microsoft / microsoft/vscode-remote-release

**Feature Request: Default remote directory for SSH connections**

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Description

It's 2026 and tools like PuTTY (a ~4MB application) and WinSCP have supported setting a default open directory per SSH connection for over two decades. VS Code Remote-SSH still does not.

Every time I connect to a remote host, I'm dumped into /root and have to manually navigate to my working directory. There is no UI field, no reliable setting in settings.json, and no workaround that actually works consistently.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

The issue names no files, tests, or entry points, so first locate the Remote-SSH connection setup and any existing per-connection settings. Done means a default remote directory can be configured for each SSH connection and is used when connecting.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
vscode
Domain
devtools
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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