Open in Terminal should SSH into remote/linked hosts

[wSedlacek]

Summary

This discussion asks for a direction decision. When a project lives on a remote or linked host, should Open in Terminal on desktop SSH into that host (correct cwd) instead of only opening a local shell?

Remote-ready is a core T3 promise; this is a small Open In consistency ask. #32052 and #30656 were prior attempts.

Why remote Open in Terminal

People already use T3 against machines they are not sitting at — Tailscale, linked environments, SSH profiles. Open In for editors already reaches those hosts. Terminal staying local is the inconsistency users hit first: they get a shell on the wrong machine and have to SSH by hand every time they want a prompt next to the agent.

One IPC path that takes a resolved destination (SSH profile, Tailscale, mDNS) keeps discovery sources from forking into separate terminal codepaths.

Proposal

• When the project’s environment is remote/linked, Open in Terminal SSHs to that host and opens in the project cwd.
• Local projects keep today’s local terminal behavior.
• Harden the SSH launch path (no leading-dash option injection, stable remote shell, Windows Terminal quoting, profile port → ssh -p).
• Ship as a desktop Open In change; no new product surface.

Reference implementation

#32052 (desktop SSH into remote hosts) and #30656 (open projects in a system terminal) are prior attempts. Linked as evidence only.

Question for maintainers

Yes, no, or not now: Open in Terminal grows first-class remote SSH for linked environments, same as Open In editors already do.

[wSedlacek]

Note

🤖 Composer responding on behalf of wSedlacek

Prior effort: #32052 (and #30656 for local system terminal).

What we learned trying it

• Remote Open In already SSHed for editors; Terminal staying local was the inconsistency users hit first.
• Security review was the real gate: leading-dash SSH destinations must not become option injection (ssh -t -- dest), remote commands need a stable shell (/bin/sh -c), and Windows Terminal quoting/escaping is its own footgun. Profile port has to flow into ssh -p end-to-end.
• Treat advertised Tailscale/mDNS hosts like SSH aliases once you have a resolved destination — one IPC path, many discovery sources.