Fill in the Spelunk API key on the Security page, as a synced Spelunk key that goes only to its own address

Settings → Security gains a SPELUNK section: an API address and a key, saved as a new keychain item, a Spelunk key (SyncEntityType 14, AadResourceType 17, server table spelunk_key via the AddSpelunkKeyItem migration). It is ciphertext only on the server, lives in the personal vault, syncs like every secret, and holds the key together with the one address it may be sent to. The key box empties once saved; the list shows name, address and how many hosts use each key, never the key. Saving a key for an address that already has one replaces it, and deleting goes through the shared confirmation card with the hosts that would stop connecting.

A host's route names a saved key where it named a credential, in the same apiKeyCredentialId field, so no host schema changes and an older build reads such a host as one whose key credential has gone. At connect a saved key is sent only to its own address; a host naming it with another Spelunk address is refused in words. Keys kept as a credential's password still work. The editor offers saved keys first and picks the one saved for an address as it is typed.

A link from a Spelunk with a saved key now connects straight away, including the first one: saving the key is the user's say-so that the first-link editor used to ask for.

The address and key merge as one pair, so two concurrent edits can never pair one device's key with another's address, and the key never reaches the conflict log.

.github/workflows/ci.yml

@@ -1326,6 +1326,19 @@ jobs:
     # inspects — it is the thing that gets deployed.
     needs: [build]
     runs-on: [linux]
+    # Gitea's own container registry, on the forge this workflow runs on, under the same owner as
+    # the repository - so the image is listed with the repository's packages rather than on a
+    # registry of its own. Lowercase, because an image reference may not contain capitals and
+    # the owner is DodoTech-Public.
+    #
+    # REGISTRY_USERNAME and REGISTRY_PASSWORD are a Gitea account and a token of its own with
+    # package read and write, allowed to publish for that owner. Not the job's built-in
+    # GITEA_TOKEN, tempting as it is here: the container registry does not accept an Actions
+    # task token and answers `unauthorized` at /v2/ (go-gitea/gitea#23642). Spelunk's workflow
+    # pushes the same way, with the same two secrets.
+    env:
+      REGISTRY: git.dodotech.cloud
+      IMAGE: dodotech-public/dodossh-api
     steps:
       # Duplicated from the build job; see the comment there for why it cannot be factored
       # out. Any change here has to be made in all three.
@@ -1451,9 +1464,6 @@ jobs:
       # changes, and where setup-buildx-action starts earning its place.
       - name: work out the tags
         id: tags
-        env:
-          REGISTRY: registry-docker.dodotech.cloud
-          IMAGE: dodotech/dodossh-api
         run: |
           set -euo pipefail
           repo="$REGISTRY/$IMAGE"
@@ -1578,7 +1588,7 @@ jobs:
           echo "username: ${#REGISTRY_USERNAME} characters; password: set"
 
           printf '%s' "$REGISTRY_PASSWORD" \
-            | docker login registry-docker.dodotech.cloud \
+            | docker login "$REGISTRY" \
                 --username "$REGISTRY_USERNAME" --password-stdin
 
       - name: push
@@ -1596,7 +1606,7 @@ jobs:
       # does not leave it behind.
       - name: log out
         if: always() && github.event_name != 'pull_request'
-        run: docker logout registry-docker.dodotech.cloud
+        run: docker logout "$REGISTRY"
 
 # No job here publishes the desktop *release* channel, and there is not going to be one. The desktop
 # nightly job above publishes a different application — its own pack id, its own Velopack channel, its own

README.md

@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ Three consequences worth knowing before you read further:
 The reasoning behind each major decision is recorded in [`docs/adr/`](docs/adr/), starting with
 [the E2EE trust model](docs/adr/0001-e2ee-trust-model.md).
 
-The desktop client's interface was built from a design covering more product than exists yet — file
+The desktop client's interface was built from a design covering more product than existed at the time — file
 transfer, teams, saved snippets, port forwarding. Everything that design asked for and this build has not
 got is written down in [`docs/design-import-gaps.md`](docs/design-import-gaps.md), with the layer each
 piece would land in and what the interface shows in its place. Nothing was rendered with invented data to
@@ -426,6 +426,90 @@ What is not here: transferring a directory, dragging between the panes, and rout
 bastion — the last needs jump hosts the connection layer has not got. All three are in
 [`docs/design-import-gaps.md`](docs/design-import-gaps.md).
 
+### Forwarding ports
+
+A host can carry **port forwards**, added under PORT FORWARDS in its editor, in the three kinds OpenSSH has:
+**local** (`-L`, a port here reaching a machine the remote can see), **remote** (`-R`, a port on the remote
+reaching back to one this machine can see) and **dynamic** (`-D`, a SOCKS proxy here whose connections leave
+from the remote). They are saved in the host's encrypted payload, so they sync, merge and are shared with the
+host, and they start with every terminal opened to it, on either head. The session sidebar lists them under
+FORWARDS with the state of each, and the status bar counts the ones listening; on the phone the same list is a
+sheet off the terminal's bar.
+
+Three things about them are worth expecting rather than discovering.
+
+**Everything listens on localhost, and there is no setting for it.** A forward is a field any member of a
+shared keychain can fill in, and one bound to every interface would hand the remote's network to anybody who
+can reach your machine for as long as the terminal is open. A remote forward asks the remote for its loopback
+too; whether the remote honours that is its own `GatewayPorts`.
+
+**A forward lives as long as its terminal.** It runs over that tab's connection, so closing the tab, losing
+the connection or reconnecting stops it — a reconnect starts the host's forwards again on the new session. A
+second tab to the same host runs the same forwards, and they fail there because the ports are taken; the row
+says so, and the terminal is unaffected. Any row can be switched off and on while its session is up.
+
+**No byte counts**, which the design draws: SSH.NET keeps none, so a number there would be invented. The
+phone runs forwards too, listed behind a `⇄` in its terminal's bar, but cannot edit them yet; see
+[The Android head](#the-android-head).
+
+### Reaching a server through Spelunk
+
+A server managed by Spelunk runs Spelunk's agent, which keeps a connection open to Spelunk. DodoSSH can use
+that connection instead of dialling: tick **Connect through Spelunk** in the host editor and fill in
+Spelunk's API address, the server's id in Spelunk, and your Spelunk API key. A connection then asks Spelunk
+for a ticket, opens a WebSocket, and the agent connects to the SSH server on the machine's own loopback — so
+the server needs no open SSH port at all. Shells and file transfers both go this way; the relay and Spelunk
+are one choice, and ticking one unticks the other.
+
+- **Fill in the API key once, under Settings → Security → Spelunk.** Give Spelunk's API address and paste
+  the key (`spelunk_…`, with the Admin role). It is saved as a *Spelunk key* in your personal vault —
+  encrypted, synced to your other devices, never shown again — together with the address, and **it is only
+  ever sent to that address**: a host that names the key with any other address is refused at connect. One
+  key serves every server in that Spelunk organisation; saving a key for an address that already has one
+  replaces it, and every host using it connects with the new key. The host editor offers saved keys first
+  and picks the one for the address you type. The API address must be `https://`, except for a Spelunk on
+  this machine.
+- A key kept the older way, as a credential's password, still works and is still offered in the editor;
+  its password goes to whatever address the host names.
+- **The hostname and port still matter**, though nothing dials them: the host key is pinned under them as it
+  is for every host, and the port is what the agent connects to on the server.
+- **There is no falling back to a direct dial**, and a refusal is said in Spelunk's terms: a key Spelunk will
+  not take, a key whose role is too low, a server outside the key's organisation, an agent that is not
+  connected, an agent that could not reach the SSH port or is too old to open terminals.
+
+**Sign in through Spelunk (no SSH key needed)**, the box under the key in the same card, lets Spelunk log
+you in instead of an SSH key or password of the host's own. For each connection DodoSSH makes a throwaway
+Ed25519 key pair in memory and sends the public half with the ticket request, which the API key authorises;
+the agent runs a one-connection `sshd -i` on the server whose only authorised key is that one, and says
+which account it logs in as (`root`). It is real SSH to the server's real host key, so shells, file
+transfers and port forwards all work, and the key is gone with the connection — it is never stored,
+synced or logged. The login and authentication choices are greyed out while it is ticked and saved as
+nothing. The server needs OpenSSH's `sshd` installed (not running, and no open port); an agent too old
+to sign in, or a server without `sshd`, is said so. Such a host is written at host schema version 10,
+so a DodoSSH older than this shows it read-only.
+
+**"Open in DodoSSH" in Spelunk** starts DodoSSH with a `dodossh://spelunk/connect?api=…&server=…&name=…&host=…`
+link, or hands the link to the copy already running, and **connects straight away.** The link never
+carries a credential. The hosts links make live in your personal vault, tagged `spelunk`:
+
+- If your personal vault has a host tagged `spelunk` for that server on that Spelunk, DodoSSH connects to it.
+- Otherwise, when you have saved a Spelunk key for that Spelunk under Settings → Security — or a saved host
+  already sends an API key there — DodoSSH saves a new host in your personal vault — named as the link
+  names it, at the link's address (or `spelunk-<server id>`), port 22, signing in through Spelunk with that
+  key, tagged `spelunk` (the tag is made if the vault has none) — and connects to it. It syncs like any host
+  you saved yourself.
+- **A link from a Spelunk with no key** opens the host editor instead, filled in the same way with sign-in
+  ticked and the tag on, and you choose that Spelunk's API key once and save. Every later link from that
+  Spelunk connects straight away. A link can be sent by anything on this machine, so an API key is never
+  sent to an address you have not sent it to — saving the key under Security is how you say you have.
+
+A host you set up by hand, or one in a team's vault, is left as it is: a link for its server adds a host of
+its own. A link that arrives while the vault is locked waits for the unlock.
+
+The Windows installer registers the scheme for your user and removes it on uninstall, the macOS bundle
+declares it in its `Info.plist`, and the Linux package's desktop entry declares `x-scheme-handler/dodossh`.
+The phone reaches Spelunk hosts the same way but does not answer links yet.
+
 ### Sharing a vault
 
 **VAULTS** in the nav rail lists every vault you can see, makes new ones, adds people to one,
@@ -641,8 +725,9 @@ its host if it has one and back into the box if it does not.
 **A connected phone shows one bar and then the terminal.** The header, the session strip and the bottom
 bar are collapsed while a shell is up, and a single 35-pixel row replaces them: back on the left, the
 sessions as pills, and a `+` on the right offering the three connections this application can make — a
-shell, a host's files over SFTP, or a bucket. The system back gesture does what the arrow does, and lowers
-that menu first if it is open.
+shell, a host's files over SFTP, or a bucket. Beside the `+`, for a tab whose host has port forwards, a `⇄`
+opens them; see below. The system back gesture does what the arrow does, and lowers either sheet first if
+one is open.
 
 Widening the rail moved the desktop window's minimum from `880x560` to `1016x574`, which leaves every
 screen exactly the width it was designed against.
@@ -710,10 +795,25 @@ What it does *not* yet do is use the extra width inside a screen: the host list
 size. Two columns needs the row model to change — the list is headings and hosts in one sequence, and a
 heading has to span — which is shared with the desktop and is its own piece of work.
 
-**Port forwarding is not built anywhere**, and the phone's More screen says so in a paragraph rather than
-leaving a gap. The v2 design draws a whole screen for it; nothing in the SSH layer forwards anything, so
-every control on that screen would have had no effect. See
-[`docs/design-import-gaps.md`](docs/design-import-gaps.md).
+**Port forwarding runs here too, and is edited on the desktop.** A host's forwards start with every
+terminal the phone opens to it, as they do on the desktop. The terminal's bar grows a `⇄` for a tab that has
+any, carrying the number listening in green, or turning red when one could not start; it opens a sheet
+listing the tab's forwards with their route, their state, the reason a failed one gave, and a tap on each to
+switch it off or on — the desktop sidebar's FORWARDS section, over the same rows. The v2 design's whole
+FORWARDING screen is not drawn, for the reason the desktop has none: a forward belongs to a host and runs
+with a session, and both already have a place. What the phone has not got is an editor for them — its host
+form has no PORT FORWARDS section — so they are added on the desktop and arrive with the host; the More
+screen says so in a paragraph.
+
+Forwards ride the **keep-alive** a shell already has. A forward runs over its tab's connection, so the
+foreground service that holds a shell open in the background is holding its forwards open too, and nothing
+else needs to: the service is never started for a forward alone, because there is never a listening forward
+without a live shell. What forwards change is the notification, which counts them beside the shells —
+`1 shell connected · 2 ports forwarded` — because a phone in a pocket holding ports open is something its
+owner should be able to see. Local and SOCKS forwards listen on the phone's own loopback, which every app on
+the phone can reach; that is what makes one useful here — a database client on the phone reaching a server
+behind the remote — and it is the same exposure the desktop's localhost has to its own processes. See
+[Forwarding ports](#forwarding-ports) and [`docs/design-import-gaps.md`](docs/design-import-gaps.md).
 
 It is deliberately **not** in `DodoSSH.slnx`. Putting it there would make the `android` workload and a full
 Android SDK a prerequisite of `dotnet build DodoSSH.slnx` for everybody; it has its own CI job instead, which
@@ -873,6 +973,13 @@ keychain plus a terminal — and the spike that gates all of it.
   [Moving files](#moving-files) for the two things about it worth knowing before you use it, both of which
   are consequences rather than choices.
 
+  *Relay done:* a host with "Connect through the server relay" ticked is reached through the deployment,
+  for a machine this one cannot dial. The server issues a single-use, thirty-second ticket for that host
+  alone, resolves its address and checks it against a deny list with no configuration escape — loopback,
+  link-local, metadata endpoints — and then pipes raw TCP; the SSH session still ends on your machine, so
+  the relay sees ciphertext. It is off by default (`Relay:Enabled`), and it only helps when the server can
+  reach what you cannot. See [ADR 0004](docs/adr/0004-relay-authorization.md).
+
   *Organising done:* hosts can be filed into groups, and commands can be saved as snippets. Both are ordinary
   synced items — encrypted, merged and pushed like every other — and both are invisible until used: a
   keychain with no groups draws the flat host list it always did. Two things about them are deliberate.

build/linux/dodossh.spec

@@ -247,6 +247,13 @@ ln -s ../../opt/%{dodo_dir}/DodoSSH %{buildroot}%{_bindir}/%{dodo_bin}
 # window is a second, unlabelled icon in the dock beside the one that launched it. It is the assembly
 # name deliberately and not the package's binary name — the window does not know which package
 # started it.
+#
+# %%u — RPM's spelling of a literal %u, the field code for "one URL" — and the MimeType line make this
+# the handler for dodossh:// links, which is how Spelunk's "Open in DodoSSH" reaches the application:
+# the desktop starts the binary with the link as its one argument, and Program.Main reads and checks
+# it, or passes it to the instance already running. update-desktop-database in the post-install
+# scriptlet is what makes xdg-open see the handler. Both channels declare it, so whichever is
+# installed answers, and with both installed the desktop's own default decides.
 mkdir -p %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/applications
 cat > %{buildroot}%{_datadir}/applications/%{dodo_bin}.desktop <<DESKTOP
 [Desktop Entry]
@@ -255,13 +262,14 @@ Version=1.0
 Name=%{dodo_title}
 GenericName=SSH Client
 Comment=SSH and SFTP with an end-to-end encrypted credential vault
-Exec=%{dodo_bin}
+Exec=%{dodo_bin} %%u
 Icon=%{dodo_bin}
 Terminal=false
 StartupNotify=true
 StartupWMClass=DodoSSH
 Categories=Network;RemoteAccess;System;
 Keywords=SSH;SFTP;Terminal;Remote;Shell;
+MimeType=x-scheme-handler/dodossh;
 DESKTOP
 
 # One file per size into the hicolor theme, named for the package so the two channels show different

build/macos/Info.plist.template

@@ -119,6 +119,25 @@
   <key>LSUIElement</key>
   <false/>
 
+  <!--
+    The dodossh:// scheme, which is how Spelunk's "Open in DodoSSH" reaches the application. macOS
+    does not pass the link as an argument: Launch Services sends an "open URL" event to the running
+    application, or to the one it has just started, and DodoSshApp.ListenForOpenedLinks takes it from
+    Avalonia's activation event. Registered when the bundle is first seen by Launch Services, which
+    for a Velopack install is on first launch from /Applications.
+  -->
+  <key>CFBundleURLTypes</key>
+  <array>
+    <dict>
+      <key>CFBundleURLName</key>
+      <string>dev.dodotech.dodossh.link</string>
+      <key>CFBundleURLSchemes</key>
+      <array>
+        <string>dodossh</string>
+      </array>
+    </dict>
+  </array>
+
   <key>NSHumanReadableCopyright</key>
   <string>© DodoTech. MIT licensed.</string>
 </dict>

docs/adr/0004-relay-authorization.md

@@ -99,3 +99,22 @@ real ones.
 - **Client-supplied target address.** One line of convenience, and the relay becomes an open
   proxy into the operator's network.
 - **Allow-listing by hostname.** Defeated by DNS rebinding.
+
+## Implementation notes
+
+Built in `DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay` and, on the client, `RelayBridge` and `ServerRelay`; see
+`docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md`, "What step 3 built". Three places differ from the text above:
+
+- **Backpressure is an awaited copy loop, not `System.IO.Pipelines`.** Each direction reads one buffer and
+  writes it before reading again. The property is the same — a slow peer stops the read, and TCP throttles
+  the origin — and the bound is tighter: two 32 KiB buffers per session.
+- **There is no `?ticket=` fallback.** Both clients can set a subprotocol, and the fallback's cost — a bearer
+  credential in the URL — was the reason it needed scrubbing at all. It can be added if a constrained
+  client ever needs it; the scrubbing requirement stands.
+- **The ticket carries no device id.** The server does not see a device on an ordinary request, so there was
+  nothing to put there. `PortForwardId` on the request is refused: a forward's port is ciphertext, and
+  honouring one would mean taking the port from the client.
+
+The loopback bridge serves the relay only. SSH.NET's `ForwardedPortDynamic` already is the jump-host path's
+listener, so "one mechanism, two features" is true one level down: both features reach their target through
+a loopback SOCKS5 proxy named on the connection request.

docs/android-port.md

@@ -631,7 +631,8 @@ go at 360dp:
    for. `ShellScreen` gained `More` and `Buckets`. The palette went blue and the two heads moved together,
    because it is shared. What v2 asked for and did not get is in
    [`docs/design-import-gaps.md`](design-import-gaps.md) — the short version being that port forwarding is
-   named as absent rather than drawn, because nothing in the SSH layer forwards anything.
+   named rather than drawn as a screen: it has since been built, and this head runs a host's forwards with
+   every terminal and lists them in a sheet off the terminal's bar. It cannot edit them yet.
 
    **The bar has since gone from four entries to three.** The keychain joined the hub, which is now called
    SETTINGS rather than MORE and wears a gear: a bottom bar is for the places a session moves between, and

docs/crypto.md

@@ -299,7 +299,8 @@ value can forge a field boundary. UUIDs must be serialised in RFC 4122 order —
 
 `1` User, `2` Device, `3` Vault, `4` Host, `5` Credential, `6` SshKey, `7` HostGroup,
 `8` Tag, `9` Snippet, `10` PortForward, `11` KnownHostKey, `12` HostTag,
-`13` HostCredential, `14` ConnectionLogEntry, `15` ActivityLogEntry, `16` ObjectStore.
+`13` HostCredential, `14` ConnectionLogEntry, `15` ActivityLogEntry, `16` ObjectStore,
+`17` SpelunkKey.
 
 > **Added 2026-07-29:** `12` and `13`. `Contracts.SyncEntityType` has listed `HostTag` and
 > `HostCredential` as syncable since the contract was frozen, but this table had no value for
@@ -318,6 +319,9 @@ value can forge a field boundary. UUIDs must be serialised in RFC 4122 order —
 > `ConnectionLogEntry` is `11` there and `14` here. Nothing casts between them, and
 > `AadResourceTypeTests` pins each pairing by name for exactly that reason.
 
+> **Added 2026-09-29:** `17` SpelunkKey, a Spelunk API key and the address it may be sent to. It is
+> `14` on the wire, three behind, as `16` ObjectStore is `13`.
+
 `0` means not applicable and is legal only where the table in §4.2 implies no resource.
 
 ### 4.4 What this prevents

docs/design-import-gaps.md

@@ -39,8 +39,8 @@ the chrome, hosts and terminals, file transfer, the vault, teams, and preference
 >
 > | v2 element | What ships instead |
 > | --- | --- |
-> | The **FORWARDING** screen: local/remote/dynamic rules, toggles, bytes transferred | **Nothing, said out loud.** `ISshConnection` offers `OpenShellAsync` and nothing else, so there is no tunnel for a rule to run through; `SyncEntityType.PortForward = 9` is still reserved and still unused. The MORE screen carries a paragraph naming the absence, for the reason the desktop keeps VAULTS in its rail. |
-> | `23 ms · fwd 5432` on the terminal's connection line | ◆ **The line is gone, and what was real on it moved.** There was never an RTT to draw — SSH.NET measures none — and nothing forwards anything, so what shipped was the account and endpoint actually dialled. In v3 a connected phone draws one 35-pixel bar and then the terminal, so a second 36-pixel row naming the machine is exactly the chrome that surface exists to give back: the address is on the connecting card, where it is read before anything has answered, and the shell's own prompt says it afterwards. The two text-size buttons that shared the line are pinned at the end of the accessory row, outside its scroller, which is what the line was protecting them from. |
+> | The **FORWARDING** screen: local/remote/dynamic rules, toggles, bytes transferred | **Built, as a sheet off the terminal rather than a screen, and running on the phone as on the desktop.** A host's forwards start with every terminal opened to it on either head — `MainWindowViewModel.StartForwards` no longer skips Android. The terminal's bar draws a `⇄` for a tab that has forwards, with the listening count in green and the glyph in the danger colour when one failed, and it raises a sheet (`IsForwardsSheetOpen`) listing `SelectedTab.Forwards` with notation, route, state word, failure reason and a tap-to-toggle per row — the desktop sidebar's FORWARDS section over the same rows. Not a screen, for the desktop's reason: a forward belongs to a host and runs with a session. **Two gaps remain.** The phone's host form has no PORT FORWARDS section, so forwards are edited on the desktop and arrive with the host; the MORE screen's paragraph, now tagged IN THE TERMINAL, says so. And byte counts are built on neither head: SSH.NET keeps none. The keep-alive notification counts listening forwards beside the shells they run over, and is never started for a forward alone, since a forward cannot outlive its shell. |
+> | `23 ms · fwd 5432` on the terminal's connection line | ◆ **The line is gone, and what was real on it moved.** There was never an RTT to draw — SSH.NET measures none — and nothing forwarded anything at the time (forwards now have the `⇄` in the bar above; see the row before this one), so what shipped was the account and endpoint actually dialled. In v3 a connected phone draws one 35-pixel bar and then the terminal, so a second 36-pixel row naming the machine is exactly the chrome that surface exists to give back: the address is on the connecting card, where it is read before anything has answered, and the shell's own prompt says it afterwards. The two text-size buttons that shared the line are pinned at the end of the accessory row, outside its scroller, which is what the line was protecting them from. |
 > | `ED25519` badge and `SHA256:kQ9f…Zw2M` on every keychain card | `Detail`, which is what is genuinely known *about* an item. Unchanged from the first import: no algorithm field, no fingerprint, and computing either means parsing armour the type stores verbatim. |
 > | An `agent` chip on a key | Omitted. There is no agent of any kind — see the first import's Vault section. |
 > | Snippet cards footed with `edge-eu-1 · today 10:58 · exit 0` | The command and its badge. Nothing records where a snippet ran, when, or what it returned; the shell it is typed into never reports back. |
@@ -78,7 +78,7 @@ the chrome, hosts and terminals, file transfer, the vault, teams, and preference
 >
 > | v2 element | What ships instead |
 > | --- | --- |
-> | The **FORWARDING** screen, the `⇄ N forwards` chip on the session strip, and the host detail's FORWARDING card | Nothing, as on the phone and for the same reason. Three surfaces for a feature the SSH layer does not have. |
+> | The **FORWARDING** screen, the `⇄ N forwards` chip on the session strip, and the host detail's FORWARDING card | **Built, as three smaller things.** Forwards are rules on the host, edited in its drawer under PORT FORWARDS and shown read-only on its detail pane; they run per terminal, listed with a switch each under FORWARDS in the session sidebar; and the session status bar counts the listening ones as `⇄ N FORWARDS`. No screen of their own, because a forward is not a thing you visit — it belongs to a host and runs with a session, and both of those already have a place. |
 > | The host detail's 2×2 card grid — IDENTITY fingerprint, TAGS, LAST SESSION | Not drawn as a grid. There is no fingerprint on a stored key and no last-used timestamp at any layer, so two of the three cards have nothing behind them. Tags are real and are drawn — as chips on the row and a picker in the editor, which is where they are used rather than in a card beside two empty ones. |
 > | The keychain detail's public-key block, USED BY hosts, and **Rotate** | The detail pane as it stands. Copy public key is real and already there; rotation is not a thing this client can do. |
 > | Logs: **FOLLOW**, the severity chips, and `tailing via ssh · journald + files` | The two logs it really has. Same as the phone — these are synced audit records, not a tail, and the footer sentence describes a feature rather than the screen. |
@@ -171,7 +171,7 @@ the chrome, hosts and terminals, file transfer, the vault, teams, and preference
 > | The **Backspace / Default** row | Omitted, and it is the one row on this list that could now be built cheaply — a setting, an opcode and a control, the way the text size was. What it lacks is a reason: which byte backspace sends is a fact about the remote's `stty`, so a client-side switch fixes a mismatch by hiding it. See the Preferences section. |
 > | The **chevron beside the vault name** | The name alone, and the move behind the pane's ⋯ menu instead. A host *can* now be moved between vaults, so the gap is no longer that there is nothing to offer — it is that a chevron on a subtitle implies an edit, and this is not one: the two vaults are encrypted under different keys, so it is a re-seal into one and a tombstone in the other, the host takes a new id, and its group and tags stay behind. A control that implied "just change this field" would be describing something else. Where a *new* host goes is still asked in the host editor, as a picker beside the name. A group moves too, from its card's right-click menu, and takes its nested groups and every host filed under them; keys, passwords and buckets take theirs from the keychain screen's standing picker and cannot be moved yet. |
 > | **Show more ⌄** | Not drawn as a disclosure. What it would hide — notes, the relay switch, forgetting the host key — is in the editor, one press away, and a second fold inside a pane that already scrolls is a second place for a field to be missing from. |
-> | **Port Forwarding** in the sidebar | Nothing, for the third time in this document. |
+> | **Port Forwarding** in the sidebar | No rail entry; see the FORWARDING row above for where forwards are instead. |
 > | The host grid's toolbar avatar, share and tag-filter controls | Omitted, as in v3 and for the same reasons. |
 >
 > ## The desktop's v5 — hosts, restyled, and two reversals
@@ -254,7 +254,7 @@ the chrome, hosts and terminals, file transfer, the vault, teams, and preference
 > | v5 element | What ships instead |
 > | --- | --- |
 > | The status dot's third, amber state | ◆ **Still two states, on the same reasoning v3 and v4 both gave and v5 was asked to reconsider.** Green means a terminal is open on that host, grey means one is not; nothing here pings a machine, so the amber "reachable but not connected" state has no fact behind it to draw. |
-> | The relay checkbox's mock copy | The pre-existing sentence, unchanged, "(not wired up yet)" included — restyled into the mock's own nested-card shape (radius 12, a title beside the box rather than under it) but not reworded. The mock's own copy implies a relay this client can dial; it cannot, for the reason `HostDrawer.axaml`'s own remarks give. |
+> | The relay checkbox's mock copy | Restyled into the mock's own nested-card shape (radius 12, a title beside the box rather than under it). The "(not wired up yet)" it carried while this client could not dial the relay came out when it could; the sentence under it now says what ticking it does — the server dials the host, so the server has to be able to reach it, and the address is stored in plain text. |
 > | The host card as a link straight to a terminal | Click still selects, double-click still connects, and the pencil still opens the pane — the mock's card-as-link is not adopted, because multi-select (Ctrl, Shift, the marquee band) depends on a plain click meaning "choose this one" rather than "go". |
 > | Quick connect's SSH/SFTP kind column | The auth word — credential, key, or password — see above. |
 > | A collapsed section staying collapsed after a restart | In memory only, for the running session. `settings.json` holds two scalars by decision — the terminal's text size and whether this machine checks for updates on its own — and collapse state is not judged worth a third. |
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ the chrome, hosts and terminals, file transfer, the vault, teams, and preference
 > | v5b element | What ships instead |
 > | --- | --- |
 > | The host header's OS label (`Ubuntu 24.04 LTS`) and latency reading (`12 ms`) | Neither. The client does not know the remote's OS and nothing measures round-trip time — the same two absences the terminal pane header already recorded before this pass, carried into the new header rather than reopened. |
-> | A **Port forward** button on the host header | Omitted. The feature does not exist; see the FORWARDING rows earlier in this document. |
+> | A **Port forward** button on the host header | **Add forward**, at the foot of the session sidebar's FORWARDS list, which opens the host's editor the way Pin folder does. The header it would have sat on has since moved into that sidebar. |
 > | The tab and status dots' third, amber state | ◆ **Still two states**, for the reason the hosts screen's own dot has stayed two states since v3: green means a shell is open (or a session is connected), grey means it is not, and nothing here pings a host to justify a third colour meaning "reachable but not connected". |
 > | The status bar's negotiated cipher, host-key algorithm and key/credential name | ◆ **Shipped, on both surfaces, with three honest deviations.** `ISshConnection` and `ISftpSession` now both carry `Cipher` — the server-to-client algorithm off SSH.NET's own `ConnectionInfo.CurrentServerEncryption`, captured once at construction because a rekey is not an event SSH.NET raises — and `TerminalWorkspace.GetSessionFacts` hands the cipher and the host key's algorithm back to the shell the moment a session opens; `VaultViewModel.TryBuildAuthentication` now threads the authenticating key's or credential's own `Label` into `HostAuthentication.IdentityLabel`, all the way to `MainWindowViewModel`'s surface-aware `SessionCipher`, `SessionHostKeyAlgorithm` and `SessionIdentityLabel`, composed into one `SessionIdentityText` run for the status bar. Three deviations from the mock, not omissions: the algorithm prints exactly as negotiated (`ssh-ed25519`), not the design's shortened `ed25519`, because trimming it would be an edit to a string this client did not choose; the run is plain text rather than the design's clickable element, because there is no pin-details modal for a session that is already open, and drawing a click target for a screen that does not exist would itself be a fabrication; and a typed-password session — nothing filed in the keychain to name — shows the host-key algorithm alone, with no `·` after it, because there is no item behind the dot. |
 > | S3 dimmed in the design's own switcher | **Enabled.** The mock leaves S3 as future work; this application already has bucket browsing, so SSH, SFTP and S3 are a true three-way segment, wired to `IsSshShowing`, `IsTransfersShowing` and `IsBucketsShowing` exactly alike. |
@@ -392,9 +392,10 @@ sharing that would rest on them — or a decision recorded here not to build the
 
 Three facts explain nearly every row below.
 
-**An SSH connection here opens exactly one channel.** `ISshConnection` offers `OpenShellAsync` and nothing
-else (`src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshConnection.cs`). No port forwarding, no ProxyJump. That one fact removes
-the `FORWARDS` chip, the status bar's port list, and every `via bastion-eu` in the design.
+**An SSH connection here opens a shell, and forwards beside it.** `ISshConnection` offers `OpenShellAsync`
+and `StartForwardAsync` (`src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshConnection.cs`). There is still no ProxyJump, which is
+what removes every `via bastion-eu` in the design. Port forwarding arrived later than most of what this
+document accounts for, and the rows about it now say where it went.
 
 It used to remove the file-transfer screen too. M2 did not lift the restriction — it worked around it:
 file transfer is a *separate connection* rather than a second channel, because SSH.NET's `SftpClient` owns
@@ -461,8 +462,10 @@ configuration, a server kind that refuses every plaintext field, a codec, a merg
 same way, for the same cost, and is the clearest case the reservation ever paid for: a whole item kind, a
 table, a migration and an AAD arm, with `PublicAPI.Unshipped.txt` untouched.
 
-`HostTag`, `HostCredential` and `PortForward` are still reserved and still unused — and `HostTag` is now
-reserved *against a decision* rather than pending one. Which hosts wear a tag is a set of ids inside each
+`HostTag`, `HostCredential` and `PortForward` are still reserved and still unused — and `HostTag` and
+`PortForward` are now reserved *against a decision* rather than pending one. Port forwards shipped inside the
+host's payload, for the reason `RelayTicketRequest.PortForwardId` already assumed and the one below gives for
+tags. Which hosts wear a tag is a set of ids inside each
 host's payload, not a join: the one thing a join buys over that is two machines tagging the same host
 without either losing, and the client's per-key three-way merge already gives it. A second item type would
 be a second table and a second pass through every rule in this file, for nothing.
@@ -509,7 +512,7 @@ field cannot be removed and stays as a permanently refused member; `SyncEndpoint
 | `VAULT SYNCED 11:02` | client-session | `StoredSyncState.LastPulledAt`/`LastPushedAt` are persisted, but `VaultSession` exposes the store as `internal`. A property away. | Omitted. The one honest sync fact — the outbox depth — is in the titlebar and the status bar. |
 | `⌘K` command palette running commands | client-domain | A snippet or saved-command item type (`SyncEntityType.Snippet = 8` is reserved). | Ctrl+K opens a real host search that connects on Enter. The box says "search hosts", not "search hosts · run command". |
 | Status bar `· via bastion-eu` | client-ssh | Jump-host execution. See below. | Omitted. |
-| Status bar port forwards | client-ssh | Port forwarding. See below. | Omitted. |
+| Status bar port forwards | client-ssh | — | **Shipped** on the session status bar as a count of listening forwards; the ports themselves are in the session sidebar. |
 | Status bar `sftp · 2 transfers` | client-app | Nothing now — file transfer is built. What is missing is the count reaching the status bar, which is a screen away from where the queue lives. | Omitted from the status bar. The queue itself is on the FILES screen, with a row per transfer. |
 | Status bar `locks in 09:41` | client-app | An idle auto-lock. See preferences below. | Omitted. |
 | IBM Plex Mono / IBM Plex Sans | ui | Shipping the font files as `AvaloniaResource` and registering them. The design loads them from Google Fonts, which a desktop app cannot. | **Shipped, since v5, and not IBM Plex.** The v5 design asked for Montserrat, JetBrains Mono and Material Icons instead, and all three are embedded as `AvaloniaResource` in the Shell project rather than requested by name and left to whatever the machine happens to have. Montserrat is the default sans, with Inter — the earlier substitution — kept only as its fallback; `MonoFont` puts JetBrains Mono first, ahead of the system-monospace stack the terminal still falls back to. Named once each in `Program.cs` and `Palette.axaml`, so a later design's fonts are still a one-line swap. |
@@ -533,7 +536,7 @@ caption buttons and window title drawn on top of the application's own — two s
 | Per-host status dot, three colours | client-ssh | The amber state would mean "reachable but not connected", and nothing here ever probes a host. | Two states, both real: green when a terminal is open on that host, grey when not. |
 | `· ⤷ bastion-eu` in the host subtitle | client-ssh | **Jump hosts are data-only.** `HostSecret.JumpHostIds` is a `JumpChain` that is stored, encrypted, synced and three-way merged — and nothing reads it at connect time. `SshConnectionRequest` carries one host. | Omitted. The stored chain is preserved untouched by every edit. |
 | `SPLIT ⌘D` and side-by-side panes | client-ssh + ui | The renderer stacks panes and shows one (`terminal.css`: `.pane { position:absolute; inset:0; display:none }`). Tiling needs a real pane geometry and a splitter. | Omitted. Tabs ship instead, over the same one-WebView multiplexing. |
-| `⇄ FORWARDS · 2` | client-ssh | Port forwarding. `SyncEntityType.PortForward = 9` is reserved; nothing in the SSH layer forwards anything. | Omitted. |
+| `⇄ FORWARDS · 2` | client-ssh | — | **Shipped**, as `⇄ 2 FORWARDS` on the session status bar, counting only forwards actually listening. |
 | `SNIPPETS` panel, `↵` to run | client-domain | A snippet item type (`Snippet = 8`, reserved). | **Shipped**, as a screen rather than a panel. `↵` is per snippet and off by default: inserting types the command at the prompt and stops, because nothing here can tell whether the terminal is at a prompt at all. |
 | Broadcast to all panes (`⌥↵`) | client-ssh | Input is routed strictly by session id in `TerminalDataPlane.Dispatch`; there is no fan-out. Needs splits first. | Omitted. |
 | Pane header `24ms` | client-ssh | Round-trip measurement. SSH.NET offers no RTT API. | Omitted. |

docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md

@@ -1,26 +1,30 @@
 # Reaching a host you cannot dial
 
 Some machines do not answer from where the user is sitting. This product has **two** answers to that, and
-neither of them works.
+one of them works.
 
-- The **relay** pipes raw TCP through the deployment. The server half is built and shipped; the client
-  half does not exist, and both heads offer a checkbox that promises it.
+- The **relay** pipes raw TCP through the deployment. Both halves are built: the server issues a ticket and
+  pipes a WebSocket to the host, and the client reaches it through a loopback SOCKS5 bridge. Step 3 below.
 - A **jump host** reaches the target through a machine already in the keychain. `HostSecret.JumpHostIds`
   stores the chain; nothing writes it and nothing reads it.
 
+◆ **An earlier version of this page said the relay's server half was "built and shipped". It was not.** What
+existed was ADR 0004, the contract records, the options and the CHECK constraint — and `RelayOptions` said,
+in its own remarks, that there was no endpoint and no dialler. Both halves were built together at step 3.
+
 This document is the comparison between them, which is the thing that has to be settled before either is
 built, and then the plan. It replaces an earlier draft of `docs/jump-hosts.md` that recommended deleting the
 jump chain — see the last section for why that was wrong.
 
-> **Status: step 0 done, the rest planned.**
+> **Status: steps 0, 1 and 3 done, and step 4 for the relay. Jump hosts are next.**
 >
 > | Step | State | Notes |
 > | --- | --- | --- |
-> | 0. Stop promising the relay | **Done** | Both heads say the box is not wired up and that ticking it stores the address and changes nothing. Left tickable, so a host already carrying the flag can lose it |
+> | 0. Stop promising the relay | **Done, then retired at step 3** | The "not wired up yet" sentence came out of both heads when the relay started working |
 > | 1. Dial through a loopback proxy | **Done** | `SshLoopbackProxy` on the request, honoured in `BuildConnectionInfo`. **Not the bridge** — see below |
 > | 2. Jump hosts over it | Not started | No server change, and no bridge either: SSH.NET's own forward is the proxy |
-> | 3. The relay: the bridge, then the ticket | Not started | The bridge's only consumer, so it lands with the feature that uses it |
-> | 4. File transfer parity | Not started | The transfers screen opens its own connection. Already half-done — `OpenSftpAsync` shares `BuildConnectionInfo`, so it honours a proxy today; what is missing is anything passing it one |
+> | 3. The relay: the bridge, then the ticket | **Done** | Server: `Features/Relay`. Client: `RelayBridge`, `ServerRelay`, and `VaultViewModel.OpenThroughAsync`. See "What step 3 built" |
+> | 4. File transfer parity | **Done for the relay** | `TransfersViewModel` opens a relay for a relayed host exactly as the shell does. A jump chain will need the same line when step 2 lands |
 
 ## ◆ The relay's checkbox is a false promise, and that is a defect
 
@@ -171,7 +175,64 @@ the sentence step 0 added comes out of both heads.
 
 **4. File transfer.** `ISftpSessionFactory.OpenSftpAsync` opens its own second connection, so a host that
 needs a chain or a relay to reach needs it there too, or SFTP silently fails for exactly the hosts this
-work exists for.
+work exists for. ✅ for the relay.
+
+## What step 3 built
+
+**The server**, in `DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay`:
+
+- `POST /api/v1/relay/tickets` makes every decision. It finds the host, requires Connect on its vault and
+  the relay switched on, resolves the stored name, and runs every answer through `RelayAddressPolicy` —
+  the non-overridable list first, then the operator's denials, allow-list and private-network switch. What
+  passes goes into a Data Protection ticket; the name is not resolved again. **Every target refusal is one
+  answer**, 403 `relay-target-rejected` with one sentence, because anybody who can write a host can point
+  it anywhere, and a distinct "resolves, but refused" would be a scanner for the operator's DNS. The real
+  reason is logged (event 2301).
+- `GET /api/v1/relay/connect` is anonymous at the HTTP layer and takes the ticket as the second
+  subprotocol. It verifies, checks expiry against `TimeProvider`, and spends the ticket with a unique
+  insert into `relay_ticket_use` before accepting the upgrade — so a refused ticket is a 401 and no socket.
+  After the upgrade, a refusal the client could not have avoided is a close code: 4429 for a limit, 4502
+  for a host the server could not reach, 4408 idle, 4409 lifetime, 1001 at the end of a shutdown's drain.
+- `relay_session` is the audit row: opened before the dial, closed after, each from a scope of its own.
+
+**The client:**
+
+- `RelayBridge` (Client.Ssh) is the loopback SOCKS5 listener. It binds `127.0.0.1`, accepts once, answers
+  one CONNECT without acting on its target, and pipes to the WebSocket. It is handed to the connection as
+  the new `SshLoopbackProxy.Lifetime`, so the connection disposes it on every way a session ends, and a
+  failed connect disposes it before throwing.
+- `ServerRelay` (Client.Session) asks for the ticket, opens the socket and starts the bridge, and turns
+  every refusal into a sentence. It is `IVaultServer.Relay`, decided from `/api/v1/meta` the way `Events`
+  is; a server without the feature supplies `UnavailableServerRelay`.
+- `VaultViewModel` opens a relay for a host with the box ticked and **never falls back to dialling it
+  directly** — the user ticked it because that path does not work, or goes somewhere they do not mean. A
+  relay that closed with a reason replaces SSH.NET's transport error with that reason, and the
+  reachability probe is skipped for a relayed host, because it would test the direct path.
+
+### ◆ Two things that are not what ADR 0004 wrote
+
+- **No `System.IO.Pipelines`.** Each direction reads one buffer and does not read again until the write
+  has completed. That is the same end-to-end backpressure — a slow peer stops the read, which fills the
+  kernel's window, which throttles the far sender — with a tighter bound: two 32 KiB buffers a session
+  rather than ~2 MiB.
+- **No `?ticket=` fallback, and no device id in the ticket.** The fallback exists for clients that cannot
+  set a subprotocol, which neither head is, and it would put a bearer credential in the one place — the
+  URL — that access logs keep. A device is never visible to the server on an ordinary request.
+
+### ◆ A WebSocket operation is never cancelled, on either side
+
+Cancelling a pending receive or send on a .NET WebSocket aborts it, and an aborted socket sends no close
+frame. The close frame is the only way the client learns that the server could not reach the host, so both
+the server's pump and the client's bridge stop a direction by closing and waiting a bounded time instead.
+`AnIdleSession_IsClosedWithTheIdleCode` holds the server to it: it asserts the code arrives, not merely that
+the socket ended.
+
+### What a developer meets
+
+The relay refuses loopback with no configuration escape, so the development stack's sshd on
+`localhost:2222` cannot be reached through it. Point a relayed host at an address the API process reaches
+on a real interface — the machine's own LAN address works — or at the container's address on the Docker
+network.
 
 ## Traps already known
 
@@ -226,8 +287,8 @@ is right, sharing a lifetime policy is not.
   row, and the status bar's `via bastion-eu` row, all of which say jump hosts are data-only.
 - `Client.Import/ImportedHost.cs` — the note written onto every imported host with a `ProxyJump`, and the
   remark above it.
-- `README.md` and `docs/android-port.md` wherever the relay is described as available.
-- ADR 0004 gains a note that its last consequence was built, and how.
+- `README.md` and `docs/android-port.md` wherever the relay is described as available. ✅ at step 3.
+- ADR 0004 gains a note that its last consequence was built, and how. ✅ at step 3.
 
 ## What the first draft of this document got wrong
 

src/DodoSSH.Api/Dockerfile

@@ -2,9 +2,18 @@
 #
 #   docker build -f src/DodoSSH.Api/Dockerfile .
 #
-# Directory.Build.props, Directory.Packages.props, NuGet.config and global.json all sit at
-# the root and all four are load-bearing here — central package management means a csproj
-# alone does not name a single version, and a build that cannot see them resolves nothing.
+# Directory.Build.props, Directory.Build.targets, Directory.Packages.props, NuGet.config and
+# global.json all sit at the root and all five are load-bearing here — central package
+# management means a csproj alone does not name a single version, and a build that cannot see
+# them resolves nothing.
+#
+# Directory.Build.targets is the one that is easy to forget, because leaving it out breaks
+# nothing until the day it does: it pins the version of the trimmer the SDK adds to
+# DodoSSH.Contracts and DodoSSH.Crypto by itself (see the comment there). Without it the restore
+# below asks for whatever ILLink the image's SDK bundles, which matches the lock files only
+# until .NET ships a servicing release — and then this image fails with NU1004 while ci.yml,
+# which does see the pin, stays green. That is how it was found: sdk:10.0-noble moved to
+# 10.0.401 (ILLink 10.0.12) and this build broke with no commit touching a package.
 
 # ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 # Build
@@ -26,7 +35,7 @@ WORKDIR /src
 # dependency change and by nothing else. Every project in DodoSSH.Api's reference closure
 # has to be here — restore walks ProjectReference, and a missing csproj fails the graph
 # rather than skipping a node.
-COPY global.json NuGet.config Directory.Build.props Directory.Packages.props ./
+COPY global.json NuGet.config Directory.Build.props Directory.Build.targets Directory.Packages.props ./
 COPY src/DodoSSH.Api/DodoSSH.Api.csproj                       src/DodoSSH.Api/
 COPY src/DodoSSH.Api/packages.lock.json                       src/DodoSSH.Api/
 COPY src/DodoSSH.Contracts/DodoSSH.Contracts.csproj           src/DodoSSH.Contracts/

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Events/EventsEndpoint.cs

@@ -211,10 +211,23 @@ internal sealed class VaultEventsEndpoint(
 
     /// <summary>Runs the socket until something ends it, then closes it politely.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
     /// Three loops rather than one: reading a socket and writing to it are independent waits, and the
-    /// clock is a third. They are joined by <see cref="Task.WhenAny(Task[])"/> and then <em>all</em>
-    /// awaited before the close is written, because a close frame racing a notice frame is a protocol
+    /// clock is a third. They are joined by <see cref="Task.WhenAny(Task[])"/>, and the sender is
+    /// finished before the close is written, because a close frame racing a notice frame is a protocol
     /// violation that presents as a client dropping its connection for no visible reason.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>No operation on the WebSocket is ever cancelled.</b> Cancelling a pending receive or send on
+    /// the socket Kestrel hands over aborts it, and an aborted socket cannot send the close frame that
+    /// is the only way a client learns <em>why</em> it was dropped — 4401 "reconnect with a fresh
+    /// token" against 1001 "the server is going away" against a failure to back off from. This was
+    /// once the case here, and it went unnoticed because <c>TestServer</c>'s in-memory socket survives
+    /// the cancellation that a real one does not. So the token stops the queue and the clock; the
+    /// sender is let finish its last write; the close goes out; and the receiver ends on the client's
+    /// answering close. Each wait is bounded, and the socket is aborted only when a peer has stopped
+    /// answering altogether. The relay's pump does the same, for the same reason.
+    /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
     private async Task PumpAsync(
         WebSocket socket,
@@ -236,15 +249,21 @@ internal sealed class VaultEventsEndpoint(
             VaultCount: connection.VaultCount));
 
         var sending = SendAsync(socket, connection, pump.Token);
-        var receiving = ReceiveAsync(socket, connection, pump.Token);
+        var receiving = ReceiveAsync(socket, connection);
         var minding = MindAsync(connection, closure, pump.Token);
 
         await Task.WhenAny(sending, receiving, minding).ConfigureAwait(false);
 
         await pump.CancelAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
 
-        // Nothing may still be mid-send when the close frame goes out.
-        await Task.WhenAll(Settled(sending), Settled(receiving), Settled(minding)).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        // Nothing may still be mid-send when the close frame goes out. A send that does not finish is
+        // a client that has stopped reading, which will not read a close frame either.
+        if (!await SettlesAsync(sending).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+        }
+
+        await SettlesAsync(minding).ConfigureAwait(false);
 
         if (lifetime.ApplicationStopping.IsCancellationRequested)
         {
@@ -256,6 +275,14 @@ internal sealed class VaultEventsEndpoint(
         EventsLog.ClosingConnection(logger, connection.UserId, closure.Reason);
 
         await CloseAsync(socket, closure).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        // The client's answering close is what ends the receiver. Returning before it arrives would
+        // dispose the socket under a close frame still in flight.
+        if (!await SettlesAsync(receiving).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+            await SettlesAsync(receiving).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
     }
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -287,8 +314,9 @@ internal sealed class VaultEventsEndpoint(
 
             var bytes = JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(frame, DodoSshJsonContext.Default.VaultEvent);
 
+            // Not cancellable, deliberately. See PumpAsync.
             await socket
-                .SendAsync(bytes, WebSocketMessageType.Text, endOfMessage: true, cancellationToken)
+                .SendAsync(bytes, WebSocketMessageType.Text, endOfMessage: true, CancellationToken.None)
                 .ConfigureAwait(false);
         }
     }
@@ -297,21 +325,26 @@ internal sealed class VaultEventsEndpoint(
     /// Reads what the client sends, which in this version is heartbeats and a close.
     /// </summary>
     /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
     /// A client cannot ask to follow a vault, and that is deliberate rather than unfinished: a
     /// <c>subscribe(vaultId)</c> frame is an existence oracle for vault ids, which is the disclosure
     /// <c>SyncPullEndpoint</c> answers 404 rather than 403 to avoid. Subscription is decided from the
     /// caller's access and nothing else.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// It takes no token: it ends on the client's close, a frame it refuses, or the socket failing —
+    /// and when the server is the one ending the connection, the close it sends is what prompts the
+    /// first of those. See <see cref="PumpAsync"/>.
+    /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
-    private static async Task ReceiveAsync(
-        WebSocket socket,
-        VaultEventConnection connection,
-        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    private static async Task ReceiveAsync(WebSocket socket, VaultEventConnection connection)
     {
         var buffer = new byte[MaxInboundFrameBytes];
 
-        while (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+        while (true)
         {
-            var received = await socket.ReceiveAsync(buffer, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            // Not cancellable, deliberately. See PumpAsync.
+            var received = await socket.ReceiveAsync(buffer, CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(false);
 
             if (received.MessageType == WebSocketMessageType.Close)
             {
@@ -492,31 +525,39 @@ internal sealed class VaultEventsEndpoint(
     }
 
     /// <summary>
-    /// Awaits a pump loop, treating its cancellation and its socket faults as the ordinary end.
+    /// Waits for a pump loop to finish, for at most the close timeout.
     /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>Whether it finished.</returns>
     /// <remarks>
     /// Every one of these loops ends by being cancelled or by the socket going away, so an exception
     /// here is the expected shape of "this connection is over" rather than a fault to propagate — and
     /// propagating it would skip the close frame the other side is waiting for.
     /// </remarks>
-    private static async Task Settled(Task loop)
+    private static async Task<bool> SettlesAsync(Task loop)
     {
         try
         {
-            await loop.ConfigureAwait(false);
+            await loop.WaitAsync(CloseTimeout).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return true;
+        }
+        catch (TimeoutException)
+        {
+            return false;
         }
         catch (Exception exception)
             when (exception is OperationCanceledException or WebSocketException or ObjectDisposedException)
         {
-            // Expected.
+            return true;
         }
     }
 
     /// <summary>Why the socket is being closed, decided by whichever loop ended first.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
-    /// Mutable and shared, and safe without a lock for one specific reason: it is written by the pump
-    /// loops and read only after <see cref="Task.WhenAll(Task[])"/> over all of them, which is a
-    /// memory barrier. Writes race only with each other, and any of them is a true answer.
+    /// Mutable and shared, and safe without a lock for one specific reason: it is written only by
+    /// <see cref="MindAsync"/>, and read only after that loop has been awaited, which is a memory
+    /// barrier. If that loop outlived the close timeout, a late write races the read, and either
+    /// answer is still a true one.
     /// </remarks>
     private sealed class Closure(int code, string reason)
     {

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Meta/MetaEndpoints.cs

@@ -26,9 +26,6 @@ internal sealed class GetMetaEndpoint(
     /// <summary>Sync semantics version. Bumped when push or pull behaviour changes.</summary>
     internal const int SyncProtocolVersion = 1;
 
-    /// <summary>Feature flag for the relay.</summary>
-    internal const string RelayFeature = "relay";
-
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public override void Configure()
     {
@@ -50,7 +47,7 @@ internal sealed class GetMetaEndpoint(
         List<string> features = ["teams"];
         if (relay.Value.Enabled)
         {
-            features.Add(RelayFeature);
+            features.Add(RelayProtocol.Feature);
         }
 
         // Advertised so a client knows whether to hold a socket open or rely on its timer. Absence is

