HostnExtra Tunnel

HostnExtra Tunnel is the official SSH tunnel plugin for the HostnExtra CLI. It provides secure local port forwarding using OpenSSH, allowing you to access services running on remote servers as if they were available on your local machine.

Features

• Secure SSH local port forwarding
• Reusable tunnel profiles
• Open, list, show and close tunnels
• Automatic SSH host resolution
• Compatible with OpenSSH
• Supports HostnExtra SSH plugin
• Supports ~/.ssh/config
• No passwords or private keys are stored
• Lightweight with zero runtime dependencies
• Fully written in TypeScript

Installation

npm install -g hostnextra

Install the tunnel plugin.

hostnextra plugin add tunnel

Verify installation:

hostnextra tunnel help

Requirements

• Node.js 22 or later
• OpenSSH client installed
• SSH access to the remote server

Tunnel Profiles

Tunnel profiles define reusable local forwarding rules.

Profiles are stored locally.

~/.hostnextra/
└── tunnel/
    └── profiles.json

Profiles only contain tunnel definitions.

The plugin never stores:

• Passwords
• SSH private keys
• Secrets
• Authentication tokens

Creating a Profile

MySQL

hostnextra tunnel profile add mysql-prod \
    --from web-prod:3306 \
    --to localhost:3306

Nginx

hostnextra tunnel profile add nginx-prod \
    --from web-prod:80 \
    --to localhost:8080

Redis

hostnextra tunnel profile add redis-prod \
    --from web-prod:6379 \
    --to localhost:6379

PostgreSQL

hostnextra tunnel profile add postgres-prod \
    --from web-prod:5432 \
    --to localhost:5432

Opening a Tunnel

hostnextra tunnel open mysql-prod

Listing Active Tunnels

hostnextra tunnel list

Show Tunnel Information

hostnextra tunnel show tunnel-93551670

Closing a Tunnel

If the tunnel is running in the foreground, press:

Ctrl+C

Or close it using:

hostnextra tunnel close tunnel-93551670

Profile Management

Add profile

hostnextra tunnel profile add NAME \
    --from HOST:REMOTE_PORT \
    --to LOCAL_HOST:LOCAL_PORT

Remove profile

hostnextra tunnel profile remove mysql-prod

List profiles

hostnextra tunnel profile list

Show profile

hostnextra tunnel profile show mysql-prod

SSH Host Resolution

HostnExtra Tunnel resolves SSH hosts in the following order:

1. Explicit CLI arguments
2. HostnExtra SSH plugin
3. ~/.ssh/config

The HostnExtra SSH plugin is optional.

If it is installed, server aliases are resolved automatically.

If it is not installed, the plugin falls back to the standard OpenSSH configuration.

Examples

MySQL

hostnextra tunnel profile add mysql-prod \
    --from web-prod:3306 \
    --to localhost:3306

hostnextra tunnel open mysql-prod

mysql -h 127.0.0.1 -P 3306 -u root -p

Nginx

hostnextra tunnel profile add nginx-prod \
    --from web-prod:80 \
    --to localhost:8080

hostnextra tunnel open nginx-prod

Open:

http://127.0.0.1:8080

Uninstall

Remove the plugin.

hostnextra plugin remove tunnel

Security

HostnExtra Tunnel uses the system OpenSSH client.

Authentication is handled entirely by OpenSSH.

The plugin never stores:

• Passwords
• SSH keys
• SSH agent data
• Secrets

Tunnel profiles only define forwarding rules.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome.

Please open an issue before submitting significant changes so they can be discussed first.

License

MIT License.