SSH Display Forwarding (X11)

Secure Shell can use a local X11/Xorg server to forward applications windows.

Dependencies

You'll need a local X11 server. Options include

For macOS, Xquartz
For Win, MobaXterm (for UPMC managed computers, see local MobaXterm notes) or Xming
Prerequisites (Xwayland or Xorg) are likely already available when already on Linux or Windows Subsystem for Linux.

Setup

Use -Y or -X with your ssh connection command to enable display forwarding.

ssh -Y $USERNAME@$REMOTEHOST

You can make this the default in ~/.ssh/config using ForwardX11 and ForwardX11Trusted directives. Note: Host * is for all hosts. You might want to replace * with a single or list of specific ssh servers.

Host *
   # we don't need to encrypt X11 (faster)
   ForwardX11 yes
   ForwardX11Trusted yes