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelayAddressPolicy.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Sockets;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Setup;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Decides which addresses and ports the relay may dial. ADR 0004 §3, in the order it is written.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// This runs on <em>addresses</em>, never on names. The name is resolved once, at ticket issue, and what
+/// this permits goes into the ticket; the socket dials those addresses and nothing else. A check on the
+/// name would be defeated by DNS rebinding — answer with a public address for the check and a loopback
+/// one for the dial — which is the attack ADR 0004 is built around.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Three layers, and the order is the security property. The <see cref="Refused"/> list comes first and
+/// has no configuration at all: nothing an operator sets, and nothing a host row says, reaches a
+/// loopback, link-local, unspecified, multicast or metadata address. Then the operator's own denials,
+/// then their allow-list, then the private-network switch.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>An address that embeds another is judged as the one it embeds.</b> <c>::ffff:127.0.0.1</c> is
+/// loopback however it is spelled, and a check that compared it against IPv6 loopback alone would pass
+/// it — the classic bypass the ADR names. The NAT64 well-known prefix is unwrapped the same way, because
+/// on a network with a NAT64 gateway <c>64:ff9b::a9fe:a9fe</c> <em>is</em> the metadata endpoint.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class RelayAddressPolicy
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Addresses the relay never dials, whatever it is configured to do.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Broader than the ADR's list in two places, both deliberately. <c>240.0.0.0/4</c> — reserved, and
+    /// containing the limited broadcast address — has no host worth reaching. And IPv6 <c>::/96</c>, the
+    /// deprecated IPv4-compatible block, covers the unspecified address and loopback while also refusing
+    /// the spellings of IPv4 that a stack may or may not map; nothing legitimate lives there.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static readonly IPNetwork[] Refused =
+    [
+        // IPv4: "this network", loopback, link-local (which holds 169.254.169.254), multicast, reserved.
+        IPNetwork.Parse("0.0.0.0/8"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("127.0.0.0/8"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("169.254.0.0/16"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("224.0.0.0/4"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("240.0.0.0/4"),
+
+        // Alibaba Cloud's metadata endpoint, which sits inside carrier-grade NAT space and so would
+        // otherwise be permitted as private — the range a Tailnet also uses, which is why the whole
+        // block cannot simply be refused.
+        IPNetwork.Parse("100.100.100.200/32"),
+
+        // IPv6: IPv4-compatible (with unspecified and loopback), link-local, multicast, and the AWS
+        // metadata endpoint's IPv6 address.
+        IPNetwork.Parse("::/96"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("fe80::/10"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("ff00::/8"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("fd00:ec2::254/128"),
+    ];
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Ranges <see cref="RelayOptions.AllowPrivateNetworks"/> governs.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Carrier-grade NAT is here rather than treated as public, because it is where a Tailnet lives and
+    /// "the server is on the same Tailnet" is one of the shapes the relay exists for. Site-local
+    /// <c>fec0::/10</c> is deprecated and was private while it lived.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static readonly IPNetwork[] Private =
+    [
+        IPNetwork.Parse("10.0.0.0/8"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("172.16.0.0/12"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("192.168.0.0/16"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("100.64.0.0/10"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("fc00::/7"),
+        IPNetwork.Parse("fec0::/10"),
+    ];
+
+    /// <summary>The NAT64 well-known prefix, RFC 6052, whose low 32 bits are an IPv4 address.</summary>
+    private static readonly IPNetwork Nat64 = IPNetwork.Parse("64:ff9b::/96");
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Ports the relay never dials.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// SMTP and nothing else, per ADR 0004: a relay that reached port 25 is a spam cannon with the
+    /// operator's address on it. Database ports stay open, because forwarding to one is a headline use,
+    /// and the control that matters there is who may dial the host at all.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static readonly int[] RefusedPorts = [25, 465, 587];
+
+    private readonly bool allowPrivate;
+    private readonly IPNetwork[] allowed;
+    private readonly IPNetwork[] denied;
+
+    public RelayAddressPolicy(RelayOptions options)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(options);
+
+        allowPrivate = options.AllowPrivateNetworks;
+        allowed = ParseAll(options.AllowedNetworks);
+        denied = ParseAll(options.DeniedNetworks);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether a port may be dialled at all.</summary>
+    internal static bool PermitsPort(int port) =>
+        port is >= 1 and <= 65535 && !RefusedPorts.Contains(port);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether every entry is a network this policy can read.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// For startup validation. A typo in a deny list that was silently skipped would be a hole the
+    /// operator believes is closed, so an unreadable entry stops the server instead.
+    /// <para>
+    /// Host bits are refused as well, although <see cref="IPNetwork.TryParse(string?, out IPNetwork)"/>
+    /// would mask them off quietly. <c>10.20.5.7/16</c> could be a /16 written from memory or a /32 with
+    /// the wrong suffix, and in a deny list those differ by sixty-five thousand addresses.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal static bool AreNetworks(IEnumerable<string> entries) =>
+        entries.All(entry =>
+            IPNetwork.TryParse(entry, out var network)
+            && IPAddress.TryParse(entry.AsSpan(0, entry.IndexOf('/', StringComparison.Ordinal)), out var written)
+            && written.Equals(network.BaseAddress));
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The address the relay would actually be talking to, with any embedding unwrapped.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal static IPAddress Normalise(IPAddress address)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(address);
+
+        if (address.IsIPv4MappedToIPv6)
+        {
+            return address.MapToIPv4();
+        }
+
+        if (address.AddressFamily == AddressFamily.InterNetworkV6 && Nat64.Contains(address))
+        {
+            var bytes = address.GetAddressBytes();
+            return new IPAddress(bytes.AsSpan(12, 4));
+        }
+
+        // A scope id is how an address names an interface on this machine, which is not something a
+        // host row gets to choose. Dropped, so what is judged is what is dialled.
+        return address.AddressFamily == AddressFamily.InterNetworkV6 && address.ScopeId != 0
+            ? new IPAddress(address.GetAddressBytes())
+            : address;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether the relay may dial this address.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Judges the normalised address. Callers should dial <see cref="Normalise"/>'s answer too, so that
+    /// the address checked and the address connected to are the same object rather than two spellings
+    /// the operating system is trusted to agree about.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal bool Permits(IPAddress address)
+    {
+        var target = Normalise(address);
+
+        if (Refused.Any(network => Within(network, target)))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (denied.Any(network => Within(network, target)))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (allowed.Length > 0)
+        {
+            return allowed.Any(network => Within(network, target));
+        }
+
+        return allowPrivate || !Private.Any(network => Within(network, target));
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <see cref="IPNetwork.Contains"/> answers false across address families rather than throwing, so
+    /// a list mixing IPv4 and IPv6 needs no sorting — but it is spelled out here because the one-line
+    /// alternative reads as though it compared across families.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool Within(IPNetwork network, IPAddress address) =>
+        network.BaseAddress.AddressFamily == address.AddressFamily && network.Contains(address);
+
+    private static IPNetwork[] ParseAll(IEnumerable<string> entries) =>
+        [.. entries.Select(entry => IPNetwork.Parse(entry))];
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelayConnectEndpoint.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,722 @@
+using System.Buffers;
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.WebSockets;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Setup;
+using DodoSSH.Contracts;
+using DodoSSH.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Infrastructure;
+using FastEndpoints;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+using Npgsql;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The relay socket: a ticket in, raw bytes to one host and back.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Anonymous at the HTTP layer, because the ticket is the authorization and it is the whole of it. A
+/// ticket carries no API authority — it names one host, one set of addresses and one session — so this
+/// endpoint can accept it from a client that cannot set an <c>Authorization</c> header on an upgrade,
+/// which is the constraint ADR 0004 was written around. It is verified, checked for freshness and
+/// redeemed before the upgrade is accepted, so a refused ticket costs a problem document and no socket.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Nothing here is scoped to the request.</b> A session lasts as long as a shell does, which is hours,
+/// and anything scoped held across it is a pooled database connection held across it. The database is
+/// touched three times — redeem, open the audit row, close it — each from a scope of its own that is
+/// disposed before the next byte moves. That is ADR 0004's consequence about <c>DbContext</c> lifetime.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Backpressure is the await. Each direction reads one buffer, writes it, and does not read again until
+/// the write has completed, so a slow reader on either side stops this side reading, which fills the
+/// kernel's receive window, which throttles the sender at the far end. Nothing is queued in between, and
+/// a session costs its two buffers whatever the peers do.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class RelayConnectEndpoint(
+    IServiceScopeFactory scopes,
+    IRelayNetwork network,
+    RelayTicketCodec codec,
+    RelaySessionRegistry sessions,
+    IOptions<RelayOptions> options,
+    TimeProvider clock,
+    IHostApplicationLifetime lifetime,
+    ILogger<RelayConnectEndpoint> logger)
+    : EndpointWithoutRequest
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// One direction's buffer.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Room for an SSH packet at the size OpenSSH sends them, so a bulk transfer moves in one read and
+    /// one write per packet rather than several.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private const int BufferBytes = 32 * 1024;
+
+    /// <summary>How long a close handshake, or a peer's last write, may take before the socket is dropped.</summary>
+    private static readonly TimeSpan CloseTimeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override void Configure()
+    {
+        Get(RelayProtocol.ConnectPath);
+
+        // The ticket is the authorization. See the remarks on this class, and ADR 0004.
+        AllowAnonymous();
+
+        Description(b => b
+            .WithName("RelayConnect")
+            .WithSummary("Pipes raw bytes between a WebSocket and the host a relay ticket names.")
+            .WithTags("Relay"));
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override async Task HandleAsync(CancellationToken ct)
+    {
+        var ticket = await AdmitTicketAsync(ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (ticket is null)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var lease = sessions.TryAdmit(ticket.UserId);
+
+        try
+        {
+            using var socket = await HttpContext.WebSockets
+                .AcceptWebSocketAsync(new WebSocketAcceptContext { SubProtocol = RelayProtocol.SubProtocol })
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (lease is null)
+            {
+                RelayLog.LimitReached(logger, ticket.UserId, sessions.Count);
+
+                await CloseAsync(
+                        socket,
+                        new Ending(
+                            RelayCloseReason.Unspecified,
+                            RelayProtocol.TooManySessionsCloseCode,
+                            "Too many relay sessions are open."))
+                    .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+                return;
+            }
+
+            if (lifetime.ApplicationStopping.IsCancellationRequested)
+            {
+                await CloseAsync(socket, ShuttingDown).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+                return;
+            }
+
+            await RelayAsync(socket, ticket, ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            // Inside a try that starts before the upgrade, for the reason VaultEventsEndpoint gives: an
+            // accept that throws would otherwise hold a place against this user's cap forever.
+            lease?.Dispose();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static Ending ShuttingDown { get; } = new(
+        RelayCloseReason.ServerShutdown,
+        (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.EndpointUnavailable,
+        "The server is shutting down.");
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Answers everything that is not a redeemable ticket, as ordinary HTTP, before any socket exists.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>The redeemed ticket, or null when a response has been sent.</returns>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A ticket that is forged, expired, spent, or simply absent all answer 401
+    /// <c>relay-ticket-invalid</c>, with one remedy — ask for another — and no hint of which it was.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<RelayTicket?> AdmitTicketAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (!options.Value.Enabled)
+        {
+            await Send.ResultAsync(Problems.Coded(
+                    StatusCodes.Status404NotFound,
+                    ProblemCodes.RelayUnavailable,
+                    "This server does not relay. GET /api/v1/meta lists the features it does offer."))
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        var offered = HttpContext.WebSockets.WebSocketRequestedProtocols;
+
+        if (!HttpContext.WebSockets.IsWebSocketRequest
+            || !offered.Contains(RelayProtocol.SubProtocol, StringComparer.Ordinal))
+        {
+            await Send.ResultAsync(Problems.Coded(
+                    StatusCodes.Status400BadRequest,
+                    ProblemCodes.MalformedRequest,
+                    "This endpoint is a WebSocket. Send an upgrade request offering the "
+                    + $"'{RelayProtocol.SubProtocol}' subprotocol and the ticket as a second one, "
+                    + $"'{RelayProtocol.TicketProtocolPrefix}<ticket>'."))
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        var sealedTicket = offered
+            .FirstOrDefault(protocol => protocol.StartsWith(RelayProtocol.TicketProtocolPrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            ?[RelayProtocol.TicketProtocolPrefix.Length..];
+
+        var ticket = sealedTicket is { Length: > 0 } ? codec.TryOpen(sealedTicket) : null;
+
+        if (ticket is null || !await RedeemAsync(ticket, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            RelayLog.TicketRefused(logger, ticket?.SessionId);
+
+            await Send.ResultAsync(Problems.Coded(
+                    StatusCodes.Status401Unauthorized,
+                    ProblemCodes.RelayTicketInvalid,
+                    "This relay ticket is not valid: it is expired, already used, or was not issued here. "
+                    + $"Ask for another from POST {RelayProtocol.TicketsPath}."))
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return ticket;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Spends the ticket, or answers false when it has been spent already.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A unique insert, which is the only form of "once" that holds across nodes: two redemptions racing
+    /// on two nodes both attempt the insert and the database lets exactly one of them win.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Rows for tickets that can no longer verify are swept on the way. They guard nothing, and sweeping
+    /// here — on a path that runs once per session rather than once per request — keeps the table the
+    /// size of the last thirty seconds without a background job to forget about.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<bool> RedeemAsync(RelayTicket ticket, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var scope = scopes.CreateAsyncScope();
+        await using var _ = scope.ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        var database = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<DodoDbContext>();
+        var now = clock.GetUtcNow();
+
+        await database.RelayTicketUses
+            .Where(use => use.ExpiresAtUtc < now)
+            .ExecuteDeleteAsync(cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        database.RelayTicketUses.Add(new RelayTicketUse
+        {
+            TicketId = ticket.TicketId,
+            ExpiresAtUtc = ticket.ExpiresAt,
+            UsedAtUtc = now,
+        });
+
+        try
+        {
+            await database.SaveChangesAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return true;
+        }
+        catch (DbUpdateException exception)
+            when (string.Equals(
+                (exception.InnerException as PostgresException)?.SqlState,
+                PostgresErrorCodes.UniqueViolation,
+                StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Dials the target, pipes until something ends it, and writes down what happened.</summary>
+    private async Task RelayAsync(WebSocket socket, RelayTicket ticket, CancellationToken requestAborted)
+    {
+        var started = clock.GetUtcNow();
+
+        await OpenAuditAsync(ticket, started).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        var dialled = await DialAsync(ticket, requestAborted).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (dialled is not var (target, address))
+        {
+            RelayLog.TargetUnreachable(logger, ticket.SessionId, ticket.HostId);
+
+            var unreachable = new Ending(
+                RelayCloseReason.TargetUnreachable,
+                RelayProtocol.TargetUnreachableCloseCode,
+                "The relay could not reach the host.");
+
+            await CloseAsync(socket, unreachable).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            await CloseAuditAsync(ticket.SessionId, null, new Counters(clock, started), unreachable.Reason).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var counters = new Counters(clock, started);
+        Ending ending;
+
+        await using (target.ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            RelayLog.SessionOpened(logger, ticket.SessionId, ticket.UserId, ticket.HostId, sessions.Count);
+
+            ending = await PumpAsync(socket, target, counters, started, requestAborted).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+
+        RelayLog.SessionClosed(
+            logger,
+            ticket.SessionId,
+            ending.Reason,
+            counters.ClientToTarget,
+            counters.TargetToClient);
+
+        await CloseAuditAsync(ticket.SessionId, address, counters, ending.Reason).ConfigureAwait(false);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Connects to the first of the ticket's addresses that answers, within the connect timeout overall.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Overall rather than per address, so a name with sixteen dead addresses costs five seconds rather
+    /// than eighty. In the order resolved, which is the order the operating system's resolver prefers.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<(Stream Target, IPAddress Address)?> DialAsync(
+        RelayTicket ticket,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        using var timeout = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken);
+        timeout.CancelAfter(options.Value.ConnectTimeout);
+
+        foreach (var address in ticket.TargetAddresses)
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                var target = await network
+                    .ConnectAsync(address, ticket.TargetPort, timeout.Token)
+                    .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+                return (target, address);
+            }
+            catch (OperationCanceledException)
+            {
+                return null;
+            }
+            catch (Exception exception) when (exception is IOException or System.Net.Sockets.SocketException)
+            {
+                // The next address, if there is one.
+            }
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Runs both directions and the clock until one of them ends the session, then ends it politely.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>No operation on the WebSocket is ever cancelled.</b> Cancelling a pending receive or send on a
+    /// .NET WebSocket aborts it, and an aborted socket cannot send the close frame that is the only way
+    /// a client learns <em>why</em> its session ended — which, for an idle timeout or a drain, is the
+    /// difference between "reconnect" and "something is broken". So the token stops the target side and
+    /// the clock; the sender is let finish its last write; the close goes out; and the receiver ends on
+    /// the client's answering close. Each wait is bounded, and the socket is aborted only when a peer
+    /// has stopped answering altogether.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<Ending> PumpAsync(
+        WebSocket socket,
+        Stream target,
+        Counters counters,
+        DateTimeOffset started,
+        CancellationToken requestAborted)
+    {
+        using var pump = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(requestAborted);
+
+        var upstream = ClientToTargetAsync(socket, target, counters, pump.Token);
+        var downstream = TargetToClientAsync(target, socket, counters, pump.Token);
+        var minding = MindAsync(counters, started, pump.Token);
+
+        var first = await Task.WhenAny(upstream, downstream, minding).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        var ending = await first.ConfigureAwait(false) ?? new Ending(
+            RelayCloseReason.ClientClosed, (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.NormalClosure, string.Empty);
+
+        await pump.CancelAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        // The only sender must be done before the close frame is written: a WebSocket permits one send
+        // at a time and faults permanently on a second.
+        if (!await SettlesAsync(downstream).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+        }
+
+        await CloseAsync(socket, ending).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (!await SettlesAsync(upstream).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+            await SettlesAsync(upstream).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+
+        await SettlesAsync(minding).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        return ending;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Client to target: every binary message is the next bytes of the stream.</summary>
+    private static async Task<Ending?> ClientToTargetAsync(
+        WebSocket socket,
+        Stream target,
+        Counters counters,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var buffer = ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Rent(BufferBytes);
+
+        try
+        {
+            while (true)
+            {
+                ValueWebSocketReceiveResult received;
+
+                try
+                {
+                    // Not cancellable, deliberately. See PumpAsync.
+                    received = await socket.ReceiveAsync(buffer.AsMemory(), CancellationToken.None)
+                        .ConfigureAwait(false);
+                }
+                catch (Exception exception) when (exception is WebSocketException or OperationCanceledException)
+                {
+                    return ClientGone;
+                }
+
+                if (received.MessageType == WebSocketMessageType.Close)
+                {
+                    return ClientGone;
+                }
+
+                // A byte pipe has no text. A client sending some has the wrong idea about this endpoint,
+                // and forwarding it into an SSH stream would corrupt that stream at best.
+                if (received.MessageType != WebSocketMessageType.Binary)
+                {
+                    return new Ending(
+                        RelayCloseReason.Error,
+                        (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.InvalidMessageType,
+                        "The relay carries binary messages only.");
+                }
+
+                try
+                {
+                    await target.WriteAsync(buffer.AsMemory(0, received.Count), cancellationToken)
+                        .ConfigureAwait(false);
+                }
+                catch (OperationCanceledException)
+                {
+                    return null;
+                }
+                catch (IOException)
+                {
+                    return TargetGone;
+                }
+
+                counters.AddClientToTarget(received.Count);
+            }
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Return(buffer);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Target to client: every read becomes one binary message.</summary>
+    private static async Task<Ending?> TargetToClientAsync(
+        Stream target,
+        WebSocket socket,
+        Counters counters,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var buffer = ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Rent(BufferBytes);
+
+        try
+        {
+            while (true)
+            {
+                int read;
+
+                try
+                {
+                    read = await target.ReadAsync(buffer.AsMemory(0, BufferBytes), cancellationToken)
+                        .ConfigureAwait(false);
+                }
+                catch (OperationCanceledException)
+                {
+                    return null;
+                }
+                catch (IOException)
+                {
+                    return TargetGone;
+                }
+
+                if (read == 0)
+                {
+                    return TargetGone;
+                }
+
+                try
+                {
+                    // Not cancellable, deliberately. See PumpAsync.
+                    await socket
+                        .SendAsync(
+                            buffer.AsMemory(0, read),
+                            WebSocketMessageType.Binary,
+                            endOfMessage: true,
+                            CancellationToken.None)
+                        .ConfigureAwait(false);
+                }
+                catch (Exception exception) when (exception is WebSocketException or ObjectDisposedException)
+                {
+                    return ClientGone;
+                }
+
+                counters.AddTargetToClient(read);
+            }
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Return(buffer);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Ends the session at the idle timeout, the lifetime cap, or the end of a shutdown's drain.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A shutdown does not end a session; it starts a countdown. ADR 0004 asks that a
+    /// <c>docker compose up -d</c> not guillotine live shells, so a session in progress when the server is
+    /// told to stop is given the drain timeout to finish — most will, because the user was already
+    /// closing it or the deployment waits — and is closed with 1001 only when that runs out, which tells
+    /// the client to reconnect rather than to report a fault. The host's own shutdown timeout is set
+    /// longer than the drain for this to be possible at all.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Idle means no bytes in either direction. WebSocket pings are not bytes of the stream and do not
+    /// count; SSH's own keepalives do, which is how a client that wants an idle shell kept open says so.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<Ending?> MindAsync(Counters counters, DateTimeOffset started, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var settings = options.Value;
+        var hardDeadline = started + settings.MaxSessionDuration;
+        DateTimeOffset? drainDeadline = null;
+
+        while (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+        {
+            var now = clock.GetUtcNow();
+
+            if (drainDeadline is null && lifetime.ApplicationStopping.IsCancellationRequested)
+            {
+                drainDeadline = now + settings.DrainTimeout;
+            }
+
+            if (now >= hardDeadline)
+            {
+                return new Ending(
+                    RelayCloseReason.DurationLimit,
+                    RelayProtocol.DurationLimitCloseCode,
+                    "This relay session reached its maximum lifetime.");
+            }
+
+            if (drainDeadline is { } drain && now >= drain)
+            {
+                return ShuttingDown;
+            }
+
+            var idleDeadline = counters.LastActivity + settings.IdleTimeout;
+
+            if (now >= idleDeadline)
+            {
+                return new Ending(
+                    RelayCloseReason.IdleTimeout,
+                    RelayProtocol.IdleTimeoutCloseCode,
+                    "This relay session carried nothing for the idle timeout.");
+            }
+
+            var next = new[] { hardDeadline, idleDeadline, drainDeadline ?? DateTimeOffset.MaxValue }.Min();
+
+            // Woken early by the start of a shutdown, so the drain is measured from when it began rather
+            // than from whenever the idle clock next came round.
+            using var wake = drainDeadline is null
+                ? CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken, lifetime.ApplicationStopping)
+                : CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken);
+
+            try
+            {
+                await Task.Delay(next - now, clock, wake.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+            catch (OperationCanceledException) when (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+            {
+                // The shutdown began. Round again to start the drain.
+            }
+            catch (OperationCanceledException)
+            {
+                return null;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
+    private static Ending ClientGone { get; } =
+        new(RelayCloseReason.ClientClosed, (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.NormalClosure, string.Empty);
+
+    private static Ending TargetGone { get; } =
+        new(RelayCloseReason.TargetClosed, (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.NormalClosure, "The host closed the connection.");
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens the audit row, before the target is dialled, so a session that never reached its host is
+    /// still one the operator can see.
+    /// </summary>
+    private async Task OpenAuditAsync(RelayTicket ticket, DateTimeOffset started)
+    {
+        var scope = scopes.CreateAsyncScope();
+        await using var _ = scope.ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        var database = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<DodoDbContext>();
+
+        database.RelaySessions.Add(new RelaySession
+        {
+            Id = ticket.SessionId,
+            UserId = ticket.UserId,
+            HostId = ticket.HostId,
+            VaultId = ticket.VaultId,
+            TargetHost = ticket.TargetHost,
+            TargetPort = ticket.TargetPort,
+            ClientAddress = HttpContext.Connection.RemoteIpAddress?.ToString(),
+            StartedAtUtc = started,
+        });
+
+        // Not the request's token: the row has to be written even for a client that has already gone,
+        // or a session that was cut off would be the one with no record.
+        await database.SaveChangesAsync(CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(false);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Closes the audit row. A failure is logged and swallowed: the bytes have already moved, and
+    /// throwing here would only turn a finished session into an unhandled exception.
+    /// </summary>
+    private async Task CloseAuditAsync(
+        Guid sessionId,
+        IPAddress? address,
+        Counters counters,
+        RelayCloseReason reason)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            var scope = scopes.CreateAsyncScope();
+            await using var _ = scope.ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            var database = scope.ServiceProvider.GetRequiredService<DodoDbContext>();
+            var ended = clock.GetUtcNow();
+            var dialled = address?.ToString();
+
+            await database.RelaySessions
+                .Where(session => session.Id == sessionId)
+                .ExecuteUpdateAsync(
+                    set => set
+                        .SetProperty(session => session.EndedAtUtc, ended)
+                        .SetProperty(session => session.TargetAddress, dialled)
+                        .SetProperty(session => session.BytesClientToTarget, counters.ClientToTarget)
+                        .SetProperty(session => session.BytesTargetToClient, counters.TargetToClient)
+                        .SetProperty(session => session.CloseReason, reason),
+                    CancellationToken.None)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is DbUpdateException or NpgsqlException or InvalidOperationException)
+        {
+            RelayLog.AuditCloseFailed(logger, sessionId, exception);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static async Task CloseAsync(WebSocket socket, Ending ending)
+    {
+        if (socket.State is not (WebSocketState.Open or WebSocketState.CloseReceived))
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        using var timeout = new CancellationTokenSource(CloseTimeout);
+
+        try
+        {
+            await socket
+                .CloseOutputAsync((WebSocketCloseStatus)ending.Code, ending.Description, timeout.Token)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is OperationCanceledException or WebSocketException or ObjectDisposedException)
+        {
+            // The peer is already gone. There is nothing to tell it.
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Waits for a loop to finish, for at most the close timeout.</summary>
+    /// <returns>Whether it finished.</returns>
+    private static async Task<bool> SettlesAsync(Task loop)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            await loop.WaitAsync(CloseTimeout).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return true;
+        }
+        catch (TimeoutException)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is OperationCanceledException or WebSocketException or IOException or ObjectDisposedException)
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>How a session ended, and what the client is told.</summary>
+    private sealed record Ending(RelayCloseReason Reason, int Code, string Description);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Byte counts and the time of the last byte, written by the two directions and read by the clock.
+    /// </summary>
+    private sealed class Counters(TimeProvider clock, DateTimeOffset started)
+    {
+        private long clientToTarget;
+        private long targetToClient;
+        private long lastActivityTicks = started.UtcTicks;
+
+        internal long ClientToTarget => Interlocked.Read(ref clientToTarget);
+
+        internal long TargetToClient => Interlocked.Read(ref targetToClient);
+
+        internal DateTimeOffset LastActivity => new(Interlocked.Read(ref lastActivityTicks), TimeSpan.Zero);
+
+        internal void AddClientToTarget(int count)
+        {
+            Interlocked.Add(ref clientToTarget, count);
+            Interlocked.Exchange(ref lastActivityTicks, clock.GetUtcNow().UtcTicks);
+        }
+
+        internal void AddTargetToClient(int count)
+        {
+            Interlocked.Add(ref targetToClient, count);
+            Interlocked.Exchange(ref lastActivityTicks, clock.GetUtcNow().UtcTicks);
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelayLog.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,94 @@
+using DodoSSH.Domain;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>Source-generated log messages for the relay.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Ids, counts and reasons. Never a ticket, which is a bearer credential for thirty seconds, and never
+/// the target's address: that is in the audit table, where retention is the operator's decision, and
+/// copying it into a log would make it the log pipeline's decision too.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <see cref="TargetRejected"/> is the one place the reason for a refused target is written down. The
+/// client is told nothing specific, deliberately — see <c>RelayTicketEndpoint</c> — so this line is how
+/// an operator answers "why will the relay not reach this host".
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal static partial class RelayLog
+{
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2301,
+        Level = LogLevel.Information,
+        Message = "Relay ticket refused for user {UserId} and host {HostId}: {Reason}.")]
+    internal static partial void TargetRejected(ILogger logger, Guid userId, Guid hostId, string reason);
+
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2302,
+        Level = LogLevel.Debug,
+        Message = "Relay ticket issued to user {UserId} for host {HostId}, session {SessionId}, with "
+            + "{AddressCount} permitted address(es).")]
+    internal static partial void TicketIssued(
+        ILogger logger,
+        Guid userId,
+        Guid hostId,
+        Guid sessionId,
+        int addressCount);
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The session id is known only for a ticket that verified and had already been spent, which is the
+    /// case worth an operator's attention: a replay, or a client retrying a redemption it thinks failed.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2303,
+        Level = LogLevel.Information,
+        Message = "Relay ticket refused at the socket (session {SessionId}): forged, expired or already used.")]
+    internal static partial void TicketRefused(ILogger logger, Guid? sessionId);
+
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2304,
+        Level = LogLevel.Information,
+        Message = "Relay session refused for user {UserId}: a session limit is met, with {SessionCount} "
+            + "open on this node.")]
+    internal static partial void LimitReached(ILogger logger, Guid userId, int sessionCount);
+
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2305,
+        Level = LogLevel.Information,
+        Message = "Relay session {SessionId} could not reach host {HostId} on any permitted address.")]
+    internal static partial void TargetUnreachable(ILogger logger, Guid sessionId, Guid hostId);
+
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2306,
+        Level = LogLevel.Debug,
+        Message = "Relay session {SessionId} opened for user {UserId} to host {HostId}; {SessionCount} "
+            + "open on this node.")]
+    internal static partial void SessionOpened(
+        ILogger logger,
+        Guid sessionId,
+        Guid userId,
+        Guid hostId,
+        int sessionCount);
+
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2307,
+        Level = LogLevel.Debug,
+        Message = "Relay session {SessionId} closed ({Reason}) after {ClientToTarget} byte(s) up and "
+            + "{TargetToClient} down.")]
+    internal static partial void SessionClosed(
+        ILogger logger,
+        Guid sessionId,
+        RelayCloseReason reason,
+        long clientToTarget,
+        long targetToClient);
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A warning rather than an error: the session itself is over and was fine. What is lost is the
+    /// audit row's second half, which leaves it looking like a session still open.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [LoggerMessage(
+        EventId = 2308,
+        Level = LogLevel.Warning,
+        Message = "Relay session {SessionId} ended but its audit record could not be closed.")]
+    internal static partial void AuditCloseFailed(ILogger logger, Guid sessionId, Exception exception);
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelayNetwork.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Sockets;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The two things the relay asks of the network: what a name resolves to, and a connection to an address.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// A seam for tests, and a narrow one on purpose. <see cref="RelayAddressPolicy"/> is not behind it:
+/// whatever this answers, the policy judges, and a test that replaces this still runs every address
+/// through the real rules. What a test cannot do without the seam is dial anything, because every
+/// address a test machine can reach on its own — loopback — is one the policy refuses outright.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal interface IRelayNetwork
+{
+    /// <summary>Resolves a stored hostname, which may be an address literal.</summary>
+    Task<IPAddress[]> ResolveAsync(string host, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+
+    /// <summary>Opens a TCP connection to one address.</summary>
+    /// <returns>A stream that owns the connection.</returns>
+    Task<Stream> ConnectAsync(IPAddress address, int port, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+}
+
+/// <summary>The operating system's resolver and sockets.</summary>
+internal sealed class SystemRelayNetwork : IRelayNetwork
+{
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public Task<IPAddress[]> ResolveAsync(string host, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+
+        // A literal parses to itself without a lookup, which is what an address typed into a host
+        // editor should do — and what makes "10.0.0.5" mean the same thing on every node.
+        IPAddress.TryParse(host, out var literal)
+            ? Task.FromResult<IPAddress[]>([literal])
+            : Dns.GetHostAddressesAsync(host, cancellationToken);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public async Task<Stream> ConnectAsync(IPAddress address, int port, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var socket = new Socket(address.AddressFamily, SocketType.Stream, ProtocolType.Tcp)
+        {
+            // An interactive shell is a stream of keystrokes; Nagle would hold each one back for the
+            // acknowledgement of the last, which is the latency the user feels as a sticky terminal.
+            NoDelay = true,
+        };
+
+        try
+        {
+            await socket.ConnectAsync(new IPEndPoint(address, port), cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return new NetworkStream(socket, ownsSocket: true);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            socket.Dispose();
+            throw;
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelaySessionRegistry.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,111 @@
+using DodoSSH.Api.Setup;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Counts the relay sessions open on this node, and refuses the ones over ADR 0004's limits.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Per node, and so per user <em>per node</em>: a user behind a round-robin balancer with three nodes
+/// could hold three times the per-user cap. That is accepted rather than fixed, because fixing it means
+/// shared state on the hot path of every connect, and the cap exists to stop one account exhausting a
+/// node — which a per-node count does exactly.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// A singleton, because a session outlives the request that opened it. It holds counts and nothing else;
+/// the sockets belong to the handlers that opened them.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class RelaySessionRegistry(IOptions<RelayOptions> options)
+{
+    private readonly Lock gate = new();
+    private readonly Dictionary<Guid, int> perUser = [];
+    private int total;
+
+    /// <summary>How many sessions are open on this node.</summary>
+    internal int Count
+    {
+        get
+        {
+            lock (gate)
+            {
+                return total;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether a session for this user would be admitted now.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Advisory, for the ticket endpoint: it lets a caller already at the cap hear so as an HTTP status
+    /// before it has spent a ticket, but only <see cref="TryAdmit"/> decides, since the answer here can
+    /// be stale by the time the socket arrives — possibly at another node.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal bool HasRoomFor(Guid userId)
+    {
+        var settings = options.Value;
+
+        lock (gate)
+        {
+            return total < settings.MaxConcurrentSessionsTotal
+                && perUser.GetValueOrDefault(userId) < settings.MaxConcurrentSessionsPerUser;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Admits a session, or answers null when a limit is met.</summary>
+    /// <returns>A lease that gives the place back when disposed.</returns>
+    internal Lease? TryAdmit(Guid userId)
+    {
+        var settings = options.Value;
+
+        lock (gate)
+        {
+            var held = perUser.GetValueOrDefault(userId);
+
+            if (total >= settings.MaxConcurrentSessionsTotal || held >= settings.MaxConcurrentSessionsPerUser)
+            {
+                return null;
+            }
+
+            perUser[userId] = held + 1;
+            total++;
+
+            return new Lease(this, userId);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void Release(Guid userId)
+    {
+        lock (gate)
+        {
+            total--;
+
+            // Removed at zero rather than left behind, so the dictionary is the size of the users with a
+            // session open and not of every user who ever had one.
+            if (perUser[userId] <= 1)
+            {
+                perUser.Remove(userId);
+            }
+            else
+            {
+                perUser[userId]--;
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>One admitted session's place. Idempotent to dispose.</summary>
+    internal sealed class Lease(RelaySessionRegistry registry, Guid userId) : IDisposable
+    {
+        private int released;
+
+        /// <inheritdoc />
+        public void Dispose()
+        {
+            if (Interlocked.Exchange(ref released, 1) == 0)
+            {
+                registry.Release(userId);
+            }
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelayTicketCodec.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,171 @@
+using System.Net;
+using System.Security.Cryptography;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.WebUtilities;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Everything the relay socket needs to know, decided by the ticket endpoint.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// The addresses are the resolved ones and the socket dials nothing else. There is no hostname for it
+/// to resolve again — <see cref="TargetHost"/> is carried for the audit row only — which is what keeps a
+/// DNS answer that changes between issue and connect from changing where the bytes go.
+/// </remarks>
+/// <param name="TicketId">The replay guard's key.</param>
+/// <param name="SessionId">The audit row's id, already given to the client.</param>
+/// <param name="UserId">Who asked.</param>
+/// <param name="HostId">The host it is for.</param>
+/// <param name="VaultId">The host's vault at issue.</param>
+/// <param name="TargetHost">The hostname as stored, for the audit row.</param>
+/// <param name="TargetAddresses">The permitted addresses the name resolved to, in the order to try.</param>
+/// <param name="TargetPort">The port.</param>
+/// <param name="ExpiresAt">When the ticket stops verifying.</param>
+internal sealed record RelayTicket(
+    Guid TicketId,
+    Guid SessionId,
+    Guid UserId,
+    Guid HostId,
+    Guid VaultId,
+    string TargetHost,
+    IReadOnlyList<IPAddress> TargetAddresses,
+    int TargetPort,
+    DateTimeOffset ExpiresAt);
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Seals and opens relay tickets.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// A Data Protection payload, per ADR 0004: authenticated and encrypted, with key rotation handled by
+/// the framework, and verifiable on any node that shares the key ring. Encrypted rather than merely
+/// signed because the ticket travels in a header every proxy on the way can read, and what it holds is
+/// the resolved address of a machine on the operator's network.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// The expiry is inside the payload and checked against <see cref="TimeProvider"/>, rather than left to
+/// the framework's time-limited protector, which reads the system clock directly — the thing this
+/// repository bans so that time can be faked in tests.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// The layout is a version byte and fixed fields, written by hand. Small enough that a serialiser would
+/// be the larger half of the code, and a hand layout has no reflection for trimming to break.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class RelayTicketCodec(IDataProtectionProvider protection, TimeProvider clock)
+{
+    /// <summary>The purpose string, which isolates these payloads from every other protector's.</summary>
+    private const string Purpose = "DodoSSH.Relay.Ticket";
+
+    private const byte LayoutVersion = 1;
+
+    /// <summary>More addresses than any real name resolves to, and a bound on what a ticket can carry.</summary>
+    internal const int MaxAddresses = 16;
+
+    private readonly IDataProtector protector = protection.CreateProtector(Purpose);
+
+    internal string Seal(RelayTicket ticket)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(ticket);
+
+        using var buffer = new MemoryStream();
+        using (var writer = new BinaryWriter(buffer))
+        {
+            writer.Write(LayoutVersion);
+            writer.Write(ticket.TicketId.ToByteArray());
+            writer.Write(ticket.SessionId.ToByteArray());
+            writer.Write(ticket.UserId.ToByteArray());
+            writer.Write(ticket.HostId.ToByteArray());
+            writer.Write(ticket.VaultId.ToByteArray());
+            writer.Write(ticket.ExpiresAt.ToUnixTimeMilliseconds());
+            writer.Write(ticket.TargetPort);
+            writer.Write(ticket.TargetHost);
+            writer.Write((byte)ticket.TargetAddresses.Count);
+
+            foreach (var address in ticket.TargetAddresses)
+            {
+                var bytes = address.GetAddressBytes();
+                writer.Write((byte)bytes.Length);
+                writer.Write(bytes);
+            }
+        }
+
+        // Base64url, whose alphabet is all token characters, so it can stand in a subprotocol name.
+        return WebEncoders.Base64UrlEncode(protector.Protect(buffer.ToArray()));
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Opens a ticket, or answers null for one that is forged, damaged or expired.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// One answer for all three, because the caller's remedy is the same — ask for another — and a
+    /// distinct "expired" would tell a forger which of their attempts had verified.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal RelayTicket? TryOpen(string sealedTicket)
+    {
+        byte[] payload;
+
+        try
+        {
+            payload = protector.Unprotect(WebEncoders.Base64UrlDecode(sealedTicket));
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is CryptographicException or FormatException)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        RelayTicket ticket;
+
+        try
+        {
+            ticket = Read(payload);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is EndOfStreamException or ArgumentException or FormatException)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return ticket.ExpiresAt > clock.GetUtcNow() ? ticket : null;
+    }
+
+    private static RelayTicket Read(byte[] payload)
+    {
+        using var reader = new BinaryReader(new MemoryStream(payload));
+
+        if (reader.ReadByte() != LayoutVersion)
+        {
+            throw new FormatException("Unknown ticket layout.");
+        }
+
+        var ticketId = new Guid(reader.ReadBytes(16));
+        var sessionId = new Guid(reader.ReadBytes(16));
+        var userId = new Guid(reader.ReadBytes(16));
+        var hostId = new Guid(reader.ReadBytes(16));
+        var vaultId = new Guid(reader.ReadBytes(16));
+        var expiresAt = DateTimeOffset.FromUnixTimeMilliseconds(reader.ReadInt64());
+        var port = reader.ReadInt32();
+        var host = reader.ReadString();
+        var count = reader.ReadByte();
+
+        if (count is 0 or > MaxAddresses)
+        {
+            throw new FormatException("A ticket names between one and sixteen addresses.");
+        }
+
+        var addresses = new IPAddress[count];
+
+        for (var index = 0; index < count; index++)
+        {
+            var length = reader.ReadByte();
+
+            if (length is not (4 or 16))
+            {
+                throw new FormatException("An address is four or sixteen bytes.");
+            }
+
+            addresses[index] = new IPAddress(reader.ReadBytes(length));
+        }
+
+        return new RelayTicket(ticketId, sessionId, userId, hostId, vaultId, host, addresses, port, expiresAt);
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Relay/RelayTicketEndpoint.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,231 @@
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Sockets;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Authorization;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Setup;
+using DodoSSH.Contracts;
+using DodoSSH.Domain.Authorization;
+using DodoSSH.Infrastructure;
+using FastEndpoints;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http.HttpResults;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Issues the ticket that lets exactly one relay socket reach exactly one host.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Every decision the relay makes is made here, with the full bearer token and the full access model in
+/// hand: which host, whether the caller may connect to it, which addresses its name resolves to and
+/// which of those the policy permits. The socket that follows decides nothing. It checks that the ticket
+/// is genuine, fresh and unused, and dials what the ticket says. See ADR 0004.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Every refusal about the target is the same refusal.</b> A host that does not exist, one in a vault
+/// the caller cannot reach, one without the relay switched on, one whose name does not resolve, and one
+/// whose every address the policy refuses all answer 403 <c>relay-target-rejected</c> with the same
+/// sentence. Anyone who can write a host can set its address to anything, so a distinct answer for
+/// "resolves, but refused" would turn this endpoint into a scanner for the operator's internal DNS. The
+/// real reason goes to the server log, where the operator can read it.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class RelayTicketEndpoint(
+    ICurrentUserContext currentUser,
+    IVaultAccessService vaultAccess,
+    DodoDbContext database,
+    IRelayNetwork network,
+    RelayTicketCodec codec,
+    RelaySessionRegistry sessions,
+    IOptions<RelayOptions> options,
+    TimeProvider clock,
+    ILogger<RelayTicketEndpoint> logger)
+    : Endpoint<RelayTicketRequest, Results<Ok<RelayTicketResponse>, ProblemHttpResult>>
+{
+    /// <summary>What every target refusal says, whatever the reason was.</summary>
+    private const string RejectedDetail =
+        "The relay will not connect to this host. Check that the relay is switched on for it and that its "
+        + "address is one this server may reach; the server's log records which.";
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override void Configure()
+    {
+        Post(RelayProtocol.TicketsPath);
+
+        // Enrolled, matching sync. A relayed host is still a host whose name, username and key are
+        // ciphertext, so a caller with no identity key has no way to have learned which host to ask for.
+        Policies(Auth.EnrolledPolicy);
+
+        Description(b => b
+            .WithName("IssueRelayTicket")
+            .WithSummary("Issues a single-use ticket for one relay connection to one host.")
+            .WithTags("Relay"));
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override async Task<Results<Ok<RelayTicketResponse>, ProblemHttpResult>> ExecuteAsync(
+        RelayTicketRequest req,
+        CancellationToken ct)
+    {
+        var settings = options.Value;
+
+        if (!settings.Enabled)
+        {
+            return Problems.Coded(
+                StatusCodes.Status404NotFound,
+                ProblemCodes.RelayUnavailable,
+                "This server does not relay. Connect to the host directly; GET /api/v1/meta lists the "
+                + "features this server does offer.");
+        }
+
+        var user = await currentUser.GetOrProvisionAsync(ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        var (target, refusal) = await FindTargetAsync(user.Id, req, ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (target is not var (hostname, port, vaultId))
+        {
+            return Rejected(user.Id, req.HostId, refusal!);
+        }
+
+        // Before resolving rather than after: a caller already at the cap is told so without this server
+        // spending a DNS query on a ticket that could not be redeemed.
+        if (!sessions.HasRoomFor(user.Id))
+        {
+            RelayLog.LimitReached(logger, user.Id, sessions.Count);
+
+            return Problems.Coded(
+                StatusCodes.Status429TooManyRequests,
+                ProblemCodes.RelayLimitReached,
+                "You have as many relay sessions open as this server allows. Close one and try again.");
+        }
+
+        var addresses = await ResolvePermittedAsync(hostname, ct).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (addresses is not { Length: > 0 })
+        {
+            return Rejected(user.Id, req.HostId, addresses is null
+                ? "its name did not resolve"
+                : "every address its name resolved to is refused by policy");
+        }
+
+        var ticket = new RelayTicket(
+            TicketId: Guid.CreateVersion7(),
+            SessionId: Guid.CreateVersion7(),
+            UserId: user.Id,
+            HostId: req.HostId,
+            VaultId: vaultId,
+            TargetHost: hostname,
+            TargetAddresses: addresses,
+            TargetPort: port,
+            ExpiresAt: clock.GetUtcNow() + settings.TicketLifetime);
+
+        RelayLog.TicketIssued(logger, user.Id, req.HostId, ticket.SessionId, addresses.Length);
+
+        return TypedResults.Ok(new RelayTicketResponse(
+            Ticket: codec.Seal(ticket),
+            WebSocketUrl: new Uri(settings.WebSocketUrl!, UriKind.Absolute),
+            SubProtocol: RelayProtocol.SubProtocol,
+            SessionId: ticket.SessionId,
+            ExpiresAt: ticket.ExpiresAt));
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Finds the host, and decides whether this caller may be relayed to it at all.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>The stored target, or the reason there is none — for the log, never for the caller.</returns>
+    private async Task<((string Hostname, int Port, Guid VaultId)? Target, string? Refusal)> FindTargetAsync(
+        Guid userId,
+        RelayTicketRequest req,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (req.PortForwardId is not null)
+        {
+            return (null, "a port forward was requested, which v1 does not relay");
+        }
+
+        var host = await database.Hosts
+            .AsNoTracking()
+            .SingleOrDefaultAsync(h => h.Id == req.HostId && h.DeletedAtUtc == null, cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (host is null)
+        {
+            return (null, "no such host");
+        }
+
+        var access = await vaultAccess.ResolveAsync(userId, host.VaultId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        // Connect rather than Read, because Connect is the permission that says what this is. Every role
+        // that reads today also connects — see VaultAccessService.ForRole — but a role that ever split
+        // them should be refused a relay here without anybody remembering to look.
+        if (!access.Granted || !access.Permissions.HasFlag(PermissionFlags.Connect))
+        {
+            return (null, "the caller may not connect to this host's vault");
+        }
+
+        // The CHECK constraint makes the second half unreachable while the first is true. Tested anyway,
+        // because the cost of trusting it is dialling a null.
+        if (!host.RelayEnabled || host.Hostname is not { } hostname || host.Port is not { } port)
+        {
+            return (null, "the relay is not switched on for this host");
+        }
+
+        return RelayAddressPolicy.PermitsPort(port)
+            ? ((hostname, port, host.VaultId), null)
+            : (null, $"port {port} is refused by policy");
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Resolves the stored name, and keeps the addresses the policy permits.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>The permitted addresses, possibly none; or null when the name did not resolve.</returns>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Filtered rather than refused as a whole when one answer is bad. A name that resolves to a public
+    /// address and a link-local one is dialled on the public address, and never on the other — the
+    /// ticket carries only what passed, so there is nothing else for the socket to try.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The addresses kept are the normalised ones, so what is dialled is exactly what was judged rather
+    /// than a second spelling of it.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<IPAddress[]?> ResolvePermittedAsync(string hostname, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var policy = new RelayAddressPolicy(options.Value);
+
+        using var timeout = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(cancellationToken);
+        timeout.CancelAfter(options.Value.ConnectTimeout);
+
+        IPAddress[] resolved;
+
+        try
+        {
+            resolved = await network.ResolveAsync(hostname, timeout.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (SocketException)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+        catch (OperationCanceledException) when (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return
+        [
+            .. resolved
+                .Where(policy.Permits)
+                .Select(RelayAddressPolicy.Normalise)
+                .Distinct()
+                .Take(RelayTicketCodec.MaxAddresses),
+        ];
+    }
+
+    private ProblemHttpResult Rejected(Guid userId, Guid hostId, string reason)
+    {
+        RelayLog.TargetRejected(logger, userId, hostId, reason);
+
+        return Problems.Coded(StatusCodes.Status403Forbidden, ProblemCodes.RelayTargetRejected, RejectedDetail);
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Features/Sync/ItemKinds.cs

@@ -73,6 +73,7 @@ internal static class ItemKinds
             (IItemKind)new HostKind(), new SshKeyKind(), new CredentialKind(), new KnownHostKeyKind(),
             new HostGroupKind(), new TagKind(), new SnippetKind(),
             new ConnectionLogEntryKind(), new ActivityLogEntryKind(), new ObjectStoreKind(),
+            new SpelunkKeyKind(),
         }.ToDictionary(kind => kind.WireType);
 
     /// <summary>The kind for a wire type, or null when this server does not synchronise it yet.</summary>
@@ -1093,3 +1094,98 @@ internal sealed class ObjectStoreKind : IItemKind
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public SyncPlaintextFields? Hydrate(IVaultItem item) => null;
 }
+
+/// <summary>Spelunk keys: an envelope and nothing else.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <see cref="ObjectStoreKind"/>'s rules, because it holds the same class of thing: an API key is a password,
+/// and the address beside it is where somebody manages their servers. Nothing on the server calls Spelunk.
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class SpelunkKeyKind : IItemKind
+{
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SyncEntityType WireType => SyncEntityType.SpelunkKey;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public ChangeEntityType ChangeType => ChangeEntityType.SpelunkKey;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public async Task<IVaultItem?> FindAsync(
+        DodoDbContext database,
+        Guid id,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        await database.SpelunkKeys.SingleOrDefaultAsync(s => s.Id == id, cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public async Task<Dictionary<Guid, IVaultItem>> LoadAsync(
+        DodoDbContext database,
+        Guid vaultId,
+        Guid[] ids,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var rows = await database.SpelunkKeys
+            .Where(s => s.VaultId == vaultId && ids.Contains(s.Id))
+            .ToListAsync(cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        return rows.ToDictionary(row => row.Id, row => (IVaultItem)row);
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public IVaultItem Add(DodoDbContext database, Guid id, Guid vaultId)
+    {
+        var key = new VaultSpelunkKey { Id = id, VaultId = vaultId };
+
+        database.SpelunkKeys.Add(key);
+
+        return key;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Refuses every plaintext field there is.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The relay fields are refused although this type holds an address, as they are for a bucket: the
+    /// address belongs in the ciphertext, and the server has no business keeping a list of where its users
+    /// manage their servers from.
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public bool ValidateFields(SyncPlaintextFields fields, out string error)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(fields);
+
+        error = string.Empty;
+
+        if (fields.RelayEnabled || fields.Hostname is not null || fields.Port is not null)
+        {
+            error = "A Spelunk key is not something the server dials; its address stays encrypted.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (fields.GroupId is not null || fields.ParentId is not null || fields.RelatedId is not null)
+        {
+            error = "A Spelunk key's contents are inside its payload.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (fields.Kind is not null || fields.PublicKeyFingerprint is not null)
+        {
+            error = "A Spelunk key carries no plaintext fields at all.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>Nothing to copy: this type has no plaintext columns to copy anything into.</remarks>
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public void ApplyFields(IVaultItem item, SyncPlaintextFields fields)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public void ClearFieldsOnDelete(IVaultItem item)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SyncPlaintextFields? Hydrate(IVaultItem item) => null;
+}

src/DodoSSH.Api/Program.cs

@@ -49,6 +49,9 @@ builder.Services.AddSingleton<VaultEventHub>();
 builder.Services.AddSingleton<IVaultEventPublisher>(
     provider => provider.GetRequiredService<VaultEventHub>());
 
+// The relay's services, its ticket key ring, and a shutdown long enough for its drain. See ADR 0004.
+builder.Services.AddDodoRelay();
+
 // Scoped rather than the AddAuthorization default of singleton: the handler reads the request's
 // DbContext, and a singleton would capture one for the lifetime of the process.
 builder.Services.AddScoped<IAuthorizationHandler, EnrolledHandler>();

src/DodoSSH.Api/Setup/Configuration.cs

@@ -54,6 +54,13 @@ internal static class Configuration
                 + "setting exists to provide.")
             .ValidateOnStart();
 
+        services.AddRelayOptions();
+
+        return services;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The relay's options, which carry more rules than any other section. See ADR 0004.</summary>
+    private static void AddRelayOptions(this IServiceCollection services) =>
         services.AddOptions<RelayOptions>()
             .BindConfiguration(RelayOptions.SectionName)
             .ValidateDataAnnotations()
@@ -63,11 +70,28 @@ internal static class Configuration
             .Validate(
                 options => options.IdleTimeout < options.MaxSessionDuration,
                 "Relay:IdleTimeout must be shorter than Relay:MaxSessionDuration.")
+            .Validate(
+                options => options.TicketLifetime > TimeSpan.Zero
+                    && options.TicketLifetime <= TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30),
+                "Relay:TicketLifetime must be positive and at most 30 seconds. A ticket is a bearer "
+                + "credential in a header; ADR 0004 bounds how long one may be worth stealing.")
+            .Validate(
+                options => options.ConnectTimeout > TimeSpan.Zero && options.DrainTimeout >= TimeSpan.Zero,
+                "Relay:ConnectTimeout must be positive and Relay:DrainTimeout must not be negative.")
+            .Validate(
+                options => Features.Relay.RelayAddressPolicy.AreNetworks(options.AllowedNetworks)
+                    && Features.Relay.RelayAddressPolicy.AreNetworks(options.DeniedNetworks),
+                "Relay:AllowedNetworks and Relay:DeniedNetworks must hold CIDR networks such as "
+                + "10.20.0.0/16, with no host bits set. An entry this server cannot read would be a gap "
+                + "the operator believes is closed.")
+            .Validate(
+                options => !options.Enabled
+                    || (Uri.TryCreate(options.WebSocketUrl, UriKind.Absolute, out var url)
+                        && (string.Equals(url.Scheme, Uri.UriSchemeWs, StringComparison.Ordinal)
+                            || string.Equals(url.Scheme, Uri.UriSchemeWss, StringComparison.Ordinal))),
+                "Relay:WebSocketUrl must be an absolute ws:// or wss:// URL.")
             .ValidateOnStart();
 
