Epic: Local SSH Gateway

[loujaybee]

Press Release

Gitpod users don't need to upload SSH keys anymore.

Questions:

1. Will this affect VS Code restart?
   Depends how we define restart. If it restarts with our workspace, it makes it smoother.

Value

With Local SSH Gateway, when a user tries to connect to a workspace, it connects to local ssh gateway. There is no password or ssh key needed, because the local ssh gateway gets the owner token from the Gitpod VSCode Desktop extension.

Context

Acceptance Criteria

• User can open a workspace on VSCode Desktop without the above friction
• When a user restarts a workspace, they don't have to go through the hassle of copying password
• Enabled under a feature flag
• Have analytics

TODOs

• Take care of local ssh server’s port
• Add DNS record to point to local
  https://github.com/gitpod-io/ops/pull/8989
  [preview] add local ssh dns to preview env #17117
• Add proper telemetry and error/crash reporting
• Test remote.ssh.xx features (enablexxx are most important) with directssh, localapp and localssh. Detail see Linear
• Dogfood in Gitpodders and make sure users can't use it now

Out of scope

• Restarting from VSCode Desktop extension

Relates to:

• Error: "Failed to connect to X gitpod workspace" when setting up SSH keys for VS Code Desktop #15919
• Epic: Reduce popups in VS Code Desktop flow #15920

[loujaybee]

@laushinka to investigate and update description more after speaking to the team 🙏

[akosyakov]

Will this affect VS Code restart?

No, I don't think so. It is about smooth connection/reconnection, not restarting a workspace.