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Execute local prompts in SSH remote shells

Execute local prompts in SSH remote shells

by tgalal·Mar 11, 2026·7 points·2 comments

AI Analysis

●●●BangerWizardryBig BrainSolve My Problem

Local prompts execute remotely over SSH with zero server setup and keys never leave your machine.

Strengths
  • API keys stay local while prompts execute on remote infrastructure securely.
  • Uses existing SSH binary without requiring any server-side installation or setup.
Weaknesses
  • Narrow use case limited to developers working with SSH-connected remote servers.
  • Channel setup requires specific tools like mkfifo or socat depending on configuration.
Target Audience

DevOps engineers, backend developers working with remote servers

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Post Description

Instead of giving LLM tools SSH access or installing them on a server, the following command:

$ promptctl ssh user@server

makes a set of locally defined prompts "magically" appear within the remote shell as executable command line programs.

For example, I have locally defined prompts for `llm-analyze-config` and `askai`. Then on (any) remote host I can:

$ promptctl ssh user@host # Now on remote host $ llm-analyze-config /etc/nginx.conf $ cat docker-compose.yml | askai "add a load balancer"

the prompts behind `llm-analyze-config` and `askai` execute on my local computer (even though they're invoked remotely) via the llm of my choosing.

This way LLM tools are never granted SSH access to the server, and nothing needs to be installed to the server. In fact, the server does not even need outbound internet connections to be enabled.

Github: https://github.com/tgalal/promptcmd/

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