-        return services;
-    }
-
     /// <summary>
     /// Warns about configuration that is individually valid but dangerous in combination.
     /// </summary>

src/DodoSSH.Api/Setup/DodoOptions.cs

@@ -121,17 +121,44 @@ public sealed class RelayOptions
     /// the ACL: only hosts in a vault the caller holds Connect on can be dialled at all.
     /// </para>
     /// <para>
-    /// <b>Nothing reads this setting yet, and that is the point of saying so here.</b> The relay is
-    /// an ADR and a contract; there is no endpoint and no dialler. This option exists so the shape
-    /// is settled before the code is, which makes it exactly the kind of comment that gets read as a
-    /// description of an implemented control. It is not one. Whoever builds the dialler owes ADR 0004
-    /// §3 in full — loopback, link-local, <c>0.0.0.0/8</c>, multicast and the cloud metadata addresses
-    /// denied with no configuration escape, and IPv4-mapped IPv6 normalised and re-checked — and this
-    /// flag governs RFC1918 only, never that list.
+    /// Governs the private ranges only — RFC1918, carrier-grade NAT (which is where a Tailnet lives) and
+    /// IPv6 unique-local — and never the list <c>RelayAddressPolicy</c> refuses with no configuration
+    /// escape: loopback, link-local, <c>0.0.0.0/8</c>, multicast and the cloud metadata addresses.
+    /// Nothing here can re-open those, which is what ADR 0004 §3 means by non-overridable.
     /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
     public bool AllowPrivateNetworks { get; set; } = true;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Networks, in CIDR form, that a relay target must fall inside. Empty means any network the other
+    /// rules permit.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// When set, this is the whole answer for the ranges it names: a target inside one is permitted even
+    /// with <see cref="AllowPrivateNetworks"/> off, because "only 10.20.0.0/16" is the precise thing an
+    /// operator means by setting both. It still cannot reach the non-overridable list, and
+    /// <see cref="DeniedNetworks"/> still wins over it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public IList<string> AllowedNetworks { get; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>Networks, in CIDR form, that a relay target may never fall inside.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Checked before <see cref="AllowedNetworks"/>, so a deny inside an allow is a hole in it — the way
+    /// round that lets an operator carve the database subnet out of an otherwise permitted range.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public IList<string> DeniedNetworks { get; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A directory to keep the ticket key ring in. Unset means the platform default.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Losing the key ring is harmless in the way losing <c>Sync:CursorSigningKey</c> is: a ticket lives
+    /// thirty seconds, so a restart invalidates at most the connects in flight and the client asks
+    /// again. What does need it is more than one node — every node must be able to read every other's
+    /// tickets for round-robin to work, so a multi-node deployment points this at shared storage.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public string? KeyRingDirectory { get; set; }
+
     /// <summary>Maximum concurrent sessions per user.</summary>
     [Range(1, 1000)]
     public int MaxConcurrentSessionsPerUser { get; set; } = 10;

src/DodoSSH.Api/Setup/EndpointRegistration.cs

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Events;
 using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Identity;
 using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Meta;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
 using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Sync;
 using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Teams;
 using DodoSSH.Contracts;
@@ -45,6 +46,8 @@ internal static class EndpointRegistration
             typeof(SyncPullEndpoint),
             typeof(SyncPushEndpoint),
             typeof(VaultEventsEndpoint),
+            typeof(RelayTicketEndpoint),
+            typeof(RelayConnectEndpoint),
             typeof(CreateTeamEndpoint),
             typeof(ListTeamsEndpoint),
             typeof(UpdateTeamEndpoint),
@@ -65,7 +68,6 @@ internal static class EndpointRegistration
             // Registered as each feature lands:
             //   Identity   — key rotation, passphrase change
             //   Vaults     — per-item ACLs
-            //   Relay      — tickets and the WebSocket
             //   Audit, Admin
         });
 

src/DodoSSH.Api/Setup/RelaySetup.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,59 @@
+using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection.KeyManagement;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.DataProtection.Repositories;
+using Microsoft.Extensions.Options;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Api.Setup;
+
+/// <summary>The relay's services. See ADR 0004.</summary>
+internal static class RelaySetup
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// How much longer than the drain the host waits before it stops regardless.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Room for the close handshakes and the audit rows' final writes once the drain has run out, which
+    /// is the part of a shutdown an operator would otherwise lose without noticing.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static readonly TimeSpan ShutdownMargin = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(10);
+
+    internal static IServiceCollection AddDodoRelay(this IServiceCollection services)
+    {
+        // Singletons: a session outlives the request that opened it, a protector is safe to share, and
+        // the network seam holds no state.
+        services.AddSingleton<RelayTicketCodec>();
+        services.AddSingleton<RelaySessionRegistry>();
+        services.AddSingleton<IRelayNetwork, SystemRelayNetwork>();
+
+        // The application name isolates this deployment's payloads from any other ASP.NET application
+        // sharing a key directory, and — unlike the default, which is derived from the content root —
+        // is the same on every node, which is what lets any node verify any node's ticket.
+        services.AddDataProtection().SetApplicationName("DodoSSH");
+
+        services.AddOptions<KeyManagementOptions>()
+            .Configure<IOptions<RelayOptions>, ILoggerFactory>((keys, relay, loggers) =>
+            {
+                if (relay.Value.KeyRingDirectory is { Length: > 0 } directory)
+                {
+                    keys.XmlRepository = new FileSystemXmlRepository(new DirectoryInfo(directory), loggers);
+                }
+            });
+
+        // Longer than the drain, or the host would stop waiting for live sessions before the drain ADR 0004
+        // promises them had run. Harmless with the relay off: nothing else holds a request open that long,
+        // and the host stops as soon as the last request has.
+        services.AddOptions<HostOptions>()
+            .Configure<IOptions<RelayOptions>>((host, relay) =>
+            {
+                var wanted = relay.Value.DrainTimeout + ShutdownMargin;
+
+                if (wanted > host.ShutdownTimeout)
+                {
+                    host.ShutdownTimeout = wanted;
+                }
+            });
+
+        return services;
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/App.axaml.cs

@@ -132,7 +132,8 @@ public sealed partial class DodoSshApp : Avalonia.Application
         var keepAlive = new SessionKeepAlive(
             workspace,
             activeTransfers: () => viewModel.Transfers.ActiveTransfers,
-            holdsFileSession: () => viewModel.Transfers.HasLiveFileSession);
+            holdsFileSession: () => viewModel.Transfers.HasLiveFileSession,
+            listeningForwards: () => viewModel.ListeningForwardCount);
 
         // The other end of the same wire: the workspace announces its own sessions ending, and the queue
         // announces transfers appearing and finishing, and a Files session connecting or disconnecting.
@@ -148,6 +149,11 @@ public sealed partial class DodoSshApp : Avalonia.Application
         // in the first place, which was precisely the promise this whole arrangement exists to keep.
         viewModel.TerminalSessionOpened += (_, _) => keepAlive.Refresh();
 
+        // A forward starting, stopping or failing changes the notification's wording and nothing else — it
+        // rides a shell's connection, so the shell is already what holds the service up. The user is still
+        // entitled to know a phone in their pocket is holding ports open.
+        viewModel.ForwardsChanged += (_, _) => keepAlive.Refresh();
+
         keepAlive.Refresh();
     }
 

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Platform/SessionForegroundService.cs

@@ -141,6 +141,11 @@ internal sealed class SessionForegroundService : Service
     /// <param name="liveSessions">Shells with a live channel behind them.</param>
     /// <param name="activeTransfers">Transfers still moving bytes.</param>
     /// <param name="holdsFileSession">Whether the Files screen holds a live, idle SFTP connection.</param>
+    /// <param name="listeningForwards">
+    /// Port forwards listening over those shells. Named in the summary and nothing else: a forward rides a
+    /// shell's connection, so it cannot be the reason the process has to stay up — see
+    /// <see cref="SessionKeepAlive"/>.
+    /// </param>
     /// <remarks>
     /// Three outcomes, not the two a plain start-or-stop would have. Nothing live stops the service, as
     /// always. Something live and the service not yet running starts it. Something live and the service
@@ -152,7 +157,7 @@ internal sealed class SessionForegroundService : Service
     /// which needs no foreground-start permission at all. A foregrounded refresh still prefers a real
     /// start even over a service that looks like it is running; the inline remark below is why.
     /// </remarks>
-    public static void Reconcile(int liveSessions, int activeTransfers, bool holdsFileSession)
+    public static void Reconcile(int liveSessions, int activeTransfers, bool holdsFileSession, int listeningForwards)
     {
         var context = PhoneEnvironment.Require();
 
@@ -165,7 +170,7 @@ internal sealed class SessionForegroundService : Service
 
         // The summary says what is actually held, counted rather than generic — the same principle the
         // delete confirmations follow. "DodoSSH is running" would tell the user nothing they could act on.
-        var summary = Summarise(liveSessions, activeTransfers, holdsFileSession);
+        var summary = Summarise(liveSessions, activeTransfers, holdsFileSession, listeningForwards);
 
         // In-place only while backgrounded, where it is the only legal move. Foregrounded, a real start is
         // always allowed and is preferred even when `running` says the service is up: a disconnect followed
@@ -255,15 +260,22 @@ internal sealed class SessionForegroundService : Service
             activity.RequestPermissions([postNotifications], NotificationPermissionRequestCode));
     }
 
-    private static string Summarise(int liveSessions, int activeTransfers, bool holdsFileSession)
+    private static string Summarise(int liveSessions, int activeTransfers, bool holdsFileSession, int listeningForwards)
     {
-        var parts = new List<string>(3);
+        var parts = new List<string>(4);
 
         if (liveSessions > 0)
         {
             parts.Add(liveSessions == 1 ? "1 shell connected" : $"{liveSessions} shells connected");
         }
 
+        // Beside the shells they run over, and only while one is: a count left over from a session that has
+        // just ended would be a receipt for ports nothing holds open any more.
+        if (liveSessions > 0 && listeningForwards > 0)
+        {
+            parts.Add(listeningForwards == 1 ? "1 port forwarded" : $"{listeningForwards} ports forwarded");
+        }
+
         if (holdsFileSession)
         {
             parts.Add("Files connected");

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Platform/SessionKeepAlive.cs

@@ -24,12 +24,20 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Client.Android.Platform;
 /// looked, to this class, exactly like nothing being open at all. <c>holdsFileSession</c> below is that
 /// gap closed, read the same way the other two facts are: asked, not cached.
 /// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Listening port forwards are a fourth fact, and a different kind: they only change what the notification
+/// says. A forward runs over a shell's connection and stops with it, so there is never a listening forward
+/// without a live shell already holding the service up — and a count that could start the service on its own
+/// would only ever be wrong, in the moment a forward's Stopped had not been heard yet. What they add is the
+/// receipt: the user is entitled to know the phone is holding ports open, as well as shells.
+/// </para>
 /// </remarks>
 internal sealed class SessionKeepAlive : IDisposable
 {
     private readonly TerminalWorkspace workspace;
     private readonly Func<int> activeTransfers;
     private readonly Func<bool> holdsFileSession;
+    private readonly Func<int> listeningForwards;
 
     /// <param name="workspace">The live shells.</param>
     /// <param name="activeTransfers">
@@ -40,11 +48,20 @@ internal sealed class SessionKeepAlive : IDisposable
     /// Whether the Files screen holds a live SFTP connection with nothing moving on it — the idle-but-
     /// connected case a transfer count alone would miss. See <c>TransfersViewModel.HasLiveFileSession</c>.
     /// </param>
-    public SessionKeepAlive(TerminalWorkspace workspace, Func<int> activeTransfers, Func<bool> holdsFileSession)
+    /// <param name="listeningForwards">
+    /// How many port forwards are listening, across every tab. For the notification's wording only; see the
+    /// class remarks. See <c>MainWindowViewModel.ListeningForwardCount</c>.
+    /// </param>
+    public SessionKeepAlive(
+        TerminalWorkspace workspace,
+        Func<int> activeTransfers,
+        Func<bool> holdsFileSession,
+        Func<int> listeningForwards)
     {
         this.workspace = workspace;
         this.activeTransfers = activeTransfers;
         this.holdsFileSession = holdsFileSession;
+        this.listeningForwards = listeningForwards;
 
         // Raised on whatever thread the workspace announced from — a continuation of the ended run, or the
         // closer's own — which is fine: starting and stopping a service is a binder call and needs no
@@ -56,14 +73,15 @@ internal sealed class SessionKeepAlive : IDisposable
 
     /// <summary>Re-reads the counts and starts or stops the service to match.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
-    /// Called after anything that could change any of the three facts — opening a shell, closing a tab, a
-    /// transfer finishing, a Files connection opening or closing. Calling it when nothing changed is free:
+    /// Called after anything that could change any of the facts — opening a shell, closing a tab, a transfer
+    /// finishing, a Files connection opening or closing, a forward starting or stopping. Calling it when nothing changed is free:
     /// reconciling to the state it is already in is either a redundant <c>startForegroundService</c> — or,
     /// now, a redundant notification post — on a running service, or a <c>stopService</c> on a stopped one,
     /// and Android treats all of those as no-ops.
     /// </remarks>
     public void Refresh() =>
-        SessionForegroundService.Reconcile(workspace.LiveSessionCount, activeTransfers(), holdsFileSession());
+        SessionForegroundService.Reconcile(
+            workspace.LiveSessionCount, activeTransfers(), holdsFileSession(), listeningForwards());
 
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public void Dispose()
@@ -72,7 +90,7 @@ internal sealed class SessionKeepAlive : IDisposable
 
         // The notification goes with the composition root. Leaving it up over a process that is shutting
         // down is how an SSH client acquires a reputation for a notification you cannot get rid of.
-        SessionForegroundService.Reconcile(0, 0, false);
+        SessionForegroundService.Reconcile(0, 0, false, 0);
     }
 
     private void OnSessionEnded(object? sender, TerminalSessionEndedEventArgs e) => Refresh();

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/HostsScreen.axaml

@@ -1002,7 +1002,8 @@
                            FormatString="0" ShowButtonSpinner="False" MinHeight="44"
                            PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorPortPlaceholder}" />
             <TextBox Grid.Column="2" Classes="field" Text="{Binding EditorUsername}"
-                     PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorUsernamePlaceholder}" />
+                     PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorUsernamePlaceholder}"
+                     IsEnabled="{Binding EditorAsksForLogin}" />
           </Grid>
 
           <TextBox Classes="field" Text="{Binding EditorNotes}" PlaceholderText="notes" />
@@ -1016,6 +1017,7 @@
           <TextBlock Classes="label" Text="AUTHENTICATION" Margin="0,4,0,0" />
           <ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding EditorAuthenticationChoices}"
                     SelectedItem="{Binding EditorSelectedAuthentication}"
+                    IsEnabled="{Binding EditorAsksForLogin}"
                     HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" MinHeight="44">
             <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
               <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:AuthenticationChoice">
@@ -1028,6 +1030,9 @@
               </DataTemplate>
             </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
           </ComboBox>
+          <!-- Why the login is greyed out, as on the desktop. See VaultViewModel.EditorAsksForLogin. -->
+          <TextBlock Classes="detail" TextWrapping="Wrap" IsVisible="{Binding !EditorAsksForLogin}"
+                     Text="Spelunk signs you in to this host, so it needs no username, SSH key or password." />
 
           <!--
             Making a credential without leaving the host, as on the desktop and on the same reasoning: the
@@ -1199,19 +1204,53 @@
             port into plaintext columns the server can read, which is the single deliberate concession in
             the design — see ADR 0004 — so it says so rather than being a switch labelled "relay".
 
-            ◆ AND IT SAYS, FIRST, THAT IT BUYS NOTHING TODAY. The relay's server half is built and this
-            client has no path to it — the connect path dials the address directly whether this is ticked or
-            not — so the box as it stood spent that concession and delivered nothing for it. Left tickable
-            rather than disabled, so a host already carrying the flag can lose it. See
+            It also says the two things a user would otherwise find out by failing: the server, not this
+            phone, has to be able to reach the address, and a relayed host does not fall back to dialling
+            directly, so it connects only while the server is reachable. See
             docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md.
           -->
           <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding EditorRelayEnabled}" MinHeight="44">
             <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="11.5"
-                       Text="Reach this host through the server relay (not wired up yet)"
+                       Text="Reach this host through the server relay"
                        TextWrapping="Wrap" />
           </CheckBox>
           <TextBlock Classes="body"
-                     Text="Not built yet: this app always dials the host itself, so ticking this stores the address on the server and changes nothing about how the host is reached. When it works, the relay will dial on your behalf — which is why the address and port have to be stored in the clear. Everything else about the host stays encrypted either way, and a relayed host needs a port of its own rather than its group's." />
+                     Text="The server dials this host on your behalf, for a machine this phone cannot reach — so the server has to be able to reach it. That is why the address and port are stored on the server in the clear; everything else about the host stays encrypted. A relayed host needs a port of its own rather than its group's, and connects only while you are online." />
+
+          <!--
+            The relay's alternative, and the desktop drawer's Spelunk card in this head's controls: ticking
+            one unticks the other. The key is a keychain credential chosen here, never typed here. See
+            VaultViewModel.Spelunk.cs.
+          -->
+          <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding EditorThroughSpelunk}" MinHeight="44">
+            <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="11.5"
+                       Text="Reach this host through Spelunk"
+                       TextWrapping="Wrap" />
+          </CheckBox>
+          <StackPanel Spacing="8" IsVisible="{Binding EditorThroughSpelunk}">
+            <TextBox Classes="field" Text="{Binding EditorSpelunkApi}"
+                     PlaceholderText="Spelunk API address (https://api.…)" />
+            <TextBox Classes="field" Text="{Binding EditorSpelunkServerId}"
+                     PlaceholderText="Spelunk server id" />
+            <TextBlock Classes="detail" Text="Spelunk API key" />
+            <ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding EditorSpelunkKeyChoices}"
+                      SelectedItem="{Binding EditorSelectedSpelunkKey}"
+                      HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" MinHeight="44">
+              <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
+                <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:AuthenticationChoice">
+                  <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="12" Text="{Binding Label}" />
+                </DataTemplate>
+              </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
+            </ComboBox>
+            <!-- The desktop card's sign-in box. See SpelunkRoute.SignInThroughSpelunk. -->
+            <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding EditorSpelunkSignIn}" MinHeight="44">
+              <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="11.5"
+                         Text="Sign in through Spelunk (no SSH key needed)"
+                         TextWrapping="Wrap" />
+            </CheckBox>
+          </StackPanel>
+          <TextBlock Classes="body"
+                     Text="Spelunk's agent on the server connects to its SSH server for you, so the server needs no open SSH port. Choose a Spelunk API key (Admin role) saved from the desktop's Settings → Security, or a credential whose password is the key; it is sent only to the address above. Signing in through Spelunk logs you in as the account Spelunk names, with a key made for each connection and never kept. Connects only while Spelunk and its agent are reachable." />
 
           <!--
             This page covers the whole screen while it is open, which is why it needs a Status line of its

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/MoreScreen.axaml

@@ -189,14 +189,18 @@
           ◆ Port forwarding, stated rather than drawn.
 
           The v2 design gives this hub a sixth entry and a full screen behind it: local, remote and dynamic
-          rules with toggles and byte counters. Nothing in this application forwards anything — ISshConnection
-          offers OpenShellAsync and nothing else — so every switch on that screen would be a control with no
-          effect and every counter a number with no source.
+          rules with toggles and byte counters. Forwarding is built and runs here as on the desktop — a host's
+          forwards start with every terminal opened to it — but it is not a destination, so it has no row. A
+          forward belongs to a host and runs with a session, and on this head the session's forwards are a
+          sheet off the terminal's bar: the ⇄ button, drawn for a tab that has some, lists them with a switch
+          each. See MainWindowViewModel.IsForwardsSheetOpen.
+
+          What the phone lacks is the editor: its host form has no PORT FORWARDS section yet, so forwards are
+          added on the desktop and arrive here with the host. The byte counters are not built anywhere;
+          SSH.NET keeps no count to draw.
 
           It is a paragraph here rather than a missing row for the reason the desktop keeps TEAMS in its rail:
-          a destination that is quietly absent reads as a product that never intended it, and this one is
-          intended. SyncEntityType.PortForward = 9 is reserved on the wire and unused. See
-          docs/design-import-gaps.md.
+          a place somebody looks for a feature should say where it went. See docs/design-import-gaps.md.
         -->
         <Border Classes="card" Margin="6,16,6,0">
           <StackPanel Spacing="7">
@@ -206,11 +210,11 @@
               <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="13.5" FontWeight="SemiBold"
                          Foreground="{StaticResource TextDim}" Text="Port forwarding" />
               <Border Classes="tag outline" VerticalAlignment="Center">
-                <TextBlock Text="NOT BUILT" />
+                <TextBlock Text="IN THE TERMINAL" />
               </Border>
             </StackPanel>
             <TextBlock Classes="body"
-                       Text="A connection here opens one channel — a shell — and nothing else, so there is no tunnel for a rule to run through. The wire protocol reserves a slot for forwarding rules and no client writes one. Nothing on this screen is hidden by a setting; the feature is absent." />
+                       Text="Forwards saved on a host start with every terminal opened to it, here as on the desktop. The ⇄ button in the terminal's bar lists them, with a switch each and the reason one could not start. They are added and edited in the desktop app's host editor; this phone runs them but has no editor for them yet." />
           </StackPanel>
         </Border>
 

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/PhoneShell.axaml.cs

@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@ internal sealed partial class PhoneShell : UserControl
     /// <para>
     /// <b>The connect menu is a second such guard, and it matters more than the first.</b> A terminal now
     /// fills the screen — no header, no bottom bar — so while that menu is up this gesture is the only way
-    /// off it other than the scrim and CANCEL. It is checked before the terminal is dismissed for the
+    /// off it other than the scrim and CANCEL. The forwards sheet, raised from the same bar, shares the guard. It is checked before the terminal is dismissed for the
     /// reason it is drawn over it: back takes the topmost thing, and dismissing the surface underneath a
     /// menu would take two, neither of them the one being looked at.
     /// </para>
@@ -598,13 +598,12 @@ internal sealed partial class PhoneShell : UserControl
             return;
         }
 
-        // The connect menu, which is raised from the terminal's own bar and is the topmost thing the phone
-        // draws while it is up. Ahead of the editors below because it is nearer, and ahead of leaving the
-        // terminal because a gesture that dismissed the surface underneath a menu would close two things at
-        // once — and the one the user was looking at would not be either of them.
-        if (current.IsConnectSheetOpen)
+        // The connect menu or the forwards sheet, which are raised from the terminal's own bar and are the
+        // topmost thing the phone draws while one is up. Ahead of the editors below because they are nearer,
+        // and ahead of leaving the terminal because a gesture that dismissed the surface underneath a sheet
+        // would close two things at once — and the one the user was looking at would not be either of them.
+        if (TryCloseATerminalSheet(current))
         {
-            current.CloseConnectSheetCommand.Execute(null);
             e.Handled = true;
             return;
         }
@@ -647,6 +646,31 @@ internal sealed partial class PhoneShell : UserControl
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Lowers the connect menu or the forwards sheet, whichever is up over the terminal.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>Whether one was closed, and so whether back has been spent.</returns>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Both are raised from the terminal's bar and the scrim under each covers that bar, so at most one is
+    /// ever open; the order below decides nothing.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool TryCloseATerminalSheet(MainWindowViewModel current)
+    {
+        if (current.IsConnectSheetOpen)
+        {
+            current.CloseConnectSheetCommand.Execute(null);
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (current.IsForwardsSheetOpen)
+        {
+            current.CloseForwardsSheetCommand.Execute(null);
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Lowers whatever the hosts screen has raised over its list, topmost first.
     /// </summary>

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/TerminalScreen.axaml

@@ -110,6 +110,34 @@
       <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource Danger}" />
     </Style>
 
+    <!--
+      ── the forwards ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
+      The desktop sidebar's state word, in the same three colours: green only while listening, the danger
+      text colour for a forward that could not start, faint for OFF and STARTING. The bar's ⇄ follows the
+      same rule for the failed case and is otherwise the colour of the icons beside it. Mono and 9.5, which
+      is this head's label lettering rather than the desktop's Montserrat, and its own family for the reason
+      the step captions above give.
+    -->
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdstate">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource TextFaint}" />
+      <Setter Property="FontFamily" Value="{StaticResource MonoFont}" />
+      <Setter Property="FontWeight" Value="SemiBold" />
+      <Setter Property="FontSize" Value="9.5" />
+      <Setter Property="VerticalAlignment" Value="Center" />
+    </Style>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdstate.live">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource Live}" />
+    </Style>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdstate.failed">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DangerText}" />
+    </Style>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdglyph">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource TextDim}" />
+    </Style>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdglyph.failed">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DangerText}" />
+    </Style>
+
   </UserControl.Styles>
 
   <Panel>
@@ -139,7 +167,7 @@
          job — see the remark on the header in PhoneShell.axaml. -->
     <Border Grid.Row="0" Height="35" Background="{StaticResource DeepChrome}"
             BorderBrush="{StaticResource Border}" BorderThickness="0,0,0,1">
-      <Grid ColumnDefinitions="Auto,*,Auto">
+      <Grid ColumnDefinitions="Auto,*,Auto,Auto">
 
         <!--
           Back, and it goes to the page this terminal was opened over rather than to Hosts by name. The
@@ -244,10 +272,37 @@
           HOSTS, which is the only action on its screen; this one is not.
 
           Click as well as Command, and the handler does one thing the command cannot: put the software
-          keyboard away. See OnConnectMenuRequested.
+          keyboard away. See OnSheetRequested.
         -->
-        <Button Grid.Column="2" Classes="icon" Content="+" Height="34" Margin="0,0,4,0"
-                Click="OnConnectMenuRequested"
+        <!--
+          The selected tab's forwards, which is what lets this head start them at all: a phone opening
+          listeners it never shows you is worse than one opening none. Drawn only for a tab that has some, so
+          a host without forwards pays nothing for the feature in a 35-pixel bar.
+
+          The count beside the arrows is the listening ones, in the green that means "running" everywhere
+          else; the arrows themselves turn the danger colour when one could not start. The desktop can leave a
+          refusal in its sidebar for the eye to find, because the sidebar is always drawn. The sheet this opens
+          is not, so the button has to say it first.
+
+          Outside the ScrollViewer with +, for the reason both ends are: a tenth tab must not push it away.
+          Width is not pinned to Button.icon's 44, because "⇄ 12" is wider than that; 44 is its minimum.
+        -->
+        <Button Grid.Column="2" Classes="icon" Height="34" Width="NaN" MinWidth="44" Padding="8,0"
+                Click="OnSheetRequested"
+                Command="{Binding OpenForwardsSheetCommand}"
+                IsVisible="{Binding SelectedTab.HasForwards, FallbackValue=False}">
+          <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="5" VerticalAlignment="Center">
+            <TextBlock Classes="fwdglyph" Classes.failed="{Binding SelectedTab.HasFailedForward, FallbackValue=False}"
+                       Text="⇄" FontSize="16" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+            <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="12" FontWeight="SemiBold" Foreground="{StaticResource Live}"
+                       VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                       Text="{Binding SelectedTab.ListeningForwardCount, FallbackValue=''}"
+                       IsVisible="{Binding SelectedTab.HasListeningForward, FallbackValue=False}" />
+          </StackPanel>
+        </Button>
+
+        <Button Grid.Column="3" Classes="icon" Content="+" Height="34" Margin="0,0,4,0"
+                Click="OnSheetRequested"
                 Command="{Binding OpenConnectSheetCommand}" />
       </Grid>
     </Border>
@@ -742,6 +797,75 @@
       </Border>
     </Panel>
 
+    <!-- ============ the forwards sheet ============ -->
+    <!--
+      The desktop sidebar's FORWARDS section, as a sheet: the selected tab's forwards as they run over its
+      session, bound to the same rows. Each row is its own switch, as there — tap a listening one to stop it,
+      an off or failed one to start it, a failed one being a retry because the port may have been freed.
+
+      The route is written under the notation rather than left to a tooltip, which is where the desktop
+      keeps it: a phone has no hover, and which end each port is on is exactly what people get backwards
+      about -L and -R. The reason a row failed sits under that again, as the desktop draws it.
+
+      The same shape as the connect sheet above, raised from the bar the same way, collapsing the renderer
+      the same way — see MainWindowViewModel.IsForwardsSheetOpen. It scrolls, capped at most of the display,
+      because a host may carry more forwards than fit, and a sheet that grew past the top of the screen would
+      put its own title out of reach.
+
+      Nothing here edits a forward, and there is no add row: this head's host editor has no PORT FORWARDS
+      section yet, and the desktop's Add forward row leads to one. The footer says where they are edited.
+    -->
+    <Panel IsVisible="{Binding IsForwardsSheetOpen}">
+
+      <Button Classes="scrim" Command="{Binding CloseForwardsSheetCommand}" />
+
+      <Border VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Background="{StaticResource Panel}"
+              BorderBrush="{StaticResource BorderMid}" BorderThickness="0,1,0,0"
+              CornerRadius="22,22,0,0" Padding="20,18,20,16">
+        <StackPanel Spacing="0">
+
+          <Border Width="38" Height="4" CornerRadius="2" Background="{StaticResource BorderMid}"
+                  HorizontalAlignment="Center" Margin="0,0,0,16" />
+
+          <TextBlock Classes="title" Text="FORWARDS" FontSize="13" />
+          <TextBlock Classes="detail" FontSize="10.5" Margin="0,3,0,0"
+                     Text="{Binding SelectedTab.Label, FallbackValue=''}" />
+
+          <ScrollViewer Margin="0,10,0,0" MaxHeight="420" HorizontalScrollBarVisibility="Disabled">
+            <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding SelectedTab.Forwards}">
+              <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+                <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:PortForwardViewModel">
+                  <Button Classes="row" Padding="12,8" Command="{Binding ToggleCommand}">
+                    <Grid ColumnDefinitions="*,Auto">
+                      <StackPanel Grid.Column="0" Spacing="3" VerticalAlignment="Center">
+                        <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="13.5" FontWeight="SemiBold"
+                                   Text="{Binding Notation}" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" />
+                        <TextBlock Classes="detail" FontSize="10.5" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                                   Text="{Binding Route}" />
+                        <TextBlock Classes="detail" FontSize="10.5" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                                   Foreground="{StaticResource TextDim}" Text="{Binding Detail}"
+                                   IsVisible="{Binding Detail, Converter={x:Static StringConverters.IsNotNullOrEmpty}}" />
+                      </StackPanel>
+                      <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="fwdstate" Margin="12,0,0,0"
+                                 Text="{Binding StateText}"
+                                 Classes.live="{Binding IsListening}" Classes.failed="{Binding IsFailed}" />
+                    </Grid>
+                  </Button>
+                </DataTemplate>
+              </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+            </ItemsControl>
+          </ScrollViewer>
+
+          <TextBlock Classes="body" Margin="0,10,0,0"
+                     Text="Tap a forward to switch it off or on. Local and SOCKS forwards listen on this phone's localhost, where any app on it can connect, and every forward stops with this tab's connection. Forwards are saved on the host and edited in the desktop app; a change starts with the next connection." />
+
+          <Button Classes="secondary" Content="DONE" Margin="0,12,0,0"
+                  Command="{Binding CloseForwardsSheetCommand}" />
+
+        </StackPanel>
+      </Border>
+    </Panel>
+
   </Panel>
 
 </UserControl>

src/DodoSSH.Client.Android/Views/TerminalScreen.axaml.cs

@@ -210,10 +210,14 @@ internal sealed partial class TerminalScreen : UserControl
     private void AdoptRenderer() => RendererFocus.Suppress(input.Acquire);
 
     /// <summary>
-    /// Puts the keyboard away on the way to the connect menu.
+    /// Puts the keyboard away on the way to the connect menu or the forwards sheet.
     /// </summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// <para>
+    /// One handler for both buttons in the terminal's bar that raise a sheet, since what follows is true of
+    /// either: each is a panel at the bottom of the screen, which is where the keyboard is.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
     /// A handler beside the button's command rather than something the command does, because the command is
     /// on the shared view model and this is a platform call: the desktop head has no software keyboard to
     /// put away, and a shell view model that knew about Android's input-method manager would be the first
@@ -222,7 +226,7 @@ internal sealed partial class TerminalScreen : UserControl
     /// <para>
     /// <b>The keyboard is up in the ordinary case.</b> This button sits above a terminal somebody is typing
     /// into, so the sheet it raises would otherwise arrive underneath a keyboard covering half the display —
-    /// and the three rows on it are the bottom half. Worse, the keyboard's inset shortens everything the
+    /// and the rows on it are the bottom half. Worse, the keyboard's inset shortens everything the
     /// phone draws (see <c>PhoneShell.ApplyKeyboardInset</c>), so the sheet would be laid out into the
     /// remaining strip rather than merely hidden behind it.
     /// </para>
@@ -231,7 +235,7 @@ internal sealed partial class TerminalScreen : UserControl
     /// what the other writes: this one talks to the platform and the command sets a flag, so they commute.
     /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
-    private void OnConnectMenuRequested(object? sender, RoutedEventArgs e) => SoftKeyboard.Hide();
+    private void OnSheetRequested(object? sender, RoutedEventArgs e) => SoftKeyboard.Hide();
 
     /// <summary>
     /// Takes the browser gestures back off a surface that is not a web page.

src/DodoSSH.Client.Api/DodoSshApiClient.cs

@@ -259,6 +259,22 @@ public interface ISyncApi
         CancellationToken cancellationToken);
 }
 
+/// <summary>Asks the server for leave to relay one connection to one host.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// The request names a host and nothing else. Where it is, and whether this caller may reach it, is the
+/// server's decision, made from its own copy of the host's relay address — which is what keeps the relay
+/// from being an open proxy that a client points wherever it likes. See ADR 0004.
+/// </remarks>
+public interface IRelayApi
+{
+    /// <summary>Issues a single-use ticket, good for thirty seconds, for one relay socket to this host.</summary>
+    /// <exception cref="DodoSshApiException">
+    /// The server refused: <c>relay-unavailable</c>, <c>relay-target-rejected</c> or
+    /// <c>relay-limit-reached</c>, each with its own remedy.
+    /// </exception>
+    Task<RelayTicketResponse> IssueRelayTicketAsync(Guid hostId, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+}
+
 /// <summary>
 /// The typed client for one DodoSSH server.
 /// </summary>
@@ -275,7 +291,7 @@ public interface ISyncApi
 /// </para>
 /// </remarks>
 public sealed class DodoSshApiClient(HttpClient http, IAccessTokenProvider tokens)
-    : IAccountApi, ISyncApi, ITeamApi, IDirectoryApi, IVaultGrantApi
+    : IAccountApi, ISyncApi, ITeamApi, IDirectoryApi, IVaultGrantApi, IRelayApi
 {
     private const string MetaPath = "/api/v1/meta";
     private const string ConfigurationPath = "/.well-known/dodossh-configuration";
@@ -310,6 +326,20 @@ public sealed class DodoSshApiClient(HttpClient http, IAccessTokenProvider token
             DodoSshJsonContext.Default.DodoSshConfiguration,
             cancellationToken);
 
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Never cached, and never fetched ahead of need: a ticket is spent by the socket it opens and is
+    /// worthless thirty seconds after issue, so the only right moment to ask for one is the connect that
+    /// will use it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public Task<RelayTicketResponse> IssueRelayTicketAsync(Guid hostId, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        SendAsync(
+            HttpMethod.Post,
+            RelayProtocol.TicketsPath,
+            JsonContent.Create(new RelayTicketRequest(hostId, PortForwardId: null), DodoSshJsonContext.Default.RelayTicketRequest),
+            DodoSshJsonContext.Default.RelayTicketResponse,
+            cancellationToken);
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Reads the caller's profile, unlock material and reachable vaults.
     /// </summary>

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/App.axaml.cs

@@ -26,6 +26,20 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Client.App;
 /// </remarks>
 internal sealed partial class DodoSshApp : Application
 {
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Where a <c>dodossh://</c> link goes once the shell exists; null until then.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Links can arrive before there is anything to hand them to — macOS delivers the one an application was
+    /// opened with as an event shortly after launch, which may be while the splash is still up — so until
+    /// <see cref="Compose"/> sets this, the latest is kept in <see cref="waitingLink"/>. Both are touched on
+    /// the UI thread only.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static Action<SpelunkLink>? openLink;
+
+    /// <summary>A link that arrived before <see cref="openLink"/> was set. See there.</summary>
+    private static SpelunkLink? waitingLink;
+
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public override void Initialize() => AvaloniaXamlLoader.Load(this);
 
@@ -34,12 +48,59 @@ internal sealed partial class DodoSshApp : Application
     {
         if (ApplicationLifetime is IClassicDesktopStyleApplicationLifetime desktop)
         {
+            ListenForOpenedLinks();
             ShowSomethingWhileComposing(desktop);
         }
 
         base.OnFrameworkInitializationCompleted();
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Takes the links the platform hands a running application, which on macOS is every link.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Windows and Linux start the executable with the link as an argument, and <c>Program.Main</c> reads it
+    /// there — or passes it to the instance already running. macOS does neither: Launch Services sends the
+    /// running application, or the one it has just started, an "open URL" event, which Avalonia raises as an
+    /// activation. The scheme is declared for it in build/macos's Info.plist template.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Checked exactly as a launch argument is, by <see cref="SpelunkLink.TryParse"/>; anything else is
+    /// ignored. Where the lifetime offers no activation at all this does nothing, which is the answer on the
+    /// desktops that deliver links as arguments instead.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void ListenForOpenedLinks()
+    {
+        if (TryGetFeature(typeof(IActivatableLifetime)) is not IActivatableLifetime activatable)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        activatable.Activated += (_, e) =>
+        {
+            if (e is ProtocolActivatedEventArgs { Kind: ActivationKind.OpenUri, Uri: { } uri }
+                && SpelunkLink.TryParse(uri.OriginalString, out var link))
+            {
+                Avalonia.Threading.Dispatcher.UIThread.Post(() => Receive(link));
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Hands a link to the shell, or keeps it until there is one. UI thread only.</summary>
+    private static void Receive(SpelunkLink link)
+    {
+        if (openLink is { } open)
+        {
+            open(link);
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            waitingLink = link;
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Puts a window on screen first, and composes the application behind it.
     /// </summary>
@@ -206,9 +267,20 @@ internal sealed partial class DodoSshApp : Application
         // The other half of Program's claim on this profile: a second launch was refused, and this is what
         // answers it. Posted onto the UI thread because a pipe accept completes on a thread pool thread and
         // a window may only be touched from the thread that owns it — see SingleInstance.Listen.
+        // A second launch's dodossh:// link comes the same way as this launch's own and macOS's: through
+        // Receive on the UI thread, then MainWindowViewModel.OpenLink, which holds it until a vault is open.
         var others = SingleInstance.Listen(
             paths,
-            () => Avalonia.Threading.Dispatcher.UIThread.Post(() => BringToFront(desktop.MainWindow)));
+            () => Avalonia.Threading.Dispatcher.UIThread.Post(() => BringToFront(desktop.MainWindow)),
+            link => Avalonia.Threading.Dispatcher.UIThread.Post(() => Receive(link)));
+
+        openLink = viewModel.OpenLink;
+
+        if ((waitingLink ?? Program.LaunchLink) is { } first)
+        {
+            waitingLink = null;
+            viewModel.OpenLink(first);
+        }
 
         // Started rather than awaited: the framework's initialisation must not block on a schema
         // migration. The view model shows its own progress and handles its own failures, which is why

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Platform/SingleInstance.cs

@@ -34,6 +34,12 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Client.App.Platform;
 /// process asks the first to come forward and then leaves, which is what every desktop application does and
 /// what makes the exclusion invisible rather than mysterious.
 /// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>A launch that carries a link passes the link on.</b> Clicking "Open in DodoSSH" in Spelunk starts
+/// this executable with a <c>dodossh://</c> link, and while DodoSSH is already running that start is a
+/// second launch like any other — so the doorbell has a second message, which carries the link to the
+/// instance that can act on it. See <see cref="OpenLinkPrefix"/>.
+/// </para>
 /// </remarks>
 internal static class SingleInstance
 {
@@ -46,6 +52,30 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
     /// </remarks>
     private const string ComeForward = "dodossh.come-forward";
 
+    /// <summary>The other thing a second launch may say: come forward, and open this link.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Followed by the link, on the same one line. Checked as strictly as <see cref="ComeForward"/> is, and
+    /// for the same reason: anything on this machine may write to the pipe, so the link is parsed again here
+    /// by <see cref="SpelunkLink.TryParse"/>, and a message that is not exactly this prefix and a link that
+    /// passes is ignored whole — the window does not even come forward for it.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A second message rather than a second line after <see cref="ComeForward"/>, so that an older running
+    /// build, which compares the whole line against that constant, ignores a link it cannot act on rather
+    /// than half-obeying it.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private const string OpenLinkPrefix = "dodossh.open-link ";
+
+    /// <summary>The longest message the doorbell reads before it stops listening to that caller.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The longest link a second launch could send, and its prefix. A caller that goes on past it is not a
+    /// DodoSSH, and reading a line of whatever length it likes would let it decide how much memory this
+    /// process spends on it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private const int MaxMessageLength = 64 + SpelunkLink.MaxLength;
+
     /// <summary>How long a second launch waits for the first to answer its pipe.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// Short, because the pipe is local and the process on the other end is either listening or not. It is
@@ -86,7 +116,11 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
     /// How long to keep trying a lock nobody answers for, or null for <see cref="DefaultPatience"/>. Named
     /// by a test so the give-up path does not cost the suite three seconds; the application never passes it.
     /// </param>
-    internal static IDisposable? Claim(ClientPaths paths, TimeSpan? patience = null)
+    /// <param name="link">
+    /// The link this launch was started with, if any — passed to the running instance instead of a bare
+    /// request to come forward.
+    /// </param>
+    internal static IDisposable? Claim(ClientPaths paths, TimeSpan? patience = null, SpelunkLink? link = null)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(paths);
 
@@ -116,7 +150,7 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
 
             // Asked before waiting, so the ordinary case — an instance that is up and running — costs one
             // round trip on a local pipe rather than the whole window below.
-            if (AskTheRunningOneToComeForward(paths))
+            if (AskTheRunningOneToComeForward(paths, link))
             {
                 return null;
             }
@@ -142,25 +176,32 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
     /// </remarks>
     /// <param name="paths">The profile this instance claimed.</param>
     /// <param name="comeForward">What to do when another launch asks for the window.</param>
-    internal static IAsyncDisposable Listen(ClientPaths paths, Action comeForward)
+    /// <param name="openLink">
+    /// What to do with a link another launch passed on, after <paramref name="comeForward"/>; null to ignore
+    /// links, which then still bring the window forward. Invoked on the same thread pool thread.
+    /// </param>
+    internal static IAsyncDisposable Listen(
+        ClientPaths paths,
+        Action comeForward,
+        Action<SpelunkLink>? openLink = null)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(paths);
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(comeForward);
 
-        var listener = new Doorbell(PipeNameFor(paths), comeForward);
+        var listener = new Doorbell(PipeNameFor(paths), comeForward, openLink);
 
         listener.Start();
 
         return listener;
     }
 
-    /// <summary>Tells the instance that holds this profile to raise its window.</summary>
+    /// <summary>Tells the instance that holds this profile to raise its window, and to open a link if given one.</summary>
     /// <returns>Whether anything was listening.</returns>
     /// <remarks>
     /// Internal rather than private because it is the half a test can drive: the exclusion is a file handle
     /// and proves itself, and this is the part with a protocol in it.
     /// </remarks>
-    internal static bool AskTheRunningOneToComeForward(ClientPaths paths)
+    internal static bool AskTheRunningOneToComeForward(ClientPaths paths, SpelunkLink? link = null)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(paths);
 
@@ -175,7 +216,9 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
 
             using var writer = new StreamWriter(pipe, Encoding.UTF8) { AutoFlush = true };
 
-            writer.WriteLine(ComeForward);
+            // The link as this build writes it, rather than as it arrived: the receiver parses what a DodoSSH
+            // sent, and a link that parsed here has exactly one spelling. See SpelunkLink.ToString.
+            writer.WriteLine(Message(link));
 
             return true;
         }
@@ -188,6 +231,42 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>What a launch says down the pipe: come forward, with or without a link to open.</summary>
+    internal static string Message(SpelunkLink? link) =>
+        link is null ? ComeForward : OpenLinkPrefix + link;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Reads what a caller said: whether it is a ring at all, and the link that came with it.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>
+    /// True for exactly <see cref="ComeForward"/>, with no link, and for <see cref="OpenLinkPrefix"/> followed
+    /// by a link <see cref="SpelunkLink.TryParse"/> accepts, with that link. False for everything else,
+    /// including a link that is almost right — the caller then does nothing at all.
+    /// </returns>
+    internal static bool TryRead(string? said, out SpelunkLink? link)
+    {
+        link = null;
+
+        if (said is null || said.Length > MaxMessageLength)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (string.Equals(said, ComeForward, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (said.StartsWith(OpenLinkPrefix, StringComparison.Ordinal)
+            && SpelunkLink.TryParse(said[OpenLinkPrefix.Length..], out var parsed))
+        {
+            link = parsed;
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return false;
+    }
+
     /// <summary>Takes the lock, or answers null if somebody else has it.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// The file is left in place rather than deleted on close. <c>FileOptions.DeleteOnClose</c> looks
@@ -278,14 +357,16 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
     {
         private readonly string name;
         private readonly Action comeForward;
+        private readonly Action<SpelunkLink>? openLink;
         private readonly CancellationTokenSource lifetime = new();
 
         private Task? loop;
 
-        internal Doorbell(string name, Action comeForward)
+        internal Doorbell(string name, Action comeForward, Action<SpelunkLink>? openLink)
         {
             this.name = name;
             this.comeForward = comeForward;
+            this.openLink = openLink;
         }
 
         internal void Start() => loop = RunAsync(lifetime.Token);
@@ -324,11 +405,16 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
                     // leaveOpen, because this server outlives the conversation. See the remark above.
                     using (var reader = new StreamReader(server, Encoding.UTF8, false, 1024, leaveOpen: true))
                     {
-                        var said = await reader.ReadLineAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                        var said = await ReadBoundedLineAsync(reader, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
 
-                        if (string.Equals(said, ComeForward, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+                        if (TryRead(said, out var link))
                         {
                             comeForward();
+
+                            if (link is not null)
+                            {
+                                openLink?.Invoke(link);
+                            }
                         }
                     }
 
@@ -348,6 +434,39 @@ internal static class SingleInstance
             }
         }
 
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Reads one line, or null once it runs past <see cref="MaxMessageLength"/> or the caller hangs up.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <remarks>
+        /// <see cref="StreamReader.ReadLineAsync(CancellationToken)"/> reads a line of whatever length the
+        /// caller sends, and the caller is anybody on this machine. A character at a time is cheap here — the
+        /// reader buffers underneath, and a real message is one short line.
+        /// </remarks>
+        private static async Task<string?> ReadBoundedLineAsync(
+            StreamReader reader,
+            CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+        {
+            var line = new StringBuilder();
+            var next = new char[1];
+
+            while (await reader.ReadAsync(next.AsMemory(), cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false) == 1)
+            {
+                if (next[0] == '\n')
+                {
+                    return line.ToString().TrimEnd('\r');
+                }
+
+                if (line.Length == MaxMessageLength)
+                {
+                    return null;
+                }
+
+                line.Append(next[0]);
+            }
+
+            return line.Length == 0 ? null : line.ToString().TrimEnd('\r');
+        }
+
         /// <summary>Ends one conversation without ending the doorbell.</summary>
         /// <remarks>
         /// Guarded, because <c>Disconnect</c> throws on a server that is not connected — which is the state

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Platform/WindowsUrlScheme.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,82 @@
+using System.Runtime.Versioning;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+using Microsoft.Win32;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.App.Platform;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Registers this executable as the handler for <c>dodossh://</c> links, for this user, on Windows.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Under HKCU\Software\Classes, because the install is per user.</b> Velopack installs into the user's
+/// own profile with no elevation, and a handler registered machine-wide would need the elevation the
+/// installer deliberately never asks for. Windows merges this key into <c>HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT</c> for the
+/// user, which is all a browser consults.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Written by Velopack's install and update hooks, removed by its uninstall hook</b> — see
+/// <c>Program.Main</c>. An update rewrites it because the first update to a build that has this is how an
+/// existing installation gets it at all, and because it costs nothing to say again.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Removed only when it is still ours.</b> The release and the nightly are separate installations that
+/// both answer <c>dodossh://</c>, and the last one installed holds the key. Uninstalling the other must not
+/// take the handler away from the one that is still there.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+[SupportedOSPlatform("windows")]
+internal static class WindowsUrlScheme
+{
+    private const string KeyPath = @"Software\Classes\" + SpelunkLink.Scheme;
+    private const string CommandPath = @"shell\open\command";
+
+    /// <summary>Points <c>dodossh://</c> at <paramref name="executable"/>.</summary>
+    internal static void Register(string executable)
+    {
+        using var scheme = Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(KeyPath);
+
+        scheme.SetValue(string.Empty, "URL:DodoSSH");
+
+        // Empty, and its presence is the whole of it: this value is what makes the key a URL scheme rather
+        // than a file type.
+        scheme.SetValue("URL Protocol", string.Empty);
+
+        using (var icon = scheme.CreateSubKey("DefaultIcon"))
+        {
+            icon.SetValue(string.Empty, $"\"{executable}\",0");
+        }
+
+        using var command = scheme.CreateSubKey(CommandPath);
+
+        command.SetValue(string.Empty, CommandFor(executable));
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Takes the handler away, if it is still <paramref name="executable"/>'s.</summary>
+    internal static void Unregister(string executable)
+    {
+        string? registered;
+
+        using (var command = Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey($@"{KeyPath}\{CommandPath}"))
+        {
+            registered = command?.GetValue(string.Empty) as string;
+        }
+
+        if (IsOurs(registered, executable))
+        {
+            Registry.CurrentUser.DeleteSubKeyTree(KeyPath, throwOnMissingSubKey: false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The command Windows runs for a link: this executable, with the link as its one argument.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Both halves quoted. The path has spaces in it on any profile whose user name does, and the link is
+    /// handed over whole as <c>%1</c> — which Windows quotes into one argument only because it is quoted
+    /// here. Program.Main then reads it back and checks it before anything acts on it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal static string CommandFor(string executable) => $"\"{executable}\" \"%1\"";
+
+    /// <summary>Whether a registered command is the one <see cref="Register"/> writes for this executable.</summary>
+    internal static bool IsOurs(string? registered, string executable) =>
+        string.Equals(registered, CommandFor(executable), StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Program.cs

@@ -8,6 +8,16 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Client.App;
 
 internal static class Program
 {
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The <c>dodossh://</c> link this process was started with, once it has claimed the profile; null for an
+    /// ordinary launch.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A static handed across to <c>DodoSshApp</c> rather than a constructor argument, because Avalonia
+    /// constructs the application itself — and the designer does too, through <see cref="BuildAvaloniaApp"/>,
+    /// with no arguments to have.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal static SpelunkLink? LaunchLink { get; private set; }
     /// <summary>
     /// Entry point.
     /// </summary>
@@ -29,11 +39,12 @@ internal static class Program
         // and a silent installer run that reached either would be a background process holding the cache
         // file open during the very file operations the installer is performing.
         //
-        // There are deliberately no OnFirstRun or OnAfterUpdate hooks. A hook process has no passphrase,
-        // so the cache is bytes it cannot read, and the one thing that would want doing after an update —
-        // a schema migration — already runs on every ordinary launch from MainWindowViewModel.StartAsync,
-        // before unlock and touching no encrypted content.
-        VelopackApp.Build().Run();
+        // There are deliberately no OnFirstRun or OnAfterUpdate hooks that touch the profile. A hook process
+        // has no passphrase, so the cache is bytes it cannot read, and the one thing that would want doing
+        // after an update — a schema migration — already runs on every ordinary launch from
+        // MainWindowViewModel.StartAsync, before unlock and touching no encrypted content. The hooks it does
+        // have touch only the registry; see RunVelopack.
+        RunVelopack();
 
         KeepTheWebViewProfileOutOfTheInstallDirectory();
 
@@ -51,16 +62,100 @@ internal static class Program
         */
         var paths = ClientPaths.ForChannel(DesktopChannel.Name);
 
-        using var claim = SingleInstance.Claim(paths);
+        // Read before the claim, because a launch that carries a link and finds DodoSSH already running
+        // passes the link on rather than merely asking for the window.
+        var link = LinkFrom(args);
+
+        using var claim = SingleInstance.Claim(paths, link: link);
 
         if (claim is null)
         {
             return;
         }
 
+        LaunchLink = link;
+
         BuildAvaloniaApp().StartWithClassicDesktopLifetime(args);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>Lets Velopack do its install bookkeeping, with this application's three hooks.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The hooks touch only the registry: they make this executable the handler for <c>dodossh://</c> links,
+    /// which is how Spelunk's "Open in DodoSSH" reaches it, and take that away again on uninstall. Velopack
+    /// runs them on Windows only, and offers them only there; the other desktops declare the scheme in their
+    /// packages instead — build/macos's Info.plist template and build/linux's desktop entry. See
+    /// <see cref="WindowsUrlScheme"/>.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static void RunVelopack()
+    {
+        var velopack = VelopackApp.Build();
+
+        if (OperatingSystem.IsWindows())
+        {
+            velopack = velopack
+                .OnAfterInstallFastCallback(_ => RegisterUrlScheme())
+                .OnAfterUpdateFastCallback(_ => RegisterUrlScheme())
+                .OnBeforeUninstallFastCallback(_ => UnregisterUrlScheme());
+        }
+
+        velopack.Run();
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The <c>dodossh://</c> link among this launch's arguments, if there is one and it passes the checks.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A link that fails them is dropped and the launch goes ahead as an ordinary one: the user clicked
+    /// something that meant "open DodoSSH", and a window is still the right answer to that even when what
+    /// came with it cannot be trusted. See <see cref="SpelunkLink.TryParse"/> for what is checked.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static SpelunkLink? LinkFrom(string[] args) =>
+        args.FirstOrDefault(SpelunkLink.LooksLikeOne) is { } candidate
+            && SpelunkLink.TryParse(candidate, out var link)
+                ? link
+                : null;
+
+    /// <summary>Makes this executable the handler for <c>dodossh://</c> links, where that is a registry key.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Failures are swallowed. This runs inside Velopack's install, and an installer that failed because a
+    /// convenience could not be set up would be the wrong trade — the application works without it, and the
+    /// only thing lost is Spelunk's button opening it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static void RegisterUrlScheme()
+    {
+        if (!OperatingSystem.IsWindows() || Environment.ProcessPath is not { } executable)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        try
+        {
+            WindowsUrlScheme.Register(executable);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is IOException or UnauthorizedAccessException or System.Security.SecurityException)
+        {
+            // See the remarks.
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="RegisterUrlScheme" path="/remarks" />
+    private static void UnregisterUrlScheme()
+    {
+        if (!OperatingSystem.IsWindows() || Environment.ProcessPath is not { } executable)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        try
+        {
+            WindowsUrlScheme.Unregister(executable);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is IOException or UnauthorizedAccessException or System.Security.SecurityException)
+        {
+            // See the remarks on RegisterUrlScheme.
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Puts WebView2's user data folder beside the vault cache instead of beside the executable.
     /// </summary>

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/HostDrawer.axaml

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 <UserControl xmlns="https://github.com/avaloniaui"
              xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
              xmlns:vm="using:DodoSSH.Client.Shell.ViewModels"
+             xmlns:dom="using:DodoSSH.Client.Domain"
              xmlns:views="using:DodoSSH.Client.App.Views"
              x:Class="DodoSSH.Client.App.Views.HostDrawer"
              x:DataType="vm:VaultViewModel">
@@ -385,6 +386,33 @@
               </StackPanel>
             </Border>
 
+            <!--
+              ============ FORWARDS (read-only) ============
+              QUICK ACCESS's shape, and hidden when empty for the same reason: a card with nothing under it
+              answers a question nobody asked here.
+            -->
+            <Border Classes="section" IsVisible="{Binding SelectedHost.HasForwards}">
+              <StackPanel Spacing="6">
+                <TextBlock Classes="sectionhead" Text="Port forwards" Margin="0,0,0,2" />
+
+                <Button Classes="fieldrow" Command="{Binding EditSelectedHostCommand}">
+                  <Grid ColumnDefinitions="Auto,*">
+                    <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" FontFamily="{StaticResource IconFont}" FontSize="13"
+                               Foreground="{StaticResource TextFaint}" Width="16" VerticalAlignment="Top"
+                               Margin="0,3,0,0" Text="&#xE8D4;" />
+                    <ItemsControl Grid.Column="1" ItemsSource="{Binding SelectedHost.Host.PortForwards}">
+                      <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+                        <DataTemplate x:DataType="dom:PortForwardRule">
+                          <TextBlock Classes="mono" Text="{Binding Notation}" FontSize="12"
+                                     TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" Margin="0,0,0,2" />
+                        </DataTemplate>
+                      </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+                    </ItemsControl>
+                  </Grid>
+                </Button>
+              </StackPanel>
+            </Border>
+
             <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11" TextWrapping="Wrap"
                        Text="Double-clicking the card does the same as CONNECT. The terminal opens as a tab in the strip above and stays there while you look at anything else." />
 
@@ -550,7 +578,8 @@
                 -->
                 <Grid ColumnDefinitions="*,8,78">
                   <TextBox Grid.Column="0" Text="{Binding EditorUsername}"
-                           PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorUsernamePlaceholder}" Height="40" />
+                           PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorUsernamePlaceholder}" Height="40"
+                           IsEnabled="{Binding EditorAsksForLogin}" />
                   <NumericUpDown Grid.Column="2" FontFamily="{StaticResource MonoFont}"
                                  Value="{Binding EditorPort}" Minimum="1" Maximum="65535" FormatString="0"
                                  ShowButtonSpinner="False" PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorPortPlaceholder}"
@@ -571,6 +600,7 @@
                 -->
                 <ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding EditorAuthenticationChoices}"
                           SelectedItem="{Binding EditorSelectedAuthentication}"
+                          IsEnabled="{Binding EditorAsksForLogin}"
                           HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Height="40">
                   <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
                     <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:AuthenticationChoice">
@@ -584,6 +614,15 @@
                   </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
                 </ComboBox>
 
+                <!--
+                  Why the two controls above are greyed out for a host Spelunk signs in to: disabled rather
+                  than hidden, so a login somebody chose is still there to see and comes back if the box in
+                  the Spelunk card is unticked before saving. See VaultViewModel.EditorAsksForLogin.
+                -->
+                <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                           IsVisible="{Binding !EditorAsksForLogin}"
+                           Text="Spelunk signs you in to this host, so it needs no username, SSH key or password." />
+
                 <!--
                   Making a credential without leaving the host. The moment one is wanted is this one: somebody
                   is deciding how a host authenticates and finds the password is not in the keychain yet, and
@@ -636,16 +675,15 @@
 
                 <!--
                   ◆ THE RELAY CARD, restyled to the mock's nested-card shape — radius 12, a checkbox with the
-                  title beside it rather than under it — but NOT to the mock's copy. The sentence stays
-                  exactly what it was, "(not wired up yet)" included: the design's own wording implies a relay
-                  this client can dial, and it cannot. See the remark under the hint below, which is unchanged
-                  and still the reason this box says what it says.
+                  title beside it rather than under it. The "(not wired up yet)" this title carried while the
+                  client had no path to the relay is gone, because it has one: a relayed host is connected
+                  through a ticket, a WebSocket and a loopback bridge. See docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md.
                 -->
                 <Border CornerRadius="12" Background="{StaticResource Field}"
                         BorderBrush="{StaticResource Border}" BorderThickness="1" Padding="12">
                   <StackPanel Spacing="6">
                     <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding EditorRelayEnabled}" VerticalContentAlignment="Center">
-                      <TextBlock Text="Connect through the server relay (not wired up yet)" FontSize="13"
+                      <TextBlock Text="Connect through the server relay" FontSize="13"
                                  FontWeight="SemiBold" Foreground="{StaticResource Text}"
                                  TextWrapping="Wrap" />
                     </CheckBox>
@@ -655,19 +693,73 @@
                       to resolve the target, or it becomes an authenticated open proxy into the operator's
                       network.
 
