overthinkos/ov:ssh

MUST be invoked before any work involving: ov --host <alias|target> remote execution, ov ssh tunnel port forwarding for external SPICE/VNC viewers, or managing host aliases via ov settings set hosts.<alias>.

Two orthogonal surfaces

1. ov --host <alias> — re-exec any ov command on a remote machine

Set --host (or OV_HOST) at the top level of any ov invocation. ov shells out to the system ssh binary, runs ov <rest of argv> on the remote host, and streams stdin/stdout/stderr through. Exit code propagates.

# Alias setup (once per workstation):
ov settings set hosts.o o.atrawog.org
ov settings set hosts.prod [email protected]:2222

# Any ov verb works:
ov --host o status
ov --host o start openclaw
ov --host o vm list
ov --host o deploy add host fedora-coder
ov --host o test spice status arch
ov --host o test spice screenshot arch - > /tmp/local.png   # stdout pipes back

LocalOnly commands are NOT re-execed, even when --host is set: ov settings …, ov version, ov ssh tunnel …. These manage the local workstation (settings file, CLI version, local tunnel listener) and would be meaningless on the remote host.

Transport: system ssh binary via os/exec, so ~/.ssh/config, agent forwarding, and ControlMaster all work transparently. If your target needs a specific key, set it in ~/.ssh/config — ov stays out of SSH authentication.

Client-only flags stripped before re-exec: --host, --dir / -C, --repo, --kdbx. These are workstation-local concerns and must not be forwarded to the remote side.

2. ov ssh tunnel — expose a remote VM's display for external GUI apps

For apps that aren't ov (virt-viewer, remote-viewer with a bare URL, TigerVNC, Spicy), open an SSH-forwarded local endpoint:

ov ssh tunnel spice <vm> [--uri qemu+ssh://user@host/session] [--tcp]
ov ssh tunnel vnc   <vm> [--uri qemu+ssh://user@host/session] [--tcp]

Default mode preserves the wire format: UNIX socket in, UNIX socket out (local path under /tmp/ov-tunnel-<id>.sock). --tcp forces a 127.0.0.1:<random> TCP listener for clients that don't understand spice+unix:// / vnc+unix://.

$ ov ssh tunnel spice arch --uri qemu+ssh://o.atrawog.org/session
spice tunnel: spice+unix:///tmp/ov-tunnel-8e4c.sock
Connect with: remote-viewer spice+unix:///tmp/ov-tunnel-8e4c.sock
Press Ctrl-C to close the tunnel.

Blocks until SIGINT/SIGTERM; closes listener + SSH client cleanly on exit.

Not needed for virt-manager or remote-viewer --connect qemu+ssh:// — those auto-forward UNIX-socket listeners through libvirt's RPC fd-passing, with zero ov involvement. See /ov-vms:arch.

Alias management

| Command | Effect | |---|---| | ov settings set hosts.<alias> <ssh-target> | create/update alias | | ov settings get hosts.<alias> | print resolved target | | ov settings reset hosts.<alias> | delete alias | | ov settings list | show all settings including host_aliases map |

<ssh-target> forms: host, user@host, user@host:port. When resolving, plain words that look like aliases (no @, no .) are looked up in hosts.*; anything else is treated as a raw ssh target and passed through.

When NOT to use --host

• When you want artifacts (screenshots, recordings) to land in the local filesystem → use ov test libvirt|spice|vnc --uri qemu+ssh://… instead; it runs ov locally and forwards the display channel over SSH.
• When ov isn't installed on the remote machine → use --uri or ov ssh tunnel.

Cross-References

• /ov-vms:arch — "Connecting from a remote workstation" — the canonical worked example across all three paths.
• /ov:settings — hosts.<alias> key schema.
• /ov:spice — --uri + --socket flags on ov test spice.
• /ov:libvirt — --uri flag on every ov test libvirt verb.
• /ov:vnc — ov test vnc vm <name> … subcommand group.