Open URL in your local web browser from the SSH-connected remote environment.
opener is a daemon process that runs locally. When you send a URL to the process, it will execute a command tailored to your local environment (open on macOS, xdg-open on Linux) with the URL as an argument. As a result, the URL will be opened in your favorite web browser.
You remotely forward the socket file of the opener daemon, ~/.opener.sock, when you log in to the remote environment via SSH. In a remote environment, you use fake open command or xdg-open command to send the URL to ~/.opener.sock being forwarded from your local environment. The result is as if URL was sent to the local opener daemon, which opens the URL in your local web browser.
┌────────────────────┐ ┌────────────────────┐
│ │ │ │
│ ┌────────────────┐ │ │ ┌────────────────┐ │
│ │ Web Browser │ │ │ │ open command │ │
│ └─▲──────────────┘ │ │ │ (fake) │ │
│ │ Open URL │ │ └─┬──────────────┘ │
│ ┌─┴──────────────┐ │ │ │ │
│ │ opener daemon │ │ │ │ Send URL │
│ └─┬──────────────┘ │ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ ┌─┴──────────────┐ │ SSH connection │ ┌─▼──────────────┐ │
│ │ ~/.opener.sock │ ├─────────────────► │ ~/.opener.sock │ │
│ └────────────────┘ │ Remote forward │ └────────────────┘ │
│ │ │ │
│ localhost │ │ remote server │
└────────────────────┘ └────────────────────┘
You can install opener with Homebrew. Since opener is a daemon, it is managed by Homebrew-services.
$ brew install superbrothers/opener/opener
$ brew services start opener
Set ssh config to forward ~/.opener.sock to the remote environment.
Host host.example.org
RemoteForward /home/me/.opener.sock /Users/me/.opener.sock
Install a fake open or xdg-open command. Please choose your preference either way.
$ mkdir ~/bin
# open command
$ curl -L -o ~/bin/open https://raw.githubusercontent.com/superbrothers/opener/master/bin/open
$ chmod 755 ~/bin/open
# xdg-open command
$ curl -L -o ~/bin/xdg-open https://raw.githubusercontent.com/superbrothers/opener/master/bin/xdg-open
$ chmod 755 ~/bin/xdg-open
# Add ~/bin to $PATH and enable it
$ echo 'export PATH="$HOME/bin:$PATH"' >>~/.bashrc
$ source ~/.bashrcFake commands use nc command, so install it if you don't have it.
# Ubuntu 20.04
$ sudo apt install netcatAdd the following settings to sshd. This is an option to delete the socket file when you lose the connection to the remote environment.
# Add a configuration file
$ echo "StreamLocalBindUnlink yes" | sudo tee /etc/ssh/sshd_config.d/opener.conf
# Restart ssh service
$ sudo systemctl restart sshIf set up correctly, the following command in a remote environment will send the URL through opener and open the URL in your local web browser.
$ open https://www.google.com/
You can configure opener with a config file. By default, it should be located at ~/.config/opener/config.yaml. You can also specify a config file with --config option.
# The network to use opener daemon.
# Allowed networks are: unix or tcp. (defaults to unix)
network: unix
# The address to listen on. (defaults to ~/.opener.sock)
address: ~/.opener.sockIf you want to open a URL from inside a container, you can use tcp network instead of unix.
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ │
│ ┌────────────────┐ │
│ │ Web Browser │ │
│ └─▲──────────────┘ ┌──────────────────┐ │
│ │ │ container │ │
│ │ Open URL │ │ │
│ │ │ ┌──────────────┐ │ │
│ ┌─┴──────────────┐ Send a URL │ │ open command │ │ │
│ │ opener daemon │◄────────────────┼─┤ (fake) │ │ │
│ └────────────────┘ (TCP request) │ └──────────────┘ │ │
│ 127.0.0.1:9999 │ │ │
│ └──────────────────┘ │
│ localhost │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
Create the following config at ~/.config/opener/config.yaml:
network: tcp
address: 127.0.0.1:9999Restart the opener daemon:
$ brew services restart opener
Send a URL to the opener daemon from inside a container:
$ docker run --rm -it busybox /bin/sh
# echo https://www.google.com/ | nc host.docker.internal 9999
The following script is useful as a fake open command.
#!/bin/sh
echo "$@" | nc host.docker.internal 9999MIT License