-                      ◆ AND IT SAYS, FIRST, THAT TICKING IT BUYS NOTHING TODAY. The server half of the relay
-                      is built and this client has no path to it: VaultViewModel dials the address directly
-                      whether this is ticked or not. So the box as it stood spent the one deliberate privacy
-                      concession in the design — the address in plaintext columns — and delivered a
-                      connection that failed exactly as it had before, with nothing saying why.
-
-                      Left tickable rather than disabled, because a host that already carries the flag has to
-                      be able to lose it, and a disabled control would trap the concession on. See
-                      docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md, which is the plan that makes this sentence
-                      removable.
+                      It also says the two things a user would otherwise find out by failing: the server,
+                      not this machine, has to be able to reach the address — the relay is no help against a
+                      deployment outside the target's network — and a relayed host does not fall back to
+                      dialling directly, so it connects only while the server is reachable.
                     -->
                     <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11.5"
-                               Text="Not built yet: this client always dials the host itself, so ticking this stores the address on the server and changes nothing about how the host is reached. When it does work, the relay will dial on your behalf — which is why the address and port have to be stored in plain text. Everything else about the host stays encrypted either way." />
+                               Text="The server dials this host on your behalf, for a machine this computer cannot reach — so the server has to be able to reach it. That is why the address and port are stored on the server in plain text; everything else about the host stays encrypted. A relayed host connects only while you are online." />
+                  </StackPanel>
+                </Border>
+
+                <!--
+                  ◆ THE SPELUNK CARD, the relay card's twin and its alternative: ticking one unticks the other,
+                  because a host has one route. A host ticked here is reached through the Spelunk agent already
+                  on the server, so it needs no open SSH port at all. The fields appear only when the box is
+                  ticked, and the key is a keychain credential — picked, never typed here — so it is encrypted
+                  and synced like every other secret. See VaultViewModel.Spelunk.cs.
+                -->
+                <Border CornerRadius="12" Background="{StaticResource Field}"
+                        BorderBrush="{StaticResource Border}" BorderThickness="1" Padding="12">
+                  <StackPanel Spacing="6">
+                    <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding EditorThroughSpelunk}" VerticalContentAlignment="Center">
+                      <TextBlock Text="Connect through Spelunk" FontSize="13"
+                                 FontWeight="SemiBold" Foreground="{StaticResource Text}"
+                                 TextWrapping="Wrap" />
+                    </CheckBox>
+                    <StackPanel Spacing="6" IsVisible="{Binding EditorThroughSpelunk}">
+                      <TextBox Text="{Binding EditorSpelunkApi}" Height="36"
+                               PlaceholderText="Spelunk API address (https://api.…)" />
+                      <TextBox Text="{Binding EditorSpelunkServerId}" Height="36"
+                               PlaceholderText="Spelunk server id" />
+                      <!--
+                        Saved Spelunk keys first (Settings → Security), each qualified by the one address it
+                        goes to, then credentials whose password is a key. A deleted one keeps a placeholder, as
+                        the authentication picker's does, so an unrelated edit cannot drop it. Typing an address
+                        a key is saved for picks that key when nothing is picked yet.
+                      -->
+                      <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="10.5" Text="Spelunk API key" />
+                      <ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding EditorSpelunkKeyChoices}"
+                                SelectedItem="{Binding EditorSelectedSpelunkKey}"
+                                HorizontalAlignment="Stretch" Height="40">
+                        <ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
+                          <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:AuthenticationChoice">
+                            <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="8">
+                              <TextBlock Text="{Binding Label}" />
+                              <TextBlock Text="{Binding Qualifier}" Classes="hint" FontSize="11"
+                                         VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+                            </StackPanel>
+                          </DataTemplate>
+                        </ComboBox.ItemTemplate>
+                      </ComboBox>
+                      <!--
+                        Spelunk signs the user in: a key pair made in memory for each connection, its public
+                        half sent with the ticket, and the agent's one-connection SSH server accepting only
+                        that. Ticking it greys out the login above. See SpelunkRoute.SignInThroughSpelunk.
+                      -->
+                      <CheckBox IsChecked="{Binding EditorSpelunkSignIn}" VerticalContentAlignment="Center">
+                        <TextBlock Text="Sign in through Spelunk (no SSH key needed)" FontSize="12.5"
+                                   Foreground="{StaticResource Text}" TextWrapping="Wrap" />
+                      </CheckBox>
+                    </StackPanel>
+                    <!--
+                      What the route asks for and what it costs, said where the decision is made: an Admin-role
+                      Spelunk API key, sent to the address above and nowhere else, and a host that is reached
+                      only while Spelunk and its agent are.
+                    -->
+                    <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11.5"
+                               Text="Spelunk's agent on the server connects to its SSH server for you, so the server needs no open SSH port. Save your Spelunk API key (Admin role) under Settings → Security and choose it here, or keep it as a credential's password; it is sent only to the address above. Signing in through Spelunk logs you in as the account Spelunk names, with a key made for each connection and never kept. The hostname and port still name this machine's host key. Connects only while Spelunk and its agent are reachable." />
                   </StackPanel>
                 </Border>
 
@@ -747,6 +839,84 @@
               </StackPanel>
             </Border>
 
+            <!--
+              ============ PORT FORWARDS ============
+              Staged on VaultViewModel.EditorPortForwards the way QUICK ACCESS stages its pins, and saved
+              with the host. Each row is drawn in OpenSSH's own notation, because that is what anybody who has
+              used one reads fastest; the add row spells out which end the listening port is on instead,
+              because -L and -R are the two flags people get backwards.
+
+              No bind-address field, and that is not an omission: every listener binds loopback. A forward is
+              a field every member of a shared keychain can fill in, and one bound to 0.0.0.0 would hand the
+              remote's network to anybody who can reach this machine. See SshPortForwardSpec.
+            -->
+            <Border Classes="section">
+              <StackPanel Spacing="8">
+                <TextBlock Classes="sectionlabel" Text="PORT FORWARDS" />
+
+                <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding EditorPortForwards}">
+                  <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
+                    <ItemsPanelTemplate><StackPanel Spacing="6" /></ItemsPanelTemplate>
+                  </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
+                  <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+                    <DataTemplate x:DataType="dom:PortForwardRule">
+                      <Border Height="33" CornerRadius="9" Background="{StaticResource Field}"
+                              BorderBrush="{StaticResource Border}" BorderThickness="1" Padding="8,0">
+                        <Grid ColumnDefinitions="Auto,*,Auto">
+                          <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" FontFamily="{StaticResource IconFont}" FontSize="14"
+                                     Foreground="{StaticResource TextFaint}" VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                                     Text="&#xE8D4;" />
+                          <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="mono" Text="{Binding Notation}" FontSize="12.5"
+                                     Margin="8,0" VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                                     TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis" ToolTip.Tip="{Binding Notation}" />
+                          <Button Grid.Column="2" Classes="flat paneicon" Content="✕" Width="22" Height="22"
+                                  FontSize="11"
+                                  Command="{Binding $parent[ItemsControl].((vm:VaultViewModel)DataContext).RemoveEditorForwardCommand}"
+                                  CommandParameter="{Binding}" ToolTip.Tip="Removes this forward" />
+                        </Grid>
+                      </Border>
+                    </DataTemplate>
+                  </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+                </ItemsControl>
+
+                <ComboBox SelectedIndex="{Binding EditorNewForwardKind}" HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
+                          Height="36">
+                  <ComboBoxItem Content="Local  -L" />
+                  <ComboBoxItem Content="Remote  -R" />
+                  <ComboBoxItem Content="Dynamic  -D  (SOCKS)" />
+                </ComboBox>
+
+                <!-- Which end each port is on, for the kind chosen: the thing -L and -R get backwards. -->
+                <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                           Text="{Binding EditorNewForwardKindHint}" />
+
+                <Grid ColumnDefinitions="104,6,*,6,Auto">
+                  <TextBox Grid.Column="0" FontFamily="{StaticResource MonoFont}"
+                           Text="{Binding EditorNewForwardBindPort}"
+                           PlaceholderText="{Binding EditorNewForwardBindHint}" Height="36"
+                           ToolTip.Tip="{Binding EditorNewForwardBindHint}">
+                    <TextBox.KeyBindings>
+                      <KeyBinding Gesture="Enter" Command="{Binding AddEditorForwardCommand}" />
+                    </TextBox.KeyBindings>
+                  </TextBox>
+                  <TextBox Grid.Column="2" FontFamily="{StaticResource MonoFont}"
+                           Text="{Binding EditorNewForwardTarget}"
+                           IsVisible="{Binding EditorNewForwardHasTarget}"
+                           PlaceholderText="host:port" Height="36">
+                    <TextBox.KeyBindings>
+                      <KeyBinding Gesture="Enter" Command="{Binding AddEditorForwardCommand}" />
+                    </TextBox.KeyBindings>
+                  </TextBox>
+                  <Button Grid.Column="4" Classes="ghost" Content="+" Width="36" Height="36" FontSize="15"
+                          HorizontalContentAlignment="Center"
+                          Command="{Binding AddEditorForwardCommand}" ToolTip.Tip="Adds this forward" />
+                </Grid>
+
+                <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11.5" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                           Text="Forwards start with every terminal opened to this host and stop when it closes. Everything listens on localhost only. A change here applies from the next connection." />
+              </StackPanel>
+            </Border>
+
           </StackPanel>
 
           <!-- ============ THE GROUP EDITOR ============ -->

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/MainWindow.axaml

@@ -332,7 +332,7 @@
                   a sidebar naming no host would be furniture with nothing to say. Collapsing frees the
                   "Auto" column it sits in, so the pane column takes the width back.
                 -->
-                <views:SessionSidebar Grid.Column="1" ShowsSnips="True"
+                <views:SessionSidebar Grid.Column="1" ShowsSnips="True" ShowsForwards="True"
                                       IsVisible="{Binding ShowsQuickAccessSidebar, FallbackValue=False}" />
               </Grid>
             </Border>

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/SessionSidebar.axaml

@@ -39,6 +39,22 @@
     is showing without knowing anything about the state — and the pane beside it grows into what is freed.
   -->
 
+  <!--
+    A forward's state word: green only while it is listening, which is the one status Live is for, and the
+    danger text colour for a forward that could not start. OFF and STARTING stay faint.
+  -->
+  <UserControl.Styles>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdstate">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource TextFaint}" />
+    </Style>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdstate.live">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource Live}" />
+    </Style>
+    <Style Selector="TextBlock.fwdstate.failed">
+      <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="{StaticResource DangerText}" />
+    </Style>
+  </UserControl.Styles>
+
   <Panel>
 
     <!-- ============ THE RAIL, WHEN THE COLUMN IS CLOSED ============ -->
@@ -142,6 +158,64 @@
             </StackPanel>
           </Button>
 
+          <!-- ============ FORWARDS (the terminal surface only) ============ -->
+          <!--
+            The selected tab's forwards: the host's saved ones, as they run over this session. Each row is
+            its own switch, and a failed one says why under its notation — a port already taken, most often
+            by a second tab to the same host running the same forwards. Nothing here edits a forward; the add
+            row goes to the host's editor, where they are saved, as Pin folder does for QUICK ACCESS.
+
+            No byte counts, which the design draws. SSH.NET keeps no count of what a forward carries, so a
+            number here would be invented.
+          -->
+          <StackPanel Spacing="6" Margin="0,16,0,0" IsVisible="{Binding #Root.ShowsForwards}">
+
+            <TextBlock Classes="label" Text="FORWARDS" FontSize="10" Margin="8,0" />
+
+            <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding SelectedTab.Forwards}">
+              <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+                <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:PortForwardViewModel">
+                  <!--
+                    The reason sits under the row rather than inside it: a sidebar row is a fixed 33 pixels, and
+                    a refusal is a sentence. Indented to the notation, so it reads as belonging to the row.
+                  -->
+                  <StackPanel>
+                    <Button Classes="sidebarrow" Command="{Binding ToggleCommand}"
+                            ToolTip.Tip="{Binding Route}">
+                      <Grid ColumnDefinitions="Auto,*,Auto">
+                        <TextBlock Grid.Column="0" Text="&#xE8D4;"
+                                   FontFamily="{StaticResource IconFont}" FontSize="15"
+                                   Foreground="{StaticResource AccentText}" VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                                   Margin="0,0,10,0" />
+                        <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" FontFamily="{StaticResource MonoFont}" FontSize="12.5"
+                                   Text="{Binding Notation}" TextTrimming="CharacterEllipsis"
+                                   VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+                        <TextBlock Grid.Column="2" Classes="fwdstate" FontFamily="Montserrat"
+                                   FontWeight="SemiBold" FontSize="9" LetterSpacing="1"
+                                   VerticalAlignment="Center" Margin="8,0,0,0"
+                                   Text="{Binding StateText}"
+                                   Classes.live="{Binding IsListening}" Classes.failed="{Binding IsFailed}" />
+                      </Grid>
+                    </Button>
+                    <TextBlock FontSize="11" Foreground="{StaticResource TextFaint}" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                               Margin="37,0,12,4" Text="{Binding Detail}"
+                               IsVisible="{Binding Detail, Converter={x:Static StringConverters.IsNotNullOrEmpty}}" />
+                  </StackPanel>
+                </DataTemplate>
+              </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+            </ItemsControl>
+
+            <Button Classes="sidebaradd" Command="{Binding AddForwardFromSidebarCommand}"
+                    ToolTip.Tip="Opens the active tab's host for editing, where its forwards are saved. A new forward starts with the next connection.">
+              <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="10">
+                <TextBlock Text="&#xE145;" FontFamily="{StaticResource IconFont}" FontSize="14"
+                           VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+                <TextBlock Text="Add forward" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+              </StackPanel>
+            </Button>
+
+          </StackPanel>
+
           <!-- ============ SNIPS (the terminal surface only) ============ -->
           <StackPanel Spacing="6" Margin="0,16,0,0" IsVisible="{Binding #Root.ShowsSnips}">
 

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/SessionSidebar.axaml.cs

@@ -19,6 +19,10 @@ internal sealed partial class SessionSidebar : UserControl
     internal static readonly StyledProperty<bool> ShowsSnipsProperty =
         AvaloniaProperty.Register<SessionSidebar, bool>(nameof(ShowsSnips));
 
+    /// <summary>Whether the FORWARDS section draws. The terminal's own, for the reason SNIPS is.</summary>
+    internal static readonly StyledProperty<bool> ShowsForwardsProperty =
+        AvaloniaProperty.Register<SessionSidebar, bool>(nameof(ShowsForwards));
+
     public SessionSidebar() => InitializeComponent();
 
     internal bool ShowsSnips
@@ -26,4 +30,10 @@ internal sealed partial class SessionSidebar : UserControl
         get => GetValue(ShowsSnipsProperty);
         set => SetValue(ShowsSnipsProperty, value);
     }
+
+    internal bool ShowsForwards
+    {
+        get => GetValue(ShowsForwardsProperty);
+        set => SetValue(ShowsForwardsProperty, value);
+    }
 }

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/SessionStatusBar.axaml

@@ -76,6 +76,13 @@
       </StackPanel>
 
       <StackPanel Grid.Column="1" Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="18" VerticalAlignment="Center">
+        <!--
+          How many of the selected tab's forwards are listening, and nothing when none are. The terminal's
+          own, for the reason UTF-8 is: an SFTP connection runs no forwards.
+        -->
+        <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="11.5" Foreground="{StaticResource TextGhost}"
+                   VerticalAlignment="Center" Text="{Binding SelectedTab.ForwardsSummary}"
+                   IsVisible="{Binding #Root.ShowsEncoding}" />
         <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="11.5" Foreground="{StaticResource TextGhost}"
                    VerticalAlignment="Center" Text="{Binding SessionElapsedText}"
                    IsVisible="{Binding SessionElapsedText, Converter={x:Static StringConverters.IsNotNullOrEmpty}}" />

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/SettingsSecurityPage.axaml

@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 <UserControl xmlns="https://github.com/avaloniaui"
              xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
              xmlns:vm="using:DodoSSH.Client.Shell.ViewModels"
+             xmlns:views="using:DodoSSH.Client.App.Views"
              x:Class="DodoSSH.Client.App.Views.SettingsSecurityPage"
-             x:DataType="vm:MainWindowViewModel">
+             x:DataType="vm:MainWindowViewModel"
+             x:Name="Root">
 
   <!--
     v5c: Security, against Settings-Security.dc.html.
@@ -24,6 +26,14 @@
     on purpose — known-hosts is a MAIN-chrome screen, and there is no honest way to show it without leaving;
     ShowScreenCommand already does that for any target that is not Preferences or Vaults.
 
+    SPELUNK is where a Spelunk API key is filled in: an address and a key, saved as a Spelunk key item in the
+    personal vault (VaultViewModel.SaveSpelunkKeyCommand) and synced like every secret. The address is the
+    point — a key saved here is only ever sent there, and links from that Spelunk connect straight away
+    because saving it is the user saying so. A second key for an address already saved replaces the first.
+    The key box is a password box and is emptied the moment the key is in the keychain; the list below it
+    shows the name, the address and how many hosts use each key, never the key. Deleting goes through the
+    same ConfirmDeleteCard every other deletion does, with a count of the hosts that would stop connecting.
+
     RECENT SECURITY EVENTS is the link row alone, not the design's own list of rows. A real list would mean
     building a filtered read over LogsViewModel's activity and connection logs — which entries count as
     "security" is itself a judgement call the design does not resolve — and the honest link is complete on
@@ -101,6 +111,86 @@
         </StackPanel>
       </Border>
 
+      <TextBlock Classes="settingssection" Text="SPELUNK" />
+
+      <Border Classes="settingscard">
+        <StackPanel>
+          <Border Classes="settingsrow">
+            <StackPanel Spacing="10">
+              <StackPanel Spacing="6" MaxWidth="640" HorizontalAlignment="Left">
+                <TextBlock Classes="settingsrowtitle" Text="Spelunk API key" />
+                <TextBlock Classes="settingsrowcaption" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                           Text="Hosts reached through Spelunk use this key, and links from that Spelunk connect straight away. It is kept encrypted in your personal vault, syncs to your other devices, and is only ever sent to the address below. Use a key with the Admin role." />
+              </StackPanel>
+              <Grid ColumnDefinitions="*,*,Auto" ColumnSpacing="10"
+                    IsEnabled="{Binding Vault, Converter={x:Static ObjectConverters.IsNotNull}}">
+                <TextBox Grid.Column="0" Height="38" Text="{Binding Vault.SpelunkKeyFormApi}"
+                         PlaceholderText="Spelunk API address (https://api.…)" />
+                <TextBox Grid.Column="1" Height="38" PasswordChar="•" Text="{Binding Vault.SpelunkKeyFormKey}"
+                         PlaceholderText="API key (spelunk_…)">
+                  <TextBox.KeyBindings>
+                    <KeyBinding Gesture="Enter" Command="{Binding Vault.SaveSpelunkKeyCommand}" />
+                  </TextBox.KeyBindings>
+                </TextBox>
+                <Button Grid.Column="2" Classes="accent" Height="38" Content="SAVE KEY"
+                        Command="{Binding Vault.SaveSpelunkKeyCommand}"
+                        IsEnabled="{Binding !Vault.IsBusy, FallbackValue=False}" />
+              </Grid>
+              <TextBlock Classes="settingsrowcaption" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                         Text="{Binding Vault.SpelunkKeyFormNote}"
+                         IsVisible="{Binding Vault.HasSpelunkKeyFormNote, FallbackValue=False}" />
+              <TextBlock Classes="settingsrowcaption" TextWrapping="Wrap"
+                         IsVisible="{Binding Vault, Converter={x:Static ObjectConverters.IsNull}}"
+                         Text="Unlock your keychain to save a Spelunk key." />
+            </StackPanel>
+          </Border>
+
+          <!-- The delete confirmation, in place, as the tags and groups pages draw it. -->
+          <Border Margin="24,12" Padding="20" CornerRadius="12"
+                  Background="{StaticResource DangerWash}" BorderBrush="{StaticResource DangerSoft}"
+                  BorderThickness="1"
+                  IsVisible="{Binding Vault.PendingDeletion, Converter={x:Static ObjectConverters.IsNotNull}, FallbackValue=False}">
+            <views:ConfirmDeleteCard DataContext="{Binding Vault}" />
+          </Border>
+
+          <ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding Vault.SpelunkKeys}">
+            <ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
+              <ItemsPanelTemplate>
+                <StackPanel />
+              </ItemsPanelTemplate>
+            </ItemsControl.ItemsPanel>
+            <ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+              <DataTemplate x:DataType="vm:SpelunkKeyRowViewModel">
+                <Border Classes="settingsrow" Padding="24,14">
+                  <Grid ColumnDefinitions="*,Auto,Auto" ColumnSpacing="12">
+                    <StackPanel Grid.Column="0" Spacing="4" VerticalAlignment="Center">
+                      <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal" Spacing="8">
+                        <TextBlock Classes="settingsrowtitle" Text="{Binding Label}" />
+                        <Border Classes="chip" IsVisible="{Binding HasVaultBadge}" VerticalAlignment="Center">
+                          <TextBlock Text="{Binding VaultBadge}" />
+                        </Border>
+                        <TextBlock Classes="hint" FontSize="11" Text="{Binding Badge}" VerticalAlignment="Center" />
+                      </StackPanel>
+                      <TextBlock Classes="mono" FontSize="11.5" Foreground="{StaticResource TextFaint}"
+                                 Text="{Binding ApiBase}" />
+                    </StackPanel>
+                    <TextBlock Grid.Column="1" Classes="settingsrowcaption" VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                               Text="{Binding UsedBy}" />
+                    <Button Grid.Column="2" Classes="paneicon danger" Width="30" Height="30" FontSize="13"
+                            VerticalAlignment="Center"
+                            Command="{Binding #Root.((vm:MainWindowViewModel)DataContext).Vault.DeleteSpelunkKeyRowCommand}"
+                            CommandParameter="{Binding}"
+                            ToolTip.Tip="Delete this key. Hosts that reach Spelunk with it stop connecting until they name another.">
+                      <TextBlock FontFamily="{StaticResource IconFont}" Text="&#xE872;" />
+                    </Button>
+                  </Grid>
+                </Border>
+              </DataTemplate>
+            </ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
+          </ItemsControl>
+        </StackPanel>
+      </Border>
+
       <TextBlock Classes="settingssection" Text="RECENT SECURITY EVENTS" />
 
       <Border Classes="settingscard" Margin="0,12,0,40">

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/SettingsSecurityPage.axaml.cs

@@ -2,7 +2,9 @@ using Avalonia.Controls;
 
 namespace DodoSSH.Client.App.Views;
 
-/// <summary>Settings mode's Security page: the E2E explainer, Windows Hello, and approved host keys.</summary>
+/// <summary>
+/// Settings mode's Security page: the E2E explainer, Windows Hello, approved host keys, and Spelunk API keys.
+/// </summary>
 internal sealed partial class SettingsSecurityPage : UserControl
 {
     public SettingsSecurityPage() => InitializeComponent();

src/DodoSSH.Client.App/Views/StatusBar.axaml

@@ -9,8 +9,9 @@
 
     The design puts five things here: the active host and the bastion it is reached through, the open port
     forwards, the SFTP transfer count, an auto-lock countdown, and the last sync time. Four of those five
-    have nothing behind them — there is no jump-host routing, no port forwarding, no file transfer and no
-    idle auto-lock — so what is left is the active session, the vault's last message, and the shortcut hint.
+    had nothing behind them when this was written — there was no jump-host routing, no port forwarding, no
+    file transfer and no idle auto-lock — so what is left is the active session, the vault's last message,
+    and the shortcut hint. Forwards have since been built, and are counted on SessionStatusBar instead.
 
     The last message is the load-bearing one, and it is why this bar is worth having at all: the vault's
     status line used to be a cramped label in the account bar, and everything the application has to say

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/HostSecret.cs

@@ -45,6 +45,13 @@ public sealed record HostSecret : IVaultSecret
     /// </remarks>
     public const int MaxPinnedPaths = 32;
 
+    /// <summary>The most port forwards a host may carry.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Each one is a listener opened with every terminal to the host, so the bound is on what one connect
+    /// may open as much as on the payload.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int MaxPortForwards = 16;
+
     /// <summary>Display name. The only name this host has anywhere.</summary>
     public required string Label { get; init; }
 
@@ -223,6 +230,15 @@ public sealed record HostSecret : IVaultSecret
     /// </remarks>
     public PinnedPathList PinnedPaths { get; init; } = PinnedPathList.Empty;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The port forwards started with every terminal opened to this host.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Here rather than in an item of their own; see <see cref="PortForwardRule"/>. Merged per forward, so two
+    /// machines each adding one both keep theirs, and two editing the same one is a recorded conflict.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public PortForwardList PortForwards { get; init; } = PortForwardList.Empty;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// The group this host is filed under, or null for none.
     /// </summary>
@@ -281,6 +297,34 @@ public sealed record HostSecret : IVaultSecret
     /// </remarks>
     public bool RelayEnabled { get; init; }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// How this host is reached through Spelunk, or null for a host that is dialled.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A host carrying one is never dialled directly and never falls back to it, for the reason the relay
+    /// does not: the user chose this route because the direct one does not exist or does not work, and a
+    /// connection that quietly went another way would be the box saying one thing and the connection doing
+    /// another. See <see cref="SpelunkRoute"/> for what the route is.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b><see cref="Hostname"/> and <see cref="Port"/> still matter, and not for dialling.</b> The host key
+    /// is pinned under them, as it is for every host, so they have to name this machine stably — a host made
+    /// from a Spelunk link takes the server's address, or a name made from its id when Spelunk gave none.
+    /// The port is also what the agent is asked to connect to on the server's own loopback.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>Mutually exclusive with <see cref="RelayEnabled"/>.</b> Two routes to one host is the same failure
+    /// as two bindings: the editor, the connect path and the user would each be free to guess which one is
+    /// meant. <see cref="TryValidate"/> refuses the pair.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public SpelunkRoute? Spelunk { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether Spelunk signs the user in to this host, so it needs no login of its own.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>See <see cref="SpelunkRoute.SignInThroughSpelunk"/>.</remarks>
+    public bool SignsInThroughSpelunk => Spelunk?.SignInThroughSpelunk is true;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Checks the fields that must hold before this can be stored.
     /// </summary>
@@ -314,7 +358,49 @@ public sealed record HostSecret : IVaultSecret
             return false;
         }
 
-        return PinnedPathsAreStorable(out reason) && ReferencesAreStorable(out reason);
+        return PinnedPathsAreStorable(out reason)
+            && PortForwardsAreStorable(out reason)
+            && ReferencesAreStorable(out reason)
+            && RouteIsStorable(out reason);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Checks the forwards saved on this host, each on its own terms and the list as a whole.</summary>
+    private bool PortForwardsAreStorable([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (PortForwards.Count > MaxPortForwards)
+        {
+            reason = $"A host cannot carry more than {MaxPortForwards} port forwards.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        foreach (var forward in PortForwards)
+        {
+            if (!forward.TryValidate(out reason))
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Checks the Spelunk route, if there is one, and that it is the only route.</summary>
+    private bool RouteIsStorable([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (Spelunk is null)
+        {
+            reason = null;
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (RelayEnabled)
+        {
+            reason = "A host is reached through the server relay or through Spelunk, not both.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        return Spelunk.TryValidate(out reason);
     }
 
     /// <summary>

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/HostSecretCodec.cs

@@ -112,12 +112,51 @@ public static class HostSecretCodec
     /// </remarks>
     public const int PinnedPathsSchemaVersion = 7;
 
+    /// <summary>The version that introduced <see cref="HostSecret.PortForwards"/>.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Its own version for the reason <see cref="PinnedPathsSchemaVersion"/> gives: a host can carry
+    /// forwards without pinning anything, and should stay editable on a build that knows 7 until it does.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int PortForwardsSchemaVersion = 8;
+
+    /// <summary>The version that introduced <see cref="HostSecret.Spelunk"/>.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Its own version, by the rule this file follows, and it matters more here than for a tag. An older
+    /// build that decoded a Spelunk host as editable would drop the route on the next save — and the host
+    /// would then be dialled directly, at an address that exists only so its key has a name to be pinned
+    /// under. Written at this version, the older build shows the host, refuses to edit it, and says to update.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Additive, like every version but <see cref="PortInheritSchemaVersion"/>: the route is one more
+    /// property, and a build that does not know it skips it and still reads a valid host. It follows
+    /// <see cref="PortForwardsSchemaVersion"/>, whose forwards reached main first.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int SpelunkSchemaVersion = 9;
+
+    /// <summary>The version that introduced <see cref="SpelunkRoute.SignInThroughSpelunk"/>.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Its own version, and nested in the existing <c>spelunk</c> object rather than beside it, because it
+    /// is part of that one decision. A build that knows 9 skips the unknown member and reads a valid host —
+    /// a Spelunk host with no login of its own — and it must not save that back: the flag would be dropped
+    /// and the host would start asking for a password it never had. Written at this version, that build
+    /// shows the host, refuses to edit it, and says to update.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Only a route that signs in is written here. Every other Spelunk host stays at
+    /// <see cref="SpelunkSchemaVersion"/>, byte for byte what it was.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int SpelunkSignInSchemaVersion = 10;
+
     /// <summary>The highest schema version this build can write.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// Names the highest constant above, which <see cref="SchemaVersionFor"/> assumes when it takes a
     /// maximum. A new field added below this line has to be named here too.
     /// </remarks>
-    public const int CurrentSchemaVersion = PinnedPathsSchemaVersion;
+    public const int CurrentSchemaVersion = SpelunkSignInSchemaVersion;
 
     /// <summary>Serialises a host to the bytes that get sealed.</summary>
     /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">The host is not valid for storage.</exception>
@@ -163,6 +202,14 @@ public static class HostSecretCodec
             // Last, and null for the same reason TagIds is: a host that pins nothing must encode exactly
             // as it did before this field existed.
             PinnedPaths = host.PinnedPaths.Count == 0 ? null : [.. host.PinnedPaths],
+
+            // Last, and null when empty, for the reason both fields above give.
+            PortForwards = host.PortForwards.Count == 0
+                ? null
+                : [.. host.PortForwards.Select(PortForwardDocument.From)],
+            // Last of all, and absent for a host that is dialled, so every host without a route encodes
+            // exactly as it did before routes existed.
+            Spelunk = host.Spelunk is { } route ? SpelunkPayloadDocument.From(route) : null,
         };
 
         return JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(
@@ -238,6 +285,21 @@ public static class HostSecretCodec
             version = Math.Max(version, PinnedPathsSchemaVersion);
         }
 
+        if (host.PortForwards.Count > 0)
+        {
+            version = Math.Max(version, PortForwardsSchemaVersion);
+        }
+
+        if (host.Spelunk is not null)
+        {
+            version = Math.Max(version, SpelunkSchemaVersion);
+        }
+
+        if (host.SignsInThroughSpelunk)
+        {
+            version = Math.Max(version, SpelunkSignInSchemaVersion);
+        }
+
         return version;
     }
 
@@ -295,6 +357,11 @@ public static class HostSecretCodec
             return false;
         }
 
+        if (!TryBuildForwards(parsed.PortForwards, out var forwards))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
         var candidate = new HostSecret
         {
             Label = parsed.Label ?? string.Empty,
@@ -316,6 +383,9 @@ public static class HostSecretCodec
             TagIds = TagSet.Create(parsed.TagIds ?? []),
 
             PinnedPaths = PinnedPathList.Create(parsed.PinnedPaths ?? []),
+
+            PortForwards = forwards,
+            Spelunk = RouteFrom(parsed.Spelunk),
         };
 
         if (!candidate.TryValidate(out _))
@@ -326,6 +396,65 @@ public static class HostSecretCodec
         host = candidate;
         return true;
     }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A missing id, kind or port is a refusal rather than a default. Each would be invented here — a fresh
+    /// id the other machines do not have, a <c>Local</c> nobody chose — and an invented forward is one the
+    /// next save writes back as though somebody had asked for it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool TryBuildForwards(
+        PortForwardDocument?[]? parsed,
+        [NotNullWhen(true)] out PortForwardList? forwards)
+    {
+        forwards = PortForwardList.Empty;
+
+        if (parsed is null)
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        var rules = new List<PortForwardRule>(parsed.Length);
+
+        foreach (var entry in parsed)
+        {
+            if (entry?.Id is not { } id || entry.Kind is not { } kind || entry.BindPort is not { } bindPort)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            rules.Add(new PortForwardRule
+            {
+                Id = id,
+                Kind = (PortForwardKind)kind,
+                BindPort = bindPort,
+                TargetHost = entry.TargetHost,
+                TargetPort = entry.TargetPort,
+            });
+        }
+
+        forwards = PortForwardList.Create(rules);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The route as stored, or null when there is none.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Missing parts come through as empty values rather than making the route vanish, so that
+    /// <see cref="HostSecret.TryValidate"/> refuses the host. Reading a half-written route as "no route"
+    /// would turn a Spelunk host into one that is dialled directly, which is the one reading of a damaged
+    /// payload that does something the user never asked for.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static SpelunkRoute? RouteFrom(SpelunkPayloadDocument? parsed) =>
+        parsed is null
+            ? null
+            : new SpelunkRoute
+            {
+                ApiBase = parsed.Api ?? string.Empty,
+                ServerId = parsed.ServerId ?? Guid.Empty,
+                ApiKeyCredentialId = parsed.ApiKeyCredentialId ?? Guid.Empty,
+
+                // False folds to the default, as AsksForPassword's does: one state, one spelling.
+                SignInThroughSpelunk = parsed.SignIn is true,
+            };
 }
 
 /// <summary>
@@ -396,6 +525,70 @@ internal sealed class HostPayloadDocument
     /// newer of the two and follows the same rule.
     /// </remarks>
     public string[]? PinnedPaths { get; set; }
+
+    /// <remarks>Last, and null rather than <c>[]</c>, for the reasons <see cref="TagIds"/> gives.</remarks>
+    public PortForwardDocument?[]? PortForwards { get; set; }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Last, and null for a host that is dialled, for the reason <see cref="TagIds"/> gives. One nested object
+    /// rather than three loose properties, because the three are one decision — a server id without its
+    /// Spelunk means nothing — and an object makes "all or none" the shape of the JSON.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public SpelunkPayloadDocument? Spelunk { get; set; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>The serialised shape of a <see cref="SpelunkRoute"/>. Nullable because it models untrusted input.</summary>
+internal sealed class SpelunkPayloadDocument
+{
+    public string? Api { get; set; }
+
+    public Guid? ServerId { get; set; }
+
+    public Guid? ApiKeyCredentialId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Last, and null unless true, so a route that does not sign in keeps the bytes it had at version 9.
+    /// See <see cref="HostSecretCodec.SpelunkSignInSchemaVersion"/>.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public bool? SignIn { get; set; }
+
+    public static SpelunkPayloadDocument From(SpelunkRoute route) => new()
+    {
+        Api = route.ApiBase,
+        ServerId = route.ServerId,
+        ApiKeyCredentialId = route.ApiKeyCredentialId,
+
+        // Null rather than false, so a route that does not sign in encodes exactly as it did before the
+        // field existed — the rule AsksForPassword follows.
+        SignIn = route.SignInThroughSpelunk ? true : null,
+    };
+}
+
+/// <summary>One forward's serialised shape. Nullable throughout, because it models untrusted input.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// The kind is written as its number rather than its name, so renaming a member of
+/// <see cref="PortForwardKind"/> can never change what is on the wire.
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class PortForwardDocument
+{
+    public Guid? Id { get; set; }
+
+    public int? Kind { get; set; }
+
+    public int? BindPort { get; set; }
+
+    public string? TargetHost { get; set; }
+
+    public int? TargetPort { get; set; }
+
+    public static PortForwardDocument From(PortForwardRule rule) => new()
+    {
+        Id = rule.Id,
+        Kind = (int)rule.Kind,
+        BindPort = rule.BindPort,
+        TargetHost = rule.TargetHost,
+        TargetPort = rule.TargetPort,
+    };
 }
 
 [JsonSourceGenerationOptions(

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/HostSecretMerge.cs

@@ -99,6 +99,8 @@ public static class HostSecretMerge
             TagIds = MergeTags(ancestor.TagIds, local.TagIds, remote.TagIds, conflicts),
             PinnedPaths = MergePinnedPaths(
                 ancestor.PinnedPaths, local.PinnedPaths, remote.PinnedPaths, conflicts),
+            PortForwards = MergePortForwards(
+                ancestor.PortForwards, local.PortForwards, remote.PortForwards, conflicts),
             RelayEnabled = Field(
                 nameof(HostSecret.RelayEnabled),
                 ancestor.RelayEnabled,
@@ -166,6 +168,18 @@ public static class HostSecretMerge
                 remote.AsksForPassword,
                 conflicts,
                 static asked => asked is true ? "a typed password" : "the group's binding"),
+
+            // Here rather than beside RelayEnabled, because it is a reference too — to a Spelunk server and to
+            // the credential holding its key — and it merges as one value for the reason the jump chain does:
+            // an API address from one side and a server id from the other would be a route neither user
+            // chose, to a server that may not exist on that Spelunk.
+            Spelunk = Field(
+                nameof(HostSecret.Spelunk),
+                ancestor.Spelunk,
+                local.Spelunk,
+                remote.Spelunk,
+                conflicts,
+                static route => route is null ? "dialled directly" : $"server {route.ServerId} on {route.ApiBase}"),
         };
 
     private static string Text(
@@ -342,6 +356,46 @@ public static class HostSecretMerge
         return PinnedPathList.Create(merge.Merged.Keys);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Merges the forwards per forward, so two people each adding one both keep theirs.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Keyed by id and ordered the way <see cref="MergePinnedPaths"/> is: existing forwards, then this
+    /// machine's additions, then the server's.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>Unlike a tag or a pinned path, a conflict is reachable here.</b> The value under a key is the whole
+    /// rule, so two machines changing one forward differently is a genuine clash. The server's version wins,
+    /// as every scalar's does, and the other is recorded in OpenSSH's notation so the user can read what was
+    /// lost. An edit on one side beats a removal on the other, which is the map merge's standing rule.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static PortForwardList MergePortForwards(
+        PortForwardList ancestor,
+        PortForwardList local,
+        PortForwardList remote,
+        List<HostFieldConflict> conflicts)
+    {
+        var merge = ThreeWayMerge.Map(
+            ancestor.ToIdMap(),
+            local.ToIdMap(),
+            remote.ToIdMap(),
+            EqualityComparer<Guid>.Default);
+
+        foreach (var conflict in merge.Conflicts)
+        {
+            conflicts.Add(new HostFieldConflict(
+                $"{nameof(HostSecret.PortForwards)}[{conflict.Key}]",
+                conflict.DiscardedSide,
+                conflict.Kept?.Notation ?? "removed",
+                conflict.Discarded?.Notation ?? "removed",
+                conflict.DiscardedWasRemoval));
+        }
+
+        return PortForwardList.Create(merge.Merged.Values);
+    }
+
     private static string FormatChain(JumpChain chain) =>
         chain.Count == 0 ? "(none)" : string.Join(" → ", chain);
 }

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/PortForwardList.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,140 @@
+using System.Collections;
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The port forwards saved on a host, in the order the user added them.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// A dedicated type rather than a list, for the reason <see cref="PinnedPathList"/> gives: a plain list on a
+/// record compares by reference, so every host would read as changed on every sync pass.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Ordered and unique by id.</b> Order is how the session sidebar lists them. Uniqueness is by
+/// <see cref="PortForwardRule.Id"/> rather than by value, keeping the first occurrence, because the id is
+/// what the merge keys on — two entries with one id would be one forward the merge could not tell apart.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Invalid rules are not rejected at construction, for the reason every collection in this assembly gives:
+/// they arrive from another client's payload, and a throw here would fail the whole sync pass.
+/// <see cref="HostSecret.TryValidate"/> catches them.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class PortForwardList : IReadOnlyList<PortForwardRule>, IEquatable<PortForwardList>
+{
+    private readonly PortForwardRule[] rules;
+    private readonly int hash;
+
+    private PortForwardList(PortForwardRule[] rules)
+    {
+        this.rules = rules;
+        hash = ComputeHash(rules);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>No forwards.</summary>
+    public static PortForwardList Empty { get; } = new([]);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public int Count => rules.Length;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public PortForwardRule this[int index] => rules[index];
+
+    /// <summary>Copies a sequence of rules, keeping order and the first rule with any given id.</summary>
+    public static PortForwardList Create(IEnumerable<PortForwardRule> rules)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(rules);
+
+        var kept = new List<PortForwardRule>();
+        var seen = new HashSet<Guid>();
+
+        foreach (var rule in rules)
+        {
+            if (rule is null)
+            {
+                throw new ArgumentException("A forward list cannot contain a null rule.", nameof(rules));
+            }
+
+            if (seen.Add(rule.Id))
+            {
+                kept.Add(rule);
+            }
+        }
+
+        return kept.Count == 0 ? Empty : new PortForwardList([.. kept]);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The list as a map from id to rule, in list order, which is the shape <see cref="ThreeWayMerge.Map"/>
+    /// takes.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Built in list order for the reason <see cref="PinnedPathList.ToPathMap"/> is: the merge unions keys
+    /// ancestor first, then local, then remote, so an ordered map is what keeps "existing forwards, then
+    /// additions" without the merge ordering anything itself. Unlike a pinned path, a value here can change
+    /// under its key, so a conflict is reachable: both machines editing the same forward differently.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public IReadOnlyDictionary<Guid, PortForwardRule> ToIdMap()
+    {
+        var map = new Dictionary<Guid, PortForwardRule>(rules.Length);
+
+        foreach (var rule in rules)
+        {
+            map[rule.Id] = rule;
+        }
+
+        return map;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public bool Equals(PortForwardList? other)
+    {
+        if (ReferenceEquals(this, other))
+        {
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return other is not null
+            && other.hash == hash
+            && rules.AsSpan().SequenceEqual(other.rules);
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override bool Equals(object? obj) => Equals(obj as PortForwardList);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public override int GetHashCode() => hash;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public IEnumerator<PortForwardRule> GetEnumerator() => ((IEnumerable<PortForwardRule>)rules).GetEnumerator();
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator() => rules.GetEnumerator();
+
+    /// <summary>Contents equality, tolerating nulls on either side.</summary>
+    [SuppressMessage(
+        "Usage",
+        "CA2225:Operator overloads have named alternates",
+        Justification = "Equals(PortForwardList) is the named alternate.")]
+    public static bool operator ==(PortForwardList? left, PortForwardList? right) =>
+        left is null ? right is null : left.Equals(right);
+
+    /// <summary>Contents inequality.</summary>
+    public static bool operator !=(PortForwardList? left, PortForwardList? right) => !(left == right);
+
+    private static int ComputeHash(PortForwardRule[] rules)
+    {
+        // Order-sensitive, because order is kept.
+        var accumulator = new HashCode();
+        accumulator.Add(rules.Length);
+
+        foreach (var rule in rules)
+        {
+            accumulator.Add(rule);
+        }
+
+        return accumulator.ToHashCode();
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/PortForwardRule.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,166 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+using System.Globalization;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>Which way a saved forward carries connections.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Stored as its number, so the values are part of the payload format and must never be renumbered. The
+/// SSH layer has its own enum with the same three members; the connect path maps one to the other, which
+/// keeps this assembly free of any reference to it.
+/// </remarks>
+public enum PortForwardKind
+{
+    /// <summary>A port on this machine, carried to a target the remote can reach. <c>ssh -L</c>.</summary>
+    Local = 0,
+
+    /// <summary>A port on the remote, carried back to a target this machine can reach. <c>ssh -R</c>.</summary>
+    Remote = 1,
+
+    /// <summary>A SOCKS proxy on this machine, whose connections leave from the remote. <c>ssh -D</c>.</summary>
+    Dynamic = 2,
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A port forward saved on a host, started with every terminal opened to it.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Part of the host's encrypted payload rather than an item of its own</b>, which is what
+/// <c>RelayTicketRequest.PortForwardId</c> has said since the contract was frozen. A forward means nothing
+/// without the host it runs over, it is edited in the host's own editor, and a separate item kind would be a
+/// table, a server kind, a cipher and a repository to buy one thing the host's per-id merge already gives:
+/// two machines each adding a forward both keep theirs. <c>SyncEntityType.PortForward</c> stays reserved,
+/// the way <c>HostTag</c> does for the same reason.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>There is no bind address.</b> Every listener binds loopback — see <c>SshPortForwardSpec</c> for why a
+/// field another member of the keychain can fill in must not be able to say otherwise.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <see cref="Id"/> is what the merge keys on, so editing a forward's port on one machine and its target on
+/// another is one forward changed twice — a conflict the merge records — rather than two forwards.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed record PortForwardRule
+{
+    /// <summary>The longest a target host may be, which is the longest a DNS name can be.</summary>
+    public const int MaxTargetHostLength = 253;
+
+    /// <summary>Identifies this forward within its host, for the merge.</summary>
+    public required Guid Id { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>Which way it carries connections.</summary>
+    public required PortForwardKind Kind { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The port to listen on: on this machine for a local or dynamic forward, on the remote for a remote one.
+    /// </summary>
+    public required int BindPort { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>Where each connection goes, or null for a dynamic forward.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Resolved by the remote for a local forward — so it may name a machine only the remote can see — and
+    /// by this machine for a remote one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public string? TargetHost { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>The port on <see cref="TargetHost"/>, or null for a dynamic forward.</summary>
+    public int? TargetPort { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The forward in OpenSSH's own notation, which is what anybody who has used one will read fastest.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <c>-L 5432:db.internal:5432</c>, <c>-R 8080:localhost:3000</c>, <c>-D 1080</c>. No bind address, because
+    /// there is never one to show.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public string Notation => Kind switch
+    {
+        PortForwardKind.Local => $"-L {Port(BindPort)}:{TargetHost}:{Port(TargetPort)}",
+        PortForwardKind.Remote => $"-R {Port(BindPort)}:{TargetHost}:{Port(TargetPort)}",
+        _ => $"-D {Port(BindPort)}",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>Checks the fields that must hold before this can be stored.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Deliberately silent about two forwards on one port. Two machines each adding one is exactly what the
+    /// merge produces, and a host that failed validation after a merge could not be written back at all; the
+    /// second listener fails when it starts instead, and says so. The editor refuses the duplicate up front.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public bool TryValidate([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (Id == Guid.Empty)
+        {
+            reason = "A port forward cannot have an empty id.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (!Enum.IsDefined(Kind))
+        {
+            reason = $"'{(int)Kind}' is not a kind of port forward.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (BindPort is < 1 or > 65535)
+        {
+            reason = $"A forward's listening port must be between 1 and 65535, not {BindPort}.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (Kind is PortForwardKind.Dynamic)
+        {
+            if (TargetHost is not null || TargetPort is not null)
+            {
+                reason = "A dynamic forward has no target: each connection through it names its own.";
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            reason = null;
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        return TargetIsStorable(out reason);
+    }
+
+    private static string Port(int? port) => port?.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) ?? "?";
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Whitespace and control characters are refused as well as blanks: neither is part of any host name,
+    /// both are what a corrupted payload looks like, and this string is drawn on screen as it stands.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private bool TargetIsStorable([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(TargetHost))
+        {
+            reason = "A forward needs a host to forward to.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (TargetHost.Length > MaxTargetHostLength)
+        {
+            reason = $"A forward's target cannot be longer than {MaxTargetHostLength} characters.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        foreach (var ch in TargetHost)
+        {
+            if (char.IsControl(ch) || char.IsWhiteSpace(ch))
+            {
+                reason = "A forward's target cannot contain spaces or control characters.";
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        if (TargetPort is not (>= 1 and <= 65535))
+        {
+            reason = TargetPort is { } port
+                ? $"A forward's target port must be between 1 and 65535, not {port}."
+                : "A forward needs a port to forward to.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/SpelunkKeySecret.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A Spelunk API key and the one Spelunk it may be sent to, decrypted.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>The address is what makes this an item of its own.</b> A key kept as a credential's password can be
+/// sent anywhere a host names, and a link from Spelunk can be sent by anything on the machine — so a link
+/// that is not already backed by a saved host has to stop and ask. A key stored with its address says, once
+/// and in the keychain, where the user agreed it may go: a link from that Spelunk connects straight away, and
+/// a host naming this key with any other address is refused at connect rather than sending it there. See
+/// <c>VaultViewModel.OpenSpelunkLinkAsync</c>.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b><see cref="ApiKey"/> is a password, and everything this codebase does about passwords applies to
+/// it</b>, as it does to <see cref="ObjectStoreSecret.SecretAccessKey"/>: it is inside the encrypted payload,
+/// the activity log records that it changed and never what it was, and the merge reports that it differed
+/// rather than either value.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed record SpelunkKeySecret : IVaultSecret
+{
+    /// <summary>The longest API key stored.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Far beyond any real key, for the reason <see cref="SpelunkRoute.MaxApiBaseLength"/> exists: an
+    /// unbounded string is the shape a corrupted payload takes, and this one goes into a request header.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int MaxApiKeyLength = 4096;
+
+    /// <summary>What the user calls this key.</summary>
+    public required string Label { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The Spelunk API this key is for, as <see cref="SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase"/> writes it, and the
+    /// only address it is ever sent to.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Normalised for the reason <see cref="SpelunkRoute.ApiBase"/> is: it is compared, byte for byte, with
+    /// the address a host or a link names.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public required string ApiBase { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>The API key itself, as Spelunk issued it.</summary>
+    public required string ApiKey { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether this is storable, and why not if it is not.</summary>
+    public bool TryValidate([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(Label))
+        {
+            reason = "A Spelunk key needs a name.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ApiBase))
+        {
+            reason = "A Spelunk key needs the address of the Spelunk it is for.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (!SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase(ApiBase, out var normalized, out reason))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (!string.Equals(normalized, ApiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            reason = "The Spelunk API address is not in its normal form.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(ApiKey))
+        {
+            reason = "A Spelunk key needs the key.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // A header value cannot hold a line break, and a key with one would fail at the first connect with an
+        // HTTP error that names neither the key nor this item.
+        if (ApiKey.Length > MaxApiKeyLength || ApiKey.Any(char.IsControl))
+        {
+            reason = "That does not look like a Spelunk API key.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/SpelunkKeySecretCodec.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+using System.Text.Json;
+using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>A decoded Spelunk key payload, together with the schema version it was written at.</summary>
+/// <param name="Key">The key.</param>
+/// <param name="SchemaVersion">The version the writing client used.</param>
+public sealed record SpelunkKeySecretDocument(SpelunkKeySecret Key, int SchemaVersion)
+{
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="HostSecretDocument.IsReadOnly" />
+    public bool IsReadOnly => SchemaVersion > SpelunkKeySecretCodec.CurrentSchemaVersion;
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Encodes and decodes the plaintext inside a Spelunk key item's encrypted payload.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Mirrors <see cref="ObjectStoreSecretCodec"/>, for the same reasons and with the same guarantees.
+/// </remarks>
+public static class SpelunkKeySecretCodec
+{
+    /// <summary>The schema version this build writes.</summary>
+    public const int CurrentSchemaVersion = 1;
+
+    /// <summary>Serialises a key to the bytes that get sealed.</summary>
+    /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">The key is not valid for storage.</exception>
+    public static byte[] Encode(SpelunkKeySecret key)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(key);
+
+        if (!key.TryValidate(out var reason))
+        {
+            throw new ArgumentException(reason, nameof(key));
+        }
+
+        var document = new SpelunkKeyPayloadDocument
+        {
+            SchemaVersion = CurrentSchemaVersion,
+            Label = key.Label,
+            ApiBase = key.ApiBase,
+            ApiKey = key.ApiKey,
+        };
+
+        return JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(
+            document, SpelunkKeyPayloadJsonContext.Default.SpelunkKeyPayloadDocument);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Parses a decrypted payload.</summary>
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="HostSecretCodec.TryDecode" path="/remarks" />
+    public static bool TryDecode(
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> payload,
+        [NotNullWhen(true)] out SpelunkKeySecretDocument? document)
+    {
+        document = null;
+
+        SpelunkKeyPayloadDocument? parsed;
+        try
+        {
+            parsed = JsonSerializer.Deserialize(
+                payload, SpelunkKeyPayloadJsonContext.Default.SpelunkKeyPayloadDocument);
+        }
+        catch (JsonException)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (parsed is null || parsed.SchemaVersion < 1)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        var candidate = new SpelunkKeySecret
+        {
+            Label = parsed.Label ?? string.Empty,
+            ApiBase = parsed.ApiBase ?? string.Empty,
+            ApiKey = parsed.ApiKey ?? string.Empty,
+        };
+
+        // A key whose address is not in its normal form is refused rather than normalised here: the address
+        // is what decides where the key may go, and a payload that disagrees with how every client writes it
+        // is not one to guess about.
+        if (!candidate.TryValidate(out _))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        document = new SpelunkKeySecretDocument(candidate, parsed.SchemaVersion);
+        return true;
+    }
+}
+
+/// <summary>The serialised shape. Mutable and nullable because it models untrusted input.</summary>
+/// <inheritdoc cref="HostPayloadDocument" path="/remarks" />
+internal sealed class SpelunkKeyPayloadDocument
+{
+    public int SchemaVersion { get; set; }
+
+    public string? Label { get; set; }
+
+    public string? ApiBase { get; set; }
+
+    public string? ApiKey { get; set; }
+}
+
+[JsonSourceGenerationOptions(
+    PropertyNamingPolicy = JsonKnownNamingPolicy.CamelCase,
+    DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
+    UnmappedMemberHandling = JsonUnmappedMemberHandling.Skip)]
+[JsonSerializable(typeof(SpelunkKeyPayloadDocument))]
+internal sealed partial class SpelunkKeyPayloadJsonContext : JsonSerializerContext;

