diff --git a/core/engine.py b/core/engine.py
index 611d65e..47a7fee 100644
--- a/core/engine.py
+++ b/core/engine.py
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 """
 Coordinates the full SwiftBox loop:
   input -> normalize -> decide -> act -> state -> verify
-
+  
+Entry point for external callers
 Does not contain policy — reads everything from config.
 """
 
@@ -83,6 +84,7 @@ def load_host_config(path: str | Path) -> HostConfig:
         repo_source=data.get("repo", {}).get("source"),
         repo_branch=data.get("repo", {}).get("branch", "main"),
         verify_checksums=data.get("repo", {}).get("verify_checksums", True),
+        ssh_config=data.get("ssh"),   # None for local hosts
     )
 
 
@@ -259,8 +261,13 @@ def run(
         host_config.name, host_config.execution_mode, host_config.dry_run,
     )
 
-    # Detect
-    issues = run_all_checks(checks, host_config.name)
+    
+    if host_config.ssh_config:
+        logger.info("SSH mode: running checks remotely on %s", host_config.ssh_config.get("host"))
+        from adapters.ssh.checks import run_ssh_checks
+        issues = run_ssh_checks(host_config, checks)
+    else:
+        issues = run_all_checks(checks, host_config.name)
     actionable = [i for i in issues if i.status != CheckStatus.OK]
     logger.info("%d checks run, %d require attention", len(issues), len(actionable))