winget install --id=Kevin589981.autossh -e autossh-windows supervises the native Windows OpenSSH client, restarts unexpected SSH exits, and optionally probes SSH port forwarding monitors.
Windows-native SSH connection supervisor. It starts ssh.exe, watches the
child process, optionally probes an SSH TCP forwarding monitor, and restarts
the session after an unexpected exit or a failed probe. The executable has no
WSL, MSYS2, Cygwin, or runtime dependency.
Install Go 1.24 or newer, then run in PowerShell:
./build.ps1
The result is autossh.exe. To cross-build from another OS:
GOOS=windows GOARCH=amd64 go build -trimpath -ldflags "-s -w" ./cmd/autossh
autossh [-V] [-f] [-M monitor[:echo]] [SSH_OPTIONS] [user@]host
For a forwarding monitor, -M 20000 adds -L 20000:127.0.0.1:20000 and
-R 20000:127.0.0.1:20001 to the SSH command. -M 20000:7 uses a remote
echo service and only adds the local forward. -M 0 disables TCP monitoring;
process-exit supervision remains active.
This is an independent Windows-native implementation. It follows the useful upstream command-line and retry conventions, but it is not a source-compatible port of the Unix C program.
| Feature | Upstream autossh | autossh-windows |
|---|---|---|
| SSH child process | fork/exec | Native Windows ssh.exe child process |
-M 0 | Disable TCP monitor; restart on SSH exit | Same behavior |
-M port | Two-port loop monitor (port plus port+1) | Same two-port loop monitor |
-M port:echo | Remote echo-service monitor | Same single-connection echo monitor |
| SSH exit restart | Restart unexpected exits | Restart exit codes 1, 2, and 255 |
| Startup gate | AUTOSSH_GATETIME | Supported |
| Retry backoff | Bounded quadratic backoff | Bounded quadratic backoff |
| Maximum starts | AUTOSSH_MAXSTART | Supported |
| Maximum lifetime | AUTOSSH_MAXLIFETIME | Supported; polling is clamped to the remaining lifetime |
| SSH executable | AUTOSSH_PATH | Supported; defaults to ssh.exe from PATH |
| Monitoring interval | AUTOSSH_POLL, AUTOSSH_FIRST_POLL | Supported |
| Log file/level | AUTOSSH_LOGFILE, AUTOSSH_LOGLEVEL, AUTOSSH_DEBUG | Supported; writes stderr or a file instead of syslog |
| PID file | AUTOSSH_PIDFILE | Supported |
| Echo message | AUTOSSH_MESSAGE | Supported (maximum 64 bytes) |
AUTOSSH_PORT | Overrides -M | Same behavior |
-f | Detach with Unix daemonization | Re-launches as a detached Windows process; use Task Scheduler or a Windows service for boot/startup integration |
| Manual signal restart | SIGUSR1/Unix signals | Not available; stop/restart the Windows process instead |
| Service integration | Cygwin AUTOSSH_NTSERVICE | Not implemented; use a native Windows service wrapper |
| Process termination | POSIX SIGTERM and waitpid | taskkill.exe /T /F terminates the SSH process tree |
| Logging backend | syslog or file | stderr or file; Windows has no built-in syslog contract |
| Build/install | autoconf + make | Go + PowerShell; single native PE executable |
| Release artifacts | Depends on packaging system | GitHub Actions publishes autossh-windows-amd64.exe on v* tags |
ssh.exe is available in
PATH, or set AUTOSSH_PATH to an absolute path.-f re-launches the supervisor as a detached process and redirects its
console streams to NUL. Set AUTOSSH_LOGFILE when detached logs are needed.
For unattended startup use Task Scheduler, NSSM/WinSW, or another service
manager and run autossh.exe directly.SIGUSR1 are not exposed by Windows.127.0.0.1). With -M port,
the response listener is port+1; ensure both local ports are available.taskkill /T /F, so a forced restart can be less graceful
than a Unix SIGTERM.autossh.exe without arguments prints the usage text and exits
successfully. This makes the portable executable discoverable to package
managers; a real supervisor run still requires an SSH destination.The implementation follows the established autossh startup-gate and restart
semantics while using Windows process management (taskkill /T /F) for child
trees. -f is accepted for command-line compatibility; Windows services,
Task Scheduler, or Start-Process should provide detachment.
Supported environment variables: AUTOSSH_PATH, AUTOSSH_PORT,
AUTOSSH_POLL, AUTOSSH_FIRST_POLL, AUTOSSH_GATETIME, AUTOSSH_MAXSTART,
AUTOSSH_MAXLIFETIME, AUTOSSH_LOGFILE, AUTOSSH_LOGLEVEL, AUTOSSH_DEBUG,
AUTOSSH_MESSAGE, and AUTOSSH_PIDFILE.
Push a tag such as v1.0.0. GitHub Actions runs tests, builds a stripped
autossh-windows-amd64.exe, and attaches it to a GitHub Release automatically.
The planned WinGet publication shape and the official submission checklist are documented in docs/winget.md. This project has not been submitted to the WinGet Community Repository yet.