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/SpelunkKeySecretMerge.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>The merged Spelunk key, and everything that had to be overridden to produce it.</summary>
+/// <param name="Merged">The key to store and push.</param>
+/// <param name="Conflicts">Empty when the two sides were reconcilable field by field.</param>
+public sealed record SpelunkKeyMergeResult(
+    SpelunkKeySecret Merged,
+    IReadOnlyList<HostFieldConflict> Conflicts)
+{
+    /// <summary>Whether anything had to be overridden.</summary>
+    public bool HasConflicts => Conflicts.Count > 0;
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Merges two divergent versions of a Spelunk key against the version they both started from.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>The address and the key merge as one value, not two.</b> The pair is the whole meaning of this item —
+/// "this key may go to this Spelunk" — and merging them apart could keep one device's new address beside the
+/// other device's new key, sending a key to a Spelunk nobody ever paired it with. So when both sides changed
+/// the pair, one side's pair is kept whole.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>The key never reaches the conflict log</b>, for the reason a secret access key does not: a discarded
+/// one is very often still live. The addresses are shown, because which Spelunk the kept key goes to is the
+/// whole content of the notice.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public static class SpelunkKeySecretMerge
+{
+    /// <summary>The name a conflict over the address and key is recorded under.</summary>
+    public const string PairField = "ApiBaseAndKey";
+
+    /// <summary>Produces the merged key.</summary>
+    /// <param name="ancestor">The version both sides branched from.</param>
+    /// <param name="local">The pending local version.</param>
+    /// <param name="remote">The server's current version.</param>
+    public static SpelunkKeyMergeResult Merge(
+        SpelunkKeySecret ancestor,
+        SpelunkKeySecret local,
+        SpelunkKeySecret remote)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(ancestor);
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(local);
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(remote);
+
+        var conflicts = new List<HostFieldConflict>();
+
+        var label = ThreeWayMerge.Scalar(ancestor.Label, local.Label, remote.Label, StringComparer.Ordinal);
+
+        if (label.IsConflicted)
+        {
+            conflicts.Add(new HostFieldConflict(
+                nameof(SpelunkKeySecret.Label),
+                MergeSide.Local,
+                label.Value,
+                label.Discarded ?? "(none)",
+                DiscardedWasRemoval: false));
+        }
+
+        // A tuple of two strings compares both ordinally, which is the comparison each field needs.
+        var pair = ThreeWayMerge.Scalar(
+            (ancestor.ApiBase, ancestor.ApiKey),
+            (local.ApiBase, local.ApiKey),
+            (remote.ApiBase, remote.ApiKey));
+
+        if (pair.IsConflicted)
+        {
+            conflicts.Add(new HostFieldConflict(
+                PairField,
+                MergeSide.Local,
+                $"{pair.Value.ApiBase} (with its key)",
+                string.Equals(pair.Discarded.ApiBase, pair.Value.ApiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal)
+                    ? "(a different key for the same address was discarded)"
+                    : $"{pair.Discarded.ApiBase} (with its key)",
+                DiscardedWasRemoval: false));
+        }
+
+        var merged = new SpelunkKeySecret
+        {
+            Label = label.Value,
+            ApiBase = pair.Value.ApiBase,
+            ApiKey = pair.Value.ApiKey,
+        };
+
+        return new SpelunkKeyMergeResult(merged, conflicts);
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Domain/SpelunkRoute.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,192 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// How a host is reached through Spelunk: which Spelunk, which of its servers, and which key opens the way.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Spelunk manages servers through an agent that runs on each of them and keeps a connection open to
+/// Spelunk. A host carrying one of these is never dialled: a connection to it asks that Spelunk for a
+/// ticket, opens a WebSocket, and Spelunk hands the bytes to the agent, which connects to the SSH server on
+/// the machine's own loopback. That reaches a server with no public SSH port at all — which is the case
+/// this exists for — and it is why nothing here names an address to dial.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Inside the host's encrypted payload, and nowhere else.</b> Unlike the relay, nothing about this has to
+/// be readable by the DodoSSH server: the tunnel is opened by this client, against Spelunk, with a key only
+/// the vault holds. So the concession ADR 0004 argues for the relay's address is not made for this.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>The API key is referenced, not embedded.</b> <see cref="ApiKeyCredentialId"/> names the keychain item
+/// holding it, for the reason <see cref="HostSecret.CredentialId"/> gives: one Spelunk key is the key for
+/// every server in its organisation, and a copy per host is twenty places to rotate it and one to forget.
+/// That item is a <see cref="SpelunkKeySecret"/>, which also says the one address the key may go to, or —
+/// for a host set up before those existed — an ordinary credential whose password is the key.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed record SpelunkRoute
+{
+    /// <summary>The longest API address stored.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Far beyond any real address, and there for the reason <see cref="HostSecret.MaxPinnedPathLength"/>
+    /// is: this is rendered by every device that decrypts the host, and an unbounded string is the shape a
+    /// corrupted payload takes.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int MaxApiBaseLength = 512;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The Spelunk API's base address, as <see cref="TryNormalizeApiBase"/> writes it — for example
+    /// <c>https://api.spelunk.example.com</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A string in its normalised form rather than a <see cref="Uri"/>, because this is compared: two hosts
+    /// on the same Spelunk must say so in the same bytes, or a link from Spelunk would not find the host
+    /// already saved for it and the merge would see a change nobody made.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public required string ApiBase { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>The server's id in Spelunk.</summary>
+    public required Guid ServerId { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The keychain item holding the Spelunk API key: a <see cref="SpelunkKeySecret"/>, or a credential whose
+    /// password is the key.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Named for the credential it always was, and kept so on the wire: item ids are unique across kinds, so
+    /// the one id says which, and a build that predates Spelunk keys reads a host naming one as a host whose
+    /// key credential has gone — refused at connect, and kept as it is by an edit — rather than as damage.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Required rather than nullable. A route with no key can never be opened, and a host saved that way
+    /// would refuse every connection with a sentence about something the editor let through. The reference
+    /// can still dangle — the credential may be deleted on another machine — and that is refused where it
+    /// is noticed, at connect, exactly as a missing SSH credential is.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public required Guid ApiKeyCredentialId { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether Spelunk signs the user in, so the host needs no SSH key, credential or password of its own.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// For each connection this client makes a throwaway key pair in memory and sends the public half with
+    /// the ticket request, which the API key authorises. The agent then runs a one-connection SSH server on
+    /// the machine whose only authorised key is that one, and says which account it logs in as. It is real
+    /// SSH to the server's own host key, so shells, file transfer and port forwards work as for any host,
+    /// and the key is gone when the connection is.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>What the host says about logging in is then not asked.</b> Its username, key, credential and
+    /// typed-password choice — its own or a group's — are left alone rather than refused, because they are
+    /// the host's answer for the day this is unticked, and refusing a host that carries them would make a
+    /// merge of two honest edits undecodable. The editor stores no binding beside this, and the connect path
+    /// never reads one for a host that has it. See <c>VaultViewModel.TryBuildAuthentication</c>.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Written from <see cref="HostSecretCodec.SpelunkSignInSchemaVersion"/>, and only when true, so a route
+    /// without it encodes exactly as it did before it existed.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public bool SignInThroughSpelunk { get; init; }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether this is the route to the given server on the given Spelunk.</summary>
+    /// <param name="apiBase">A normalised API base, as <see cref="TryNormalizeApiBase"/> writes it.</param>
+    /// <param name="serverId">The server's id in Spelunk.</param>
+    public bool IsFor(string apiBase, Guid serverId) =>
+        ServerId == serverId && string.Equals(ApiBase, apiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal);
+
+    /// <summary>Checks that this route can be stored and opened.</summary>
+    public bool TryValidate([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (!TryNormalizeApiBase(ApiBase, out var normalized, out reason))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // Stored normalised or not at all, for the comparison the remarks on ApiBase depend on.
+        if (!string.Equals(normalized, ApiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            reason = "The Spelunk API address is not in its normal form.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (ServerId == Guid.Empty)
+        {
+            reason = "A host reached through Spelunk needs the id of its Spelunk server.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (ApiKeyCredentialId == Guid.Empty)
+        {
+            reason = "A host reached through Spelunk needs its Spelunk API key chosen.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Reads a Spelunk API address as a user or a link gives it, into the one form it is stored in.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>HTTPS, or plain HTTP to this machine only.</b> The API key travels in a header on every tunnel, so
+    /// an address that sends it in clear across a network is refused rather than stored. A Spelunk running
+    /// on the developer's own box is the one place plain HTTP is harmless, and it is allowed there so the
+    /// feature can be tried against one.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// No user name, password, query or fragment: none of them means anything to the API, and the first two
+    /// are the classic way to make an address read as one host while naming another. What is left is the
+    /// scheme, the authority and any path prefix, lower-cased where URLs are case-insensitive and without a
+    /// trailing slash — so the same Spelunk typed twice is stored the same way twice.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public static bool TryNormalizeApiBase(
+        string? text,
+        [NotNullWhen(true)] out string? apiBase,
+        [NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        apiBase = null;
+
+        var trimmed = text?.Trim() ?? string.Empty;
+
+        if (trimmed.Length == 0)
+        {
+            reason = "A host reached through Spelunk needs the address of the Spelunk API.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (trimmed.Length > MaxApiBaseLength
+            || !Uri.TryCreate(trimmed, UriKind.Absolute, out var uri)
+            || uri.Scheme is not ("https" or "http")
+            || uri.HostNameType is UriHostNameType.Unknown
+            || string.IsNullOrEmpty(uri.Host))
+        {
+            reason = "The Spelunk API address must be a web address, like https://api.spelunk.example.com.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (string.Equals(uri.Scheme, Uri.UriSchemeHttp, StringComparison.Ordinal) && !uri.IsLoopback)
+        {
+            reason = "The Spelunk API address must use https, because the API key is sent with every connection.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (uri.UserInfo.Length > 0 || uri.Query.Length > 0 || uri.Fragment.Length > 0)
+        {
+            reason = "The Spelunk API address cannot carry a user name, a query or a fragment.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        apiBase = uri.GetLeftPart(UriPartial.Path).TrimEnd('/');
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/ConnectionRoute.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A way to a host that is not a dial: one connection long, handed to SSH.NET as a loopback proxy.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Two things answer to this — the server relay (<see cref="RelayRoute"/>) and a Spelunk tunnel
+/// (<see cref="SpelunkTunnelRoute"/>) — and both are the same shape underneath: a WebSocket carrying the
+/// SSH bytes, and a <see cref="RelayBridge"/> that turns it into an address SSH.NET can be given. What the
+/// connect path needs from either is exactly that address, the reason the far end gave if it hung up, and a
+/// way to let go of it when the connect never got as far as handing it over.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Handing <see cref="Proxy"/> to a connection hands the bridge over with it, so the connection's own
+/// disposal is what closes the route. <see cref="IAsyncDisposable.DisposeAsync"/> is for a caller that ends
+/// up not connecting; after a hand-over it does nothing, because the bridge's disposal is idempotent.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public interface IConnectionRoute : IAsyncDisposable
+{
+    /// <summary>The loopback proxy to connect through, which owns the route from then on.</summary>
+    SshLoopbackProxy Proxy { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// What the far end said when it closed, in words a user can act on; null when it has not closed, or
+    /// closed with nothing to say.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// For a connect that failed. SSH.NET reports a route that hung up as a stream that ended, which reads
+    /// exactly like the direct connection the route was chosen to get around — so the route's own reason,
+    /// when it gave one, replaces it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    string? Failure { get; }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/DodoSSH.Client.Session.csproj

@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@
 
   <ItemGroup>
     <InternalsVisibleTo Include="DodoSSH.Client.Session.Tests" />
+    <!-- The shell suite drives a real ServerRelay over an in-process socket through its test constructor. -->
+    <InternalsVisibleTo Include="DodoSSH.Client.App.Tests" />
   </ItemGroup>
 
 </Project>

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/ServerConnection.cs

@@ -161,6 +161,15 @@ public interface IVaultServer : IDisposable
     /// </remarks>
     IVaultEventStream Events { get; }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Reaches a host through the server, for a host set to connect that way.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Never null, for the reason <see cref="Events"/> is not: a server without a relay supplies
+    /// <see cref="UnavailableServerRelay"/>, which refuses in words. See ADR 0004.
+    /// </remarks>
+    IServerRelay Relay { get; }
+
     /// <summary>Obtains the identity provider's signature over a key statement.</summary>
     IKeyBindingAuthorizer KeyBinding { get; }
 
@@ -226,6 +235,12 @@ public sealed class ServerConnection : IVaultServer
         Events = meta.Features.Contains(VaultEvents.Feature, StringComparer.Ordinal)
             ? new VaultEventStream(serverUrl, tokens, clock)
             : IdleVaultEventStream.Instance;
+
+        // Decided the same way and for the same reason. Configuration.Relay says the same thing twice;
+        // meta is what the server says it does, and is what Events is decided from.
+        Relay = meta.Features.Contains(RelayProtocol.Feature, StringComparer.Ordinal)
+            ? new ServerRelay(api)
+            : UnavailableServerRelay.Instance;
     }
 
     /// <summary>The server this is connected to.</summary>
@@ -261,6 +276,9 @@ public sealed class ServerConnection : IVaultServer
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public IVaultEventStream Events { get; }
 
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public IServerRelay Relay { get; }
+
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public IKeyBindingAuthorizer KeyBinding => Oidc;
 

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/ServerRelay.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,262 @@
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.WebSockets;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Api;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+using DodoSSH.Contracts;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Reaches a host through the server, for a host this machine cannot dial itself.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Always present on <see cref="IVaultServer"/>, like <see cref="IVaultServer.Events"/>: a server that does
+/// not relay supplies <see cref="UnavailableServerRelay"/>, whose answer is a sentence saying so. That keeps
+/// the connect path on one shape, and it means the refusal a user reads is the same whether the server said
+/// no before being asked or when it was.
+/// </remarks>
+public interface IServerRelay
+{
+    /// <summary>Whether this server advertises a relay at all.</summary>
+    bool IsOffered { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a relay to one host, ready for a connection to be made through it.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Asks for a ticket, opens the socket and starts the bridge, in that order and at once — the ticket is
+    /// spent by the socket and dead thirty seconds after issue, so this is called by the connect that will
+    /// use it and never ahead of one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <exception cref="ServerRelayException">The relay could not be opened; the message says why.</exception>
+    Task<RelayRoute> OpenAsync(Guid hostId, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// An open relay, one connection long.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Handing <see cref="Proxy"/> to a connection hands the bridge over with it, so the connection's own
+/// disposal is what closes the relay. <see cref="DisposeAsync"/> is for a caller that ends up not
+/// connecting; after a hand-over it does nothing, because the bridge's disposal is idempotent.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class RelayRoute : IConnectionRoute
+{
+    private readonly RelayBridge bridge;
+
+    internal RelayRoute(RelayBridge bridge) => this.bridge = bridge;
+
+    /// <summary>The loopback proxy to connect through, which owns the relay from then on.</summary>
+    public SshLoopbackProxy Proxy => bridge.Proxy;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// What the relay said when it closed, in words a user can act on; null when it has not closed, or
+    /// closed with nothing to say.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// For a connect that failed. SSH.NET reports a relay that hung up as a stream that ended — which reads
+    /// exactly like the direct connection that failed and sent the user to the relay — so the relay's own
+    /// reason, when it gave one, replaces it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public string? Failure => bridge.CloseStatus is { } status ? Describe((int)status) : null;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public ValueTask DisposeAsync() => bridge.DisposeAsync();
+
+    private static string? Describe(int code) => code switch
+    {
+        RelayProtocol.TargetUnreachableCloseCode =>
+            "The server relay could not reach this host. The server dials it on your behalf, so the "
+            + "address has to be one the server can reach — check it from the server's side.",
+
+        RelayProtocol.TooManySessionsCloseCode =>
+            "The server relay has as many sessions open as it allows. Close one and try again.",
+
+        (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.EndpointUnavailable =>
+            "The server relay is restarting. Try again in a moment.",
+
+        RelayProtocol.IdleTimeoutCloseCode => "The server relay closed the connection for being idle.",
+
+        RelayProtocol.DurationLimitCloseCode =>
+            "The server relay closed the connection: it reached the longest session the server allows.",
+
+        _ => null,
+    };
+}
+
+/// <summary>A relay that could not be opened, with the reason in its message.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Its own type so the connect path can tell a relay refusal from a connection failure. The first has an
+/// exact reason already, and running the reachability probe over it would dial the direct address — the one
+/// the user chose the relay because they cannot reach — and append a finding about the wrong path.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class ServerRelayException : Exception
+{
+    /// <summary>A refusal with nothing underneath it.</summary>
+    public ServerRelayException(string message)
+        : base(message)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>A refusal and what caused it.</summary>
+    public ServerRelayException(string message, Exception innerException)
+        : base(message, innerException)
+    {
+    }
+}
+
+/// <summary>The relay of a server that does not offer one.</summary>
+public sealed class UnavailableServerRelay : IServerRelay
+{
+    private UnavailableServerRelay()
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The one instance.</summary>
+    public static UnavailableServerRelay Instance { get; } = new();
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public bool IsOffered => false;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public Task<RelayRoute> OpenAsync(Guid hostId, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        Task.FromException<RelayRoute>(new ServerRelayException(ServerRelay.NotOffered));
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The relay of a server that offers one: a ticket from the API, a socket, and a bridge.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// See ADR 0004 for the protocol and <c>docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md</c> for why the bridge
+/// speaks SOCKS5. Every way this can fail is turned into a sentence here, because the codes are the
+/// server's and the one place that should know what each means is the one that asked.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class ServerRelay : IServerRelay
+{
+    /// <summary>What a user is told when the server they are signed in to does not relay.</summary>
+    internal const string NotOffered =
+        "This host is set to connect through the server relay, and this server does not offer one. "
+        + "Untick “Connect through the server relay” in the host's settings to dial it directly.";
+
+    private readonly IRelayApi api;
+    private readonly Func<Uri, IReadOnlyList<string>, CancellationToken, Task<WebSocket>> connect;
+
+    /// <summary>A relay reached through this API client.</summary>
+    public ServerRelay(IRelayApi api)
+        : this(api, DialAsync)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>A relay whose socket is opened by <paramref name="connect"/>, for tests.</summary>
+    internal ServerRelay(
+        IRelayApi api,
+        Func<Uri, IReadOnlyList<string>, CancellationToken, Task<WebSocket>> connect)
+    {
+        this.api = api;
+        this.connect = connect;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public bool IsOffered => true;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public async Task<RelayRoute> OpenAsync(Guid hostId, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        RelayTicketResponse ticket;
+
+        try
+        {
+            ticket = await api.IssueRelayTicketAsync(hostId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (DodoSshApiException exception)
+        {
+            throw new ServerRelayException(Describe(exception), exception);
+        }
+        catch (HttpRequestException exception)
+        {
+            throw new ServerRelayException(
+                $"The server could not be reached to open the relay: {exception.Message}",
+                exception);
+        }
+
+        // The ticket as a second subprotocol, which is how ADR 0004 carries it: a header every WebSocket
+        // client can set. The server echoes the first alone.
+        var socket = await connect(
+                ticket.WebSocketUrl,
+                [RelayProtocol.SubProtocol, RelayProtocol.TicketProtocolPrefix + ticket.Ticket],
+                cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        return new RelayRoute(RelayBridge.Start(socket));
+    }
+
+    private static string Describe(DodoSshApiException exception) => exception.Code switch
+    {
+        ProblemCodes.RelayUnavailable => NotOffered,
+
+        // Deliberately unspecific on the server's side, so that it cannot be used to map the operator's
+        // network. The likeliest causes from here are the two this machine can check.
+        ProblemCodes.RelayTargetRejected =>
+            "The server refused to relay to this host. Check that the change turning the relay on has "
+            + "synchronised, and that the address is one the server is allowed to reach; the server's log "
+            + "records which.",
+
+        ProblemCodes.RelayLimitReached =>
+            "You have as many relay sessions open as the server allows. Close one and try again.",
+
+        _ => $"The server would not open the relay: {exception.Message}",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>Opens the relay socket, and translates a refused upgrade into its reason.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The status of a refused upgrade is collected, which a constrained client could not do and this one
+    /// can: a 401 is a ticket the relay would not take — spent, expired, or issued by a node whose key ring
+    /// this one does not share — and asking again is the remedy.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static async Task<WebSocket> DialAsync(
+        Uri url,
+        IReadOnlyList<string> protocols,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var socket = new ClientWebSocket();
+
+        try
+        {
+            foreach (var protocol in protocols)
+            {
+                socket.Options.AddSubProtocol(protocol);
+            }
+
+            socket.Options.CollectHttpResponseDetails = true;
+
+            await socket.ConnectAsync(url, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (WebSocketException exception)
+        {
+            var status = socket.HttpStatusCode;
+            socket.Dispose();
+
+            throw new ServerRelayException(
+                status == HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized
+                    ? "The server relay refused its ticket. Try connecting again."
+                    : $"The server relay could not be reached: {exception.Message}",
+                exception);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            socket.Dispose();
+            throw;
+        }
+
+        if (!string.Equals(socket.SubProtocol, RelayProtocol.SubProtocol, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+            socket.Dispose();
+
+            throw new ServerRelayException(
+                "The server relay answered in a protocol this app does not speak. Update the app or the server.");
+        }
+
+        return socket;
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/SpelunkLink.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,209 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+using System.Text;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A <c>dodossh://spelunk/connect</c> link from Spelunk's web interface, read and checked.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Spelunk puts one of these behind a "Open in DodoSSH" button on a server's page:
+/// <c>dodossh://spelunk/connect?api=…&amp;server=…&amp;name=…&amp;host=…</c>. It says which Spelunk and which
+/// server, and what to call it. <b>It never carries a credential</b>, and nothing reads one out of it: the
+/// API key is the user's, chosen in the vault, and a link that could supply one would be a link that could
+/// supply somebody else's.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Anything on the machine can hand this application a link</b> — a web page, a mail, another program —
+/// so a link is data to check, never an instruction. It is refused whole unless it is exactly this shape,
+/// and the most it can ever do is connect to a host a link made before, add one for another server on a
+/// Spelunk a saved host already sends its API key to — with that same key — or open the editor on a new
+/// one that the user then has to finish and save. It never sends an API key anywhere a saved host does
+/// not already send it. See <c>VaultViewModel.OpenSpelunkLinkAsync</c>.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+/// <param name="ApiBase">The Spelunk API's base address, normalised as <see cref="SpelunkRoute"/> stores it.</param>
+/// <param name="ServerId">The server's id in Spelunk.</param>
+/// <param name="Name">What Spelunk calls the server, cleaned for display.</param>
+/// <param name="Host">The server's public address as Spelunk knows it, or null when it gave none.</param>
+public sealed record SpelunkLink(string ApiBase, Guid ServerId, string Name, string? Host)
+{
+    /// <summary>The URL scheme DodoSSH registers.</summary>
+    public const string Scheme = "dodossh";
+
+    /// <summary>The longest link read at all. Anything longer is refused before it is parsed.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A real link is a few hundred characters. The bound is what a second launch may put down the doorbell
+    /// pipe, and what the parser is asked to walk — neither of which should be up to the sender.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int MaxLength = 4096;
+
+    /// <summary>The longest name kept. Longer is cut, not refused: it is only a label.</summary>
+    public const int MaxNameLength = 100;
+
+    private const string Authority = "spelunk";
+    private const string Path = "/connect";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The hostname a new host from this link is given: Spelunk's address for the server, or a name made
+    /// from its id when there is none.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// It is not dialled — the tunnel ignores it — but the host key is pinned under it, so it has to be
+    /// stable for this server and unlike any other. The id is both; the address is also what the user would
+    /// recognise, and a key already trusted for a direct connection to that address is found again.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public string Hostname => Host ?? $"spelunk-{ServerId}";
+
+    /// <summary>Whether a string looks like it is meant to be one of these, before checking it is one.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// For the launcher, which is handed arguments of every kind and needs to tell a link that failed the
+    /// checks from something that was never a link.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public static bool LooksLikeOne(string? text) =>
+        text is not null && text.StartsWith(Scheme + ":", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+
+    /// <summary>Reads a link, or refuses it.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Strict on everything that decides where anything goes: the scheme, <c>spelunk</c> as the authority
+    /// with no user, password or port, <c>/connect</c> as the path, no fragment, each known parameter at
+    /// most once, an API address <see cref="SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase"/> accepts, and a server id
+    /// that is a real one. Unknown parameters are ignored rather than refused, so a newer Spelunk can add
+    /// one without every existing DodoSSH ignoring its links outright.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Lenient only on the name, which is display text: control characters become spaces and a long one is
+    /// cut. A missing name falls back to the host, then to a plain one.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public static bool TryParse(string? text, [NotNullWhen(true)] out SpelunkLink? link)
+    {
+        link = null;
+
+        if (text is null
+            || text.Length > MaxLength
+            || text.Any(character => char.IsWhiteSpace(character) || char.IsControl(character))
+            || !Uri.TryCreate(text, UriKind.Absolute, out var uri)
+            || !string.Equals(uri.Scheme, Scheme, StringComparison.Ordinal)
+            || !string.Equals(uri.Host, Authority, StringComparison.Ordinal)
+            || uri.UserInfo.Length > 0
+            || !uri.IsDefaultPort
+            || !string.Equals(uri.AbsolutePath, Path, StringComparison.Ordinal)
+            || uri.Fragment.Length > 0
+            || !TryReadQuery(QueryOf(text), out var parameters)
+            || !parameters.TryGetValue("api", out var api)
+            || !SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase(api, out var apiBase, out _)
+            || !parameters.TryGetValue("server", out var server)
+            || !Guid.TryParseExact(server, "D", out var serverId)
+            || serverId == Guid.Empty)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        string? host = null;
+
+        if (parameters.TryGetValue("host", out var given) && given.Trim() is { Length: > 0 } trimmed)
+        {
+            if (trimmed.Length > 253 || Uri.CheckHostName(trimmed) is UriHostNameType.Unknown)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            host = trimmed;
+        }
+
+        var name = Clean(parameters.GetValueOrDefault("name")) ?? host ?? "Spelunk server";
+
+        link = new SpelunkLink(apiBase, serverId, name, host);
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The link written out again, in the one form <see cref="TryParse"/> reads back to the same value.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// What a second launch sends the running instance, so the instance parses a link this build wrote rather
+    /// than whatever the browser handed over.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public override string ToString()
+    {
+        var builder = new StringBuilder($"{Scheme}://{Authority}{Path}?api=")
+            .Append(Uri.EscapeDataString(ApiBase))
+            .Append("&server=")
+            .Append(ServerId.ToString("D"))
+            .Append("&name=")
+            .Append(Uri.EscapeDataString(Name));
+
+        if (Host is not null)
+        {
+            builder.Append("&host=").Append(Uri.EscapeDataString(Host));
+        }
+
+        return builder.ToString();
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Splits a query into its known parameters, refusing one that names any of them twice.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// By hand rather than through a web utility, because this project has none and because the rule that
+    /// matters — twice is refused, not "last wins" — is one no general-purpose parser applies. <c>+</c> is a
+    /// space, as a browser's form encoding writes it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool TryReadQuery(string query, out Dictionary<string, string> parameters)
+    {
+        parameters = new Dictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.Ordinal);
+
+        foreach (var pair in query.Split('&', StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries))
+        {
+            var equals = pair.IndexOf('=', StringComparison.Ordinal);
+            var key = equals < 0 ? pair : pair[..equals];
+            var value = equals < 0 ? string.Empty : pair[(equals + 1)..];
+
+            if (key is not ("api" or "server" or "name" or "host"))
+            {
+                continue;
+            }
+
+            string decoded;
+
+            try
+            {
+                decoded = Uri.UnescapeDataString(value.Replace('+', ' '));
+            }
+            catch (UriFormatException)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            if (!parameters.TryAdd(key, decoded))
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+        }
+
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The query exactly as it was written, rather than as <see cref="Uri"/> re-escapes it.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <see cref="Uri"/> has no rules for a scheme it does not know, and how much of the query it unescapes
+    /// for one is its business. Taking the text after the first <c>?</c> means every parameter is decoded
+    /// exactly once, here.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static string QueryOf(string text) =>
+        text.IndexOf('?', StringComparison.Ordinal) is var at and >= 0 ? text[(at + 1)..] : string.Empty;
+
+    private static string? Clean(string? name)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(name))
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        var cleaned = new string([.. name.Trim().Select(character => char.IsControl(character) ? ' ' : character)]);
+
+        return cleaned.Length > MaxNameLength ? cleaned[..MaxNameLength].TrimEnd() : cleaned;
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/SpelunkSignIn.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+using System.Text;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The throwaway key one connection signs in to a Spelunk server with.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// For a host set to sign in through Spelunk — see <c>SpelunkRoute.SignInThroughSpelunk</c> — each connection
+/// makes one of these, sends <see cref="PublicKeyLine"/> with its ticket request, and authenticates with
+/// <see cref="Credential"/> once the tunnel is up. Spelunk's agent runs a one-connection SSH server whose only
+/// authorised key is this one, so the key is worth nothing after the connection it was made for.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Made in memory and never kept.</b> Nothing writes it to a disk or to the vault, and nothing logs it:
+/// <see cref="ToString"/> says what it is and nothing of what it holds. Ed25519, which is what
+/// <see cref="SshKeyGenerator"/> makes instantly and what every OpenSSH the agent could start accepts.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SpelunkSignIn
+{
+    /// <summary>The account Spelunk signs in as when its answer does not name one.</summary>
+    public const string DefaultUser = "root";
+
+    /// <summary>The comment the public key carries, which is what Spelunk and the server's logs see.</summary>
+    internal const string KeyComment = "dodossh-spelunk-sign-in";
+
+    private SpelunkSignIn(string publicKeyLine, SshPrivateKeyCredential credential)
+    {
+        PublicKeyLine = publicKeyLine;
+        Credential = credential;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The public half, as one OpenSSH <c>authorized_keys</c> line: <c>ssh-ed25519 AAAA… comment</c>.</summary>
+    public string PublicKeyLine { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>The private half, in the form a connection authenticates with.</summary>
+    public SshPrivateKeyCredential Credential { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>Makes a fresh key pair for one connection.</summary>
+    public static SpelunkSignIn Create()
+    {
+        var key = SshKeyGenerator.Generate(SshKeyAlgorithm.Ed25519, KeyComment);
+
+        return new SpelunkSignIn(
+            key.PublicKeyLine.Trim(),
+            new SshPrivateKeyCredential(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(key.PrivateKeyArmour), Passphrase: null));
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    /// <remarks>Says nothing of the key, so one that reaches a log by accident takes nothing with it.</remarks>
+    public override string ToString() => "Spelunk sign-in key";
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The credential of a connection that will sign in through Spelunk, before the tunnel has made its key.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// A host that signs in through Spelunk is resolved to a login before anything is opened — the same
+/// resolution every host goes through — but its key does not exist until the tunnel is opened, and the
+/// account is whatever Spelunk then says. This stands in for the key until the route replaces it, together
+/// with the username, as the connection is made through it.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>It authenticates nothing.</b> The SSH layer knows only passwords and private keys, and refuses any other
+/// credential before it dials — so a path that forgot to take the route's key fails closed rather than
+/// sending something else in its place.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed record SpelunkSignInPending : SshCredential
+{
+    /// <summary>The one value; there is nothing in it to tell two apart.</summary>
+    public static SpelunkSignInPending Instance { get; } = new();
+
+    private SpelunkSignInPending()
+    {
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/SpelunkTunnel.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,661 @@
+using System.Globalization;
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Http.Headers;
+using System.Net.Http.Json;
+using System.Net.WebSockets;
+using System.Text;
+using System.Text.Json;
+using System.Text.Json.Serialization;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Spelunk's tunnel: the routes, the subprotocol and the close codes, as Spelunk defines them.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// The same two steps as the server relay's, and on purpose, because the bridge on this side is the relay's
+/// and it only has to be told where to go. An authenticated POST decides everything — whose key, which
+/// server, whether the key may — and answers with a ticket; the WebSocket that spends the ticket carries no
+/// authority of its own, and after the upgrade every binary message is simply the next bytes of the SSH
+/// stream, both ways, with nothing else in the socket at all.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// This is Spelunk's contract, not DodoSSH's, which is why it lives here and not in
+/// <c>DodoSSH.Contracts</c>: nothing on the DodoSSH server takes part in a Spelunk tunnel.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public static class SpelunkTunnelProtocol
+{
+    /// <summary>The only subprotocol this version speaks.</summary>
+    public const string SubProtocol = "spelunk.tunnel.v1";
+
+    /// <summary>The prefix of the second subprotocol an upgrade offers, which carries the ticket.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A header rather than the query string, for the reason the relay gives: a URL is what proxies, access
+    /// logs and traces keep. Spelunk echoes <see cref="SubProtocol"/> alone.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const string TicketProtocolPrefix = "ticket.";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Close code for an agent that could not connect to the port on its own machine — or that is too old to
+    /// know what a tunnel is, in which case the reason says <see cref="UnknownStreamKind"/>.
+    /// </summary>
+    public const int TargetUnreachableCloseCode = 4502;
+
+    /// <summary>Close code for an agent that disconnected from Spelunk while the tunnel was open.</summary>
+    public const int AgentDisconnectedCloseCode = 4503;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// What an agent that predates tunnels — or, asked to sign in, predates that — says, inside a
+    /// <see cref="TargetUnreachableCloseCode"/>.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal const string UnknownStreamKind = "Unknown stream kind";
+
+    /// <summary>Where a ticket for one server is asked for.</summary>
+    internal static string TicketsPath(Guid serverId) =>
+        string.Create(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, $"/api/servers/{serverId}/tunnel-tickets");
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Opens SSH connections to Spelunk-managed servers through Spelunk.
+/// </summary>
+public interface ISpelunkTunnel
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a tunnel to one server, ready for a connection to be made through it.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="apiBase">The Spelunk API's base address, normalised by <see cref="SpelunkRoute"/>.</param>
+    /// <param name="serverId">The server's id in Spelunk.</param>
+    /// <param name="apiKey">The Spelunk API key, which authorises the ticket and is sent nowhere else.</param>
+    /// <param name="port">
+    /// The port the agent is to connect to on the server's own loopback. Not sent when signing in, where the
+    /// agent starts an SSH server of its own and Spelunk ignores it.
+    /// </param>
+    /// <param name="signIn">
+    /// The throwaway key to have Spelunk sign in with, or null for a plain tunnel to <paramref name="port"/>.
+    /// Its public half goes with the ticket request; the route hands the whole of it back, with the account
+    /// Spelunk named, for the connection made through it.
+    /// </param>
+    /// <param name="cancellationToken">Cancellation.</param>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Asks for a ticket, opens the socket and starts the bridge, in that order and at once — the ticket is
+    /// spent by the socket and dead thirty seconds after issue, so this is called by the connect that will
+    /// use it and never ahead of one. The key is a parameter rather than a field of some request record
+    /// because a record prints its fields, and a key has no business in anything that might be logged.
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <exception cref="SpelunkTunnelException">The tunnel could not be opened; the message says why.</exception>
+    Task<SpelunkTunnelRoute> OpenAsync(
+        string apiBase,
+        Guid serverId,
+        string apiKey,
+        int port,
+        SpelunkSignIn? signIn,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// An open Spelunk tunnel, one connection long.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// The same ownership as <see cref="RelayRoute"/>, because it is the same bridge: see
+/// <see cref="IConnectionRoute"/>.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SpelunkTunnelRoute : IConnectionRoute
+{
+    /// <summary>The longest stretch of Spelunk's own close reason that is repeated to the user.</summary>
+    private const int MaxReasonLength = 200;
+
+    private readonly RelayBridge bridge;
+    private readonly int port;
+
+    internal SpelunkTunnelRoute(RelayBridge bridge, int port, SpelunkSignIn? signIn = null, string? user = null)
+    {
+        this.bridge = bridge;
+        this.port = port;
+        SignIn = signIn;
+        User = signIn is null ? null : user ?? SpelunkSignIn.DefaultUser;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SshLoopbackProxy Proxy => bridge.Proxy;
+
+    /// <summary>The key Spelunk was asked to sign in with, or null for a plain tunnel.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Handed back rather than kept by whoever asked, so the connection made through this route takes its
+    /// credential from the same place it takes its proxy, and cannot be given one without the other.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public SpelunkSignIn? SignIn { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The account Spelunk signs in as — its answer's <c>user</c>, or <see cref="SpelunkSignIn.DefaultUser"/>
+    /// when it named none — or null for a plain tunnel.
+    /// </summary>
+    public string? User { get; }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A normal close is not a failure worth rewording: it is the SSH server hanging up, and SSH.NET's own
+    /// account of that is the accurate one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public string? Failure =>
+        bridge.CloseStatus is { } status
+            ? Describe((int)status, bridge.CloseDescription, port, signingIn: SignIn is not null)
+            : null;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public ValueTask DisposeAsync() => bridge.DisposeAsync();
+
+    /// <summary>What a close code from Spelunk means, for someone who has to do something about it.</summary>
+    internal static string? Describe(int code, string? reason, int port, bool signingIn = false) => code switch
+    {
+        SpelunkTunnelProtocol.TargetUnreachableCloseCode
+            when reason?.Contains(SpelunkTunnelProtocol.UnknownStreamKind, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) is true =>
+            signingIn
+                ? "The Spelunk agent on this server is too old to sign you in. Update the agent, then try again."
+                : "The Spelunk agent on this server is too old to open a terminal. Update the agent, then try again.",
+
+        // Signing in, the agent connects to nothing: it starts an SSH server of its own, and what it could not
+        // do is that — most often because the server has no OpenSSH server to start, which Spelunk's reason
+        // says in its own words.
+        SpelunkTunnelProtocol.TargetUnreachableCloseCode when signingIn =>
+            "The Spelunk agent could not sign you in on this server"
+            + (Readable(reason) is { } said ? $" ({said})" : string.Empty)
+            + ". Signing in through Spelunk needs OpenSSH's server (sshd) installed there.",
+
+        SpelunkTunnelProtocol.TargetUnreachableCloseCode =>
+            string.Create(
+                CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
+                $"The Spelunk agent could not connect to port {port} on the server itself")
+            + (Readable(reason) is { } said ? $" ({said})" : string.Empty)
+            + ". Check that the SSH server is running and listening on that port.",
+
+        SpelunkTunnelProtocol.AgentDisconnectedCloseCode =>
+            "The Spelunk agent on this server disconnected from Spelunk. It may be restarting; try again in a "
+            + "moment.",
+
+        (int)WebSocketCloseStatus.EndpointUnavailable => "Spelunk is restarting. Try again in a moment.",
+
+        _ => null,
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Spelunk's own words, cut to one line of printable text, or null when there are none worth showing.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Shown because they are specific — "connection refused" and "no route to host" are different problems
+    /// on the server — and trimmed because they are another program's output going onto a status line.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal static string? Readable(string? text)
+    {
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(text))
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        var builder = new StringBuilder(Math.Min(text.Length, MaxReasonLength));
+
+        foreach (var character in text.Trim())
+        {
+            if (builder.Length == MaxReasonLength)
+            {
+                builder.Append('…');
+                break;
+            }
+
+            builder.Append(char.IsControl(character) ? ' ' : character);
+        }
+
+        return builder.ToString();
+    }
+}
+
+/// <summary>A Spelunk tunnel that could not be opened, with the reason in its message.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Its own type for the reason <see cref="ServerRelayException"/> is one: the connect path must be able to
+/// tell a refusal, which already says exactly what happened, from a connection failure it might explain by
+/// probing — and probing a Spelunk host would dial an address that exists only to name its key.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SpelunkTunnelException : Exception
+{
+    /// <summary>A refusal with nothing underneath it.</summary>
+    public SpelunkTunnelException(string message)
+        : base(message)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>A refusal and what caused it.</summary>
+    public SpelunkTunnelException(string message, Exception innerException)
+        : base(message, innerException)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>A refusal Spelunk answered with a status.</summary>
+    public SpelunkTunnelException(string message, HttpStatusCode statusCode)
+        : base(message) =>
+        StatusCode = statusCode;
+
+    /// <summary>What Spelunk answered with, or null where the refusal came from somewhere else.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>Kept for tests and logs; the screen reads the message.</remarks>
+    public HttpStatusCode? StatusCode { get; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The Spelunk tunnel: a ticket from the API, a socket, and the relay's bridge.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Every way this can fail is turned into a sentence here, as <see cref="ServerRelay"/> does for the relay,
+/// because the status codes are Spelunk's and the one place that should know what each means is the one
+/// that asked.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>Nothing from Spelunk's answer is trusted to go anywhere else.</b> The socket is opened on the API's
+/// own scheme, host and port, with only the path taken from the answer — and only a path that is one — so a
+/// ticket response cannot send this client, or the ticket, to a different machine.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SpelunkTunnel : ISpelunkTunnel
+{
+    /// <summary>The longest ticket accepted. Far beyond Spelunk's; a bound on what goes into a header.</summary>
+    private const int MaxTicketLength = 2048;
+
+    /// <summary>The longest account name taken from Spelunk's answer — well past what a Unix system allows.</summary>
+    private const int MaxUserLength = 64;
+
+    /// <summary>The longest error body read, so a misbehaving proxy cannot hand this a gigabyte.</summary>
+    private const int MaxProblemBytes = 16 * 1024;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// One transport for the process, as the platform advises for <see cref="HttpClient"/>.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Bounded well short of the default hundred seconds: a ticket is one small request, and somebody
+    /// watching "Connecting…" should hear that Spelunk is not answering while they still care.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static readonly HttpClient SharedHttp = new(
+        new SocketsHttpHandler { PooledConnectionLifetime = TimeSpan.FromMinutes(5) })
+    {
+        Timeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(30),
+    };
+
+    private readonly HttpClient http;
+    private readonly Func<Uri, IReadOnlyList<string>, CancellationToken, Task<WebSocket>> connect;
+
+    /// <summary>A tunnel over the process's shared transport, which is how the application builds one.</summary>
+    public SpelunkTunnel()
+        : this(SharedHttp, DialAsync)
+    {
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>A tunnel whose requests and socket are supplied, for tests.</summary>
+    internal SpelunkTunnel(
+        HttpClient http,
+        Func<Uri, IReadOnlyList<string>, CancellationToken, Task<WebSocket>> connect)
+    {
+        this.http = http;
+        this.connect = connect;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public async Task<SpelunkTunnelRoute> OpenAsync(
+        string apiBase,
+        Guid serverId,
+        string apiKey,
+        int port,
+        SpelunkSignIn? signIn,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (!SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase(apiBase, out var normalized, out var reason))
+        {
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(reason);
+        }
+
+        var ticket = await IssueTicketAsync(normalized, serverId, Sanitise(apiKey), port, signIn, cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        var socket = await connect(
+                SocketUrl(normalized, ticket.Path!),
+                [SpelunkTunnelProtocol.SubProtocol, SpelunkTunnelProtocol.TicketProtocolPrefix + ticket.Ticket],
+                cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        return new SpelunkTunnelRoute(RelayBridge.Start(socket), port, signIn, ticket.User);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Where the tunnel socket is: the API's own origin, on the WebSocket scheme, at the path Spelunk named.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal static Uri SocketUrl(string apiBase, string path)
+    {
+        var secure = apiBase.StartsWith("https://", StringComparison.Ordinal);
+        var rest = apiBase[(secure ? "https".Length : "http".Length)..];
+
+        return new Uri((secure ? "wss" : "ws") + rest + path, UriKind.Absolute);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Trims the stored key and refuses one that could not be a header value.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A key pasted into a credential arrives with a newline behind it often enough to be worth handling, and
+    /// one with a space in the middle would otherwise surface as a <see cref="FormatException"/> from inside
+    /// <see cref="HttpClient"/> rather than as a sentence about the credential.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static string Sanitise(string apiKey)
+    {
+        var trimmed = apiKey?.Trim() ?? string.Empty;
+
+        if (trimmed.Length == 0 || trimmed.Any(character => char.IsWhiteSpace(character) || char.IsControl(character)))
+        {
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+                "The credential chosen for the Spelunk API key does not hold one. A Spelunk API key is one "
+                + "unbroken run of characters starting with spelunk_; paste it as the credential's password.");
+        }
+
+        return trimmed;
+    }
+
+    private async Task<SpelunkTicketDocument> IssueTicketAsync(
+        string apiBase,
+        Guid serverId,
+        string apiKey,
+        int port,
+        SpelunkSignIn? signIn,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        using var request = new HttpRequestMessage(
+            HttpMethod.Post,
+            new Uri(apiBase + SpelunkTunnelProtocol.TicketsPath(serverId), UriKind.Absolute));
+
+        request.Headers.Authorization = new AuthenticationHeaderValue("Bearer", apiKey);
+
+        // Serialised up front rather than streamed, so the request carries a Content-Length: a dozen bytes
+        // do not need chunked encoding, and not every proxy in front of an API accepts it.
+        //
+        // Signing in sends the public key and no port: the agent starts an SSH server of its own rather than
+        // connecting to one, and Spelunk ignores the port beside a key anyway.
+        request.Content = new ByteArrayContent(JsonSerializer.SerializeToUtf8Bytes(
+            signIn is null
+                ? new SpelunkTicketRequestDocument { Port = port }
+                : new SpelunkTicketRequestDocument
+                {
+                    SignIn = new SpelunkSignInRequestDocument { PublicKey = signIn.PublicKeyLine },
+                },
+            SpelunkTunnelJsonContext.Default.SpelunkTicketRequestDocument))
+        {
+            Headers = { ContentType = new MediaTypeHeaderValue("application/json") },
+        };
+
+        HttpResponseMessage response;
+
+        try
+        {
+            response = await http.SendAsync(request, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (HttpRequestException exception)
+        {
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+                $"Spelunk could not be reached at {apiBase}: {exception.Message}",
+                exception);
+        }
+        catch (TaskCanceledException exception) when (!cancellationToken.IsCancellationRequested)
+        {
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+                $"Spelunk at {apiBase} did not answer in time. Try again in a moment.",
+                exception);
+        }
+
+        using (response)
+        {
+            if (!response.IsSuccessStatusCode)
+            {
+                var problem = await ReadProblemAsync(response, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+                throw new SpelunkTunnelException(Describe(response.StatusCode, problem), response.StatusCode);
+            }
+
+            return await ReadTicketAsync(response, signingIn: signIn is not null, cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Reads the ticket, and refuses one this client would have to take on trust.</summary>
+    private static async Task<SpelunkTicketDocument> ReadTicketAsync(
+        HttpResponseMessage response,
+        bool signingIn,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        SpelunkTicketDocument? ticket;
+
+        try
+        {
+            ticket = await response.Content
+                .ReadFromJsonAsync(SpelunkTunnelJsonContext.Default.SpelunkTicketDocument, cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (JsonException exception)
+        {
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(Unintelligible, exception);
+        }
+
+        // The ticket goes into a header as part of a subprotocol name, which may hold only token characters —
+        // base64url is all of those, and anything else would fail inside the WebSocket client instead. The
+        // path is appended to the API's own origin, so it has to be a path: "//elsewhere" or "@elsewhere"
+        // would turn it into a different host.
+        if (ticket is not { Ticket: { Length: > 0 and <= MaxTicketLength } value, Path: { } path }
+            || !value.All(IsBase64UrlCharacter)
+            || !path.StartsWith('/')
+            || path.StartsWith("//", StringComparison.Ordinal)
+            || path.Any(character => character is '?' or '#' or '\\' or '@' || char.IsWhiteSpace(character) || char.IsControl(character))
+            || (ticket.Subprotocol is { } named
+                && !string.Equals(named, SpelunkTunnelProtocol.SubProtocol, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            || (signingIn && ticket.User is { } user && !IsAccountName(user)))
+        {
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(Unintelligible);
+        }
+
+        return ticket;
+    }
+
+    private const string Unintelligible =
+        "Spelunk answered the tunnel request in a way this app does not understand. Update DodoSSH, or check "
+        + "that the API address is Spelunk's.";
+
+    private static bool IsBase64UrlCharacter(char character) =>
+        char.IsAsciiLetterOrDigit(character) || character is '-' or '_';
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether the account Spelunk named is one an SSH login could be for: a short run of the characters
+    /// Unix account names are made of.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Checked because it goes to the server as the login and onto the tab and the status line, and an
+    /// answer carrying anything else is not one this client understands.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool IsAccountName(string user) =>
+        user.Length is > 0 and <= MaxUserLength
+        && user.All(character => char.IsAsciiLetterOrDigit(character) || character is '_' or '-' or '.');
+
+    /// <summary>What a refused ticket means, in the words of the status and of Spelunk's own detail.</summary>
+    private static string Describe(HttpStatusCode status, SpelunkProblemDocument? problem)
+    {
+        var detail = SpelunkTunnelRoute.Readable(problem?.Detail);
+
+        return status switch
+        {
+            // Spelunk's validation says which field and why; for a sign-in it is the public key.
+            HttpStatusCode.BadRequest =>
+                "Spelunk would not accept the request to open the tunnel"
+                + ((SpelunkTunnelRoute.Readable(PublicKeyError(problem))
+                        ?? detail
+                        ?? SpelunkTunnelRoute.Readable(problem?.Title)) is { } said
+                    ? $": {said}"
+                    : ". Update DodoSSH, or check that the API address is Spelunk's."),
+
+            HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized =>
+                "Spelunk did not accept the API key. It may have been revoked or mistyped — create a new one in "
+                + "Spelunk and paste it into the credential this host uses for it.",
+
+            // The detail is the useful half here: it says which role the key has and which it needs.
+            HttpStatusCode.Forbidden =>
+                "The Spelunk API key is not allowed to open a terminal on this server"
+                + (detail is null ? ". Opening one needs a key with the Admin role." : $": {detail}"),
+
+            HttpStatusCode.NotFound =>
+                "Spelunk does not know this server in the API key's organisation. It may have been removed, or "
+                + "the key belongs to a different organisation.",
+
+            HttpStatusCode.ServiceUnavailable =>
+                "The Spelunk agent on this server is not connected, so Spelunk cannot reach it. Check that the "
+                + "agent is running on the server, then try again.",
+
+            _ => string.Create(
+                    CultureInfo.InvariantCulture,
+                    $"Spelunk would not open the tunnel (HTTP {(int)status})")
+                + ((detail ?? SpelunkTunnelRoute.Readable(problem?.Title)) is { } said ? $": {said}" : "."),
+        };
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>What a validation problem says about the sign-in key, if it says anything.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Matched on the end of the name and without regard to case, because a validator may name the field
+    /// <c>publicKey</c>, <c>PublicKey</c> or <c>signIn.publicKey</c>, and all three mean this one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static string? PublicKeyError(SpelunkProblemDocument? problem) =>
+        problem?.Errors?
+            .FirstOrDefault(field => field.Key.EndsWith("publicKey", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
+            .Value?
+            .FirstOrDefault();
+
+    /// <summary>Reads an RFC 7807 body if there is one; null when there is not, or it will not parse.</summary>
+    private static async Task<SpelunkProblemDocument?> ReadProblemAsync(
+        HttpResponseMessage response,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            var body = await response.Content.ReadAsByteArrayAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return body.Length is 0 or > MaxProblemBytes
+                ? null
+                : JsonSerializer.Deserialize(body, SpelunkTunnelJsonContext.Default.SpelunkProblemDocument);
+        }
+        catch (JsonException)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Opens the tunnel socket, and translates a refused upgrade into its reason.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The status of a refused upgrade is collected, as the relay's dialler does. A 401 is a ticket Spelunk
+    /// would not take — spent, or expired on the way — and asking again is the remedy; a 503 is the agent
+    /// going away in the moment between the ticket and the socket.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static async Task<WebSocket> DialAsync(
+        Uri url,
+        IReadOnlyList<string> protocols,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var socket = new ClientWebSocket();
+
+        try
+        {
+            foreach (var protocol in protocols)
+            {
+                socket.Options.AddSubProtocol(protocol);
+            }
+
+            socket.Options.CollectHttpResponseDetails = true;
+
+            await socket.ConnectAsync(url, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (WebSocketException exception)
+        {
+            var status = socket.HttpStatusCode;
+            socket.Dispose();
+
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+                status switch
+                {
+                    HttpStatusCode.Unauthorized => "Spelunk refused the tunnel ticket. Try connecting again.",
+                    HttpStatusCode.ServiceUnavailable => Describe(status, problem: null),
+                    _ => $"The Spelunk tunnel could not be opened: {exception.Message}",
+                },
+                exception);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            socket.Dispose();
+            throw;
+        }
+
+        if (!string.Equals(socket.SubProtocol, SpelunkTunnelProtocol.SubProtocol, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+            socket.Dispose();
+
+            throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+                "Spelunk answered the tunnel in a protocol this app does not speak. Update DodoSSH or Spelunk.");
+        }
+
+        return socket;
+    }
+}
+
+/// <summary>The body of a ticket request.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Either a port or a sign-in, never both: the one not asked for is null and left out of the JSON, so a plain
+/// tunnel still asks for exactly <c>{"port":22}</c>.
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class SpelunkTicketRequestDocument
+{
+    public int? Port { get; set; }
+
+    public SpelunkSignInRequestDocument? SignIn { get; set; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>What a sign-in sends: the one-line OpenSSH public key the agent's SSH server is to accept.</summary>
+internal sealed class SpelunkSignInRequestDocument
+{
+    public string? PublicKey { get; set; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>A ticket as Spelunk returns it. Nullable because it models untrusted input.</summary>
+internal sealed class SpelunkTicketDocument
+{
+    public string? Ticket { get; set; }
+
+    public DateTimeOffset? ExpiresAt { get; set; }
+
+    public string? Path { get; set; }
+
+    public string? Subprotocol { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The account a sign-in logs in as; absent or null for a plain tunnel.</summary>
+    public string? User { get; set; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>The fields of an RFC 7807 problem this client repeats.</summary>
+internal sealed class SpelunkProblemDocument
+{
+    public string? Title { get; set; }
+
+    public string? Detail { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>A validation problem's messages by field, as ASP.NET Core writes them.</summary>
+    public Dictionary<string, string[]>? Errors { get; set; }
+}
+
+[JsonSourceGenerationOptions(
+    PropertyNamingPolicy = JsonKnownNamingPolicy.CamelCase,
+    PropertyNameCaseInsensitive = true,
+    DefaultIgnoreCondition = JsonIgnoreCondition.WhenWritingNull,
+    UnmappedMemberHandling = JsonUnmappedMemberHandling.Skip)]
+[JsonSerializable(typeof(SpelunkTicketRequestDocument))]
+[JsonSerializable(typeof(SpelunkTicketDocument))]
+[JsonSerializable(typeof(SpelunkProblemDocument))]
+internal sealed partial class SpelunkTunnelJsonContext : JsonSerializerContext;

src/DodoSSH.Client.Session/VaultSession.cs

@@ -125,6 +125,7 @@ public sealed partial class VaultSession : IAsyncDisposable
         Tags = new TagRepository(Items, Outbox, keyring, activity);
         Snippets = new SnippetRepository(Items, Outbox, keyring, activity);
         ObjectStores = new ObjectStoreRepository(Items, Outbox, keyring, activity);
+        SpelunkKeys = new SpelunkKeyRepository(Items, Outbox, keyring, activity);
     }
 
