kitten-remote-file(1)

Name
kitten-remote-file - kitten Documentation

Overview

kitty has the ability to easily Edit, Open or Download files from a computer into which you are SSHed. In your SSH session run:

    ls --hyperlink=auto

Then hold down Ctrl+Shift and click the name of the file. Remote file actions (images not supported)

kitty will ask you what you want to do with the remote file. You can choose to Edit it in which case kitty will download it and open it locally in your EDITOR <#envvar-EDITOR>. As you make changes to the file, they are automatically transferred to the remote computer. Note that this happens without needing to install any special software on the server, beyond ls that supports hyperlinks.

See also: See the edit-in-kitty <#edit-file> command

See also: See the Transfer files <> kitten

Added in version 0.19.0.

Note: For best results, use this kitten with the ssh kitten <>. Otherwise, nested SSH sessions are not supported. The kitten will always try to copy remote files from the first SSH host. This is because, without the ssh kitten, there is no way for kitty to detect and follow a nested SSH session robustly. Use the Transfer files <> kitten for such situations.

Note: If you have not setup automatic password-less SSH access, and are not using the ssh kitten, then, when editing starts you will be asked to enter your password just once, thereafter the SSH connection will be re-used.

Similarly, you can choose to save the file to the local computer or download and open it in its default file handler.

Author
Kovid Goyal

Copyright
2026, Kovid Goyal