Documentation: Remote SSH is Desktop only

[lachlansimpson]

System details:

Ubuntu 24.04

Positron and OS details:

Desktop version:

Positron Version: 2025.07.0 build 170
Code - OSS Version: 1.100.0
Commit: cbe897b1dd265d94ddf90fcbd9661f2a816fdff9
Date: 2025-06-23T03:43:23.429Z
Electron: 34.5.1
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.0
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.11.0-28-generic

Server version:

Positron Version: 2025.06.0 build 167
Code - OSS Version: 1.100.0
Commit: e7e5d5590adc6bf7b760f837051cd2f57ea9e3dc
Date: 2025-05-29T20:49:51.506Z
Browser: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:140.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/140.0

Describe the issue:

The documentation states:

Positron has support for Remote SSH sessions.

https://github.com/posit-dev/positron-website/blob/16f1a363a6a1c36df37b29fa76d6bcd5d7d461a4/remote-ssh.qmd#L5

https://positron.posit.co/remote-ssh.html

This works in the Desktop version, but not in a Workbench session, via Support ticket 119704 and reproducible on local servers and Posit Workbench instances.

Steps to reproduce the issue:

1. On each machine, follow the documentation.
2. The server version doesn't give the same result as the desktop version

Expected or desired behavior:

One of the following:

• the server version works as documented
• the documentation is updated to include the caveat "in the Desktop version only"
• the documentation is update to include "this functionality is only available in the Desktop version at the moment, we are working on it being in an upcoming release for Workbench sessions".

Thanks!

Were there any error messages in the UI, Output panel, or Developer Tools console?

NA

[juliasilge]

So I understand better, was the customer wanting to use Positron locally and connect to Workbench as the remote? Or were they wanting to use Positron on Workbench and connect to... another remote?

[lachlansimpson]

I am about to ask for their use case, but yes, they wanted to open a Positron session, then ssh into another server.

[juliasilge]

Ah, we do plan to eventually support using Positron locally and connecting to Workbench as a remote, but I do not believe from Workbench to another server.

[lachlansimpson]

The customer has explained their use cases:

• I can have the same exact development experience regardless of which device I’m directly interacting with locally.
• By having the Workbench server physically located near the hosts with fast connections, I might be able to minimize latency.
• When a new user is interested in using a similar setup, I can merely point them to the existing Workbench installation rather than going through the process of installing Positron on their local machine, configuring keys, etc.