     /// <summary>Who this session belongs to, and the material that unlocked it.</summary>
@@ -200,6 +201,13 @@ public sealed partial class VaultSession : IAsyncDisposable
     /// </remarks>
     public ObjectStoreRepository ObjectStores { get; }
 
+    /// <summary>Spelunk API keys and the addresses they may be sent to, decrypted.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Read with the rest of the vault, and at connect from that list, as a credential's password is. The
+    /// address in each is what lets a link from Spelunk connect without asking.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public SpelunkKeyRepository SpelunkKeys { get; }
+
     /// <summary>The connections this vault has recorded, decrypted.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// Written through <see cref="ConnectionRecorder"/> rather than directly by anything that connects. An

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/MainWindowViewModel.Spelunk.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+using DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Shell.ViewModels;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The shell's half of a link from Spelunk: holding it until there is a vault to act on it.
+/// </summary>
+internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Acts on a <c>dodossh://spelunk/connect</c> link now, or as soon as a vault is open.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Called by the head, on the UI thread, for a link this launch was started with, a link a second launch
+    /// passed down the doorbell, or one the platform delivered to the running application. The link has
+    /// already been checked by <see cref="SpelunkLink.TryParse"/>; what it may do is decided by
+    /// <see cref="VaultViewModel.OpenSpelunkLinkAsync"/>, which never sends an API key to a Spelunk no saved
+    /// host already sends it to.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>A locked application keeps it rather than dropping it.</b> Clicking a server in Spelunk and being
+    /// asked for the passphrase is the ordinary first half of this; losing the click at the second half would
+    /// make the button look broken. It is not kept across a restart.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal void OpenLink(SpelunkLink link)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(link);
+
+        pendingLink = link;
+
+        if (State is ShellState.Unlocked && Vault is not null)
+        {
+            DeliverPendingLink();
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (State is ShellState.Locked)
+        {
+            StatusMessage = $"Unlock to open {link.Name} from Spelunk.";
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Hands a waiting link to the open vault, on the Hosts screen where its answer appears.</summary>
+    private void DeliverPendingLink()
+    {
+        if (pendingLink is not { } link || Vault is not { } vault)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        pendingLink = null;
+
+        ShowScreen(ShellScreen.Hosts);
+
+        // Not awaited: a connect reports its own progress and failures on the vault's status line and in its
+        // tab, as a tap on the row does, and this is called from places that must not wait on a handshake.
+        _ = vault.OpenSpelunkLinkAsync(link);
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/MainWindowViewModel.cs

@@ -360,6 +360,25 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
     /// </remarks>
     private readonly ISshReachabilityProbe? reachability;
 
+    /// <summary>What opens a Spelunk tunnel, handed to each vault this shell opens.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Held for the reason <see cref="reachability"/> is: the vault is built on unlock, not here. Null means
+    /// the real one, which is what both heads use; a test passes one so a Spelunk host's connect never leaves
+    /// the process.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private readonly ISpelunkTunnel? spelunk;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A <c>dodossh://spelunk/connect</c> link that arrived while there was no open vault to act on it.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// One, and the latest: a link is somebody pressing a button in Spelunk, and a second press while this
+    /// machine is still locked means the second server, not both. Delivered as soon as a vault opens, and
+    /// dropped if the application closes first — it is a request to do something now, not something to
+    /// remember.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private SpelunkLink? pendingLink;
+
     /// <inheritdoc cref="MainWindowViewModel(ClientPaths, ClientCacheFactory, TerminalWorkspace, VaultKnownHostStore, IDeviceKeyStore, SignInHandler, TimeProvider, ISftpSessionFactory, Argon2Profile?, ResumeHandler?, Func{string, Task}?, string?, IUpdateChannel?, Action{Action}?)" path="/param[@name='post']" />
     private readonly Action<Action> post;
 
@@ -569,9 +588,11 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
         Action<Action>? post = null,
         Func<string, Task>? openInEditor = null,
         Func<string, Action, IDisposable>? watchFile = null,
-        ISshReachabilityProbe? reachability = null)
+        ISshReachabilityProbe? reachability = null,
+        ISpelunkTunnel? spelunk = null)
     {
         this.reachability = reachability;
+        this.spelunk = spelunk;
         this.post = post ?? (action => Dispatcher.UIThread.Post(action));
 
         this.paths = paths;
@@ -1220,6 +1241,18 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
     /// </remarks>
     internal event EventHandler? TerminalSessionOpened;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Raised when any tab's forward starts, stops or fails, so a head can re-count what is listening.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The phone's keep-alive notification is the one listener: it says how many forwards are listening
+    /// alongside how many shells are connected. On the UI thread, since every state change is.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal event EventHandler? ForwardsChanged;
+
+    /// <summary>How many forwards are listening, across every tab.</summary>
+    internal int ListeningForwardCount => Tabs.Sum(tab => tab.ListeningForwardCount);
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Raised when something this shell did belongs in the terminal the user is already looking at, so the
     /// view can put the keyboard back there.
@@ -1466,6 +1499,7 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
     internal bool IsTerminalShowing =>
         IsTerminalSurface
         && !IsConnectSheetOpen
+        && !IsForwardsSheetOpen
         && !IsHostKeyDecisionShowing
         && SelectedTab is { HasSession: true };
 
@@ -2211,6 +2245,45 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
     [RelayCommand]
     private void CloseConnectSheet() => IsConnectSheetOpen = false;
 
+    // ---- The phone's forwards sheet ----
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether the phone's list of the selected tab's forwards is open over the terminal.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The phone's answer to the desktop sidebar's FORWARDS section, over the same rows —
+    /// <see cref="TerminalTabViewModel.Forwards"/> — with the same state word, reason and switch. A sheet
+    /// rather than something always drawn because a phone gives a shell the whole screen, so it is raised
+    /// from a button in the terminal's bar, which draws only for a tab that has forwards and turns the danger
+    /// colour when one of them failed.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Shell state for the reason <see cref="IsConnectSheetOpen"/> is: it collapses the renderer, which is a
+    /// native view nothing can be drawn over. Lowered with the connect sheet whenever the terminal surface is
+    /// left — see <see cref="OnSurfaceChanged"/>.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private bool isForwardsSheetOpen;
+
+    /// <summary>Raises the forwards sheet over the terminal.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>Gated as <see cref="OpenConnectSheet"/> is, and on there being a tab to list.</remarks>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void OpenForwardsSheet()
+    {
+        if (!IsTerminalSurface || SelectedTab is null)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        IsForwardsSheetOpen = true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Lowers the forwards sheet, leaving the terminal where it was.</summary>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void CloseForwardsSheet() => IsForwardsSheetOpen = false;
+
     // ---- Open terminals ----
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -2886,7 +2959,8 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
             copyToClipboard,
             connectionLog,
             visibility,
-            reachability);
+            reachability,
+            spelunk);
         State = ShellState.Unlocked;
 
         // Offered only where it can actually be honoured: a machine that can keep a key, and a profile that
@@ -2902,19 +2976,7 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
 
         await Vault.LoadAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
 
-        // After the load, because the switches are built from the vaults the session admitted and the
-        // keyring is filled during it — before, and a machine with a team vault would come up with one
-        // switch until something else rebuilt them.
-        RebuildVaultToggles();
-
-        // After the load, because what the transfers screen takes from the vault is the host list and an
-        // empty one would leave its picker blank until the next unlock.
-        transfers.Attach(Vault, knownHosts, connectionLog, new S3ObjectStoreFactory());
-
-        // After the list exists, and it matters after a lock rather than after the first unlock: shells kept
-        // running while the vault was closed, so some of these hosts are connected before their rows are a
-        // second old.
-        RefreshConnectedHosts();
+        AfterTheFirstLoad(Vault);
 
         // After the first load, so the list is on screen before anything talks to a server. The loop is
         // started from the UI thread deliberately: every pass resumes here, which is what keeps the
@@ -2932,6 +2994,32 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
         Vault.StartAutoSync();
     }
 
+    /// <summary>Everything an unlock does that needs the vault's lists to have been read.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Split out of <see cref="AdoptAsync"/> for length rather than for reuse; the order is still the one that
+    /// method's remarks call load-bearing, and it is kept here as it was there.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void AfterTheFirstLoad(VaultViewModel vault)
+    {
+        // After the load, because the switches are built from the vaults the session admitted and the
+        // keyring is filled during it — before, and a machine with a team vault would come up with one
+        // switch until something else rebuilt them.
+        RebuildVaultToggles();
+
+        // After the load, because what the transfers screen takes from the vault is the host list and an
+        // empty one would leave its picker blank until the next unlock.
+        transfers.Attach(vault, knownHosts, connectionLog, new S3ObjectStoreFactory());
+
+        // After the list exists, and it matters after a lock rather than after the first unlock: shells kept
+        // running while the vault was closed, so some of these hosts are connected before their rows are a
+        // second old.
+        RefreshConnectedHosts();
+
+        // After the hosts are loaded, because what a link does depends on whether one of them is already
+        // the server it names.
+        DeliverPendingLink();
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Points the two process-lifetime stores at the session that has just opened.
     /// </summary>
@@ -3832,11 +3920,13 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
                 IdentityLabel = e.IdentityLabel,
             };
             AdoptTab(adopted);
+            StartForwards(adopted, e);
             RefreshConnectedHosts();
             return;
         }
 
         tab.Opened(e.SessionId);
+        StartForwards(tab, e);
 
         // From this moment, not from when the tab first appeared — connecting is not open, and the session
         // shell's elapsed timer is about a shell that is actually running.
@@ -3858,6 +3948,54 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
         TerminalSessionOpened?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Puts the host's saved forwards on a tab whose session has just opened, and starts every one.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// All at once and none awaited: each row reports its own outcome, and the terminal is already usable
+    /// while a remote forward waits for the server to answer. See <see cref="PortForwardViewModel"/> for why
+    /// one failing stops nothing else.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The session id is captured into the start delegate rather than read off the tab when a row is
+    /// toggled later. A reconnect puts a new id on the same tab, and a row from the old session that reached
+    /// for the tab's current id would start its listener on a connection it was never part of.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// ◆ <b>On the phone too.</b> This used to return early on Android, because that head had nowhere to show
+    /// what was listening. Its terminal bar now carries a FORWARDS button over the same rows the desktop's
+    /// sidebar lists — see <see cref="IsForwardsSheetOpen"/> — so both heads start the same forwards.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void StartForwards(TerminalTabViewModel tab, TerminalSessionEventArgs e)
+    {
+        var sessionId = e.SessionId;
+
+        tab.ReplaceForwards(e.Forwards.Select(rule => new PortForwardViewModel(
+            rule,
+            (spec, cancellationToken) => workspace.StartForwardAsync(sessionId, spec, cancellationToken),
+            post)));
+
+        foreach (var forward in tab.Forwards)
+        {
+            // Never unsubscribed, and it need not be: the row holds the handler, not the other way round, so a
+            // row replaced by a reconnect is collected with it — after its last change, to Stopped, is heard.
+            forward.PropertyChanged += OnForwardChanged;
+            _ = forward.StartAsync();
+        }
+
+        ForwardsChanged?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
+    }
+
+    private void OnForwardChanged(object? sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
+    {
+        if (e.PropertyName is nameof(PortForwardViewModel.State))
+        {
+            ForwardsChanged?.Invoke(this, EventArgs.Empty);
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Answers a connection that did not become a session.
     /// </summary>
@@ -4658,6 +4796,17 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
         vault.EditSelectedHostCommand.Execute(null);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The sidebar's FORWARDS affordance: opens the active tab's host for editing, where forwards are added.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The same route <see cref="PinFolderFromSidebar"/> takes, because a forward is saved on the host for
+    /// the same reason a pin is. A forward added there starts with the next session to the host, not this
+    /// one — the editor says so — since this session's forwards were started from the host as it was.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void AddForwardFromSidebar() => PinFolderFromSidebar();
+
     /// <summary>
     /// The SFTP tab row's click: makes one of the terminal's tabs the SFTP surface's browsed host.
     /// </summary>
@@ -5133,6 +5282,7 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
         if (value is not ShellSurface.Terminal)
         {
             IsConnectSheetOpen = false;
+            IsForwardsSheetOpen = false;
         }
 
         RaiseSurfaceState();
@@ -5317,6 +5467,9 @@ internal sealed partial class MainWindowViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisp
     /// <inheritdoc cref="OnIsSearchingChanged" />
     partial void OnIsConnectSheetOpenChanged(bool value) => RaiseTerminalState();
 
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="OnIsSearchingChanged" />
+    partial void OnIsForwardsSheetOpenChanged(bool value) => RaiseTerminalState();
+
     /// <remarks>
     /// The unlock card and the confirmation swap, so arming one has to hide the other — see
     /// <see cref="IsAskingForThePassphrase"/>.

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/PortForwardViewModel.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,249 @@
+using System.Globalization;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.Input;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Shell.ViewModels;
+
+/// <summary>Where one of a tab's forwards has got to.</summary>
+internal enum PortForwardState
+{
+    /// <summary>Not listening: switched off, or its session is over.</summary>
+    Stopped = 0,
+
+    /// <summary>Asked for and not answered yet. A remote forward waits on the server.</summary>
+    Starting = 1,
+
+    /// <summary>Listening.</summary>
+    Listening = 2,
+
+    /// <summary>Could not be started; <see cref="PortForwardViewModel.Detail"/> says why.</summary>
+    Failed = 3,
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// One of a host's saved forwards, as it runs on one terminal tab.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Built fresh for each session the tab holds, and started with it: the rule is the host's, the listener is
+/// this session's. A reconnect is a new session, so it gets new rows — see
+/// <see cref="TerminalTabViewModel.ReplaceForwards"/> — rather than trying to carry a listener across a
+/// connection that no longer exists.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>One failing does not stop the others, or the terminal.</b> The commonest failure is a port already in
+/// use — very often by a second tab to the same host, which is running the same forwards — and a shell that
+/// would not open because of it would be the forward taking the session hostage. The row says why instead.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed partial class PortForwardViewModel : ObservableObject
+{
+    private readonly Func<SshPortForwardSpec, CancellationToken, Task<ISshPortForward>> start;
+    private readonly Action<Action> post;
+
+    private ISshPortForward? forward;
+    private bool sessionOver;
+
+    /// <summary>The detail line: why it failed, or what last went wrong through it.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string? detail;
+
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(IsListening))]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(IsFailed))]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(CanToggle))]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(StateText))]
+    [NotifyCanExecuteChangedFor(nameof(ToggleCommand))]
+    private PortForwardState state;
+
+    /// <param name="rule">The host's saved forward.</param>
+    /// <param name="start">Starts a forward on this tab's session; see <c>TerminalWorkspace.StartForwardAsync</c>.</param>
+    /// <param name="post">Runs an action on the UI thread, for reports SSH.NET raises on its own.</param>
+    internal PortForwardViewModel(
+        PortForwardRule rule,
+        Func<SshPortForwardSpec, CancellationToken, Task<ISshPortForward>> start,
+        Action<Action> post)
+    {
+        Rule = rule;
+        this.start = start;
+        this.post = post;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The saved forward this row runs.</summary>
+    internal PortForwardRule Rule { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>The forward in OpenSSH's notation, e.g. <c>-L 5432:db.internal:5432</c>.</summary>
+    internal string Notation => Rule.Notation;
+
+    /// <summary>What the forward connects to what, in words rather than flags.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Which end each port is on is the thing people get backwards about <c>-L</c> and <c>-R</c>, so it is
+    /// written out: "this machine" and "the remote" rather than an arrow whose direction has to be learned.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal string Route => Rule.Kind switch
+    {
+        PortForwardKind.Local =>
+            $"localhost:{Port(Rule.BindPort)} here → {Rule.TargetHost}:{Port(Rule.TargetPort)} from the remote",
+        PortForwardKind.Remote =>
+            $"localhost:{Port(Rule.BindPort)} on the remote → {Rule.TargetHost}:{Port(Rule.TargetPort)} from here",
+        _ => $"SOCKS proxy on localhost:{Port(Rule.BindPort)}, out through the remote",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>Whether it is listening now.</summary>
+    internal bool IsListening => State is PortForwardState.Listening;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether it could not be started.</summary>
+    internal bool IsFailed => State is PortForwardState.Failed;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether the switch does anything: not while a start is in flight, and never once the session is over.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal bool CanToggle => !sessionOver && State is not PortForwardState.Starting;
+
+    /// <summary>The state in the status bar's own lettering.</summary>
+    internal string StateText => State switch
+    {
+        PortForwardState.Starting => "STARTING",
+        PortForwardState.Listening => "LISTENING",
+        PortForwardState.Failed => "FAILED",
+        _ => "OFF",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>Starts the forward, unless it is already running or its session has ended.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Never throws. It is started without anyone waiting on it — every forward on a tab at once, as the
+    /// tab opens — so a failure has nowhere to go but this row.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal async Task StartAsync()
+    {
+        if (sessionOver || State is PortForwardState.Starting or PortForwardState.Listening)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        State = PortForwardState.Starting;
+        Detail = null;
+
+        ISshPortForward started;
+
+        try
+        {
+            started = await start(ToSpec(Rule), CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is not OutOfMemoryException)
+        {
+            // Unless the session ended while this was in flight, in which case that is the true story and
+            // SessionEnded has already told it.
+            if (!sessionOver)
+            {
+                Detail = exception.Message;
+                State = PortForwardState.Failed;
+            }
+
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (sessionOver)
+        {
+            // The session ended while the server was answering. Its connection has gone and taken the
+            // listener with it; this only lets go of the handle.
+            await started.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(true);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        forward = started;
+        started.ErrorOccurred += OnForwardError;
+        State = PortForwardState.Listening;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Stops the forward and leaves the row switched off.</summary>
+    internal async Task StopAsync()
+    {
+        await ReleaseAsync().ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+        if (!sessionOver)
+        {
+            State = PortForwardState.Stopped;
+            Detail = null;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Records that the session this forward ran over has ended, which stopped the forward with it.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A failed row keeps its reason: that the session later ended does not make it any less true that the
+    /// port was taken. Anything else is off, and says it went with the session rather than being switched
+    /// off, which is the difference between "I did that" and "that happened".
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal void SessionEnded()
+    {
+        if (sessionOver)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        sessionOver = true;
+        _ = ReleaseAsync();
+
+        if (State is not PortForwardState.Failed)
+        {
+            State = PortForwardState.Stopped;
+            Detail = "Stopped with the session.";
+        }
+
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(CanToggle));
+        ToggleCommand.NotifyCanExecuteChanged();
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The SSH layer's spec for a saved rule; the two enums share their numbering on purpose.</summary>
+    internal static SshPortForwardSpec ToSpec(PortForwardRule rule) => rule.Kind switch
+    {
+        PortForwardKind.Local => new SshPortForwardSpec(
+            SshPortForwardKind.Local, rule.BindPort, rule.TargetHost, rule.TargetPort ?? 0),
+        PortForwardKind.Remote => new SshPortForwardSpec(
+            SshPortForwardKind.Remote, rule.BindPort, rule.TargetHost, rule.TargetPort ?? 0),
+        _ => new SshPortForwardSpec(SshPortForwardKind.Dynamic, rule.BindPort),
+    };
+
+    /// <remarks>A failed row's switch is a retry: the port may have been freed since.</remarks>
+    [RelayCommand(CanExecute = nameof(CanToggle))]
+    private Task ToggleAsync() => IsListening ? StopAsync() : StartAsync();
+
+    private async Task ReleaseAsync()
+    {
+        if (forward is not { } running)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        forward = null;
+        running.ErrorOccurred -= OnForwardError;
+
+        try
+        {
+            await running.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(true);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is not OutOfMemoryException)
+        {
+            // Stopping a listener has no failure anybody could act on; the connection closing would have
+            // stopped it regardless.
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A connection through the forward failed — usually the target refusing it. The listener is still up,
+    /// so the row stays LISTENING and says what happened underneath.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void OnForwardError(object? sender, SshPortForwardErrorEventArgs e) => post(() =>
+    {
+        if (State is PortForwardState.Listening)
+        {
+            Detail = e.Message;
+        }
+    });
+
+    private static string Port(int? port) => port?.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture) ?? "?";
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/TerminalTabViewModel.cs

@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
+using System.ComponentModel;
+using System.Globalization;
 using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
 using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
 
@@ -326,6 +329,90 @@ internal sealed partial class TerminalTabViewModel : ObservableObject
     /// <summary>How many steps there are, for the card's track.</summary>
     internal int StepCount => Steps.Count;
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The host's saved forwards, as they run over this tab's current session.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Replaced whole each time a session opens here — see <see cref="ReplaceForwards"/> — and emptied of
+    /// meaning, though not of rows, when it ends: a row that says it stopped with the session is more use
+    /// than one that silently disappeared.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal ObservableCollection<PortForwardViewModel> Forwards { get; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>How many of <see cref="Forwards"/> are listening now.</summary>
+    internal int ListeningForwardCount => Forwards.Count(forward => forward.IsListening);
+
+    /// <summary>Whether any of <see cref="Forwards"/> is listening now.</summary>
+    internal bool HasListeningForward => ListeningForwardCount > 0;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether this tab carries any forwards at all, running or not.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>The phone's terminal bar draws its FORWARDS button only for a tab that has some.</remarks>
+    internal bool HasForwards => Forwards.Count > 0;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether any of <see cref="Forwards"/> could not be started.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The phone's list is a sheet, not a sidebar that is always drawn, so a refusal there would be invisible
+    /// until somebody happened to open it. This is what lets the button that opens it say so first.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal bool HasFailedForward => Forwards.Any(forward => forward.IsFailed);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The status bar's forward count, or null when nothing is listening and there is nothing to say.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal string? ForwardsSummary => ListeningForwardCount switch
+    {
+        0 => null,
+        1 => "⇄ 1 FORWARD",
+        var count => string.Create(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, $"⇄ {count} FORWARDS"),
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>Puts a new session's forwards on this tab, ending whatever the last session left.</summary>
+    internal void ReplaceForwards(IEnumerable<PortForwardViewModel> forwards)
+    {
+        EndForwards();
+
+        foreach (var forward in Forwards)
+        {
+            forward.PropertyChanged -= OnForwardChanged;
+        }
+
+        Forwards.Clear();
+
+        foreach (var forward in forwards)
+        {
+            forward.PropertyChanged += OnForwardChanged;
+            Forwards.Add(forward);
+        }
+
+        RaiseForwardCount();
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Tells every forward its session is over; SSH.NET has already stopped the listeners.</summary>
+    private void EndForwards()
+    {
+        foreach (var forward in Forwards)
+        {
+            forward.SessionEnded();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void OnForwardChanged(object? sender, PropertyChangedEventArgs e)
+    {
+        if (e.PropertyName is nameof(PortForwardViewModel.State))
+        {
+            RaiseForwardCount();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void RaiseForwardCount()
+    {
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(ListeningForwardCount));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(ForwardsSummary));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasListeningForward));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasForwards));
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasFailedForward));
+    }
+
     /// <inheritdoc cref="TerminalTabState" />
     [ObservableProperty]
     private TerminalTabState state;
@@ -603,6 +690,8 @@ internal sealed partial class TerminalTabViewModel : ObservableObject
         EndDescription = description;
         IsLive = false;
 
+        EndForwards();
+
         OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EndedDetail));
         OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EndedSummary));
         OnPropertyChanged(nameof(EndDescription));
@@ -638,6 +727,9 @@ internal sealed partial class TerminalTabViewModel : ObservableObject
         EndDescription = null;
         IsLive = false;
 
+        // The old session is being closed for its pane's sake, and its forwards go with its connection.
+        EndForwards();
+
         // Cleared with the session they were facts about. Keeping them would put the previous connection's
         // cipher in the status bar beside a handshake that has not negotiated one yet.
         StartedAt = null;

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/TransfersViewModel.cs

@@ -1158,7 +1158,8 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
     internal bool SelectedHostAsksForAPassword =>
         ShowsHostPicker
         && (SelectedHost is null
-            || SelectedHost.Resolved.Binding.Kind is ResolvedBindingKind.TypedPassword);
+            || (!SelectedHost.Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk
+                && SelectedHost.Resolved.Binding.Kind is ResolvedBindingKind.TypedPassword));
 
     // ---- The remote pane ----
 
@@ -1795,31 +1796,15 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
             {
                 await CloseSessionAsync().ConfigureAwait(true);
 
-                ISftpSession opened;
-
-                try
+                if (await OpenHostSessionAsync(open, row, request, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true)
+                    is not ({ } opened, { } dialled))
                 {
-                    opened = await sftp.OpenSftpAsync(request, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
-                }
-                catch (SshHostKeyUnknownException exception)
-                {
-                    // First contact, decided here rather than inherited from a terminal. File transfer is
-                    // its own connection, so it makes its own trust decision — and the pin it writes is the
-                    // same pin a shell would then find.
-                    PendingHostKey = exception.Presentation;
-                    Status = "This host has not been seen before.";
-                    return;
-                }
-                catch (SshHostKeyMismatchException exception)
-                {
-                    HostKeyMismatch = exception.Message;
-                    Status = "The host key has changed. Nothing was connected.";
                     return;
                 }
 
                 session = opened;
                 TypedPassword = string.Empty;
-                MarkHostConnected(opened, request, row, identityLabel);
+                MarkHostConnected(opened, dialled, row, identityLabel);
 
                 reconnectTo = (RemoteKind.Host, row.EntityId);
 
@@ -1831,6 +1816,57 @@ internal sealed partial class TransfersViewModel : ObservableObject, IAsyncDispo
             }).ConfigureAwait(true);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens the session on a host, through the relay or Spelunk when the host uses one, or says why not.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>
+    /// The session and the request it was opened with — which, for a Spelunk sign-in, carries the account
+    /// Spelunk named rather than the one the host resolved to — or null with <see cref="Status"/> saying why
+    /// there is none.
+    /// </returns>
+    private async Task<(ISftpSession Session, SshConnectionRequest Request)?> OpenHostSessionAsync(
+        VaultViewModel open,
+        HostRowViewModel row,
+        SshConnectionRequest request,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        IConnectionRoute? route = null;
+
+        try
+        {
+            // Through the relay or Spelunk for a host set to use one, exactly as a shell to it would be.
+            // The session owns the route from here, on success and on failure alike.
+            route = await open.OpenRouteAsync(row, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+            var through = VaultViewModel.Through(request, route);
+
+            return (await sftp.OpenSftpAsync(through, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true), through);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (route?.Failure is { } failure
+                && exception is not (OperationCanceledException or SshHostKeyUnknownException or SshHostKeyMismatchException))
+        {
+            // See VaultViewModel.OpenThroughAsync: the route's reason is the true one.
+            Status = failure;
+            return null;
+        }
+        catch (SshHostKeyUnknownException exception)
+        {
+            // First contact, decided here rather than inherited from a terminal. File transfer is
+            // its own connection, so it makes its own trust decision — and the pin it writes is the
+            // same pin a shell would then find.
+            PendingHostKey = exception.Presentation;
+            Status = "This host has not been seen before.";
+            return null;
+        }
+        catch (SshHostKeyMismatchException exception)
+        {
+            HostKeyMismatch = exception.Message;
+            Status = "The host key has changed. Nothing was connected.";
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Records that a host connection just succeeded: the address, the negotiated facts, and the ticket the
     /// disconnect log closes out later.

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.Spelunk.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,543 @@
+using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Shell.ViewModels;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Reaching a host through Spelunk: the editor's half, the connect path's half, and a link from Spelunk.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// A file of its own because it is one feature and this class is long enough without it. Everything here
+/// follows the relay, which is the other route a host can take: a tick box in the editor, a route opened by
+/// the connect that will use it, no falling back to a direct dial, and a stated failure when the route
+/// cannot be opened. See <see cref="HostSecret.Spelunk"/> and <see cref="SpelunkRoute"/>.
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel
+{
+    /// <summary>The tag every host made from a Spelunk link wears, and what a link looks for.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Matched without regard to case, as the editor matches every tag name — see <c>AddEditorTagAsync</c>.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal const string SpelunkTag = "spelunk";
+
+    /// <summary>What the status bar and the log name as the identity of a Spelunk sign-in.</summary>
+    private const string SpelunkSignInIdentity = "Spelunk sign-in";
+
+    /// <summary>What opens a tunnel when no caller supplied something else.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Static and shared for the reason <see cref="DefaultReachability"/> is: it holds nothing but a
+    /// transport, and every tunnel is a fresh ticket and a fresh socket. Optional in the constructor so both
+    /// heads and every existing test go on meaning what they did, and a test that wants to see what was
+    /// opened passes a substitute.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static readonly ISpelunkTunnel DefaultSpelunk = new SpelunkTunnel();
+
+    /// <summary>Whether the host being edited is reached through Spelunk.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Ticking it unticks the relay and the other way round, rather than letting both be ticked and refusing
+    /// the save: a host has one route, and <see cref="HostSecret.TryValidate"/> would only catch after the
+    /// fact what these two boxes can simply not express.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(EditorAsksForLogin))]
+    private bool editorThroughSpelunk;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether Spelunk signs the user in to the host being edited, so it needs no login of its own.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Inside the Spelunk card, and meaningful only while that is ticked. See
+    /// <see cref="SpelunkRoute.SignInThroughSpelunk"/>.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(EditorAsksForLogin))]
+    private bool editorSpelunkSignIn;
+
+    /// <summary>The Spelunk API address in the editor, as typed.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string editorSpelunkApi = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>The Spelunk server id in the editor, as typed.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string editorSpelunkServerId = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>What the editor offers as the Spelunk API key: saved Spelunk keys, then credentials.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// No "none" entry: a route with no key cannot be opened, and nothing selected is how a host made from a
+    /// link says it has not been chosen yet. A key the host names that has since been deleted keeps a
+    /// placeholder, for the reason <see cref="BuildAuthenticationChoices"/> keeps one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal ObservableCollection<AuthenticationChoice> EditorSpelunkKeyChoices { get; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>The credential chosen to hold the Spelunk API key.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private AuthenticationChoice? editorSelectedSpelunkKey;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether the editor's username and login choice mean anything — false for a host Spelunk signs in to.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The two controls are disabled rather than hidden while it is false, with a sentence saying why, so a
+    /// login somebody had chosen is still there to see — and comes back as it was if the box is unticked
+    /// before saving.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal bool EditorAsksForLogin => !(EditorThroughSpelunk && EditorSpelunkSignIn);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="DefaultSpelunk" />
+    private ISpelunkTunnel Spelunk => spelunk ?? DefaultSpelunk;
+
+    partial void OnEditorThroughSpelunkChanged(bool value)
+    {
+        if (value)
+        {
+            EditorRelayEnabled = false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    partial void OnEditorRelayEnabledChanged(bool value)
+    {
+        if (value)
+        {
+            EditorThroughSpelunk = false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens the route a host is reached by, or null for a host that is dialled.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The one place that decides, for both transports: a shell comes through here from
+    /// <see cref="OpenThroughAsync"/>, and file transfer opens its own connection and comes through here from
+    /// the transfers screen — or that screen would fail for exactly the hosts a route exists for.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A host naming a route that cannot be opened is a refusal, never a quiet direct dial. See
+    /// <see cref="OpenRelayAsync"/> for the relay's half of that argument; Spelunk's is stronger still,
+    /// because a Spelunk host's address may be nothing that answers at all.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The request a route is used for is made with <see cref="Through"/>, which is where a Spelunk sign-in's
+    /// key and account replace the ones the host resolved to.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal async Task<IConnectionRoute?> OpenRouteAsync(HostRowViewModel row, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(row);
+
+        if (row.Host.Spelunk is { } route)
+        {
+            return await OpenSpelunkTunnelAsync(row, route, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+        }
+
+        return row.Host.RelayEnabled
+            ? await OpenRelayAsync(row.Label, row.EntityId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true)
+            : null;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The request to connect with once a route is open: through its proxy, and for a Spelunk sign-in, with
+    /// the key the tunnel was opened with and the account Spelunk named.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Both transports make their request through this, so a sign-in cannot reach one of them with the
+    /// stand-in credential <see cref="TryBuildAuthentication"/> gives it — which the SSH layer would refuse
+    /// before dialling anyway. See <see cref="SpelunkSignInPending"/>.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The host and port are left alone. The host key is pinned under them as for every host, and Spelunk's
+    /// SSH server presents the server's real host key, so a sign-in and a plain tunnel to one server are
+    /// checked against the same pin.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal static SshConnectionRequest Through(SshConnectionRequest request, IConnectionRoute? route)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(request);
+
+        return route switch
+        {
+            null => request,
+            SpelunkTunnelRoute { SignIn: { } signIn, User: { } user } => request with
+            {
+                Proxy = route.Proxy,
+                Username = user,
+                Credential = signIn.Credential,
+            },
+            _ => request with { Proxy = route.Proxy },
+        };
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a Spelunk tunnel to a host, with the key it names.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The key is read from the keychain at the moment of connecting, like every other secret the connect
+    /// path uses, and goes only to the API address the host names — and for a saved Spelunk key, only when
+    /// that is the address it was saved for. See <see cref="SpelunkApiKeyFor"/>.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The port is the host's resolved one, group and all: it is the port the agent connects to on the
+    /// server's own loopback, which is where the SSH server listens whatever address the world sees.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>A host Spelunk signs in to gets a new key pair here, every time.</b> It is made in memory for this
+    /// one tunnel, its public half goes with the ticket request, and the route carries it to the connection —
+    /// see <see cref="SpelunkSignIn"/>. A retry after a host key question, or a reconnect, comes back through
+    /// here and makes another.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<IConnectionRoute> OpenSpelunkTunnelAsync(
+        HostRowViewModel row,
+        SpelunkRoute route,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var apiKey = SpelunkApiKeyFor(row, route);
+
+        return await Spelunk
+            .OpenAsync(
+                route.ApiBase,
+                route.ServerId,
+                apiKey,
+                row.Resolved.Port.Value,
+                route.SignInThroughSpelunk ? SpelunkSignIn.Create() : null,
+                cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Does what a <c>dodossh://spelunk/connect</c> link asks, as far as it is allowed to.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <returns>
+    /// The work the link started, connection attempt included, so a caller that wants to can wait for it.
+    /// </returns>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>A host for that server in the personal vault, tagged <see cref="SpelunkTag"/>, is connected to</b>,
+    /// exactly as a tap on its row would. Those are the hosts links make, and the only ones a link looks for:
+    /// a host somebody set up by hand, or one in a team's vault, is theirs to connect to and not the link's.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>Otherwise, when that Spelunk already gets an API key, the host is made and connected to.</b> In the
+    /// personal vault, tagged, named as the link names it, and signing in through Spelunk — so it needs no
+    /// SSH key or password — with the key saved for that Spelunk under Settings → Security, or else the key
+    /// credential a saved host already sends there. It is saved the ordinary way and syncs like any host.
+    /// Nothing leaks by this: the key goes where the user already said it goes, and the server is one that
+    /// key's own organisation holds or Spelunk refuses it.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>The first link from a Spelunk with no key opens the editor instead, and nothing more.</b> Anything
+    /// on this machine can make a link, so it must never be able to send an API key to an address the user
+    /// has not sent it to. The host is pre-filled — signing in through Spelunk, tagged, in the personal
+    /// vault — and the user chooses the key and saves; every later link from that Spelunk connects straight
+    /// away.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal async Task OpenSpelunkLinkAsync(SpelunkLink link)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(link);
+
+        var personal = PersonalVaultId();
+
+        if (personal is { } vaultId
+            && Hosts.FirstOrDefault(row =>
+                row.VaultId == vaultId
+                && row.Host.Spelunk?.IsFor(link.ApiBase, link.ServerId) is true
+                && WearsSpelunkTag(row.Host)) is { } saved)
+        {
+            await ConnectToRowCommand.ExecuteAsync(saved).ConfigureAwait(true);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var knownKey = KnownSpelunkKey(link.ApiBase, personal);
+
+        if (personal is { } into && knownKey is { } key)
+        {
+            await AddFromLinkAndConnectAsync(link, into, key).ConfigureAwait(true);
+            return;
+        }
+
+        await OpenLinkInEditorAsync(link, personal, knownKey).ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The personal vault, when this session can read and write it.</summary>
+    private Guid? PersonalVaultId() =>
+        session.ReadableVaults.FirstOrDefault(vault => vault.IsPersonal && vault.CanWrite)?.VaultId;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether a host wears a tag called <see cref="SpelunkTag"/>, from whichever vault.</summary>
+    private bool WearsSpelunkTag(HostSecret host) =>
+        host.TagIds.Any(id => tagsById.TryGetValue(id, out var tag) && IsSpelunkTag(tag));
+
+    private static bool IsSpelunkTag(TagSecret tag) =>
+        string.Equals(tag.Label.Trim(), SpelunkTag, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The key the user has already agreed may go to this Spelunk, or null when there is none.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A Spelunk key saved for that address first — it is the one thing that says so in as many words — and
+    /// otherwise the key a saved host already sends there, which is how the answer was reached before saved
+    /// keys existed and is still true of every host set up that way.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The personal vault's first, so the answer does not depend on the order vaults happen to load in; and
+    /// only a key still in the keychain, because a dangling one would make a host that cannot connect.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private Guid? KnownSpelunkKey(string apiBase, Guid? personal) =>
+        SavedSpelunkKeyFor(apiBase, personal)?.EntityId
+        ?? Hosts
+            .OrderByDescending(row => row.VaultId == personal)
+            .Select(row => row.Host.Spelunk)
+            .Where(route => route is not null && string.Equals(route.ApiBase, apiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            .Select(route => (Guid?)route!.ApiKeyCredentialId)
+            .FirstOrDefault(id =>
+                Credentials.Any(credential => credential.EntityId == id)
+                || SpelunkKeys.Any(key => key.EntityId == id && string.Equals(key.ApiBase, apiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal)));
+
+    /// <summary>The host a link makes: what the link says, signing in through Spelunk with a known key.</summary>
+    private static HostSecret HostFromLink(SpelunkLink link, Guid apiKeyCredentialId, TagSet tags) => new()
+    {
+        Label = link.Name,
+        Hostname = link.Hostname,
+        Port = HostSecret.DefaultPort,
+        TagIds = tags,
+        Spelunk = new SpelunkRoute
+        {
+            ApiBase = link.ApiBase,
+            ServerId = link.ServerId,
+            ApiKeyCredentialId = apiKeyCredentialId,
+            SignInThroughSpelunk = true,
+        },
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>Saves the host a link describes into the personal vault, tagged, and connects to it.</summary>
+    private async Task AddFromLinkAndConnectAsync(SpelunkLink link, Guid vaultId, Guid apiKeyCredentialId)
+    {
+        if (IsBusy)
+        {
+            // RunAsync would drop it without a word, and the user pressed a button somewhere else to get here.
+            Status = $"Busy — open {link.Name} from Spelunk again in a moment.";
+            return;
+        }
+
+        Guid? hostId = null;
+
+        await RunAsync(
+            $"Adding {link.Name} from Spelunk…",
+            async () =>
+            {
+                var tagId = await EnsureSpelunkTagAsync(vaultId, CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+                hostId = await session.Hosts
+                    .CreateAsync(
+                        vaultId,
+                        HostFromLink(link, apiKeyCredentialId, TagSet.Create([tagId])),
+                        CancellationToken.None)
+                    .ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+                await ReloadAsync(CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+            }).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+        // A failure has said so on the status line already.
+        if (hostId is not { } id || Hosts.FirstOrDefault(row => row.EntityId == id) is not { } row)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        Status = $"Added {link.Name} from Spelunk at {link.ApiBase}.";
+
+        await ConnectToRowCommand.ExecuteAsync(row).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+        // After the connect rather than before it: the host is saved either way, and the terminal is what the
+        // user is waiting for. As SaveHostAsync does, it goes to the server now rather than at the next tick.
+        await AutoSyncAsync(CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens the editor on a new host from a link, for the first link from a Spelunk no host sends a key to.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Opened before anything is awaited, so the editor is up in the same turn the link arrived in. The tag is
+    /// made or found afterwards and added to the host being edited; a tag made for a host that is then
+    /// cancelled stays, as the editor's own new-tag box leaves it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task OpenLinkInEditorAsync(SpelunkLink link, Guid? personal, Guid? knownKey)
+    {
+        // Refused while another host is half-edited, as NewHost refuses it, and said the same way: the link
+        // is not worth somebody's unsaved host.
+        if (AHostEditorIsInTheWay())
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        NewHost();
+
+        if (personal is { } vaultId
+            && EditorVaultChoices.FirstOrDefault(choice => choice.VaultId == vaultId) is { } choice)
+        {
+            EditorSelectedVault = choice;
+        }
+
+        EditorLabel = link.Name;
+        EditorHostname = link.Hostname;
+        EditorPort = HostSecret.DefaultPort;
+        EditorThroughSpelunk = true;
+        EditorSpelunkSignIn = true;
+        EditorSpelunkApi = link.ApiBase;
+        EditorSpelunkServerId = link.ServerId.ToString();
+
+        BuildSpelunkKeyChoices(knownKey);
+
+        IsHostPaneOpen = true;
+
+        var said = EditorSelectedSpelunkKey is null
+            ? $"Adding {link.Name}, the first server from Spelunk at {link.ApiBase}. Choose your Spelunk API "
+                + "key and save — Spelunk signs you in, so no SSH key is needed, and later links from this "
+                + "Spelunk connect straight away. Saving the key under Settings → Security does the same."
+            : $"Adding {link.Name} from Spelunk at {link.ApiBase}. Check it and save.";
+
+        Status = said;
+
+        if (personal is { } into)
+        {
+            await TagHostFromLinkAsync(into, said).ConfigureAwait(true);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Adds the <see cref="SpelunkTag"/> tag to the host a link opened the editor on.</summary>
+    /// <param name="vaultId">The personal vault, where the host is to be saved and the tag is.</param>
+    /// <param name="said">What the status line says about the link, put back after the reload.</param>
+    private async Task TagHostFromLinkAsync(Guid vaultId, string said)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            var tagId = await EnsureSpelunkTagAsync(vaultId, CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+            // Only onto the host this link opened: the user may have cancelled it, or moved on to another, in
+            // the moment the tag took.
+            if (!IsEditing || editingEntityId is not null || editingHostVaultId != vaultId)
+            {
+                return;
+            }
+
+            editorTagIds = TagSet.Create([.. editorTagIds, tagId]);
+
+            if (!tagsById.ContainsKey(tagId))
+            {
+                await ReloadAsync(CancellationToken.None).ConfigureAwait(true);
+            }
+
+            BuildTagChoices();
+            Status = said;
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is not OutOfMemoryException)
+        {
+            // The host can still be saved; it is the tag that could not be made, and a later link would then
+            // not find it. Said, rather than failing the whole link over it.
+            Status = $"{said} (The '{SpelunkTag}' tag could not be added: {exception.Message})";
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The <see cref="SpelunkTag"/> tag in a vault, made there if it has none.</summary>
+    private async Task<Guid> EnsureSpelunkTagAsync(Guid vaultId, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var listing = await session.Tags.ListAsync(vaultId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+        if (listing.Items
+            .Where(tag => IsSpelunkTag(tag.Secret))
+            .OrderBy(tag => tag.EntityId)
+            .FirstOrDefault() is { } existing)
+        {
+            return existing.EntityId;
+        }
+
+        return await session.Tags
+            .CreateAsync(vaultId, new TagSecret { Label = SpelunkTag }, cancellationToken)
+            .ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Whether a host needs this key or credential to connect: as its resolved binding, or as the credential
+    /// holding its Spelunk API key.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The one question the deletion warning, the table's USED BY column and the detail pane's list all ask,
+    /// so a credential that is only somebody's Spelunk key is not deleted as though nothing used it. Spelunk
+    /// keys are named by the host itself and never inherited, so the stored route is the whole answer there.
+    /// A host Spelunk signs in to uses no binding at all, whatever its group lends.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool Uses(HostRowViewModel row, ResolvedBindingKind kind, Guid entityId) =>
+        (!row.Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk
+            && row.Resolved.Binding is { } binding
+            && binding.Kind == kind
+            && binding.EntityId == entityId)
+        || (kind is ResolvedBindingKind.Credential && row.Host.Spelunk?.ApiKeyCredentialId == entityId);
+
+    /// <summary>Puts a host's route into the editor, or clears it for a host that has none.</summary>
+    private void LoadEditorSpelunk(SpelunkRoute? route)
+    {
+        EditorThroughSpelunk = route is not null;
+        EditorSpelunkSignIn = route?.SignInThroughSpelunk ?? false;
+        EditorSpelunkApi = route?.ApiBase ?? string.Empty;
+        EditorSpelunkServerId = route?.ServerId.ToString() ?? string.Empty;
+
+        BuildSpelunkKeyChoices(route?.ApiKeyCredentialId);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Fills the API key picker, keeping whatever the host names selectable.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Saved Spelunk keys first, named for where they go, because that is the choice the Security page made
+    /// for exactly this; then every credential, for a key kept as a password before saved keys existed.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void BuildSpelunkKeyChoices(Guid? selectedId)
+    {
+        EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.Clear();
+
+        foreach (var key in SpelunkKeys)
+        {
+            EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.Add(new AuthenticationChoice(
+                AuthenticationKind.Credential, key.EntityId, key.Label, $"Spelunk key · {key.ApiBase}"));
+        }
+
+        foreach (var credential in Credentials)
+        {
+            EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.Add(AuthenticationChoice.ForCredential(credential.EntityId, credential.Label));
+        }
+
+        if (selectedId is { } missing && EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.All(choice => choice.EntityId != missing))
+        {
+            EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.Add(AuthenticationChoice.Missing(AuthenticationKind.Credential, missing));
+        }
+
+        EditorSelectedSpelunkKey = EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.FirstOrDefault(choice => choice.EntityId == selectedId);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The editor's route, or null when the box is not ticked.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// What cannot be read is written as empty rather than left out, so that
+    /// <see cref="HostSecret.TryValidate"/> says what is wrong with it — "needs the id of its Spelunk server"
+    /// — instead of the save quietly producing a host that is dialled directly. The address is normalised
+    /// here when it can be, so <c>https://api.example.com/</c> saves as the same Spelunk as the link's.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private SpelunkRoute? BuildSpelunkRoute()
+    {
+        if (!EditorThroughSpelunk)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        return new SpelunkRoute
+        {
+            ApiBase = SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase(EditorSpelunkApi, out var normalized, out _)
+                ? normalized
+                : EditorSpelunkApi.Trim(),
+            ServerId = Guid.TryParse(EditorSpelunkServerId.Trim(), out var serverId) ? serverId : Guid.Empty,
+            ApiKeyCredentialId = EditorSelectedSpelunkKey?.EntityId ?? Guid.Empty,
+            SignInThroughSpelunk = EditorSpelunkSignIn,
+        };
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.SpelunkKeys.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,374 @@
+using System.Collections.ObjectModel;
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.ComponentModel;
+using CommunityToolkit.Mvvm.Input;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Session;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Sync;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Shell.ViewModels;
+
+/// <summary>One saved Spelunk key, as a row on the Security page.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Carries the decrypted key so the connect path needs no second decryption, and — as the credential row does
+/// — exposes nothing of it to the view: the XAML binds the name, the address and a count.
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class SpelunkKeyRowViewModel(VaultItem<SpelunkKeySecret> key, Guid vaultId, string vaultName)
+{
+    internal Guid EntityId => key.EntityId;
+
+    internal Guid VaultId { get; } = vaultId;
+
+    internal string VaultName { get; } = vaultName;
+
+    internal SpelunkKeySecret Key => key.Secret;
+
+    internal string Label => key.Secret.Label;
+
+    /// <summary>The one address this key is ever sent to.</summary>
+    internal string ApiBase => key.Secret.ApiBase;
+
+    /// <summary>The vault's name, when there is more than one to tell apart; empty otherwise.</summary>
+    internal string VaultBadge { get; init; } = string.Empty;
+
+    internal bool HasVaultBadge => VaultBadge.Length > 0;
+
+    /// <summary>How many hosts reach Spelunk with this key, in words.</summary>
+    internal string UsedBy { get; init; } = string.Empty;
+
+    internal bool IsReadOnly => key.IsReadOnly;
+
+    internal string Badge => ItemBadge.For(key.IsBlocked, key.IsReadOnly, key.HasUnsyncedChanges);
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Spelunk keys: filling one in on the Security page, and what a saved one lets a host and a link do.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>A saved key says where it may go.</b> It is an API key and the one Spelunk address it belongs to, kept
+/// in the keychain and synced like any secret. A host can name it where it would name a credential, and it is
+/// then sent to that address and never to another — see <see cref="SpelunkApiKeyFor"/>. A link from that
+/// Spelunk connects straight away, because saving the key is the user saying so — see
+/// <see cref="KnownSpelunkKey"/>.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// The form saves into the personal vault, and a second key for an address the personal vault already has a
+/// key for replaces that key rather than adding a rival: one Spelunk, one key, which is also what makes the
+/// answer to "which key does a link use?" not depend on anything the user cannot see.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel
+{
+    /// <summary>Every Spelunk key this session can read, the personal vault's first.</summary>
+    internal ObservableCollection<SpelunkKeyRowViewModel> SpelunkKeys { get; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>Whether there is any saved key to list.</summary>
+    internal bool HasSpelunkKeys => SpelunkKeys.Count > 0;
+
+    /// <summary>The Spelunk API address in the Security page's form, as typed.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string spelunkKeyFormApi = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>The API key in the Security page's form, as pasted. Cleared the moment it is saved.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string spelunkKeyFormKey = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>What the form has to say about the last save, or empty.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Beside the form rather than only on the status line, because the Security page is a long way from the
+    /// status bar and a refusal nobody sees reads as a button that does nothing.
+    /// </remarks>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string spelunkKeyFormNote = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether <see cref="SpelunkKeyFormNote"/> has anything in it.</summary>
+    internal bool HasSpelunkKeyFormNote => SpelunkKeyFormNote.Length > 0;
+
+    partial void OnSpelunkKeyFormNoteChanged(string value) => OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasSpelunkKeyFormNote));
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Picks the saved key for the address being typed, when nothing is chosen yet.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Only into an empty choice: a key somebody picked is theirs, and replacing it because they edited the
+    /// address would be choosing for them.
+    /// </remarks>
+    partial void OnEditorSpelunkApiChanged(string value)
+    {
+        if (EditorSelectedSpelunkKey is not null
+            || !SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase(value, out var apiBase, out _)
+            || SavedSpelunkKeyFor(apiBase, PersonalVaultId()) is not { } saved)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        EditorSelectedSpelunkKey = EditorSpelunkKeyChoices.FirstOrDefault(choice => choice.EntityId == saved.EntityId);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Saves the key in the form for the address in the form.</summary>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private async Task SaveSpelunkKeyAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (!TryReadSpelunkKeyForm(out var vaultId, out var existing, out var key))
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        var apiBase = key.ApiBase;
+
+        SpelunkKeyFormNote = string.Empty;
+
+        await RunAsync(
+            "Saving the Spelunk key…",
+            async () =>
+            {
+                if (existing is not null)
+                {
+                    await session.SpelunkKeys
+                        .UpdateAsync(vaultId, existing.EntityId, key, cancellationToken)
+                        .ConfigureAwait(true);
+                }
+                else
+                {
+                    await session.SpelunkKeys.CreateAsync(vaultId, key, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+                }
+
+                // The key leaves the form as soon as it is in the keychain; the address stays, as a reminder
+                // of what was just saved.
+                SpelunkKeyFormKey = string.Empty;
+                SpelunkKeyFormApi = apiBase;
+
+                await ReloadAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+                var said = existing is null
+                    ? $"Saved the Spelunk key for {apiBase}. Links from that Spelunk now connect straight away."
+                    : $"Replaced the Spelunk key for {apiBase}. Every host using it connects with the new one.";
+
+                Status = connection() is null ? $"{said} It will sync when you are online." : said;
+                SpelunkKeyFormNote = said;
+            }).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+        await AutoSyncAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Reads the form into the key it would save, and where; or says on the form why it cannot.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="vaultId">The vault the key goes into: the personal one, when there is one.</param>
+    /// <param name="existing">The key already saved there for that address, which this one replaces.</param>
+    /// <param name="key">The key to save, keeping the existing one's name.</param>
+    private bool TryReadSpelunkKeyForm(
+        out Guid vaultId,
+        out SpelunkKeyRowViewModel? existing,
+        [NotNullWhen(true)] out SpelunkKeySecret? key)
+    {
+        vaultId = Guid.Empty;
+        existing = null;
+        key = null;
+
+        if (!SpelunkRoute.TryNormalizeApiBase(SpelunkKeyFormApi, out var apiBase, out var reason))
+        {
+            SpelunkKeyFormNote = reason;
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if ((PersonalVaultId() ?? WritableActiveVault()) is not { } target)
+        {
+            SpelunkKeyFormNote = "There is no vault here this account can write to, so the key cannot be saved.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        vaultId = target;
+        existing = SpelunkKeys.FirstOrDefault(row =>
+            row.VaultId == target && string.Equals(row.ApiBase, apiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal));
+
+        var candidate = new SpelunkKeySecret
+        {
+            Label = existing?.Label ?? SpelunkKeyLabel(apiBase),
+            ApiBase = apiBase,
+            ApiKey = SpelunkKeyFormKey.Trim(),
+        };
+
+        if (!candidate.TryValidate(out reason))
+        {
+            SpelunkKeyFormNote = reason;
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        key = candidate;
+        return true;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Asks whether a saved Spelunk key should go.</summary>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void DeleteSpelunkKeyRow(SpelunkKeyRowViewModel? row)
+    {
+        if (row is null)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        PendingDeletion = new DeletionRequest(
+            DeletionTarget.SpelunkKey,
+            row.EntityId,
+            $"Delete the Spelunk key for {row.ApiBase}?",
+            HowFarADeletionGoes("The key"),
+            HostsReachingSpelunkWith(row.EntityId));
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Queues a tombstone for the Spelunk key that was agreed to.</summary>
+    private async Task DeleteSpelunkKeyNowAsync(Guid entityId, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (SpelunkKeys.FirstOrDefault(row => row.EntityId == entityId) is not { } row)
+        {
+            Status = "That Spelunk key is no longer here, so nothing was deleted.";
+            return;
+        }
+
+        await RunAsync(
+            "Deleting…",
+            async () =>
+            {
+                await session.SpelunkKeys
+                    .DeleteAsync(row.VaultId, row.EntityId, cancellationToken)
+                    .ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+                await ReloadAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+                Status = $"Deleted the Spelunk key for {row.ApiBase}.";
+            }).ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+        await AutoSyncAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <returns>How many Spelunk keys would not decrypt.</returns>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Read after the hosts, because each row says how many of them use it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<int> ReloadSpelunkKeysAsync(CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var unreadable = 0;
+        var rows = new List<SpelunkKeyRowViewModel>();
+
+        var readableVaults = session.ReadableVaults.ToList();
+        var several = readableVaults.Count > 1;
+
+        foreach (var vault in readableVaults)
+        {
+            var listing = await session.SpelunkKeys
+                .ListAsync(vault.VaultId, cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+            unreadable += listing.Unreadable;
+
+            rows.AddRange(listing.Items.Select(item => new SpelunkKeyRowViewModel(item, vault.VaultId, vault.Name)
+            {
+                VaultBadge = several ? vault.Name.ToUpperInvariant() : string.Empty,
+                UsedBy = UsedBySummary(Hosts.Count(host => host.Host.Spelunk?.ApiKeyCredentialId == item.EntityId)),
+            }));
+        }
+
+        var personal = PersonalVaultId();
+
+        SpelunkKeys.Clear();
+
+        foreach (var row in rows
+            .OrderByDescending(row => row.VaultId == personal)
+            .ThenBy(row => row.VaultName, StringComparer.CurrentCulture)
+            .ThenBy(row => row.ApiBase, StringComparer.Ordinal))
+        {
+            SpelunkKeys.Add(row);
+        }
+
+        OnPropertyChanged(nameof(HasSpelunkKeys));
+
+        return unreadable;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The key to send to a host's Spelunk: a saved Spelunk key's, or a credential's password.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>A saved Spelunk key goes to its own address or nowhere.</b> A host naming one with a different
+    /// address — edited by hand, or merged from two devices — is refused in words rather than sending the key
+    /// to a Spelunk it was never saved for. A credential carries no address, so its password goes where the
+    /// host says, as it always has.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Either can be gone, deleted on another machine, and that is refused exactly as a missing SSH credential
+    /// is — see <see cref="TryBuildAuthentication"/>.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <exception cref="SpelunkTunnelException">The key cannot be sent to this host's Spelunk.</exception>
+    private string SpelunkApiKeyFor(HostRowViewModel row, SpelunkRoute route)
+    {
+        if (SpelunkKeys.FirstOrDefault(key => key.EntityId == route.ApiKeyCredentialId) is { } saved)
+        {
+            if (!string.Equals(saved.ApiBase, route.ApiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            {
+                throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+                    $"'{row.Label}' is reached through {route.ApiBase} with the Spelunk key saved for "
+                    + $"{saved.ApiBase}, and that key is never sent anywhere else. Edit the host to choose "
+                    + "the key for its own Spelunk.");
+            }
+
+            return saved.Key.ApiKey;
+        }
+
+        if (Credentials.FirstOrDefault(credential => credential.EntityId == route.ApiKeyCredentialId) is { } credential)
+        {
+            return credential.Credential.Password;
+        }
+
+        throw new SpelunkTunnelException(
+            $"'{row.Label}' is reached through Spelunk with an API key that is not in this keychain any more. "
+            + "Edit the host to choose another one, or save the key under Settings → Security.");
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>The saved key for a Spelunk, the given vault's first, or null when none is saved.</summary>
+    private SpelunkKeyRowViewModel? SavedSpelunkKeyFor(string apiBase, Guid? preferredVault) =>
+        SpelunkKeys
+            .Where(row => string.Equals(row.ApiBase, apiBase, StringComparison.Ordinal))
+            .OrderByDescending(row => row.VaultId == preferredVault)
+            .FirstOrDefault();
+
+    /// <summary>The active vault when this session may write to it, for a session with no personal vault.</summary>
+    private Guid? WritableActiveVault() =>
+        session.ReadableVaults.FirstOrDefault(vault => vault.VaultId == session.ActiveVaultId && vault.CanWrite)
+            ?.VaultId;
+
+    /// <summary>The name a key saved from the form is given: where it goes.</summary>
+    private static string SpelunkKeyLabel(string apiBase) =>
+        Uri.TryCreate(apiBase, UriKind.Absolute, out var uri) ? $"Spelunk at {uri.Authority}" : "Spelunk";
+
+    private static string UsedBySummary(int hosts) => hosts switch
+    {
+        0 => "No host uses it yet",
+        1 => "1 host uses it",
+        _ => $"{hosts} hosts use it",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>What the hosts that reach Spelunk with a key would be left with, or nothing when none do.</summary>
+    private string HostsReachingSpelunkWith(Guid entityId)
+    {
+        var named = Hosts
+            .Where(row => row.Host.Spelunk?.ApiKeyCredentialId == entityId)
+            .Select(row => row.Label)
+            .ToArray();
+
+        if (named.Length == 0)
+        {
+            return string.Empty;
+        }
+
+        var list = named.Length <= 3
+            ? string.Join(", ", named)
+            : $"{string.Join(", ", named.Take(3))} and {named.Length - 3} more";
+
+        return named.Length == 1
+            ? $"{list} reaches Spelunk with it, and will refuse to connect until it names another key."
+            : $"{named.Length} hosts reach Spelunk with it — {list} — and will refuse to connect until they "
+                + "name another key.";
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Shell/ViewModels/VaultViewModel.cs

