Maintaining SSH Connections, Supported Options, and Limitations in Zed's Remote Development

If it is not there or the version mismatches, Zed will try to download the latest version. By default, it will download from `https://zed.dev` directly, but if you set: `{"upload_binary_over_ssh":true}` in your settings for that server, it will download the binary to your local machine and then upload it to the remote server. If you'd like to maintain the server binary yourself you can. You can either download our prebuilt versions from [GitHub](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/releases), or [build your own](https://zed.dev/docs/development) with `cargo build -p remote_server --release`. If you do this, you must upload it to `~/.zed_server/zed-remote-server-{RELEASE_CHANNEL}-{VERSION}` on the server, for example `~/.zed_server/zed-remote-server-stable-0.181.6`. The version must exactly match the version of Zed itself you are using. ## Maintaining the SSH connection Once the server is initialized. Zed will create new SSH connections (reusing the existing ControlMaster) to run the remote development server. Each connection tries to run the development server in proxy mode. This mode will start the daemon if it is not running, and reconnect to it if it is. This way when your connection drops and is restarted, you can continue to work without interruption. In the case that reconnecting fails, the daemon will not be re-used. That said, unsaved changes are by default persisted locally, so that you do not lose work. You can always reconnect to the project at a later date and Zed will restore unsaved changes. If you are struggling with connection issues, you should be able to see more information in the Zed log `cmd-shift-p Open Log`. If you are seeing things that are unexpected, please file a [GitHub issue](https://github.com/zed-industries/zed/issues/new) or reach out in the #remoting-feedback channel in the [Zed Discord](https://zed.dev/community-links). ## Supported SSH Options Under the hood, Zed shells out to the `ssh` binary to connect to the remote server. We create one SSH control master per project, and use then use that to multiplex SSH connections for the Zed protocol itself, any terminals you open and tasks you run. We read settings from your SSH config file, but if you want to specify additional options to the SSH control master you can configure Zed to set them. When typing in the "Connect New Server" dialog, you can use bash-style quoting to pass options containing a space. Once you have created a server it will be added to the `"ssh_connections": []` array in your settings file. You can edit the settings file directly to make changes to SSH connections. Supported options: - `-p` / `-l` - these are equivalent to passing the port and the username in the host string. - `-L` / `-R` for port forwarding - `-i` - to use a specific key file - `-o` - to set custom options - `-J` / `-w` - to proxy the SSH connection - `-F` for specifying an `ssh_config` - And also... `-4`, `-6`, `-A`, `-B`, `-C`, `-D`, `-I`, `-K`, `-P`, `-X`, `-Y`, `-a`, `-b`, `-c`, `-i`, `-k`, `-l`, `-m`, `-o`, `-p`, `-w`, `-x`, `-y` Note that we deliberately disallow some options (for example `-t` or `-T`) that Zed will set for you. ## Known Limitations - You can't open files from the remote Terminal by typing the `zed` command. ## Feedback Please join the #remoting-feedback channel in the [Zed Discord](https://zed.dev/community-links).

This section describes how Zed maintains SSH connections, reuses the ControlMaster, and runs the development server in proxy mode to prevent interruptions. It details how Zed persists unsaved changes locally and provides guidance on troubleshooting connection issues using Zed's log and reporting them via GitHub or Discord. It outlines the supported SSH options that can be configured in Zed and explicitly mentions disallowed options. Finally, it notes the limitation of not being able to open files from the remote terminal using the 'zed' command and encourages users to provide feedback through the Zed Discord channel.