imgssh is a process-local SSH wrapper that uploads local clipboard images to a remote host and inserts the quoted file path into your current SSH session.

copy a local image
connect with imgssh
press Ctrl+]
get '/tmp/imgssh-....png' inserted into the current SSH session

No terminal plugin. No daemon. No remote install. No global keyboard hook. Use it instead of ssh.

From source:

go install ./cmd/imgssh

Install with:

go install github.com/coderredlab/imgssh/cmd/imgssh@latest

Use imgssh like ssh:

imgssh coder@dev
imgssh -p 2222 coder@dev
imgssh -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 coder@dev
imgssh -J bastion coder@dev
imgssh coder@dev tmux attach

Copy a PNG image locally, focus the SSH session, then press:

Ctrl+]

On success, imgssh inserts a shell-quoted remote path at the current cursor position:

'/tmp/imgssh-20260425-142744-3aa0927c.png'

It does not press Enter for you.

imgssh launches ssh through a local PTY and relays input/output between your terminal and the SSH process.

When Ctrl+] reaches the imgssh process, imgssh:

1. reads a PNG image from the local clipboard
2. uploads it to the remote host through a separate ssh process
3. writes the shell-quoted remote path into the current SSH PTY

The upload connection reuses a temporary OpenSSH ControlPath created for the interactive session. This means password authentication can work after the initial login, without prompting again during image upload.

--remote-dir <path>          remote upload directory (default: /tmp)
--ssh-bin <path>             ssh binary path (default: ssh, or IMGSSH_SSH_BIN)
--upload-timeout <duration>  upload timeout (default: 30s)
--max-size <size>            max PNG size (default: 25MB)
--no-inject                  upload without inserting the remote path
--quiet                      suppress local failure messages
--version                    print version
--help                       print help

imgssh reads PNG images only.

Wayland: wl-paste --type image/png
X11:     xclip -selection clipboard -t image/png -o
X11:     xsel --clipboard --output --mime-type image/png
macOS:   pngpaste -

Install one matching clipboard backend before using image paste.

imgssh only reacts to bytes received through its own stdin. It does not:

- install global keyboard hooks
- detect active windows, tabs, or panes
- manipulate other terminal sessions
- run as a background daemon
- create SSH reverse tunnels
- let the remote server request local clipboard contents

Nested SSH sessions are not tracked. If you run imgssh dev and then run ssh prod inside dev, image uploads still go to dev.

If pressing Ctrl+] does nothing, make sure the terminal focus is inside the imgssh session and not in another local pane.

If upload fails with an authentication error, check that the interactive session is still alive and that your OpenSSH client supports ControlMaster/ControlPath.

If clipboard reading fails, verify that your environment has one supported PNG clipboard backend installed and that the clipboard currently contains a PNG image.