@@ -594,6 +594,10 @@ internal sealed partial class HostRowViewModel(
     /// <summary>Whether the card draws a pin-count badge at all.</summary>
     internal bool HasPins => PinCount > 0;
 
+    /// <summary>Whether this host carries any port forwards, for the detail pane's FORWARDS card.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>Read off the secret for the reason <see cref="PinCount"/> is.</remarks>
+    internal bool HasForwards => host.Secret.PortForwards.Count > 0;
+
     /// <summary>
     /// The two letters a card's monogram avatar draws.
     /// </summary>
@@ -956,8 +960,17 @@ internal sealed class TerminalSessionEventArgs(
     string cipher,
     string hostKeyAlgorithm,
     string? identityLabel,
-    Guid? hostId) : EventArgs
+    Guid? hostId,
+    PortForwardList? forwards = null) : EventArgs
 {
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The forwards to start on this session: the host's saved ones, or none for a typed-in address.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Carried here because the shell has no vault to read them from, for the reason the label is.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal PortForwardList Forwards { get; } = forwards ?? PortForwardList.Empty;
+
     /// <summary>Which attempt this session came out of.</summary>
     /// <inheritdoc cref="ConnectionAttemptEventArgs.AttemptId" path="/remarks" />
     internal Guid AttemptId { get; } = attemptId;
@@ -1330,6 +1343,9 @@ internal enum DeletionTarget
 
     /// <summary>A tag, from the vault screen.</summary>
     Tag,
+
+    /// <summary>A saved Spelunk key, from the Security page.</summary>
+    SpelunkKey,
 }
 
 /// <summary>
@@ -1469,7 +1485,8 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     Func<string, Task>? copyToClipboard = null,
     ConnectionRecorder? connectionLog = null,
     VaultVisibility? visibility = null,
-    ISshReachabilityProbe? reachability = null) : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisposable
+    ISshReachabilityProbe? reachability = null,
+    ISpelunkTunnel? spelunk = null) : ObservableObject, IAsyncDisposable
 {
     /// <summary>What explains a failed connection when no caller supplied something else.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
@@ -3722,6 +3739,196 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         EditorNewPin = string.Empty;
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The port forwards on the host being edited, staged the way <see cref="EditorPinnedPaths"/> is.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Populated when the editor opens, changed by <see cref="AddEditorForward"/> and
+    /// <see cref="RemoveEditorForward"/>, read back by <see cref="BuildHost"/> on Save. A rule keeps its id
+    /// through the editor, which is what lets the merge tell an edited forward from a new one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal ObservableCollection<PortForwardRule> EditorPortForwards { get; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>The add row's kind, as the index of <see cref="PortForwardKind"/>: local, remote, dynamic.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(EditorNewForwardHasTarget))]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(EditorNewForwardBindHint))]
+    [NotifyPropertyChangedFor(nameof(EditorNewForwardKindHint))]
+    private int editorNewForwardKind;
+
+    /// <summary>The add row's listening port, as typed.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string editorNewForwardBindPort = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>The add row's target, as <c>host:port</c>.</summary>
+    [ObservableProperty]
+    private string editorNewForwardTarget = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>Whether the add row's kind has a target at all; a dynamic forward does not.</summary>
+    internal bool EditorNewForwardHasTarget => (PortForwardKind)EditorNewForwardKind is not PortForwardKind.Dynamic;
+
+    /// <summary>The add row's listening-port placeholder: short, because the box is narrow.</summary>
+    internal string EditorNewForwardBindHint => (PortForwardKind)EditorNewForwardKind switch
+    {
+        PortForwardKind.Remote => "remote port",
+        PortForwardKind.Dynamic => "SOCKS port",
+        _ => "local port",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// What the add row's kind does, in a sentence naming which end each port is on — the thing people get
+    /// backwards about <c>-L</c> and <c>-R</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    internal string EditorNewForwardKindHint => (PortForwardKind)EditorNewForwardKind switch
+    {
+        PortForwardKind.Remote =>
+            "A port on the remote, carried back to a host:port as this machine sees it.",
+        PortForwardKind.Dynamic =>
+            "A SOCKS proxy on this machine. Each connection through it leaves from the remote.",
+        _ => "A port on this machine, carried to a host:port as the remote sees it.",
+    };
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Adds a forward to the host being edited, from the editor's add row.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Validated here rather than at Save, for the reason <see cref="AddEditorPin"/> is: a refusal at the
+    /// box that caused it costs nothing else on the form. The rule's own
+    /// <see cref="PortForwardRule.TryValidate"/> is the check, so this cannot drift from what the codec
+    /// accepts.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>A second listener on a port this host already listens on is refused here</b>, though the domain
+    /// allows it — it has to, because two machines each adding one is what a merge produces. Here it is one
+    /// person, and the second would only ever fail to start.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void AddEditorForward()
+    {
+        var kind = (PortForwardKind)EditorNewForwardKind;
+
+        if (!int.TryParse(EditorNewForwardBindPort.Trim(), NumberStyles.None, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var bindPort))
+        {
+            Status = "A forward needs a listening port, as a number.";
+            return;
+        }
+
+        string? targetHost = null;
+        int? targetPort = null;
+
+        if (kind is not PortForwardKind.Dynamic)
+        {
+            if (!TryParseForwardTarget(EditorNewForwardTarget, out targetHost, out targetPort))
+            {
+                Status = "A forward's target is host:port, for example db.internal:5432.";
+                return;
+            }
+        }
+
+        var rule = new PortForwardRule
+        {
+            Id = Guid.CreateVersion7(),
+            Kind = kind,
+            BindPort = bindPort,
+            TargetHost = targetHost,
+            TargetPort = targetPort,
+        };
+
+        if (!rule.TryValidate(out var reason))
+        {
+            Status = reason;
+            return;
+        }
+
+        if (EditorPortForwards.Count >= HostSecret.MaxPortForwards)
+        {
+            Status = $"A host cannot carry more than {HostSecret.MaxPortForwards} port forwards.";
+            return;
+        }
+
+        // Local and dynamic forwards both listen on this machine, so they share its ports; a remote forward
+        // listens on the remote, which is a different set.
+        var listensHere = kind is not PortForwardKind.Remote;
+
+        if (EditorPortForwards.Any(existing =>
+                existing.BindPort == bindPort && existing.Kind is not PortForwardKind.Remote == listensHere))
+        {
+            Status = listensHere
+                ? $"This host already has a forward listening on port {bindPort} here."
+                : $"This host already has a forward listening on port {bindPort} on the remote.";
+            return;
+        }
+
+        EditorPortForwards.Add(rule);
+        EditorNewForwardBindPort = string.Empty;
+        EditorNewForwardTarget = string.Empty;
+        Status = string.Empty;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Removes a forward from the host being edited.</summary>
+    [RelayCommand]
+    private void RemoveEditorForward(PortForwardRule? rule)
+    {
+        if (rule is not null)
+        {
+            EditorPortForwards.Remove(rule);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Stages an existing host's forwards for editing. See <see cref="EditorPortForwards"/>.</summary>
+    private void LoadEditorPortForwards(PortForwardList forwards)
+    {
+        EditorPortForwards.Clear();
+
+        foreach (var forward in forwards)
+        {
+            EditorPortForwards.Add(forward);
+        }
+
+        EditorNewForwardKind = (int)PortForwardKind.Local;
+        EditorNewForwardBindPort = string.Empty;
+        EditorNewForwardTarget = string.Empty;
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Reads <c>host:port</c>, with an IPv6 literal in brackets as OpenSSH writes one: <c>[::1]:5432</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Split at the last colon, so an unbracketed IPv6 address fails to parse as a port rather than being
+    /// cut somewhere in its middle. The host is checked by the rule, not here.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal static bool TryParseForwardTarget(string text, out string? host, out int? port)
+    {
+        host = null;
+        port = null;
+
+        var trimmed = text.Trim();
+        var colon = trimmed.LastIndexOf(':');
+
+        if (colon <= 0
+            || !int.TryParse(trimmed.AsSpan(colon + 1), NumberStyles.None, CultureInfo.InvariantCulture, out var parsed))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        var name = trimmed[..colon];
+
+        if (name.StartsWith('[') && name.EndsWith(']'))
+        {
+            name = name[1..^1];
+        }
+        else if (name.Contains(':', StringComparison.Ordinal))
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        host = name;
+        port = parsed;
+        return true;
+    }
+
     /// <summary>The item being edited, or null when creating.</summary>
     private Guid? editingEntityId;
 
@@ -4104,10 +4311,15 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     /// and now means "take the group's" — so reading the ids directly would put a password box in front of
     /// every host under a group that binds a key, and the box would do nothing.
     /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// False for a host Spelunk signs in to, whatever it resolves to: there is nothing to type, and a box —
+    /// or on the phone, a sheet — asking for a password there would be a question with no use for its answer.
+    /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
     internal bool SelectedHostAsksForAPassword =>
         SelectedHost is null
-        || SelectedHost.Resolved.Binding.Kind is ResolvedBindingKind.TypedPassword;
+        || (!SelectedHost.Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk
+            && SelectedHost.Resolved.Binding.Kind is ResolvedBindingKind.TypedPassword);
 
     /// <summary>
     /// What the terminal column says in place of the password box, or nothing when the box is showing.
@@ -4126,11 +4338,13 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     /// changed.
     /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
-    internal string SelectedHostAuthenticationNote => SelectedHost?.Resolved.Binding switch
+    internal string SelectedHostAuthenticationNote => SelectedHost switch
     {
-        { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.Credential } binding =>
+        { Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk: true } =>
+            "Spelunk signs you in to this host with a one-time key; no SSH key or password is needed.",
+        { Resolved.Binding: { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.Credential } binding } =>
             $"This host uses a password stored in your keychain{From(binding)}.",
-        { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.SshKey } binding =>
+        { Resolved.Binding: { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.SshKey } binding } =>
             $"This host authenticates with an SSH key{From(binding)}.",
         _ => string.Empty,
     };
@@ -4159,14 +4373,19 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     /// <remarks>
     /// A sentence for "nobody" rather than the em dash the card uses. The card is a column of aligned facts
     /// where a dash reads as "none"; this is a field in a form, and an empty-looking one would read as a
-    /// value that had not loaded.
+    /// value that had not loaded. A host Spelunk signs in to logs in as whatever Spelunk names, so it says
+    /// that rather than a username the connection will not use.
     /// </remarks>
-    internal string SelectedHostUsernameLabel => SelectedHost?.Resolved.Username.Value is { Length: > 0 } user
-        ? user
-        : "no account set";
+    internal string SelectedHostUsernameLabel => SelectedHost switch
+    {
+        { Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk: true } => "named by Spelunk",
+        { Resolved.Username.Value: { Length: > 0 } user } => user,
+        _ => "no account set",
+    };
 
     /// <inheritdoc cref="SelectedHostPortIsInherited" />
-    internal bool SelectedHostUsernameIsInherited => SelectedHost?.Resolved.Username.IsInherited ?? false;
+    internal bool SelectedHostUsernameIsInherited =>
+        SelectedHost is { Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk: false, Resolved.Username.IsInherited: true };
 
     /// <summary>
     /// What the pane names in the credentials row: the key or password this host authenticates with.
@@ -4182,11 +4401,12 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     /// the reference is allowed to dangle, and a GUID in a field is not an answer to anything.
     /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
-    internal string SelectedHostBindingLabel => SelectedHost?.Resolved.Binding switch
+    internal string SelectedHostBindingLabel => SelectedHost switch
     {
-        { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.SshKey, EntityId: { } id } =>
+        { Host.SignsInThroughSpelunk: true } => SpelunkSignInIdentity,
+        { Resolved.Binding: { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.SshKey, EntityId: { } id } } =>
             Keys.FirstOrDefault(key => key.EntityId == id)?.Label ?? "(a key that is no longer here)",
-        { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.Credential, EntityId: { } id } =>
+        { Resolved.Binding: { Kind: ResolvedBindingKind.Credential, EntityId: { } id } } =>
             Credentials.FirstOrDefault(credential => credential.EntityId == id)?.Label
             ?? "(a password that is no longer here)",
         _ => string.Empty,
@@ -4331,6 +4551,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         unreadable += await ReloadKeysAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
         unreadable += await ReloadCredentialsAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
         unreadable += await ReloadObjectStoresAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+        unreadable += await ReloadSpelunkKeysAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
         unreadable += await ReloadSnippetsAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
 
         // Last, because it reads the host list to work out which pins nothing dials any more.
@@ -4385,6 +4606,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
             // longer say what the user chose.
             var authentication = EditorSelectedAuthentication;
             var groupId = EditorSelectedGroup?.EntityId;
+            var spelunkKeyId = EditorSelectedSpelunkKey?.EntityId;
 
             BuildTagChoices();
 
@@ -4403,6 +4625,8 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
                 authentication?.Kind == AuthenticationKind.Credential ? authentication.EntityId : null,
                 asksForPassword: authentication?.Kind == AuthenticationKind.Typed,
                 grouped: EditorSelectedGroup?.EntityId is not null);
+
+            BuildSpelunkKeyChoices(spelunkKeyId);
         }
 
         if (IsEditingGroup)
@@ -7542,11 +7766,13 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         EditorUsername = string.Empty;
         EditorNotes = string.Empty;
         EditorRelayEnabled = false;
+        LoadEditorSpelunk(route: null);
         editorTagIds = TagSet.Empty;
         EditorNewTag = string.Empty;
         BuildTagChoices();
         EditorPinnedPaths.Clear();
         EditorNewPin = string.Empty;
+        LoadEditorPortForwards(PortForwardList.Empty);
 
         // Closed rather than carried over, and it holds a password — see EditorNewCredentialPassword.
         ClearEditorCredentialForm();
@@ -7632,6 +7858,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         EditorUsername = row.Host.Username ?? string.Empty;
         EditorNotes = row.Host.Notes ?? string.Empty;
         EditorRelayEnabled = row.Host.RelayEnabled;
+        LoadEditorSpelunk(row.Host.Spelunk);
         editorTagIds = row.Host.TagIds;
         EditorNewTag = string.Empty;
         BuildTagChoices();
@@ -7640,6 +7867,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         ClearEditorCredentialForm();
 
         LoadEditorPinnedPaths(row.Host.PinnedPaths);
+        LoadEditorPortForwards(row.Host.PortForwards);
 
         BuildEditorVaultChoices(editingHostVaultId);
         BuildGroupChoices(row.Host.GroupId);
@@ -10799,6 +11027,10 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
                 await DeleteTagNowAsync(request.EntityId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
                 break;
 
+            case DeletionTarget.SpelunkKey:
+                await DeleteSpelunkKeyNowAsync(request.EntityId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+                break;
+
             default:
                 break;
         }
@@ -10842,9 +11074,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     private string HostsBoundTo(ResolvedBindingKind kind, Guid entityId)
     {
         var bound = Hosts
-            .Where(row => row.Resolved.Binding is { } binding
-                && binding.Kind == kind
-                && binding.EntityId == entityId)
+            .Where(row => Uses(row, kind, entityId))
             .Select(row => row.Label)
             .ToArray();
 
@@ -11671,7 +11901,13 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         PhaseReporter reporter,
         CancellationToken cancellationToken)
     {
-        if (reporter.Furthest != SshConnectionPhase.Reaching)
+        // A relay or Spelunk refusal already says exactly what happened, and a routed host is reached by a
+        // path the probe does not take: it would dial the host directly — the route the user chose the relay
+        // or Spelunk because they cannot use, or for a Spelunk host an address that exists only to name its
+        // key — and report on that instead.
+        if (reporter.Furthest != SshConnectionPhase.Reaching
+            || exception is ServerRelayException or SpelunkTunnelException
+            || target.Routed)
         {
             return exception.Message;
         }
@@ -11776,10 +12012,12 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
             authentication.Username,
             authentication.Credential);
 
-        var sessionId = await workspace
-            .OpenSessionAsync(request, TerminalSize.Default, reporter, cancellationToken)
+        var (sessionId, dialled) = await OpenThroughAsync(target, request, reporter, cancellationToken)
             .ConfigureAwait(true);
 
+        // The account the session actually logged in as, which a Spelunk sign-in learns only from the tunnel.
+        authentication = authentication with { Username = dialled.Username };
+
         // The workspace has already opened a ticket for this session, with the address and the moment it
         // connected. What it could not know is which keychain item this was — an SshConnectionRequest has no
         // notion of one — so the name is added here rather than the ticket being replaced, which would move
@@ -11809,7 +12047,8 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
                 facts?.Cipher ?? string.Empty,
                 facts?.HostKeyAlgorithm ?? string.Empty,
                 authentication.IdentityLabel,
-                target.HostId));
+                target.HostId,
+                target.Row?.Host.PortForwards));
 
         // Last, and after the tab exists: keeping the password is a favour, and the session the user asked
         // for must not wait on a vault write to appear.
@@ -11823,6 +12062,93 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
         }
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens a relay to a host set to connect through the server, or says why there is none.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>There is no falling back to a direct connection.</b> A user who ticked the relay did so because
+    /// the direct path does not work, or goes somewhere they do not mean — and dialling it anyway on a
+    /// failure would be the old defect in reverse: the box would say one thing and the connection do
+    /// another. So a relay that cannot be opened is the failure, stated as such.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The server is resolved the way a synchronisation resolves it, which comes back online quietly when a
+    /// sign-in is remembered. Offline is its own sentence, because it is the one case the user can fix from
+    /// this machine without touching the host.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Reached through <see cref="OpenRouteAsync"/>, which is what both transports call — file transfer
+    /// opens a connection of its own, and a relayed host needs the relay there too.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<RelayRoute> OpenRelayAsync(string label, Guid hostId, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (await ResolveServerAsync(cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true) is not { } server)
+        {
+            throw new ServerRelayException(
+                $"{label} connects through the server relay, and this machine is not connected to the "
+                + "server right now. Try again once it is back online.");
+        }
+
+        return await server.Relay.OpenAsync(hostId, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens the session, through the relay or Spelunk when the host uses one, and puts the route's reason on
+    /// a failure.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A route that hung up reaches SSH.NET as a stream that ended, and it reports that the way it reports
+    /// every lost transport — a sentence that reads exactly like the direct failure the route was chosen to
+    /// get around. When the route said why it closed, that sentence is the true one and replaces it. The
+    /// host key refusals are left alone: a key was presented, so the route did its job.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// The route is disposed on every failure. The connection owns it once it is handed over and disposes
+    /// it on its own failure paths too, but a throw before the factory is reached would otherwise leave a
+    /// bridge listening until its own timeout; disposing twice is safe.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private async Task<(uint SessionId, SshConnectionRequest Request)> OpenThroughAsync(
+        ConnectionTarget target,
+        SshConnectionRequest request,
+        PhaseReporter reporter,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        // After the renderer rather than before it: a ticket is dead thirty seconds after issue, and the
+        // renderer's wait is the one step of a connect with no bound a user would recognise.
+        var route = target.Row is { } row
+            ? await OpenRouteAsync(row, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(true)
+            : null;
+
+        var through = Through(request, route);
+
+        try
+        {
+            var sessionId = await workspace
+                .OpenSessionAsync(through, TerminalSize.Default, reporter, cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+            return (sessionId, through);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (route is not null)
+        {
+            await route.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(true);
+
+            if (route.Failure is { } failure
+                && exception is not (OperationCanceledException or SshHostKeyUnknownException or SshHostKeyMismatchException))
+            {
+                throw route is SpelunkTunnelRoute
+                    ? new SpelunkTunnelException(failure, exception)
+                    : new ServerRelayException(failure, exception);
+            }
+
+            throw;
+        }
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Turns the password that just worked into a keychain credential bound to this host.
     /// </summary>
@@ -12041,6 +12367,15 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     {
         /// <summary>The keychain item, or null for a machine that is not in it.</summary>
         internal Guid? HostId => Row?.EntityId;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Whether this is reached through the server relay or through Spelunk rather than dialled.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <remarks>
+        /// Only a keychain host can be: the relay dials the address the server holds for an item, Spelunk is
+        /// reached with a key the item names, and a machine typed into the manual box has neither.
+        /// </remarks>
+        internal bool Routed => Row?.Host is { } host && (host.RelayEnabled || host.Spelunk is not null);
     }
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -12122,8 +12457,25 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     /// authenticates with a key that is not in this keychain any more" would go looking at a host that says
     /// nothing about keys.
     /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>A host Spelunk signs in to is answered first, whatever it or its group binds</b> — see
+    /// <see cref="SignedInBySpelunk"/>. It is the one host that connects with no binding, because it says so;
+    /// every other host goes through <see cref="TryBuildBoundAuthentication"/> exactly as before.
+    /// </para>
     /// </remarks>
     private bool TryBuildAuthentication(
+        HostSecret host,
+        ResolvedHost resolved,
+        string typedPassword,
+        [NotNullWhen(true)] out HostAuthentication? authentication,
+        [NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason) =>
+        host.SignsInThroughSpelunk
+            ? SignedInBySpelunk(out authentication, out reason)
+            : TryBuildBoundAuthentication(host, resolved, typedPassword, out authentication, out reason);
+
+    /// <summary>Turns a host's resolved binding into a key, a password or a prompt, or says why it cannot.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>See <see cref="TryBuildAuthentication"/>.</remarks>
+    private bool TryBuildBoundAuthentication(
         HostSecret host,
         ResolvedHost resolved,
         string typedPassword,
@@ -12188,6 +12540,27 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
             out reason);
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// How a host Spelunk signs in to authenticates, before the tunnel that decides it is open.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Spelunk signs the host in with a key the tunnel makes and an account Spelunk names, neither of which
+    /// exists yet. These stand-ins are replaced as the connection is made through the route — see
+    /// <see cref="Through"/> — and refused by the SSH layer if they ever reach it. It is the only way to
+    /// connect without a binding, and only for a host that says so; every other host still needs one.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static bool SignedInBySpelunk(
+        [NotNullWhen(true)] out HostAuthentication? authentication,
+        out string? reason)
+    {
+        authentication = new HostAuthentication(
+            SpelunkSignIn.DefaultUser,
+            SpelunkSignInPending.Instance,
+            SpelunkSignInIdentity);
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// The last thing every branch has to agree on: there is somebody to log in as.
     /// </summary>
@@ -12249,6 +12622,10 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
             Notes = string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(EditorNotes) ? null : EditorNotes,
             RelayEnabled = EditorRelayEnabled,
 
+            // Null unless the box is ticked, whatever the fields below it still hold: unticking is how a host
+            // goes back to being dialled, and it must not keep a route the user just turned off.
+            Spelunk = BuildSpelunkRoute(),
+
             // Only ever true or null, never false: the two would mean the same thing, and writing false would
             // change the bytes of every host that has never touched this. See HostSecret.AsksForPassword.
             //
@@ -12256,7 +12633,9 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
             // an ungrouped host's picker offers no "Inherit", so its "Password (ask each time)" is the
             // absence of a decision rather than one, and storing it as a decision would pin every ungrouped
             // host in the vault the first time it was edited.
-            AsksForPassword = EditorSelectedAuthentication?.Kind == AuthenticationKind.Typed
+            // Never beside a Spelunk sign-in, nor are the bindings below: a host has one way to log in.
+            AsksForPassword = EditorAsksForLogin
+                && EditorSelectedAuthentication?.Kind == AuthenticationKind.Typed
                 && EditorSelectedGroup?.EntityId is not null
                     ? true
                     : null,
@@ -12273,6 +12652,9 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
             // than twice.
             PinnedPaths = PinnedPathList.Create(EditorPinnedPaths),
 
+            // The staged list, in the order it was built; each rule keeps the id it arrived with.
+            PortForwards = PortForwardList.Create(EditorPortForwards),
+
             // Both read off the one picker, including the id of something that has gone missing. Reading them
             // from the picker rather than carrying the originals through is what lets a binding be removed at
             // all, and preserving a missing id is what stops an unrelated edit removing one by accident. One
@@ -12288,7 +12670,9 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
 
     /// <summary>The picker's selection, if it names something of this kind.</summary>
     private Guid? Bound(AuthenticationKind kind) =>
-        EditorSelectedAuthentication is { } choice && choice.Kind == kind ? choice.EntityId : null;
+        EditorAsksForLogin && EditorSelectedAuthentication is { } choice && choice.Kind == kind
+            ? choice.EntityId
+            : null;
 
     /// <summary>
     /// Fills the authentication picker, keeping whatever the host is currently bound to selectable.
@@ -13019,8 +13403,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
     private string UsedBySummaryFor(ResolvedBindingKind kind, Guid entityId)
     {
         var names = Hosts
-            .Where(row => row.Resolved.Binding is { } binding
-                && binding.Kind == kind && binding.EntityId == entityId)
+            .Where(row => Uses(row, kind, entityId))
             .Select(row => row.Label)
             .ToList();
 
@@ -13215,8 +13598,7 @@ internal sealed partial class VaultViewModel(
 
         if (kind is { } resolvedKind && value is not null)
         {
-            foreach (var row in Hosts.Where(row => row.Resolved.Binding is { } binding
-                && binding.Kind == resolvedKind && binding.EntityId == value.EntityId))
+            foreach (var row in Hosts.Where(row => Uses(row, resolvedKind, value.EntityId)))
             {
                 SelectedItemUsedByHosts.Add(new UsedByHostRowViewModel(row.Label, row.IsConnected));
             }

src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/RelayBridge.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,369 @@
+using System.Buffers;
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Sockets;
+using System.Net.WebSockets;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A loopback SOCKS5 proxy that carries exactly one connection over one relay WebSocket.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// SSH.NET cannot be handed a stream, only an address — so the relay, which is a WebSocket, is reached by
+/// giving SSH.NET an address that leads into one. This listens on <c>127.0.0.1</c> at a port the system
+/// chooses, answers one SOCKS5 CONNECT, and from then on moves bytes: what SSH.NET writes goes out as binary
+/// messages, and what the relay sends comes back as the stream SSH.NET reads. That is ADR 0004's loopback
+/// bridge, and step 3 of <c>docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md</c>.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>SOCKS5 rather than a plain pipe, so the host stays the host.</b> The connection made through this is
+/// told the target's real name and port, and pins its host key under them; the CONNECT carrying that name
+/// arrives here and is answered without being acted on, because where the bytes go was decided by the
+/// server when it issued the ticket, and nothing this side says can change it.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Three properties are the security of this, and each is held by a test. It binds loopback and nothing
+/// else — asserted on the bound address, because a bridge on every interface would be a proxy into the
+/// relay for anyone on the network and nothing would report it. It accepts once and stops listening, so a
+/// second process on this machine cannot take a turn. And it gives up if nobody arrives within
+/// <see cref="AcceptTimeout"/>, so a connect that failed before dialling cannot leave it waiting.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>No operation on the WebSocket is cancelled.</b> Cancelling one aborts a .NET WebSocket, and an aborted
+/// one never reads the close frame that says why the relay ended — which is the one thing the user needs to
+/// be told when the server could not reach the host. The bridge stops a direction by closing, and waits a
+/// bounded time for the other side to agree, as the relay's own endpoint does.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class RelayBridge : IAsyncDisposable
+{
+    /// <summary>How long the bridge waits for its one connection before closing the relay unused.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The connection is made the moment the bridge exists, so this bounds a caller that failed between the
+    /// two. Longer than any SSH connect timeout, so it never ends a connect that is merely slow.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public static readonly TimeSpan AcceptTimeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(60);
+
+    private const int BufferBytes = 32 * 1024;
+
+    private static readonly TimeSpan CloseTimeout = TimeSpan.FromSeconds(5);
+
+    private readonly TcpListener listener;
+    private readonly WebSocket socket;
+    private readonly CancellationTokenSource stopping = new();
+    private readonly Task running;
+    private int disposed;
+
+    private RelayBridge(WebSocket socket, TimeSpan acceptTimeout)
+    {
+        this.socket = socket;
+
+        // The address rather than "localhost", so there is no resolver and no hosts file between this and
+        // the interface it means. See the remarks on SshLoopbackProxy.
+        listener = new TcpListener(IPAddress.Loopback, 0);
+        listener.Start(backlog: 1);
+
+        Endpoint = (IPEndPoint)listener.LocalEndpoint;
+        running = RunAsync(acceptTimeout);
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Where the bridge is listening. Loopback, always.</summary>
+    public IPEndPoint Endpoint { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>The proxy to hand the connection, which then owns this bridge.</summary>
+    public SshLoopbackProxy Proxy => new(Endpoint.Port, this);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// How the relay closed the socket, once it has; null while it is open or when it vanished without
+    /// saying.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Read after a connect through the bridge fails. The relay says in a close code what went wrong on its
+    /// side — the server could not reach the host, or has too many sessions open — and that is the sentence
+    /// the user needs in place of the transport error SSH.NET reports for a stream that ended.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public WebSocketCloseStatus? CloseStatus { get; private set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The relay's own words about why it closed, alongside <see cref="CloseStatus"/>.</summary>
+    public string? CloseDescription { get; private set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Completes when the bridge has finished: its one connection is over, or nobody came.</summary>
+    public Task Completion => running;
+
+    /// <summary>Starts a bridge over an open relay socket, which it then owns.</summary>
+    public static RelayBridge Start(WebSocket socket) => Start(socket, AcceptTimeout);
+
+    /// <summary>Starts a bridge with a shorter wait for its connection, for tests.</summary>
+    internal static RelayBridge Start(WebSocket socket, TimeSpan acceptTimeout)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(socket);
+
+        return new RelayBridge(socket, acceptTimeout);
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Idempotent, because two owners may reach it: the connection that was handed the proxy, and a caller
+    /// tidying up after a connect that never got that far.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
+    {
+        if (Interlocked.Exchange(ref disposed, 1) != 0)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        await stopping.CancelAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+        listener.Stop();
+
+        if (!await SettlesAsync(running, CloseTimeout * 2).ConfigureAwait(false))
+        {
+            socket.Abort();
+            await SettlesAsync(running, CloseTimeout).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+
+        socket.Dispose();
+        stopping.Dispose();
+    }
+
+    private async Task RunAsync(TimeSpan acceptTimeout)
+    {
+        TcpClient? client = null;
+
+        try
+        {
+            using (var accepting = CancellationTokenSource.CreateLinkedTokenSource(stopping.Token))
+            {
+                accepting.CancelAfter(acceptTimeout);
+                client = await listener.AcceptTcpClientAsync(accepting.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+
+            // Once. A second connection to this port is somebody else's, and there is nothing for it here.
+            listener.Stop();
+            client.NoDelay = true;
+
+            var stream = client.GetStream();
+
+            if (await Socks5.AcceptConnectAsync(stream, stopping.Token).ConfigureAwait(false))
+            {
+                await PipeAsync(stream).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is OperationCanceledException or SocketException or IOException or ObjectDisposedException)
+        {
+            // Nobody came, the bridge was disposed, or the connection went away mid-handshake. The relay is
+            // closed below either way.
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            listener.Stop();
+            client?.Dispose();
+            await CloseSocketAsync(WebSocketCloseStatus.NormalClosure).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Moves bytes both ways until either side ends, then lets the other finish.</summary>
+    private async Task PipeAsync(NetworkStream stream)
+    {
+        var upstream = TcpToRelayAsync(stream);
+        var downstream = RelayToTcpAsync(stream);
+
+        var first = await Task.WhenAny(upstream, downstream).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+        if (first == upstream)
+        {
+            // SSH.NET closed its end. Say so to the relay, then give it a moment to answer, which is what
+            // ends the receive in progress without aborting it.
+            await CloseSocketAsync(WebSocketCloseStatus.NormalClosure).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (!await SettlesAsync(downstream, CloseTimeout).ConfigureAwait(false))
+            {
+                socket.Abort();
+            }
+        }
+        else
+        {
+            // The relay ended. Closing the TCP side is how SSH.NET hears it, as the end of its stream.
+            stream.Socket.Shutdown(SocketShutdown.Both);
+            await SettlesAsync(upstream, CloseTimeout).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private async Task TcpToRelayAsync(NetworkStream stream)
+    {
+        var buffer = ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Rent(BufferBytes);
+
+        try
+        {
+            int read;
+
+            while ((read = await stream.ReadAsync(buffer.AsMemory(0, BufferBytes), stopping.Token).ConfigureAwait(false)) > 0)
+            {
+                // Not cancellable, deliberately. See the remarks on this class.
+                await socket
+                    .SendAsync(buffer.AsMemory(0, read), WebSocketMessageType.Binary, endOfMessage: true, CancellationToken.None)
+                    .ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is OperationCanceledException or IOException or WebSocketException or ObjectDisposedException)
+        {
+            // Either end went away. PipeAsync decides what that means.
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Return(buffer);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private async Task RelayToTcpAsync(NetworkStream stream)
+    {
+        var buffer = ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Rent(BufferBytes);
+
+        try
+        {
+            while (true)
+            {
+                // Not cancellable, deliberately. See the remarks on this class.
+                var received = await socket.ReceiveAsync(buffer.AsMemory(), CancellationToken.None)
+                    .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+                if (received.MessageType == WebSocketMessageType.Close)
+                {
+                    CloseStatus = socket.CloseStatus;
+                    CloseDescription = socket.CloseStatusDescription;
+                    return;
+                }
+
+                await stream.WriteAsync(buffer.AsMemory(0, received.Count), stopping.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            }
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is OperationCanceledException or IOException or WebSocketException or ObjectDisposedException)
+        {
+            // Either end went away. PipeAsync decides what that means.
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            ArrayPool<byte>.Shared.Return(buffer);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Sends a close, if one can still be sent, bounded so a vanished peer cannot hold it.</summary>
+    private async Task CloseSocketAsync(WebSocketCloseStatus status)
+    {
+        if (socket.State is not (WebSocketState.Open or WebSocketState.CloseReceived))
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        using var timeout = new CancellationTokenSource(CloseTimeout);
+
+        try
+        {
+            await socket.CloseOutputAsync(status, string.Empty, timeout.Token).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception)
+            when (exception is OperationCanceledException or WebSocketException or ObjectDisposedException)
+        {
+            // Gone already.
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static async Task<bool> SettlesAsync(Task task, TimeSpan within)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            await task.WaitAsync(within).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            return true;
+        }
+        catch (TimeoutException)
+        {
+            return false;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The server half of SOCKS5 (RFC 1928), as much of it as SSH.NET speaks: no authentication, CONNECT.
+    /// </summary>
+    private static class Socks5
+    {
+        private const byte Version = 5;
+        private const byte NoAuthentication = 0;
+        private const byte NoAcceptableMethod = 0xFF;
+        private const byte Connect = 1;
+        private const byte Succeeded = 0;
+        private const byte CommandNotSupported = 7;
+        private const byte AddressTypeNotSupported = 8;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// Answers the greeting and one CONNECT, whatever it names.
+        /// </summary>
+        /// <returns>Whether the stream is now a tunnel; false when the client asked for something else.</returns>
+        /// <remarks>
+        /// The target in the request is read and discarded. It is the host the connection is <em>about</em>,
+        /// which is why SSH.NET sends it, and it is not where the bytes go, which the relay decided. The bound
+        /// address in the reply is all zeroes: nothing on the far side of a relay has an address the client
+        /// could use, and SSH.NET does not read it.
+        /// </remarks>
+        internal static async Task<bool> AcceptConnectAsync(Stream stream, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+        {
+            var header = await ReadAsync(stream, 2, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (header[0] != Version)
+            {
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            var methods = await ReadAsync(stream, header[1], cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (!methods.Contains(NoAuthentication))
+            {
+                await stream.WriteAsync(new byte[] { Version, NoAcceptableMethod }, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            await stream.WriteAsync(new byte[] { Version, NoAuthentication }, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            var request = await ReadAsync(stream, 4, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            if (request[0] != Version || request[1] != Connect)
+            {
+                await ReplyAsync(stream, CommandNotSupported, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            var addressLength = request[3] switch
+            {
+                1 => 4,
+                4 => 16,
+                3 => (await ReadAsync(stream, 1, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false))[0],
+                _ => -1,
+            };
+
+            if (addressLength < 0)
+            {
+                await ReplyAsync(stream, AddressTypeNotSupported, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            // The address, then the port. Neither is used; see the remarks above.
+            await ReadAsync(stream, addressLength + 2, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            await ReplyAsync(stream, Succeeded, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        private static Task ReplyAsync(Stream stream, byte status, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+            stream.WriteAsync(new byte[] { Version, status, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 }, cancellationToken).AsTask();
+
+        private static async Task<byte[]> ReadAsync(Stream stream, int count, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+        {
+            var buffer = new byte[count];
+            await stream.ReadExactlyAsync(buffer, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            return buffer;
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshConnection.cs

@@ -38,12 +38,19 @@ public sealed record SshPrivateKeyCredential(byte[] PrivateKeyPem, string? Passp
 /// stand-in. See the gate in <c>SshNetConnectionFactory</c>, which pins what this request names.
 /// </para>
 /// <para>
-/// Nothing in this assembly opens one. The proxy is somebody else's — a forward on a bastion connection,
-/// or the relay bridge — and its lifetime belongs to whoever opened it, which must outlast the connection
-/// made through it. See <c>docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md</c>.
+/// <b>Whoever opens a proxy may hand it to the connection made through it.</b> A proxy with no
+/// <see cref="Lifetime"/> belongs to its opener, which must keep it listening for as long as the connection
+/// lives. One with a lifetime is given away: the connection disposes it after itself, and a connect that
+/// fails disposes it before throwing — so a proxy opened for one connection, which is what the relay bridge
+/// is, cannot outlive it on any of the paths a session ends by. See
+/// <c>docs/reaching-a-host-you-cannot-dial.md</c>.
 /// </para>
 /// </remarks>
-public sealed record SshLoopbackProxy(int Port);
+/// <param name="Port">The loopback port the proxy listens on.</param>
+/// <param name="Lifetime">
+/// What keeps the proxy listening, when the connection is to own it; null when its opener does.
+/// </param>
+public sealed record SshLoopbackProxy(int Port, IAsyncDisposable? Lifetime = null);
 
 /// <summary>Everything needed to reach one host.</summary>
 /// <param name="Host">Hostname or address.</param>
@@ -183,6 +190,15 @@ public interface ISshConnection : IAsyncDisposable
 
     /// <summary>Opens an interactive shell with a pseudo-terminal.</summary>
     Task<ISshShellSession> OpenShellAsync(TerminalSize size, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
+
+    /// <summary>Starts a port forward over this connection.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Runs beside the shell on the same transport, as <c>ssh -L</c> does, and stops when the connection
+    /// does. Any number may be started; each is its own listener and fails on its own.
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">The spec is not valid; see <see cref="SshPortForwardSpec.TryValidate"/>.</exception>
+    /// <exception cref="SshPortForwardException">The forward could not be started, with a message saying why.</exception>
+    Task<ISshPortForward> StartForwardAsync(SshPortForwardSpec spec, CancellationToken cancellationToken);
 }
 
 /// <summary>

src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshNetConnectionFactory.cs

@@ -75,12 +75,22 @@ public sealed class SshNetConnectionFactory(IKnownHostStore knownHosts)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(request);
 
-        var client = new SshClient(BuildConnectionInfo(request)) { KeepAliveInterval = KeepAliveInterval };
+        var lifetime = request.Proxy?.Lifetime;
 
-        var gate = await ConnectThroughHostKeyGateAsync(client, request, progress, cancellationToken)
-            .ConfigureAwait(false);
+        try
+        {
+            var client = new SshClient(BuildConnectionInfo(request)) { KeepAliveInterval = KeepAliveInterval };
 
-        return new SshNetConnection(client, gate.Presented!);
+            var gate = await ConnectThroughHostKeyGateAsync(client, request, progress, cancellationToken)
+                .ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            return new SshNetConnection(client, gate.Presented!, lifetime);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            await DisposeAsync(lifetime).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            throw;
+        }
     }
 
     /// <inheritdoc />
@@ -95,6 +105,40 @@ public sealed class SshNetConnectionFactory(IKnownHostStore knownHosts)
     {
         ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(request);
 
+        var lifetime = request.Proxy?.Lifetime;
+
+        try
+        {
+            return await OpenSftpCoreAsync(request, lifetime, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            await DisposeAsync(lifetime).ConfigureAwait(false);
+            throw;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Disposes a proxy the connection was given, when the connection it was given for did not happen.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Every failure path, including the ones before a socket exists — an unreadable key throws from
+    /// <see cref="BuildConnectionInfo"/> — because a relay bridge left listening after a failed connect is a
+    /// loopback SOCKS proxy with an open relay session behind it, and nothing would ever close it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static async ValueTask DisposeAsync(IAsyncDisposable? lifetime)
+    {
+        if (lifetime is not null)
+        {
+            await lifetime.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private async Task<ISftpSession> OpenSftpCoreAsync(
+        SshConnectionRequest request,
+        IAsyncDisposable? lifetime,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
         // Keep-alive here for the reason it is on the shell client: a transfer connection left open while
         // somebody browses is idle in exactly the same way, and a file listing against a machine that has
         // since rebooted would otherwise wait on a socket nothing will ever answer.
@@ -125,7 +169,7 @@ public sealed class SshNetConnectionFactory(IKnownHostStore knownHosts)
             throw;
         }
 
-        return new SshNetSftpSession(client, gate.Presented!, home);
+        return new SshNetSftpSession(client, gate.Presented!, home, lifetime);
     }
 
     /// <summary>
@@ -326,7 +370,15 @@ public sealed class SshNetConnectionFactory(IKnownHostStore knownHosts)
 }
 
