Native Windows support for herdr --remote, including image bridging

[nsxdavid]

Idea / problem

Native Windows Herdr supports local sessions, but herdr --remote <host> currently exits with:

remote mode is not supported on Windows yet

This came up previously in #1042. I am posting it here as directed by the contribution guidelines.

A key benefit of herdr --remote is that the local client can bridge local capabilities over SSH. On Windows, this includes clipboard images and dragged image files, allowing agents on the remote host to access content from the local machine.

Requested change

Support native Windows as the local client for the existing remote functionality:

herdr --remote workbox
herdr --remote ssh://user@server:2222

This should:

• connect through the user’s SSH configuration;
• start or attach to the Herdr server on the Unix host;
• render and control the remote session in Windows Terminal;
• preserve local keybindings and configuration;
• transfer Windows clipboard images through the existing remote image bridge;
• detect local image paths produced by Windows Terminal file drops, transfer those images, and paste remote-readable paths.

I have this working locally. From Windows Terminal, herdr --remote connects to a Linux Herdr server. Clipboard images and dragged image files are transferred to the remote host, making them accessible to Claude Code, Codex, and other agents running there.

The implementation uses the existing remote protocol and ClipboardImage message. It does not add a new wire message or remote-session model. The Windows-specific code stays in the platform layer.

I see native remote attach and the local image bridge as one feature, so I would submit them together.

Why I want this

This would give Windows users the remote-attach functionality already available on Linux and macOS.

Image handling is an important part of that functionality. Screenshots and dragged image files come from the local Windows machine but need to be readable by agents on the remote host.

Herdr already supports remote clipboard images in #205 and remote image-file drops in #828 and PR #1085. This proposal brings those existing capabilities to the native Windows client.

If this fits Herdr’s direction, I would be happy to submit the implementation as a single PR.

[gursuj]

Similar to #1526 , would be great to have this on windows

[nsxdavid]

Thanks. The native Windows thin-client portion overlaps with #1526. My proposal, however, also includes bridging Windows clipboard images and locally dragged image files to the remote host. That local-content bridge is an essential part of the Windows remote workflow for me, and it is already working in the implementation described here.

[hdosys]

I've also implemented --remote for Windows. I need another week or two to polish everything and test edge cases. Would you be open to accepting a clean PR in the future, @ogulcancelik?

[nsxdavid]

I already did the work, and more (paste for images, etc.) so no need.

Getting go ahead for PR is an odd obstacle tho.

[hdosys]

I merged our implementations and improved some things, and I'm currently rebasing them onto 0.80. Your work is great. Thank you! I use it every day. Hopefully, we can get it upstream at some point. I'll refresh this patch later today: https://github.com/hdosys/herdr-win/blob/master/patches/delta/0003-windows-remote-attach.patch

[nsxdavid]

Status update: the implementation described above is complete and current.

• Native Windows herdr --remote <host> (SSH config integration, server start/attach, full session rendering in Windows Terminal)
• Windows clipboard images and Windows Terminal file drops bridged to the remote host via the existing remote image path — no new wire messages
• Windows-specific code isolated to the platform layer, per the project conventions
• Branch is merged up to current master (post-v0.8.0, adb50cba) and validated on Windows: full clippy (deny warnings), the Windows test suite, and MSVC builds all pass

The work is ready for review here: https://github.com/nsxdavid/herdr/tree/feat/windows-remote-attach

Happy to open a PR whenever a maintainer gives the go-ahead, and to adjust scope or split the image bridging into a follow-up if preferred.