	Return only the first N lines
tail	No	Return only the last N lines
callback	No	HTTPS webhook URL to POST results to

SNIPPET

Extra	Required	Description
key	Yes	Your automation API key
connection_id	Yes	Connection label or UUID
snippet_name	Yes	Name of the saved snippet
var_VARNAME	No	Variable value (prefix var_ + variable name)

To pass snippet variables, prefix the variable name with var_. For example, if the snippet uses ${HOST}, add an extra var_HOST=example.com. The var_ prefix is stripped and the value replaces the {{HOST}} placeholder in the snippet command.

BATCH

Extra	Required	Description
key	Yes	Your automation API key
connection_ids	Yes	Comma-separated connection labels or UUIDs
command	Yes	The shell command to run on all connections
parallel	No	true (default) or false
timeout	No	Timeout in seconds (default: 30)
grep	No	Filter output to matching lines
head	No	First N lines
tail	No	Last N lines
callback	No	HTTPS webhook URL

WORKFLOW

Extra	Required	Description
key	Yes	Your automation API key
workflow_name	Yes*	Name of the saved workflow (case-insensitive)
workflow_id	Yes*	UUID of the workflow

*Provide either workflow_name or workflow_id (or both).

CONNECT

Extra	Required	Description
key	Yes	Your automation API key
connection_id	Yes	Connection label or UUID

Result Return

After ZestSSH processes the intent, it sends the result back to the calling app. In Tasker, you can read:

• %stdout — the command output (or error message).
• %exit_code — the exit code (0 for success, 1 for failure).

This enables Tasker to make conditional decisions based on the output. For example, you could trigger a notification only if %exit_code is non-zero, or parse %stdout to extract a value.

Examples

Check server uptime on schedule

Task: Server Uptime Check
  Action: Send Intent
    Action: com.affluentlabs.zestssh.EXECUTE
    Target: Broadcast Receiver
    Extra: key=AbCdEfGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWxYz0123456789AbCdEfGhIj
    Extra: connection_id=production-web
    Extra: command=uptime
    Extra: timeout=15

Deploy with git pull

Task: Deploy Staging
  Action: Send Intent
    Action: com.affluentlabs.zestssh.EXECUTE
    Target: Broadcast Receiver
    Extra: key=YOUR_API_KEY
    Extra: connection_id=staging-server
    Extra: command=cd /var/www/app && git pull origin develop
    Extra: timeout=60

Check disk usage across multiple servers

Task: Fleet Disk Check
  Action: Send Intent
    Action: com.affluentlabs.zestssh.BATCH
    Target: Broadcast Receiver
    Extra: key=YOUR_API_KEY
    Extra: connection_ids=web1,web2,web3,db1
    Extra: command=df -h / | tail -1
    Extra: parallel=true

Run a snippet with a variable

Task: Restart Docker Container
  Action: Send Intent
    Action: com.affluentlabs.zestssh.SNIPPET
    Target: Broadcast Receiver
    Extra: key=YOUR_API_KEY
    Extra: connection_id=docker-host
    Extra: snippet_name=Restart Container
    Extra: var_DOCKER=nginx-proxy

Trigger a deployment workflow

Task: Full Deploy
  Action: Send Intent
    Action: com.affluentlabs.zestssh.WORKFLOW
    Target: Broadcast Receiver
    Extra: key=YOUR_API_KEY
    Extra: workflow_name=Deploy Production

ADB Testing

You can test intents from a computer using ADB by opening the deep link URL directly:

adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.VIEW \
  -d "zestssh://execute?connection=prod-web&command=uptime&key=YOUR_API_KEY"

The Automation Wizard in ZestSSH generates ready-to-copy ADB commands for any automation you build.

Using the Automation Wizard

Rather than constructing intents manually, use the built-in Automation Wizard:

1. Navigate to Settings > Automation > Automation Wizard.
2. Choose your action type (Execute, Snippet, Batch, Connect, Workflow).
3. Select the connection(s) and configure the command or snippet.
4. Optionally set output filters and a webhook URL.
5. On the result screen, select an API key (or generate one) and copy the Tasker intent configuration.

The wizard generates the exact intent action and extras list ready to paste into Tasker.

Tips

• Use Tasker profiles with time-based triggers to schedule regular health checks.
• Combine with Tasker’s notification actions to get alerts when a command fails.
• Use the grep filter to extract specific lines from verbose command output.
• Set reasonable timeouts — Tasker may retry or mark the task as failed if ZestSSH does not respond in time.