How to use terminal-code with Herdr for remote development while keeping the client local?

[darongliu]

Hi! I'm trying to figure out the recommended way to use terminal-code together with Herdr for remote development.

My desired setup is:

Local machine
├── Herdr client / TUI
└── terminal-code client / frontend

        │ SSH
        ▼

Remote machine
├── Herdr server / terminals
├── project files
└── terminal-code / code-server backend

In other words, I want all project-related servers/processes to run on the remote machine, while the interactive clients/rendering stay on my local machine.

Both tools seem to support this independently:

• With terminal-code, I can run tode --ssh <host> locally, so the backend runs remotely while the frontend stays local.
• With Herdr, I can use herdr --remote <host> and keep the Herdr client local while the actual terminals/processes live on the remote machine.

The part I'm unsure about is how to combine them.

Once I'm inside a terminal created by the remote Herdr session, that shell is already running on the remote machine. If I run:

tode

from that terminal, tode itself is launched remotely, which means the terminal-code client/frontend also ends up running on the remote side instead of locally.

I also noticed that this repository already includes a Herdr plugin, but from what I understand, open-split invokes tode --split right from the current Herdr pane, so I assume the same issue would apply when Herdr itself is attached to a remote machine.

Is there currently a supported/recommended way to achieve the topology above?

Ideally, I'd like to be able to trigger tode from a remote Herdr pane, but have it:

1. start or connect to the terminal-code backend on that remote machine, and
2. open the terminal-code frontend on my local machine.

For example, is there some mechanism for the remote tode command / Herdr plugin to communicate back to a local terminal-code client, similar to how tode --ssh works when initiated locally?

If this isn't currently supported, would this be something that could potentially be supported by the Herdr plugin?

Thanks!