Issue connecting to remote server via SSH - "Couldn't get identities from OpenSSH agent" and server installation failure

[Cartman771]

I am encountering issues when trying to SSH into a remote server using Positron. The connection fails, even though the same configuration works fine with VS Code. Below are the error logs:

[Info - 14:00:38.614] Resolving ssh remote authority 'ssh-remote+218.205.27.74' (attemp #1)
[Error - 14:00:38.623] Couldn't get identities from OpenSSH agent
Error: Failed to connect to agent
at Socket.r (d:\Software\Positron\Positron\resources\app\extensions\open-remote-ssh\dist\extension.js:1:132086)
at Socket.emit (node:events:518:28)
at Socket.emit (node:domain:489:12)
at emitErrorNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:169:8)
at emitErrorCloseNT (node:internal/streams/destroy:128:3)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:82:21)
[Trace - 14:00:38.624] Identity keys:
None
[Info - 14:00:39.45] Trying no-auth authentication
[Info - 14:00:39.213] Trying password authentication
[Trace - 14:00:42.471] Server install command:

Server installation script

TMP_DIR="${XDG_RUNTIME_DIR:-"/tmp"}"

DISTRO_VERSION="2025.03.0-116"
DISTRO_COMMIT="7f0f93873e8b24c9f393bb3586724f4783c5e72c"
DISTRO_QUALITY="undefined"
DISTRO_VSCODIUM_RELEASE=""

SERVER_APP_NAME="positron-server"
SERVER_INITIAL_EXTENSIONS=""
SERVER_LISTEN_FLAG="--port=0"
SERVER_DATA_DIR="$HOME/.positron-server"
SERVER_DIR="$SERVER_DATA_DIR/bin/$DISTRO_COMMIT"
SERVER_SCRIPT="$SERVER_DIR/bin/$SERVER_APP_NAME"
SERVER_LOGFILE="$SERVER_DATA_DIR/.$DISTRO_COMMIT.log"
SERVER_PIDFILE="$SERVER_DATA_DIR/.$DISTRO_COMMIT.pid"
SERVER_TOKENFILE="$SERVER_DATA_DIR/.$DISTRO_COMMIT.token"
SERVER_ARCH=
SERVER_CONNECTION_TOKEN=
SERVER_DOWNLOAD_URL=

LISTENING_ON=
OS_RELEASE_ID=
ARCH=
PLATFORM=

Mimic output from logs of remote-ssh extension

print_install_results_and_exit() {
echo "d8cd16d213ea6b8c328fa763: start"
echo "exitCode==$1=="
echo "listeningOn==$LISTENING_ON=="
echo "connectionToken==$SERVER_CONNECTION_TOKEN=="
echo "logFile==$SERVER_LOGFILE=="
echo "osReleaseId==$OS_RELEASE_ID=="
echo "arch==$ARCH=="
echo "platform==$PLATFORM=="
echo "tmpDir==$TMP_DIR=="

echo "d8cd16d213ea6b8c328fa763: end"
exit 0

}

Check if platform is supported

KERNEL="$(uname -s)"
case $KERNEL in
Darwin)
PLATFORM="darwin"
;;
Linux)
PLATFORM="linux"
;;
FreeBSD)
PLATFORM="freebsd"
;;
DragonFly)
PLATFORM="dragonfly"
;;
*)
echo "Error platform not supported: $KERNEL"
print_install_results_and_exit 1
;;
esac

Check machine architecture

ARCH="$(uname -m)"
case $ARCH in
x86_64 | amd64)
SERVER_ARCH="x64"
;;
armv7l | armv8l)
SERVER_ARCH="armhf"
;;
arm64 | aarch64)
SERVER_ARCH="arm64"
;;
ppc64le)
SERVER_ARCH="ppc64le"
;;
riscv64)
SERVER_ARCH="riscv64"
;;
*)
echo "Error architecture not supported: $ARCH"
print_install_results_and_exit 1
;;
esac

https://www.freedesktop.org/software/systemd/man/os-release.html

OS_RELEASE_ID="$(grep -i '^ID=' /etc/os-release 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^ID=//gi' | sed 's/"//g')"
if [[ -z $OS_RELEASE_ID ]]; then
OS_RELEASE_ID="$(grep -i '^ID=' /usr/lib/os-release 2>/dev/null | sed 's/^ID=//gi' | sed 's/"//g')"
if [[ -z $OS_RELEASE_ID ]]; then
OS_RELEASE_ID="unknown"
fi
fi

Create installation folder

if [[ ! -d $SERVER_DIR ]]; then
mkdir -p $SERVER_DIR
if (( $? > 0 )); then
echo "Error creating server install directory"
print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi
fi

SERVER_DOWNLOAD_URL="$(echo "https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/releases/download/\${version}/positron-reh-\${os}-\${arch}-\${version}.tar.gz" | sed "s/${quality}/$DISTRO_QUALITY/g" | sed "s/${version}/$DISTRO_VERSION/g" | sed "s/${commit}/$DISTRO_COMMIT/g" | sed "s/${os}/$PLATFORM/g" | sed "s/${arch}/$SERVER_ARCH/g" | sed "s/${release}/$DISTRO_VSCODIUM_RELEASE/g")"

