fixes and improvements

backend/src/media_library_viewer_api/clients/ssh.py

@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import logging
 import posixpath
 import shlex
 from dataclasses import dataclass
+from pathlib import Path
 from typing import Any
 
 import paramiko
@@ -41,6 +42,7 @@ class RemoteSSHClient:
         port: int = 22,
         key_filename: str | None = None,
         password: str | None = None,
+        known_hosts_path: str | None = None,
         timeout: int = 20,
     ):
         if not host or not username:
@@ -50,19 +52,23 @@ class RemoteSSHClient:
         self.port = port
         self.key_filename = key_filename or None
         self.password = password or None
+        self.known_hosts_path = known_hosts_path or None
         self.timeout = timeout
         self._client: paramiko.SSHClient | None = None
 
     def connect(self) -> paramiko.SSHClient:
         """Create or reuse the Paramiko connection.
 
-        Unknown host keys are rejected. Users should connect once manually with
-        ssh so the server is present in known_hosts.
+        Unknown host keys are rejected. The application can synthesize a managed
+        known_hosts file under its cache directory so users do not need to mount
+        their local SSH directory into the container.
         """
         if self._client:
             return self._client
         client = paramiko.SSHClient()
         client.load_system_host_keys()
+        if self.known_hosts_path and Path(self.known_hosts_path).is_file():
+            client.load_host_keys(self.known_hosts_path)
         client.set_missing_host_key_policy(paramiko.RejectPolicy())
         client.connect(
             self.host,
@@ -119,7 +125,6 @@ class RemoteSSHClient:
         was a source of file-browser confusion. Output is NUL-delimited before
         Python serializes it, making spaces in filenames safe.
         """
-        # JSON-ish output: type, size, mtime epoch, filename. Handles spaces/newlines reasonably via NUL boundaries.
         quoted = shlex.quote(path)
         not_dir_message = shlex.quote(f"Not a directory: {path}")
         command = (