[Feature Request] Support macOS (darwin) as SSH remote host

[marcomarandiz]

Feature Description

SSH remote sessions in Claude Desktop currently only support Linux hosts. Attempting to connect to a macOS host produces:

"Unsupported remote platform: darwin. Only Linux hosts are supported for SSH connections."

Please add support for macOS as a remote host platform.

Use Case

Many developers use Mac Minis or Mac Studios as remote development machines, home servers, or CI/CD build machines. Being able to SSH into these from Claude Desktop on another Mac is a natural workflow — the client already runs on macOS, so the platform is clearly not fundamentally incompatible.

Currently the only workaround is to SSH in from Terminal and run claude directly, which loses the Desktop UI experience.

Environment

• Client: macOS (Claude Desktop)
• Remote host: macOS (darwin) — Mac Mini via Tailscale
• Claude Code version: 1.0.70

Related Issues

• [DOCS] Desktop SSH sessions page doesn't mention Linux-only host requirement #25804 — Documents the Linux-only limitation but does not request macOS host support

[chencheng-li]

+1 for this feature. I use a Mac Mini as a remote development machine and this limitation blocks the SSH remote session workflow entirely. The workaround of SSH-ing into the Mac and running claude in terminal works, but losing the Desktop's visual diff and parallel session features is a real regression.

Would love to see darwin support, even if it means a separate code path for macOS path conventions and package installation.

[cherijs]

+1

[abhaysudhir]

+1

[ak3r-hub]

+1

[L1tR05]

+1 🥲

[manueltamashiro]

Please implement this as I have a Mac-studio and oh man, it is powerful and expensive and I got it specially for this use case. Thanks :)

[h888t]

+1

[mogglemoss]

Please consider bumping the priority on this feature request. I just tried configuring a Mac Mini as an SSH remote host and was bummed to see that Darwin isn't supported. I was really looking forward to getting that setup working, so I'd love to see this added in a future release.

[PimentelM]

+1

[Chikerinim]

+1

[calvinmoltbot]

Glad I searched for this as was going to raise the same thing - even Claude thinks its ridiculous

I've been trying to use Claude Code's SSH remote connection feature to connect from my MacBook to a headless Mac mini home server. When I attempt to connect, I get the error: "Unsupported remote platform: darwin. Only Linux hosts are supported for SSH connections."

I appreciate this may be a known limitation and I may be approaching this wrong — but it feels like a natural use case: many Mac users run Mac minis as home servers and would want to point Claude Code at them remotely.

Is there a supported way to achieve this that I'm missing? If not, I'd love to see macOS supported as a remote SSH host in a future release, given that Claude Code already runs natively on macOS.

Happy to provide any more detail if helpful.

[marcomarandiz]

OP here - wanted to share a workaround that's been working well for me.

The setup: MacBook as the thin client, Mac mini as the workhorse, connected over Tailscale.

I tried a few approaches and landed on a hybrid that covers most of what SSH remote would give you.

1. Local project dir + symlinked config via SMB

Mount the mini's home directory via SMB (System Settings → General → Sharing on the mini, then Cmd+K → smb://<tailscale-hostname> from the MacBook). It shows up at /Volumes/<username>.

The key: don't point Claude Code at the SMB mount as your working directory. That's brutally slow on startup because it scans the whole project tree over the network. Instead:

• Keep your project directory local on the MacBook
• Symlink config files to the SMB mount so they always read from the mini: ln -s /Volumes/<username>/path/to/CLAUDE.md ~/project/CLAUDE.md

Fast startup, always-current config, no sync scripts.

2. MCP server on the mini for real work

For actually reading, writing, and searching files on the mini, I run an MCP server there that exposes workspace tools (file read/write/grep/glob, git operations, script execution). Claude Code on the MacBook connects to it over Tailscale. This is way faster than doing file operations over SMB because the search/grep happens on the mini and only the results come back over the wire - no per-file network round-trips.

If you don't have a custom MCP setup, plain SSH works too. You can add a hook or slash command that runs ssh user@mini "command" for heavier operations.

3. Session history sync via launchd

A simple launchd job rsyncs Claude Code session files to the mini every 30 min. Since the SMB mount is already there, it's just a local rsync to the mount point - no SSH needed for the transport.

SMB tuning helps. Create /etc/nsmb.conf on the MacBook:

[default]
notify_off=yes
soft=yes
dir_cache_max_cnt=4096
dir_cache_max=60
protocol_vers_map=4

Disables filesystem change notifications, bumps the directory cache, and forces SMB3-only negotiation. Cut my file operation times roughly in half.

What you get: full Desktop UI (diffs, parallel sessions, project context), config files that stay in sync automatically, fast file operations via MCP/SSH, and session history on the remote machine. What you don't get: Claude Code natively aware it's working on a remote host, which means terminal commands still run locally unless you route them through SSH.

Still want proper darwin SSH remote support, but this has been a solid daily driver.

[Noah-Everett]

+1

[yigitkonur]

here is a workaround for those looking for: https://notes.yigitkonur.com/b/FA918EA3-7A6D-42D7-B5C0-B61F7DF6DE58/using-claude-code's-new-native-ssh-r