Check if server script is already installed

if [[ ! -f $SERVER_SCRIPT ]]; then
if [[ "$PLATFORM" != "darwin" ]] && [[ "$PLATFORM" != "linux" ]]; then
echo "Error "$PLATFORM" needs manual installation of remote extension host"
print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

pushd $SERVER_DIR > /dev/null

if [[ ! -z $(which wget) ]]; then
    wget --tries=3 --timeout=10 --continue --no-verbose -O vscode-server.tar.gz $SERVER_DOWNLOAD_URL
elif [[ ! -z $(which curl) ]]; then
    curl --retry 3 --connect-timeout 10 --location --show-error --silent --output vscode-server.tar.gz $SERVER_DOWNLOAD_URL
else
    echo "Error no tool to download server binary"
    print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

if (( $? > 0 )); then
    echo "Error downloading server from $SERVER_DOWNLOAD_URL"
    print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

tar -xf vscode-server.tar.gz --strip-components 1
if (( $? > 0 )); then
    echo "Error while extracting server contents"
    print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

if [[ ! -f $SERVER_SCRIPT ]]; then
    echo "Error server contents are corrupted"
    print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

rm -f vscode-server.tar.gz

popd > /dev/null

else
echo "Server script already installed in $SERVER_SCRIPT"
fi

Try to find if server is already running

if [[ -f $SERVER_PIDFILE ]]; then
SERVER_PID="$(cat $SERVER_PIDFILE)"
SERVER_RUNNING_PROCESS="$(ps -o pid,args -p $SERVER_PID | grep $SERVER_SCRIPT)"
else
SERVER_RUNNING_PROCESS="$(ps -o pid,args -A | grep $SERVER_SCRIPT | grep -v grep)"
fi

if [[ -z $SERVER_RUNNING_PROCESS ]]; then
if [[ -f $SERVER_LOGFILE ]]; then
rm $SERVER_LOGFILE
fi
if [[ -f $SERVER_TOKENFILE ]]; then
rm $SERVER_TOKENFILE
fi

touch $SERVER_TOKENFILE
chmod 600 $SERVER_TOKENFILE
SERVER_CONNECTION_TOKEN="cdea68aa-87c6-4249-a24b-dac6f15a77ea"
echo $SERVER_CONNECTION_TOKEN > $SERVER_TOKENFILE

$SERVER_SCRIPT --start-server --host=127.0.0.1 $SERVER_LISTEN_FLAG $SERVER_INITIAL_EXTENSIONS --connection-token-file $SERVER_TOKENFILE --telemetry-level off --enable-remote-auto-shutdown --accept-server-license-terms &> $SERVER_LOGFILE &
echo $! > $SERVER_PIDFILE

else
echo "Server script is already running $SERVER_SCRIPT"
fi

if [[ -f $SERVER_TOKENFILE ]]; then
SERVER_CONNECTION_TOKEN="$(cat $SERVER_TOKENFILE)"
else
echo "Error server token file not found $SERVER_TOKENFILE"
print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

if [[ -f $SERVER_LOGFILE ]]; then
for i in {1..5}; do
LISTENING_ON="$(cat $SERVER_LOGFILE | grep -E 'Extension host agent listening on .+' | sed 's/Extension host agent listening on //')"
if [[ -n $LISTENING_ON ]]; then
break
fi
sleep 0.5
done

if [[ -z $LISTENING_ON ]]; then
    echo "Error server did not start sucessfully"
    print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

else
echo "Error server log file not found $SERVER_LOGFILE"
print_install_results_and_exit 1
fi

Finish server setup

print_install_results_and_exit 0

[Trace - 14:01:15.814] Server install command stderr:

[Trace - 14:01:15.814] Server install command stdout:
Error downloading server from https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/releases/download/2025.03.0-116/positron-reh-linux-x64-2025.03.0-116.tar.gz
d8cd16d213ea6b8c328fa763: start
exitCode==1==
listeningOn====
connectionToken====
logFile==/media/desk16/tly124/.positron-server/.7f0f93873e8b24c9f393bb3586724f4783c5e72c.log==
osReleaseId==ubuntu==
arch==x86_64==
platform==linux==
tmpDir==/run/user/1002==
d8cd16d213ea6b8c328fa763: end

[Error - 14:01:15.815] Error resolving authority
Error: Couldn't install vscode server on remote server, install script returned non-zero exit status
at e.installCodeServer (d:\Software\Positron\Positron\resources\app\extensions\open-remote-ssh\dist\extension.js:1:439488)
at process.processTicksAndRejections (node:internal/process/task_queues:95:5)
at async d:\Software\Positron\Positron\resources\app\extensions\open-remote-ssh\dist\extension.js:1:403242

Key observations:

• The initial error is Couldn't get identities from OpenSSH agent, indicating a problem with accessing SSH keys.
• Subsequently, the server installation on the remote machine failed with the error Error downloading server from https://github.com/posit-dev/positron/releases/download/2025.03.0-116/positron-reh-linux-x64-2025.03.0-116.tar.gz and Couldn't install vscode server on remote server, install script returned non-zero exit status.
• The same SSH configuration works without issues in VS Code.
  Could you please investigate this issue? Thank you.

[juliasilge]

I believe this is the same as #6221. Could you take a look and see if you have anything additional to add?

If so, it's likely this is an example of a known issue with the Open Remote SSH extension we're using, which is also responsible for lots of reports of this issue in Cursor. See here for lots more details: https://github.com/getcursor/cursor/issues/1027.

Do any of the workarounds in that issue help?

[juliasilge]

Let's track this problem in #6221.