diff --git a/deploy/colmena.nix b/deploy/colmena.nix
index b0cfff07..c0815abf 100644
--- a/deploy/colmena.nix
+++ b/deploy/colmena.nix
@@ -8,19 +8,15 @@ let
   utils = import ../utils { inherit lib; };
   hostDirNames = utils.dirNames ../hosts;
 
-  mkNode = hostname: tags: {
+  mkNode = hostname: meta: {
     imports = [ ../hosts/${hostname} ];
     deployment = {
-      targetHost = self.nixosConfigurations.${hostname}.config.ssh.publicHostname;
-      targetUser = self.nixosConfigurations.${hostname}.config.host.username;
-      buildOnTarget = builtins.any (t: t != "local" && t != "arm") tags;
-      inherit tags;
+      inherit (meta.deployment) targetHost targetUser tags;
+      buildOnTarget = builtins.any (t: t != "local" && t != "arm") meta.deployment.tags;
     };
   };
 
-  nodes = lib.genAttrs hostDirNames (
-    hostname: mkNode hostname (utils.hostMeta ../hosts/${hostname}).deployment.tags
-  );
+  nodes = lib.genAttrs hostDirNames (hostname: mkNode hostname (utils.hostMeta ../hosts/${hostname}));
 in
 inputs.colmena.lib.makeHive (
   {
diff --git a/home/modules/ssh/default.nix b/home/modules/ssh/default.nix
index 25ff5028..961da13c 100644
--- a/home/modules/ssh/default.nix
+++ b/home/modules/ssh/default.nix
@@ -1,18 +1,15 @@
 {
-  outputs,
+  myUtils,
   lib,
   pkgs,
   ...
 }:
 let
-  nixosConfigs = builtins.attrNames outputs.nixosConfigurations;
-  homeConfigs = map (n: lib.last (lib.splitString "@" n)) (
-    builtins.attrNames outputs.homeConfigurations
-  );
-  allHosts = lib.unique (homeConfigs ++ nixosConfigs);
+  hostDir = ../../hosts;
+  hostNames = myUtils.dirNames hostDir;
   hostsWithKeys = lib.filter (
-    hostname: builtins.pathExists ../../hosts/${hostname}/ssh_host.pub
-  ) allHosts;
+    hostname: builtins.pathExists (hostDir + "/${hostname}/ssh_host.pub")
+  ) hostNames;
 in
 {
   home.packages = with pkgs; [ sshfs ];
@@ -25,15 +22,14 @@ in
       lib.genAttrs hostsWithKeys (
         hostname:
         let
-          hostConfig = outputs.nixosConfigurations.${hostname}.config;
-          inherit (hostConfig.ssh) publicHostname username;
+          meta = myUtils.hostMeta (hostDir + "/${hostname}");
         in
         {
           host = hostname;
-          user = username;
+          user = meta.deployment.targetUser;
         }
-        // lib.optionalAttrs (publicHostname != "") {
-          hostname = publicHostname;
+        // lib.optionalAttrs (meta.deployment.targetHost != "") {
+          hostname = meta.deployment.targetHost;
         }
       )
       // {
diff --git a/hosts/andromache/meta.nix b/hosts/andromache/meta.nix
index a913e4b6..04f3b7de 100644
--- a/hosts/andromache/meta.nix
+++ b/hosts/andromache/meta.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   system = "x86_64-linux";
-  deployment.tags = [ "local" ];
+  deployment = {
+    tags = [ "local" ];
+    targetHost = "";
+    targetUser = "h";
+  };
   role = "desktop";
 }
diff --git a/hosts/astyanax/meta.nix b/hosts/astyanax/meta.nix
index c818983b..14cc0e60 100644
--- a/hosts/astyanax/meta.nix
+++ b/hosts/astyanax/meta.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   system = "x86_64-linux";
-  deployment.tags = [ "local" ];
+  deployment = {
+    tags = [ "local" ];
+    targetHost = "";
+    targetUser = "h";
+  };
   role = "laptop";
 }
diff --git a/hosts/eetion-02/default.nix b/hosts/eetion-02/default.nix
index f8dc4755..b214d6c0 100644
--- a/hosts/eetion-02/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/eetion-02/default.nix
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@
   ];
 
   ssh = {
-    publicHostname = config.host.name;
     authorizedHosts = [
       "andromache"
       "astyanax"
diff --git a/hosts/eetion-02/meta.nix b/hosts/eetion-02/meta.nix
index 3fee3acf..0bdb7789 100644
--- a/hosts/eetion-02/meta.nix
+++ b/hosts/eetion-02/meta.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   system = "aarch64-linux";
-  deployment.tags = [ "arm" ];
+  deployment = {
+    tags = [ "arm" ];
+    targetHost = "eetion-02";
+    targetUser = "h";
+  };
   role = "embedded";
 }
diff --git a/hosts/eetion/default.nix b/hosts/eetion/default.nix
index 8d22f3d4..d98196fd 100644
--- a/hosts/eetion/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/eetion/default.nix
@@ -13,7 +13,6 @@
   ];
 
   ssh = {
-    publicHostname = config.host.name;
     authorizedHosts = [
       "andromache"
       "astyanax"
diff --git a/hosts/eetion/meta.nix b/hosts/eetion/meta.nix
index 3fee3acf..ebdea5c8 100644
--- a/hosts/eetion/meta.nix
+++ b/hosts/eetion/meta.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   system = "aarch64-linux";
-  deployment.tags = [ "arm" ];
+  deployment = {
+    tags = [ "arm" ];
+    targetHost = "eetion";
+    targetUser = "h";
+  };
   role = "embedded";
 }
diff --git a/hosts/hecuba/default.nix b/hosts/hecuba/default.nix
index b11387ca..7ca13bed 100644
--- a/hosts/hecuba/default.nix
+++ b/hosts/hecuba/default.nix
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 
   networking.hostName = config.host.name;
   ssh = {
-    publicHostname = "server.hektormisplon.xyz";
     authorizedHosts = [
       "andromache"
       "astyanax"
diff --git a/hosts/hecuba/meta.nix b/hosts/hecuba/meta.nix
index b737ba67..573994f3 100644
--- a/hosts/hecuba/meta.nix
+++ b/hosts/hecuba/meta.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   system = "x86_64-linux";
-  deployment.tags = [ "cloud" ];
+  deployment = {
+    tags = [ "cloud" ];
+    targetHost = "server.hektormisplon.xyz";
+    targetUser = "username";
+  };
   role = "server";
 }
diff --git a/hosts/vm/meta.nix b/hosts/vm/meta.nix
index 7fde780f..371bb909 100644
--- a/hosts/vm/meta.nix
+++ b/hosts/vm/meta.nix
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 {
   system = "x86_64-linux";
-  deployment.tags = [ "local" ];
+  deployment = {
+    tags = [ "local" ];
+    targetHost = "";
+    targetUser = "h";
+  };
   role = "vm";
 }
diff --git a/modules/ssh/authorized-keys.nix b/modules/ssh/authorized-keys.nix
index 72b57df8..7ad6eddf 100644
--- a/modules/ssh/authorized-keys.nix
+++ b/modules/ssh/authorized-keys.nix
@@ -9,10 +9,6 @@ in
       type = lib.types.listOf lib.types.str;
       default = [ ];
     };
-    publicHostname = lib.mkOption {
-      type = lib.types.str;
-      default = "";
-    };
   };
 
   # auto generate authorized_keys from `authorizedHosts`