Support SSH remote development in Codex Desktop App

What variant of Codex are you using?

App

What feature would you like to see?

Currently, the Codex Desktop App only supports opening and working with local projects on the same machine where the app is installed. For developers who primarily work on remote servers, virtual machines, or cloud development environments accessed via SSH, the Desktop App is effectively unusable for real coding tasks.

I would like to see native SSH remote project support added to the Codex Desktop App, similar to the experience provided by the VS Code Remote - SSH extension.

Desired Behavior

1. Connect to a remote host: The ability to input an SSH connection string (e.g., user@host:port) and provide authentication (password, key file, or agent forwarding).
2. Browse remote filesystem: The Codex file tree should display the directory structure of the remote server.
3. Execute Codex in the remote context: Codex's AI model should have direct access to the remote files and the remote terminal environment. This ensures that file edits, shell commands, and context gathering happen exactly where the code lives.
4. Transparent terminal integration: The built-in terminal should open a shell session on the remote server automatically.

Use Case & Motivation

Many development workflows rely on centralized dev servers, on-premise GPU clusters, or cloud VMs. Currently, using Codex in these environments forces users to choose between suboptimal workarounds:

• Installing the Codex CLI on the server (works for terminal users but lacks GUI file browsing/diff views).
• Using VS Code with the Codex extension via Remote-SSH (works well, but some users prefer the dedicated, streamlined interface of the Desktop App).

Adding SSH support to the Desktop App would unify the experience and make Codex a first-class citizen for remote development, regardless of the user's preferred IDE.

Potential Implementation Notes

The VS Code Remote Development extensions provide a proven reference architecture for this feature:

1. Establish an SSH connection and install a small "Codex Server" daemon on the remote host.
2. The local Desktop App acts as a thin UI client.
3. All language analysis and file operations occur on the remote host.

Thank you for considering this request. It would significantly expand the utility of the Desktop App for enterprise and infrastructure-focused developers.

Additional information

_No response_