SSHX Studio
SSH terminal, SFTP file manager and port forwarding — side by side in one VS Code tab.
English · 简体中文
Remote - SSH turns VS Code into a remote workspace. Often you don't want that — you just need a shell on a server, its files, and a tunnel to the database behind it, next to the project you already have open. That's what SSHX Studio is for.
Features
Terminal and files together
- A full xterm.js terminal and an SFTP file browser in the same tab, with a resizable split.
- Browse, rename, delete, create folders,
cd the terminal into any folder.
- Double-click a file to edit it in VS Code — saving uploads it back.
- Upload by dialog, drag and drop, or right-click in the Explorer → Upload to SSH Host…
Transfers you can see
- A progress bar per file or folder, with speed, time left and file count.
- Up to three transfers in parallel, each on its own SFTP channel, so browsing never stalls.
- Cancel anytime; partial files are cleaned up.
Hosts and credentials
- Imports your
~/.ssh/config on first run (including Include, wildcards, ProxyJump, LocalForward, …). Your config file is never modified.
- Add and edit hosts in a form, with Test connection before saving.
- Authenticate with your SSH agent, a key file, a password, or a key kept in the system credential store — paste one or generate an Ed25519 / RSA key pair.
- Passwords and keys live in the system credential store (macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager, libsecret on Linux), never in plain files.
Forwarding
- Port forwards per host, written the way you'd pass them to
ssh: -L local, -R remote and -D dynamic (SOCKS5 / SOCKS4a). Start, stop, or auto-start them from the tree.
- Agent forwarding (
-A) and X11 forwarding (-X), with OpenSSH-style cookie spoofing.
Connectivity
ProxyJump chains and ProxyCommand (e.g. nc, cloudflared access ssh).known_hosts verification, including hashed entries and StrictHostKeyChecking.
Runs everywhere
- One extension for macOS, Linux (glibc and musl) and Windows, on x64 and arm64.
- English and Simplified Chinese.
Installation
Requires VS Code 1.101 or later. Nothing needs to be installed on the server beyond a normal SSH server with SFTP enabled.
Getting started
- Open SSHX Studio in the activity bar. Hosts from
~/.ssh/config are imported the first time.
- Click ＋ to add a host, or right-click one to edit it. Use Test connection to check the settings before saving.
- Click the terminal icon on a host to open a session: terminal on the left, files on the right.
- Click the ⇄ icon on a host to add a port forward. Start and stop it from the tree; right-click → Toggle Auto-start to bring it up whenever VS Code starts.
Port forwarding examples
| You want to… |
Type |
Enter |
Then |
| Reach a database that only the server can see |
-L |
5433:db.internal:5432 |
psql -h localhost -p 5433 |
| Show the server a dev server running on your laptop |
-R |
9000:localhost:3000 |
on the server: curl localhost:9000 |
| Browse the server's internal network |
-D |
1080 |
set your browser's SOCKS5 proxy to 127.0.0.1:1080 |
Configuration
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
sshxStudio.databasePath |
~/.sshx-studio/sshx.db |
Where hosts and port forwards are stored |
sshxStudio.configPath |
~/.ssh/config |
SSH config to import from |
sshxStudio.terminalFontSize |
13 |
Terminal font size |
Supported ssh_config options
Host, Match all, Include, HostName, Port, User, IdentityFile, IdentitiesOnly, IdentityAgent, ProxyJump, ProxyCommand, LocalForward, RemoteForward, DynamicForward, ForwardAgent, ForwardX11, StrictHostKeyChecking, UserKnownHostsFile, ConnectTimeout, ServerAliveInterval, and the %h %p %r %n %d %u tokens. Other options are kept with the host but not used yet.
Security and privacy
- Credentials — passwords, key passphrases and stored private keys are kept in VS Code's SecretStorage, which is backed by the macOS Keychain, Windows Credential Manager or libsecret. They are never written to the database or to disk. On Linux this needs a running keyring such as GNOME Keyring or KWallet; without one, VS Code falls back to weaker local encryption.
- Host data — host settings and port forwards are kept in a local SQLite file (
~/.sshx-studio/sshx.db, readable only by you). Nothing is synced or uploaded.
- Host keys — servers are verified against your
known_hosts. A changed key is refused. New keys are added only after you confirm, or as your StrictHostKeyChecking setting allows.
- Forwarding — agent forwarding lets the server use your keys while you're connected, so only enable it for servers you trust. With X11 forwarding, the server only ever receives a random fake cookie.
- No telemetry. The extension makes no network connections other than the SSH connections you open.
Found a vulnerability? Please report it privately — see SECURITY.md.
FAQ
How is this different from Remote - SSH?
Remote - SSH runs a VS Code server on the remote machine and opens it as your workspace. SSHX Studio leaves your workspace alone and gives you a terminal, files and tunnels for any number of servers in tabs. It needs nothing on the server beyond SSH. The two work fine together.
Does it change my ~/.ssh/config?
No — it's only read when importing. The one file it may write to is known_hosts, and only after you've confirmed a new host key.
X11 forwarding doesn't work
You need a local X server: XQuartz on macOS (log out and back in after installing it), VcXsrv or a similar server on Windows, or any X11/XWayland session on Linux. The server must allow X11 forwarding (X11Forwarding yes in sshd_config) and have xauth installed.
Can I use it in VSCodium, Cursor or another VS Code fork?
Yes — install it from Open VSX or from the .vsix on the Releases page.
Contributing
Bug reports, ideas and pull requests are welcome — please read CONTRIBUTING.md for how to build, test and submit changes. Translations are especially appreciated.
License
MIT © fengqi
| |