 /// <summary>An SSH.NET-backed connection.</summary>
-internal sealed class SshNetConnection(SshClient client, HostKeyPresentation hostKey) : ISshConnection
+/// <remarks>
+/// Owns the proxy it was reached through when it was given one, and disposes it after the client — the
+/// order that lets SSH.NET close its end of the loopback socket before the thing on the other end goes.
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class SshNetConnection(
+    SshClient client,
+    HostKeyPresentation hostKey,
+    IAsyncDisposable? proxyLifetime = null)
+    : ISshConnection
 {
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public bool IsConnected => client.IsConnected;
@@ -366,10 +418,22 @@ internal sealed class SshNetConnection(SshClient client, HostKeyPresentation hos
     }
 
     /// <inheritdoc />
-    public ValueTask DisposeAsync()
+    public Task<ISshPortForward> StartForwardAsync(SshPortForwardSpec spec, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(spec);
+
+        return SshNetPortForward.StartAsync(client, spec, cancellationToken);
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
     {
         client.Dispose();
-        return ValueTask.CompletedTask;
+
+        if (proxyLifetime is not null)
+        {
+            await proxyLifetime.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
     }
 }
 

src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshNetPortForward.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,223 @@
+using System.Globalization;
+using System.Net;
+using System.Net.Sockets;
+using Renci.SshNet;
+using Renci.SshNet.Common;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+/// <summary>A forward over an SSH.NET client.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// One class for all three kinds, because SSH.NET's three share a base with the only members this needs —
+/// <c>Start</c>, <c>Stop</c>, <c>IsStarted</c> and the <c>Exception</c> event — and differ only in how they
+/// are built and where their bound port is read from.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// ◆ <b>Started and stopped off the calling thread.</b> A remote forward's <c>Start</c> sends
+/// <c>tcpip-forward</c> and blocks until the server answers, and every kind's <c>Stop</c> waits for its open
+/// channels to drain. Either would otherwise hold the UI thread for a round trip or longer.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+internal sealed class SshNetPortForward : ISshPortForward
+{
+    /// <summary>Where every listener on this machine binds. See <see cref="SshPortForwardSpec"/>.</summary>
+    private const string LoopbackAddress = "127.0.0.1";
+
+    private readonly SshClient client;
+    private readonly ForwardedPort port;
+
+    private string? lastError;
+    private int disposed;
+
+    private SshNetPortForward(SshClient client, ForwardedPort port, SshPortForwardSpec spec)
+    {
+        this.client = client;
+        this.port = port;
+        Spec = spec;
+
+        port.Exception += OnException;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public event EventHandler<SshPortForwardErrorEventArgs>? ErrorOccurred;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SshPortForwardSpec Spec { get; }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public int BoundPort => port switch
+    {
+        ForwardedPortLocal local => (int)local.BoundPort,
+        ForwardedPortDynamic dynamic => (int)dynamic.BoundPort,
+        ForwardedPortRemote remote => (int)remote.BoundPort,
+        _ => Spec.BindPort,
+    };
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Read off the port rather than the client: SSH.NET stops every forward on a session that ends, and
+    /// <c>SshClient.IsConnected</c> throws rather than answering once the connection has been disposed.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public bool IsListening => Volatile.Read(ref disposed) == 0 && port.IsStarted;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public string? LastError => Volatile.Read(ref lastError);
+
+    /// <summary>Starts a forward on a connected client.</summary>
+    /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">The spec is not valid.</exception>
+    /// <exception cref="SshPortForwardException">The forward could not be started.</exception>
+    internal static async Task<ISshPortForward> StartAsync(
+        SshClient client,
+        SshPortForwardSpec spec,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (!spec.TryValidate(out var reason))
+        {
+            throw new ArgumentException(reason, nameof(spec));
+        }
+
+        var listener = await CreateAsync(spec, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        var forward = new SshNetPortForward(client, listener, spec);
+
+        try
+        {
+            client.AddForwardedPort(listener);
+
+            await Task.Run(listener.Start, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (Exception exception) when (exception is not OperationCanceledException)
+        {
+            await forward.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+            throw new SshPortForwardException(Explain(spec, exception), exception);
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            await forward.DisposeAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);
+            throw;
+        }
+
+        return forward;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Safe on a client that has already gone: SSH.NET stops its forwards when the session ends, and what
+    /// is left to do then is let go of the port object, which cannot fail in a way anybody could act on.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
+    {
+        if (Interlocked.Exchange(ref disposed, 1) == 1)
+        {
+            return;
+        }
+
+        port.Exception -= OnException;
+
+        await Task.Run(() =>
+        {
+            try
+            {
+                client.RemoveForwardedPort(port);
+            }
+            catch (Exception exception) when (exception is ObjectDisposedException or SshException
+                or SocketException or InvalidOperationException)
+            {
+                // The client or its session is already gone, and took the listener with it.
+            }
+
+            port.Dispose();
+        }).ConfigureAwait(false);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A remote forward's target is resolved here, asynchronously, rather than by SSH.NET. Its string
+    /// constructor resolves both addresses synchronously and takes whichever comes first, so
+    /// <c>localhost</c> could become <c>::1</c> — which a service listening on <c>127.0.0.1</c> alone
+    /// refuses — and the bound address could be sent to the remote as an IPv6 literal it has no reason to
+    /// expect. IPv4 is preferred for the target for the first reason, and the bound address is the IPv4
+    /// loopback literal for the second.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A local forward's target is not resolved at all. It travels to the remote as a name in the
+    /// <c>direct-tcpip</c> request, which is what lets it name a machine only the remote can see.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    private static async Task<ForwardedPort> CreateAsync(SshPortForwardSpec spec, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        switch (spec.Kind)
+        {
+            case SshPortForwardKind.Local:
+                return new ForwardedPortLocal(
+                    LoopbackAddress, (uint)spec.BindPort, spec.TargetHost!, (uint)spec.TargetPort);
+
+            case SshPortForwardKind.Dynamic:
+                return new ForwardedPortDynamic(LoopbackAddress, (uint)spec.BindPort);
+
+            default:
+                var target = await ResolveAsync(spec.TargetHost!, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+
+                return new ForwardedPortRemote(IPAddress.Loopback, (uint)spec.BindPort, target, (uint)spec.TargetPort);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private static async Task<IPAddress> ResolveAsync(string host, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        if (IPAddress.TryParse(host, out var literal))
+        {
+            return literal;
+        }
+
+        IPAddress[] addresses;
+
+        try
+        {
+            addresses = await Dns.GetHostAddressesAsync(host, cancellationToken).ConfigureAwait(false);
+        }
+        catch (SocketException exception)
+        {
+            throw new SshPortForwardException($"'{host}' could not be resolved on this machine.", exception);
+        }
+
+        return addresses.FirstOrDefault(address => address.AddressFamily is AddressFamily.InterNetwork)
+            ?? addresses.FirstOrDefault()
+            ?? throw new SshPortForwardException($"'{host}' could not be resolved on this machine.");
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Says which port could not be had, and where, rather than repeating a socket error code.</summary>
+    private static string Explain(SshPortForwardSpec spec, Exception exception)
+    {
+        var bind = spec.BindPort.ToString(CultureInfo.InvariantCulture);
+
+        return exception switch
+        {
+            SshPortForwardException own => own.Message,
+
+            SocketException { SocketErrorCode: SocketError.AddressAlreadyInUse } =>
+                $"Port {bind} on this machine is already in use.",
+
+            SocketException { SocketErrorCode: SocketError.AccessDenied } =>
+                $"This machine would not let DodoSSH listen on port {bind}.",
+
+            // What SSH.NET throws when the server answers tcpip-forward with a refusal. The server gives no
+            // reason, so neither can this — but the likely ones are worth naming.
+            SshException when spec.Kind is SshPortForwardKind.Remote =>
+                $"The remote would not listen on port {bind}. It may be in use there, below 1024, or "
+                + "forbidden by the server's AllowTcpForwarding setting.",
+
+            _ => exception.Message,
+        };
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Raised by SSH.NET on its own threads for a connection through the forward that failed — most often a
+    /// target that refused it. The listener stays up; see <see cref="ISshPortForward.LastError"/>.
+    /// </remarks>
+    private void OnException(object? sender, ExceptionEventArgs e)
+    {
+        Volatile.Write(ref lastError, e.Exception.Message);
+        ErrorOccurred?.Invoke(this, new SshPortForwardErrorEventArgs(e.Exception.Message));
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshNetSftpSession.cs

@@ -14,13 +14,23 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
 internal sealed class SshNetSftpSession : ISftpSession
 {
     private readonly SftpClient client;
+    private readonly IAsyncDisposable? proxyLifetime;
 
     private string? transportFailure;
     private int announced;
 
-    internal SshNetSftpSession(SftpClient client, HostKeyPresentation hostKey, string homeDirectory)
+    /// <param name="client">The connected client.</param>
+    /// <param name="hostKey">What the server presented.</param>
+    /// <param name="homeDirectory">Where the session starts.</param>
+    /// <param name="proxyLifetime">The proxy this session was reached through, when it owns it.</param>
+    internal SshNetSftpSession(
+        SftpClient client,
+        HostKeyPresentation hostKey,
+        string homeDirectory,
+        IAsyncDisposable? proxyLifetime = null)
     {
         this.client = client;
+        this.proxyLifetime = proxyLifetime;
 
         HostKey = hostKey;
         HomeDirectory = homeDirectory;
@@ -243,7 +253,7 @@ internal sealed class SshNetSftpSession : ISftpSession
 
         client.Dispose();
 
-        return ValueTask.CompletedTask;
+        return proxyLifetime?.DisposeAsync() ?? ValueTask.CompletedTask;
     }
 
     /// <remarks>

src/DodoSSH.Client.Ssh/SshPortForward.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+using System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Ssh;
+
+/// <summary>Which way a forward carries connections.</summary>
+/// <remarks>The three OpenSSH has, named for the flag each one is: <c>-L</c>, <c>-R</c> and <c>-D</c>.</remarks>
+public enum SshPortForwardKind
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A port on this machine, carried to a host and port as the remote sees them. <c>ssh -L</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    Local = 0,
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A port on the remote, carried back to a host and port as this machine sees them. <c>ssh -R</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    Remote = 1,
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A SOCKS proxy on this machine, whose every connection leaves from the remote. <c>ssh -D</c>.
+    /// </summary>
+    Dynamic = 2,
+}
+
+/// <summary>One forward to run over a connection.</summary>
+/// <param name="Kind">Which way it carries connections.</param>
+/// <param name="BindPort">
+/// The port to listen on: on this machine for <see cref="SshPortForwardKind.Local"/> and
+/// <see cref="SshPortForwardKind.Dynamic"/>, on the remote for <see cref="SshPortForwardKind.Remote"/>. Zero
+/// asks for an ephemeral port, which only a listener on this machine can report back — see
+/// <see cref="TryValidate"/>.
+/// </param>
+/// <param name="TargetHost">
+/// Where each connection goes: resolved by the remote for a local forward and by this machine for a remote
+/// one. Null for a dynamic forward, whose target is whatever each SOCKS client asks for.
+/// </param>
+/// <param name="TargetPort">The port on <paramref name="TargetHost"/>; zero for a dynamic forward.</param>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// ◆ <b>There is no bind address, and that is the point of the type.</b> Every listener this client opens
+/// is on loopback, for the reason <see cref="SshLoopbackProxy"/> gives: a forward bound to any other
+/// interface hands the remote's network to whoever else can reach this machine, for as long as the session
+/// is up. <c>ssh -L 0.0.0.0:…</c> is a flag somebody types knowing what it does; a field in a synced host
+/// that another member of the keychain filled in is not. Leaving the address out makes that
+/// unrepresentable rather than merely discouraged.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// A remote forward asks for the remote's loopback too. Whether the remote honours that is its
+/// <c>GatewayPorts</c> setting and not this client's to decide, which is the same arrangement OpenSSH has.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed record SshPortForwardSpec(
+    SshPortForwardKind Kind,
+    int BindPort,
+    string? TargetHost = null,
+    int TargetPort = 0)
+{
+    /// <summary>Checks the spec can be started as it stands.</summary>
+    public bool TryValidate([NotNullWhen(false)] out string? reason)
+    {
+        if (!Enum.IsDefined(Kind))
+        {
+            reason = $"'{Kind}' is not a kind of forward.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        // A remote listener's port is chosen by the remote, and SSH.NET never reads the one it chose back,
+        // so an ephemeral remote forward would be listening somewhere nobody could name.
+        var lowest = Kind is SshPortForwardKind.Remote ? 1 : 0;
+
+        if (BindPort < lowest || BindPort > 65535)
+        {
+            reason = $"The listening port must be between {lowest} and 65535, not {BindPort}.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (Kind is SshPortForwardKind.Dynamic)
+        {
+            if (TargetHost is not null || TargetPort != 0)
+            {
+                reason = "A dynamic forward has no target: each connection through it names its own.";
+                return false;
+            }
+
+            reason = null;
+            return true;
+        }
+
+        if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(TargetHost))
+        {
+            reason = "A forward needs a host to forward to.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        if (TargetPort is < 1 or > 65535)
+        {
+            reason = $"The target port must be between 1 and 65535, not {TargetPort}.";
+            return false;
+        }
+
+        reason = null;
+        return true;
+    }
+}
+
+/// <summary>Why a forward is no longer carrying a connection it accepted.</summary>
+/// <param name="message">What went wrong, as SSH.NET put it.</param>
+public sealed class SshPortForwardErrorEventArgs(string message) : EventArgs
+{
+    /// <summary>What went wrong.</summary>
+    public string Message { get; } = message;
+}
+
+/// <summary>A forward that is listening, and stops when disposed.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Owned by whoever started it, and also stopped by the connection it runs over: a connection that closes
+/// takes every forward on it down with it, so disposing one afterwards is safe and does nothing.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// ◆ <b>No byte counts.</b> SSH.NET copies a forwarded channel's bytes inside its own channel classes and
+/// exposes no count of them, so a figure here would be an estimate presented as a measurement.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public interface ISshPortForward : IAsyncDisposable
+{
+    /// <summary>What was asked for.</summary>
+    SshPortForwardSpec Spec { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The port actually listened on, which differs from <see cref="SshPortForwardSpec.BindPort"/> only when
+    /// that asked for an ephemeral one.
+    /// </summary>
+    int BoundPort { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>Whether the listener is still up.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// False once disposed, and once the connection under it has gone — SSH.NET stops every forward on a
+    /// session that ends.
+    /// </remarks>
+    bool IsListening { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The most recent failure to carry a connection, or null if there has not been one.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A failure here does not stop the listener. The usual cause is the target refusing one connection —
+    /// a database that is down, a port nothing is on — and the next connection may well succeed.
+    /// </remarks>
+    string? LastError { get; }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Raised when a connection through this forward fails, on whichever thread SSH.NET noticed it.
+    /// </summary>
+    event EventHandler<SshPortForwardErrorEventArgs>? ErrorOccurred;
+}
+
+/// <summary>A forward that could not be started, with a sentence saying why.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// What SSH.NET throws for the two commonest refusals is a socket error code and "failed to start", neither
+/// of which names the port. The message here does, and the original is kept as the inner exception.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SshPortForwardException(string message, Exception? innerException = null)
+    : Exception(message, innerException);

src/DodoSSH.Client.Storage/LocalCacheProtector.cs

@@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ internal static class AadResourceTypes
         SyncEntityType.ConnectionLogEntry => CryptoSpec.AadResourceType.ConnectionLogEntry,
         SyncEntityType.ActivityLogEntry => CryptoSpec.AadResourceType.ActivityLogEntry,
         SyncEntityType.ObjectStore => CryptoSpec.AadResourceType.ObjectStore,
+        SyncEntityType.SpelunkKey => CryptoSpec.AadResourceType.SpelunkKey,
 
         _ => throw new ArgumentOutOfRangeException(
             nameof(entityType), entityType, "No AAD resource type is defined for this entity type."),

src/DodoSSH.Client.Sync/ItemKinds.cs

@@ -170,6 +170,9 @@ internal static class ItemKinds
 
         (SyncEntityType.ObjectStore, static (outbox, conflicts, keyring) =>
             new ItemReconciler<ObjectStoreSecret>(ObjectStoreKind.Instance, outbox, conflicts, keyring)),
+
+        (SyncEntityType.SpelunkKey, static (outbox, conflicts, keyring) =>
+            new ItemReconciler<SpelunkKeySecret>(SpelunkKeyKind.Instance, outbox, conflicts, keyring)),
     ];
 
     /// <summary>The types to ask the server for, in a fixed order.</summary>
@@ -268,11 +271,14 @@ internal sealed class HostKind : IItemKind<HostSecret>
         Note(changed, "Jump chain", before.JumpHostIds, after.JumpHostIds);
         Note(changed, "Options", before.Options, after.Options);
         Note(changed, "Relay", before.RelayEnabled, after.RelayEnabled);
+        Note(changed, "Spelunk", before.Spelunk, after.Spelunk);
         Note(changed, "SSH key", before.SshKeyId, after.SshKeyId);
         Note(changed, "Credential", before.CredentialId, after.CredentialId);
         Note(changed, "Password prompt", before.AsksForPassword, after.AsksForPassword);
         Note(changed, "Group", before.GroupId, after.GroupId);
         Note(changed, "Tags", before.TagIds, after.TagIds);
+        Note(changed, "Port forwards", before.PortForwards, after.PortForwards);
+        Note(changed, "Pinned paths", before.PinnedPaths, after.PinnedPaths);
 
         return changed;
     }
@@ -1055,3 +1061,82 @@ internal sealed class ObjectStoreKind : IItemKind<ObjectStoreSecret>
         return secret with { Label = label };
     }
 }
+
+/// <summary>Spelunk keys.</summary>
+internal sealed class SpelunkKeyKind : IItemKind<SpelunkKeySecret>
+{
+    internal static SpelunkKeyKind Instance { get; } = new();
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SyncEntityType EntityType => SyncEntityType.SpelunkKey;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public string Noun => "Spelunk key";
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public OpenedItem<SpelunkKeySecret>? TryOpen(
+        EncryptedPayload payload,
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> vaultKey,
+        Guid entityId,
+        int itemVersion)
+    {
+        var document = SpelunkKeyCipher.TryOpen(payload, vaultKey, entityId, itemVersion);
+
+        return document is null
+            ? null
+            : new OpenedItem<SpelunkKeySecret>(document.Key, document.IsReadOnly);
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public EncryptedPayload Seal(
+        SpelunkKeySecret secret,
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> vaultKey,
+        Guid entityId,
+        uint keyGeneration,
+        int itemVersion) =>
+        SpelunkKeyCipher.Seal(secret, vaultKey, entityId, keyGeneration, itemVersion);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Nothing. The address is the only candidate and must not go: nothing on the server calls Spelunk.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SyncPlaintextFields? Fields(SpelunkKeySecret secret) => null;
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public MergedItem<SpelunkKeySecret> Merge(
+        SpelunkKeySecret ancestor,
+        SpelunkKeySecret local,
+        SpelunkKeySecret remote)
+    {
+        var merged = SpelunkKeySecretMerge.Merge(ancestor, local, remote);
+
+        return new MergedItem<SpelunkKeySecret>(merged.Merged, merged.Conflicts);
+    }
+
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The key is compared and never reported by value, which is the rule every credential-like field in this
+    /// file follows. The address is shown: it is where the key goes, and a change to it is worth reading.
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public IReadOnlyList<string> Changes(SpelunkKeySecret before, SpelunkKeySecret after)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(before);
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(after);
+
+        var changed = new List<string>();
+
+        Note(changed, "Name", before.Label, after.Label);
+        Note(changed, "Spelunk address", before.ApiBase, after.ApiBase);
+        Note(changed, "API key", before.ApiKey, after.ApiKey);
+
+        return changed;
+    }
+
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public SpelunkKeySecret Relabel(SpelunkKeySecret secret, string label)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(secret);
+
+        return secret with { Label = label };
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Sync/SpelunkKeyCipher.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+using System.Security.Cryptography;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Contracts;
+using DodoSSH.Crypto;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Sync;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Turns a Spelunk key into an item payload and back.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Mirrors <see cref="ObjectStoreCipher"/> exactly, including the version rule in <see cref="SyncVersions"/>.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// <b>The resource type is named, never cast.</b> <c>SyncEntityType.SpelunkKey</c> is 14 and
+/// <c>CryptoSpec.AadResourceType.SpelunkKey</c> is 17; 14 in the crypto enum is a connection log entry, and a
+/// cast would seal an API key under that — which decrypts perfectly on the machine that wrote it and violates
+/// docs/crypto.md everywhere else.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public static class SpelunkKeyCipher
+{
+    private const CryptoSpec.AadResourceType Resource = CryptoSpec.AadResourceType.SpelunkKey;
+
+    /// <summary>Encrypts a Spelunk key.</summary>
+    /// <param name="key">The key. Must be valid for storage.</param>
+    /// <param name="vaultKey">The vault key, which the data key is wrapped under.</param>
+    /// <param name="entityId">The item id, which the AAD binds.</param>
+    /// <param name="keyGeneration">The vault's current key generation.</param>
+    /// <param name="itemVersion">The version this payload will hold once the server accepts it.</param>
+    public static EncryptedPayload Seal(
+        SpelunkKeySecret key,
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> vaultKey,
+        Guid entityId,
+        uint keyGeneration,
+        int itemVersion)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(key);
+        ArgumentOutOfRangeException.ThrowIfLessThan(itemVersion, 1);
+
+        var plaintext = SpelunkKeySecretCodec.Encode(key);
+        var dataKey = ItemKeys.CreateDataKey();
+
+        try
+        {
+            var dataKeyId = Guid.CreateVersion7();
+
+            var wrappedDataKey = ItemKeys.WrapDataKey(
+                dataKey, vaultKey, Resource, entityId, keyGeneration, (uint)itemVersion);
+
+            var envelope = ItemKeys.SealPayload(
+                dataKey, plaintext, Resource, entityId, dataKeyId, keyGeneration, (uint)itemVersion);
+
+            return new EncryptedPayload(
+                envelope, wrappedDataKey, dataKeyId, keyGeneration, CryptoSpec.CurrentAadVersion);
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            CryptographicOperations.ZeroMemory(dataKey);
+
+            // It holds an API key, which is live on the Spelunk it belongs to.
+            CryptographicOperations.ZeroMemory(plaintext);
+        }
+    }
+
+    /// <summary>Decrypts a Spelunk key.</summary>
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="HostCipher.TryOpen" path="/returns" />
+    public static SpelunkKeySecretDocument? TryOpen(
+        EncryptedPayload payload,
+        ReadOnlySpan<byte> vaultKey,
+        Guid entityId,
+        int itemVersion)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(payload);
+
+        if (itemVersion < 1 || payload.WrappedDataKey.Length == 0)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        var dataKey = ItemKeys.TryUnwrapDataKey(
+            vaultKey,
+            payload.WrappedDataKey,
+            Resource,
+            entityId,
+            payload.KeyGeneration,
+            (uint)itemVersion);
+
+        if (dataKey is null)
+        {
+            return null;
+        }
+
+        try
+        {
+            var plaintext = ItemKeys.TryOpenPayload(
+                dataKey,
+                payload.Envelope,
+                Resource,
+                entityId,
+                payload.DataKeyId,
+                payload.KeyGeneration,
+                (uint)itemVersion);
+
+            if (plaintext is null)
+            {
+                return null;
+            }
+
+            try
+            {
+                return SpelunkKeySecretCodec.TryDecode(plaintext, out var document) ? document : null;
+            }
+            finally
+            {
+                CryptographicOperations.ZeroMemory(plaintext);
+            }
+        }
+        finally
+        {
+            CryptographicOperations.ZeroMemory(dataKey);
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Sync/SpelunkKeyRepository.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+using DodoSSH.Client.Domain;
+using DodoSSH.Client.Storage;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Client.Sync;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The Spelunk keys in this vault, decrypted, with unpushed local changes laid over them.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Another facade over the same generic repository. A key is read when the vault is listed and again at
+/// connect, from the list, like a credential's password.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SpelunkKeyRepository(
+    ItemStore items,
+    OutboxStore outbox,
+    VaultKeyring keyring,
+    IActivityLogSink? activity = null)
+{
+    private readonly VaultItemRepository<SpelunkKeySecret> keys =
+        new(SpelunkKeyKind.Instance, items, outbox, keyring, activity);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="VaultItemRepository{TSecret}.ListAsync" />
+    public Task<ItemListing<SpelunkKeySecret>> ListAsync(
+        Guid vaultId,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        keys.ListAsync(vaultId, cancellationToken);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="VaultItemRepository{TSecret}.CreateAsync" />
+    public Task<Guid> CreateAsync(
+        Guid vaultId,
+        SpelunkKeySecret key,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        keys.CreateAsync(vaultId, key, cancellationToken);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="VaultItemRepository{TSecret}.UpdateAsync" />
+    public Task UpdateAsync(
+        Guid vaultId,
+        Guid entityId,
+        SpelunkKeySecret key,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        keys.UpdateAsync(vaultId, entityId, key, cancellationToken);
+
+    /// <inheritdoc cref="VaultItemRepository{TSecret}.DeleteAsync" />
+    public Task DeleteAsync(Guid vaultId, Guid entityId, CancellationToken cancellationToken) =>
+        keys.DeleteAsync(vaultId, entityId, cancellationToken);
+}

src/DodoSSH.Client.Terminal/TerminalWorkspace.cs

@@ -550,6 +550,51 @@ public sealed class TerminalWorkspace : IAsyncDisposable
         return sessionId;
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Starts a port forward over one terminal's connection.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <param name="sessionId">The terminal whose connection the forward runs over.</param>
+    /// <param name="spec">What to forward.</param>
+    /// <param name="cancellationToken">Abandons the start.</param>
+    /// <returns>The forward, which the caller may dispose to stop it sooner.</returns>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// <b>The forward lives as long as the session, and this object does not keep a list of them.</b> SSH.NET
+    /// stops every forward on a connection when the connection is disposed, which is what both
+    /// <see cref="CloseSessionAsync"/> and the release of a session that ended on its own already do — so a
+    /// second record here would be a copy of a fact the library already enforces, and the one that could
+    /// disagree with it. Disposing a handle after its session has gone is safe.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// Refused for a session that is not running, for the reason <see cref="PasteAsync"/> refuses one: a tab
+    /// whose shell ended is still on screen, and a forward started on its connection would be a listener
+    /// over a transport that is already being torn down.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    /// <exception cref="InvalidOperationException">The session is not running.</exception>
+    /// <exception cref="SshPortForwardException">The forward could not be started.</exception>
+    public Task<ISshPortForward> StartForwardAsync(
+        uint sessionId,
+        SshPortForwardSpec spec,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(spec);
+
+        ISshConnection connection;
+
+        lock (sessionGate)
+        {
+            if (!sessions.TryGetValue(sessionId, out var session) || session.Run.IsCompleted)
+            {
+                throw new InvalidOperationException("That terminal is no longer connected.");
+            }
+
+            connection = session.Connection;
+        }
+
+        return connection.StartForwardAsync(spec, cancellationToken);
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Shows one terminal's pane and hides the others.
     /// </summary>

src/DodoSSH.Contracts/ProblemCodes.cs

@@ -76,6 +76,17 @@ public static class ProblemCodes
     /// </remarks>
     public const string EventsUnavailable = "events-unavailable";
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// This deployment does not relay.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Its own code rather than <see cref="RelayTargetRejected"/>, because it is the one relay refusal
+    /// whose remedy is not about the host: nothing the user changes on this machine will make it work
+    /// here, and saying so is not an oracle for anything. <c>GET /api/v1/meta</c> says the same thing
+    /// without asking.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const string RelayUnavailable = "relay-unavailable";
+
     /// <summary>The relay refused the requested target. Never states why, to avoid a probe oracle.</summary>
     public const string RelayTargetRejected = "relay-target-rejected";
 

src/DodoSSH.Contracts/PublicAPI.Unshipped.txt

@@ -469,6 +469,7 @@ DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.KnownHostKey = 10 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEnti
 DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.ObjectStore = 13 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
 DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.PortForward = 9 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
 DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.Snippet = 8 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
+DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.SpelunkKey = 14 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
 DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.SshKey = 3 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
 DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.Tag = 5 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
 DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType.Unspecified = 0 -> DodoSSH.Contracts.SyncEntityType
@@ -966,3 +967,14 @@ static DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultKeyWrap.operator !=(DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultKeyWrap
 static DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultKeyWrap.operator ==(DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultKeyWrap? left, DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultKeyWrap? right) -> bool
 static DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultSummary.operator !=(DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultSummary? left, DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultSummary? right) -> bool
 static DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultSummary.operator ==(DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultSummary? left, DodoSSH.Contracts.VaultSummary? right) -> bool
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.ProblemCodes.RelayUnavailable = "relay-unavailable" -> string!
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.ConnectPath = "/api/v1/relay/connect" -> string!
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.DurationLimitCloseCode = 4409 -> int
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.Feature = "relay" -> string!
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.IdleTimeoutCloseCode = 4408 -> int
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.SubProtocol = "dodossh.relay.v1" -> string!
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.TargetUnreachableCloseCode = 4502 -> int
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.TicketProtocolPrefix = "ticket." -> string!
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.TicketsPath = "/api/v1/relay/tickets" -> string!
+const DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol.TooManySessionsCloseCode = 4429 -> int
+DodoSSH.Contracts.RelayProtocol

src/DodoSSH.Contracts/Relay.cs

@@ -1,5 +1,78 @@
 namespace DodoSSH.Contracts;
 
+/// <summary>
+/// The relay's routes, subprotocol and close codes.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// Two steps, per ADR 0004. <see cref="TicketsPath"/> is an ordinary authenticated request that decides
+/// everything — which host, which addresses, whether the caller may — and answers with a ticket.
+/// <see cref="ConnectPath"/> is a WebSocket that carries no API authority at all: it accepts the ticket
+/// and nothing else, and pipes raw bytes to the addresses the ticket names. There is no framing of the
+/// relay's own inside the socket. SSH is already a byte stream, so every binary message is simply the
+/// next bytes of it, in order, and message boundaries mean nothing.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// A refusal the client could not have avoided by asking differently — a limit, a target that did not
+/// answer — is sent as a close code after the upgrade rather than as an HTTP status before it, for the
+/// same reason as <see cref="VaultEvents"/>: a constrained WebSocket client cannot read the status of a
+/// failed upgrade, and these are exactly the cases where the user needs to be told something specific.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public static class RelayProtocol
+{
+    /// <summary>The <c>/api/v1/meta</c> feature flag advertising that this server relays at all.</summary>
+    public const string Feature = "relay";
+
+    /// <summary>Where a ticket is asked for, with a <see cref="RelayTicketRequest"/>.</summary>
+    public const string TicketsPath = "/api/v1/relay/tickets";
+
+    /// <summary>The path the relay socket is served from.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// A client dials <see cref="RelayTicketResponse.WebSocketUrl"/> rather than building this itself,
+    /// because a deployment may publish the relay under a different host than the API.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const string ConnectPath = "/api/v1/relay/connect";
+
+    /// <summary>The only subprotocol this version speaks.</summary>
+    public const string SubProtocol = "dodossh.relay.v1";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// The prefix of the second subprotocol an upgrade offers, which carries the ticket.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The header rather than the query string, because a URL is what proxies, access logs and traces
+    /// keep. The server echoes <see cref="SubProtocol"/> alone and never the ticket.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const string TicketProtocolPrefix = "ticket.";
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Close code for a caller, or a node, already holding as many relay sessions as it may.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The same number as <see cref="VaultEvents.TooManyConnectionsCloseCode"/>, deliberately, for the
+    /// same meaning. Retrying at once is what caused it.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int TooManySessionsCloseCode = 4429;
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Close code for a target that did not accept the connection.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// The one failure a user needs told in so many words, because from the laptop it looks exactly like
+    /// the direct connection that failed and sent them to the relay in the first place. It says that the
+    /// <em>server</em> could not reach the machine, which is a different problem with a different owner.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public const int TargetUnreachableCloseCode = 4502;
+
+    /// <summary>Close code for a session that carried no bytes for the idle timeout.</summary>
+    public const int IdleTimeoutCloseCode = 4408;
+
+    /// <summary>Close code for a session that reached the maximum lifetime this server allows.</summary>
+    public const int DurationLimitCloseCode = 4409;
+}
+
+
 /// <summary>
 /// A request for permission to relay to a host.
 /// </summary>
@@ -11,8 +84,10 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Contracts;
 /// </remarks>
 /// <param name="HostId">The host to reach.</param>
 /// <param name="PortForwardId">
-/// A configured port forward to use instead of the host's own SSH port. Resolved server-side the
-/// same way.
+/// A configured port forward to use instead of the host's own SSH port. Reserved, and refused when
+/// set: a port forward lives inside the host's encrypted payload, so the server has no plaintext port
+/// to resolve it to, and taking one from the client is the open proxy this record exists to prevent.
+/// Serving it needs a plaintext concession of its own, argued the way ADR 0004 argues the host's.
 /// </param>
 public sealed record RelayTicketRequest(
     Guid HostId,

src/DodoSSH.Contracts/SyncEntityType.cs

@@ -66,4 +66,14 @@ public enum SyncEntityType
     /// the vendor. The interface says S3, which is what people call the protocol.
     /// </remarks>
     ObjectStore = 13,
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// A Spelunk API key, and the one Spelunk address it may be sent to.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// An item of its own rather than a credential's password, because the address is the point: a link from
+    /// Spelunk can be sent by anything on the machine, so a key may only go where the user said it goes, and
+    /// only an item that carries both can say so. See <c>SpelunkKeySecret</c>.
+    /// </remarks>
+    SpelunkKey = 14,
 }

src/DodoSSH.Crypto/CryptoSpec.cs

@@ -173,6 +173,9 @@ public static class CryptoSpec
 
         /// <summary>An S3-compatible bucket, and the credentials that reach it.</summary>
         ObjectStore = 16,
+
+        /// <summary>A Spelunk API key, and the one Spelunk address it may be sent to.</summary>
+        SpelunkKey = 17,
     }
 
     /// <summary>HKDF info labels. Domain-separated so one subkey cannot stand in for another.</summary>

src/DodoSSH.Domain/Hosts.cs

@@ -556,6 +556,62 @@ public sealed class VaultObjectStore : IVaultItem
     public Guid UpdatedByUserId { get; set; }
 }
 
+/// <summary>
+/// A Spelunk API key and the Spelunk address it may be sent to, as ciphertext.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <see cref="VaultObjectStore"/>'s shape, for the same reason: the key is a password, and the address beside
+/// it is where the user's servers are managed. Nothing on the server calls Spelunk, so there is no plaintext
+/// column and no argument for one.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class VaultSpelunkKey : IVaultItem
+{
+    /// <summary>Primary key. UUIDv7, generated by the client so a key can be added offline.</summary>
+    public Guid Id { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Owning vault.</summary>
+    public Guid VaultId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Owning vault.</summary>
+    public Vault? Vault { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The encrypted key and its address: a DSH1 envelope. Opaque to the server.</summary>
+    public byte[] Payload { get; set; } = [];
+
+    /// <summary>The item's data key, wrapped under the vault key. Opaque.</summary>
+    public byte[]? DataKeyWrap { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Reserved for per-item content keys wrapped to individual users; see docs/crypto.md §3.</summary>
+    public Guid? ContentKeyId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Vault key generation this payload was encrypted under.</summary>
+    public int KeyGeneration { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>AAD rule version, enabling a lazy re-encrypt-on-write migration later.</summary>
+    public short PayloadAadVersion { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Client-visible, monotonic item version, used for <c>expectedVersion</c> checks.</summary>
+    public int Version { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Latest change-log sequence touching this row, so a delta pull can join directly.</summary>
+    public long ChangeSequence { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Creation timestamp.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset CreatedAtUtc { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Last modification timestamp.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset UpdatedAtUtc { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Soft-delete marker; a tombstone, so an offline client learns the key went away.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset? DeletedAtUtc { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Who created it.</summary>
+    public Guid CreatedByUserId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Who last modified it.</summary>
+    public Guid UpdatedByUserId { get; set; }
+}
+
 /// <summary>
 /// One connection that was made, as ciphertext.
 /// </summary>

src/DodoSSH.Domain/Relay.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+namespace DodoSSH.Domain;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// A relay ticket that has been redeemed.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// The replay guard, and the only state the relay shares between nodes — see ADR 0004. A ticket is
+/// verified without the database; what the database adds is that it is verified <em>once</em>, by a
+/// unique insert on <see cref="TicketId"/> that a second redemption loses whichever node it reaches.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// A row is worth keeping only while its ticket could still verify, so <see cref="ExpiresAtUtc"/> is
+/// stored to let redemption sweep the rows that can no longer matter. Nothing else reads this table,
+/// and it carries nothing about the target: the audit record is <see cref="RelaySession"/>.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class RelayTicketUse
+{
+    /// <summary>The ticket's own id. Primary key, and the whole of the guard.</summary>
+    public Guid TicketId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>When the ticket stops verifying, after which this row guards nothing.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset ExpiresAtUtc { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>When it was redeemed.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset UsedAtUtc { get; set; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// The audit record of one relay session.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <para>
+/// What ADR 0004 says remains auditable in relay mode, and nothing more: who, to where, for how long,
+/// how many bytes each way and why it ended. The relay forwards SSH ciphertext, so there is no content
+/// to record and no column that pretends otherwise.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// Written twice — once when the target answers, once when the session ends — each time from a scope
+/// opened for that write alone. A session lasts hours and a scope held across it is a pooled database
+/// connection held across it, which is the failure ADR 0004 records.
+/// </para>
+/// <para>
+/// No foreign keys to the host or the vault, deliberately. An audit row has to outlive what it is
+/// about: a host deleted a minute after a session is exactly the host an operator will want the
+/// session for.
+/// </para>
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class RelaySession
+{
+    /// <summary>The session id, minted with the ticket and returned to the client. Primary key.</summary>
+    public Guid Id { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Who opened it.</summary>
+    public Guid UserId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The host it reached.</summary>
+    public Guid HostId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The vault the host was in when the ticket was issued.</summary>
+    public Guid VaultId { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The hostname as the host row carried it at issue.</summary>
+    public string TargetHost { get; set; } = string.Empty;
+
+    /// <summary>The address actually dialled, which is the one that answered.</summary>
+    /// <remarks>Null only for a session whose target never answered.</remarks>
+    public string? TargetAddress { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The port dialled.</summary>
+    public int TargetPort { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>The client's address as this node saw it, for the audit ADR 0004 promises.</summary>
+    public string? ClientAddress { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>When the socket was accepted.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset StartedAtUtc { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>When it closed, or null while it is open — or if the node died under it.</summary>
+    public DateTimeOffset? EndedAtUtc { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Bytes forwarded from the client to the target.</summary>
+    public long BytesClientToTarget { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Bytes forwarded from the target to the client.</summary>
+    public long BytesTargetToClient { get; set; }
+
+    /// <summary>Why it ended. <see cref="RelayCloseReason.Unspecified"/> while open.</summary>
+    public RelayCloseReason CloseReason { get; set; }
+}
+
+/// <summary>Why a relay session ended.</summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// Numbered as <c>RelaySessionCloseReason</c> on the wire is, and held to it by a test rather than by
+/// hope: the endpoint converts between the two by value.
+/// </remarks>
+public enum RelayCloseReason
+{
+    /// <summary>Not a legal value for a closed session; what an open one carries.</summary>
+    Unspecified = 0,
+
+    /// <summary>The client closed the connection.</summary>
+    ClientClosed = 1,
+
+    /// <summary>The target closed the connection.</summary>
+    TargetClosed = 2,
+
+    /// <summary>No traffic within the idle timeout.</summary>
+    IdleTimeout = 3,
+
+    /// <summary>The maximum session duration was reached.</summary>
+    DurationLimit = 4,
+
+    /// <summary>The server is shutting down and drained the session.</summary>
+    ServerShutdown = 5,
+
+    /// <summary>The connection to the target failed.</summary>
+    TargetUnreachable = 6,
+
+    /// <summary>An error ended the session.</summary>
+    Error = 7,
+}

src/DodoSSH.Domain/SyncLog.cs

@@ -57,6 +57,9 @@ public enum ChangeEntityType
 
     /// <summary>An S3-compatible bucket, and the credentials that reach it. M2.</summary>
     ObjectStore = 13,
+
+    /// <summary>A Spelunk API key, and the one Spelunk address it may be sent to.</summary>
+    SpelunkKey = 14,
 }
 
 /// <summary>

src/DodoSSH.Infrastructure/Configurations/HostAndSyncConfigurations.cs

@@ -384,6 +384,41 @@ public sealed class ObjectStoreConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<VaultObj
     }
 }
 
+/// <summary>
+/// Maps <see cref="VaultSpelunkKey"/>.
+/// </summary>
+/// <remarks>
+/// <see cref="ObjectStoreConfiguration"/> again: a key and the address it goes to, neither of which belongs
+/// in a column.
+/// </remarks>
+public sealed class SpelunkKeyConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<VaultSpelunkKey>
+{
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<VaultSpelunkKey> builder)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(builder);
+
+        builder.ToTable("spelunk_key");
+        builder.HasKey(s => s.Id);
+
+        // Client-generated UUIDv7: a key must be addable offline, with its id.
+        builder.Property(s => s.Id).ValueGeneratedNever();
+        builder.UseXminConcurrencyToken();
+
+        builder.Property(s => s.Payload).IsRequired();
+
+        builder.HasIndex(s => new { s.VaultId, s.ChangeSequence });
+
+        builder.HasIndex(s => s.VaultId)
+            .HasFilter("deleted_at_utc IS NULL")
+            .HasDatabaseName("ix_spelunk_key_vault_live");
+
+        builder.ToTable(t => t.HasCheckConstraint(
+            "ck_spelunk_key_version",
+            "version >= 1"));
+    }
+}
+
 /// <summary>Maps <see cref="VaultChange"/>.</summary>
 public sealed class SyncChangeConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<VaultChange>
 {

src/DodoSSH.Infrastructure/Configurations/RelayConfigurations.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,61 @@
+using DodoSSH.Domain;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Metadata.Builders;
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Infrastructure.Configurations;
+
+/// <summary>Maps <see cref="RelayTicketUse"/>.</summary>
+public sealed class RelayTicketUseConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<RelayTicketUse>
+{
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<RelayTicketUse> builder)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(builder);
+
+        builder.ToTable("relay_ticket_use");
+
+        // The key is the guard. A second redemption of the same ticket is a unique violation, on whichever
+        // node it reaches, and nothing weaker — a lookup followed by an insert — would be one.
+        builder.HasKey(u => u.TicketId);
+        builder.Property(u => u.TicketId).ValueGeneratedNever();
+
+        // For the sweep, which deletes by expiry.
+        builder.HasIndex(u => u.ExpiresAtUtc);
+    }
+}
+
+/// <summary>Maps <see cref="RelaySession"/>.</summary>
+public sealed class RelaySessionConfiguration : IEntityTypeConfiguration<RelaySession>
+{
+    /// <inheritdoc />
+    public void Configure(EntityTypeBuilder<RelaySession> builder)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(builder);
+
+        builder.ToTable("relay_session");
+        builder.HasKey(s => s.Id);
+
+        // Minted with the ticket and handed to the client before the row exists, so the client can name
+        // the session it opened.
+        builder.Property(s => s.Id).ValueGeneratedNever();
+
+        builder.Property(s => s.TargetHost).HasMaxLength(255).IsRequired();
+
+        // An address's text form: 45 characters is the longest IPv6 spelling with an embedded IPv4.
+        builder.Property(s => s.TargetAddress).HasMaxLength(45);
+        builder.Property(s => s.ClientAddress).HasMaxLength(45);
+
+        builder.Property(s => s.CloseReason).HasConversion<int>();
+
+        builder.HasIndex(s => new { s.UserId, s.StartedAtUtc });
+        builder.HasIndex(s => new { s.HostId, s.StartedAtUtc });
+
+        builder.ToTable(t => t.HasCheckConstraint(
+            "ck_relay_session_port_range",
+            "target_port BETWEEN 1 AND 65535"));
+
+        builder.ToTable(t => t.HasCheckConstraint(
+            "ck_relay_session_bytes",
+            "bytes_client_to_target >= 0 AND bytes_target_to_client >= 0"));
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Infrastructure/DodoDbContext.cs

@@ -81,12 +81,21 @@ public class DodoDbContext(DbContextOptions<DodoDbContext> options) : DbContext(
     /// <summary>S3-compatible buckets and their credentials, held as ciphertext.</summary>
     public DbSet<VaultObjectStore> ObjectStores => Set<VaultObjectStore>();
 
+    /// <summary>Spelunk API keys and the addresses they may be sent to, held as ciphertext.</summary>
+    public DbSet<VaultSpelunkKey> SpelunkKeys => Set<VaultSpelunkKey>();
+
     /// <summary>The per-vault change log that delta sync reads.</summary>
     public DbSet<VaultChange> VaultChanges => Set<VaultChange>();
 
     /// <summary>Applied-operation receipts, for exactly-once retries.</summary>
     public DbSet<SyncOperationReceipt> SyncOperationReceipts => Set<SyncOperationReceipt>();
 
+    /// <summary>Redeemed relay tickets: the replay guard ADR 0004 shares between nodes.</summary>
+    public DbSet<RelayTicketUse> RelayTicketUses => Set<RelayTicketUse>();
+
+    /// <summary>The relay's audit record, one row per session.</summary>
+    public DbSet<RelaySession> RelaySessions => Set<RelaySession>();
+
     /// <inheritdoc />
     protected override void OnModelCreating(ModelBuilder modelBuilder)
     {

src/DodoSSH.Infrastructure/Migrations/20260928120443_AddRelaySessions.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,92 @@
+using System;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Migrations;
+
+#nullable disable
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Infrastructure.Migrations
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Adds the relay's two tables: the replay guard for its tickets, and its audit record.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Both are new and empty, so this is additive and safe to roll back. Neither table references a
+    /// host or a vault by foreign key — an audit row has to outlive what it is about — and neither holds
+    /// anything the host row did not already hold in plaintext for a relay-enabled host. See ADR 0004.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public partial class AddRelaySessions : Migration
+    {
+        /// <inheritdoc />
+        protected override void Up(MigrationBuilder migrationBuilder)
+        {
+            migrationBuilder.CreateTable(
+                name: "relay_session",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                columns: table => new
+                {
+                    id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    user_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    host_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    vault_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    target_host = table.Column<string>(type: "character varying(255)", maxLength: 255, nullable: false),
+                    target_address = table.Column<string>(type: "character varying(45)", maxLength: 45, nullable: true),
+                    target_port = table.Column<int>(type: "integer", nullable: false),
+                    client_address = table.Column<string>(type: "character varying(45)", maxLength: 45, nullable: true),
+                    started_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: false),
+                    ended_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: true),
+                    bytes_client_to_target = table.Column<long>(type: "bigint", nullable: false),
+                    bytes_target_to_client = table.Column<long>(type: "bigint", nullable: false),
+                    close_reason = table.Column<int>(type: "integer", nullable: false)
+                },
+                constraints: table =>
+                {
+                    table.PrimaryKey("pk_relay_session", x => x.id);
+                    table.CheckConstraint("ck_relay_session_bytes", "bytes_client_to_target >= 0 AND bytes_target_to_client >= 0");
+                    table.CheckConstraint("ck_relay_session_port_range", "target_port BETWEEN 1 AND 65535");
+                });
+
+            migrationBuilder.CreateTable(
+                name: "relay_ticket_use",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                columns: table => new
+                {
+                    ticket_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    expires_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: false),
+                    used_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: false)
+                },
+                constraints: table =>
+                {
+                    table.PrimaryKey("pk_relay_ticket_use", x => x.ticket_id);
+                });
+
+            migrationBuilder.CreateIndex(
+                name: "ix_relay_session_host_id_started_at_utc",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                table: "relay_session",
+                columns: new[] { "host_id", "started_at_utc" });
+
+            migrationBuilder.CreateIndex(
+                name: "ix_relay_session_user_id_started_at_utc",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                table: "relay_session",
+                columns: new[] { "user_id", "started_at_utc" });
+
+            migrationBuilder.CreateIndex(
+                name: "ix_relay_ticket_use_expires_at_utc",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                table: "relay_ticket_use",
+                column: "expires_at_utc");
+        }
+
+        /// <inheritdoc />
+        protected override void Down(MigrationBuilder migrationBuilder)
+        {
+            migrationBuilder.DropTable(
+                name: "relay_session",
+                schema: "dodo");
+
+            migrationBuilder.DropTable(
+                name: "relay_ticket_use",
+                schema: "dodo");
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Infrastructure/Migrations/20260929073947_AddSpelunkKeyItem.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+using System;
+using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore.Migrations;
+
+#nullable disable
+
+namespace DodoSSH.Infrastructure.Migrations
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Adds the table for Spelunk keys: an API key and the one Spelunk address it may be sent to.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// New and empty, so this is additive and safe to roll back. The object-store table's shape: ciphertext
+    /// and bookkeeping, with no plaintext column, because nothing on the server calls Spelunk.
+    /// </remarks>
+    public partial class AddSpelunkKeyItem : Migration
+    {
+        /// <inheritdoc />
+        protected override void Up(MigrationBuilder migrationBuilder)
+        {
+            migrationBuilder.CreateTable(
+                name: "spelunk_key",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                columns: table => new
+                {
+                    id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    vault_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    payload = table.Column<byte[]>(type: "bytea", nullable: false),
+                    data_key_wrap = table.Column<byte[]>(type: "bytea", nullable: true),
+                    content_key_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: true),
+                    key_generation = table.Column<int>(type: "integer", nullable: false),
+                    payload_aad_version = table.Column<short>(type: "smallint", nullable: false),
+                    version = table.Column<int>(type: "integer", nullable: false),
+                    change_sequence = table.Column<long>(type: "bigint", nullable: false),
+                    created_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: false),
+                    updated_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: false),
+                    deleted_at_utc = table.Column<DateTimeOffset>(type: "timestamp with time zone", nullable: true),
+                    created_by_user_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    updated_by_user_id = table.Column<Guid>(type: "uuid", nullable: false),
+                    xmin = table.Column<uint>(type: "xid", rowVersion: true, nullable: false)
+                },
+                constraints: table =>
+                {
+                    table.PrimaryKey("pk_spelunk_key", x => x.id);
+                    table.CheckConstraint("ck_spelunk_key_version", "version >= 1");
+                    table.ForeignKey(
+                        name: "fk_spelunk_key_vaults_vault_id",
+                        column: x => x.vault_id,
+                        principalSchema: "dodo",
+                        principalTable: "vault",
+                        principalColumn: "id",
+                        onDelete: ReferentialAction.Cascade);
+                });
+
+            migrationBuilder.CreateIndex(
+                name: "ix_spelunk_key_vault_id_change_sequence",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                table: "spelunk_key",
+                columns: new[] { "vault_id", "change_sequence" });
+
+            migrationBuilder.CreateIndex(
+                name: "ix_spelunk_key_vault_live",
+                schema: "dodo",
+                table: "spelunk_key",
+                column: "vault_id",
+                filter: "deleted_at_utc IS NULL");
+        }
+
+        /// <inheritdoc />
+        protected override void Down(MigrationBuilder migrationBuilder)
+        {
+            migrationBuilder.DropTable(
+                name: "spelunk_key",
+                schema: "dodo");
+        }
+    }
+}

src/DodoSSH.Infrastructure/Migrations/DodoDbContextModelSnapshot.cs

@@ -135,6 +135,104 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Infrastructure.Migrations
                     b.ToTable("key_log", "dodo");
                 });
 
+            modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.RelaySession", b =>
+                {
+                    b.Property<Guid>("Id")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("id");
+
+                    b.Property<long>("BytesClientToTarget")
+                        .HasColumnType("bigint")
+                        .HasColumnName("bytes_client_to_target");
+
+                    b.Property<long>("BytesTargetToClient")
+                        .HasColumnType("bigint")
+                        .HasColumnName("bytes_target_to_client");
+
+                    b.Property<string>("ClientAddress")
+                        .HasMaxLength(45)
+                        .HasColumnType("character varying(45)")
+                        .HasColumnName("client_address");
+
+                    b.Property<int>("CloseReason")
+                        .HasColumnType("integer")
+                        .HasColumnName("close_reason");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset?>("EndedAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("ended_at_utc");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid>("HostId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("host_id");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset>("StartedAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("started_at_utc");
+
+                    b.Property<string>("TargetAddress")
+                        .HasMaxLength(45)
+                        .HasColumnType("character varying(45)")
+                        .HasColumnName("target_address");
+
+                    b.Property<string>("TargetHost")
+                        .IsRequired()
+                        .HasMaxLength(255)
+                        .HasColumnType("character varying(255)")
+                        .HasColumnName("target_host");
+
+                    b.Property<int>("TargetPort")
+                        .HasColumnType("integer")
+                        .HasColumnName("target_port");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid>("UserId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("user_id");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid>("VaultId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("vault_id");
+
+                    b.HasKey("Id")
+                        .HasName("pk_relay_session");
+
+                    b.HasIndex("HostId", "StartedAtUtc")
+                        .HasDatabaseName("ix_relay_session_host_id_started_at_utc");
+
+                    b.HasIndex("UserId", "StartedAtUtc")
+                        .HasDatabaseName("ix_relay_session_user_id_started_at_utc");
+
+                    b.ToTable("relay_session", "dodo", t =>
+                        {
+                            t.HasCheckConstraint("ck_relay_session_bytes", "bytes_client_to_target >= 0 AND bytes_target_to_client >= 0");
+
+                            t.HasCheckConstraint("ck_relay_session_port_range", "target_port BETWEEN 1 AND 65535");
+                        });
+                });
+
+            modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.RelayTicketUse", b =>
+                {
+                    b.Property<Guid>("TicketId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("ticket_id");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset>("ExpiresAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("expires_at_utc");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset>("UsedAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("used_at_utc");
+
+                    b.HasKey("TicketId")
+                        .HasName("pk_relay_ticket_use");
+
+                    b.HasIndex("ExpiresAtUtc")
+                        .HasDatabaseName("ix_relay_ticket_use_expires_at_utc");
+
+                    b.ToTable("relay_ticket_use", "dodo");
+                });
+
             modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.SshHost", b =>
                 {
                     b.Property<Guid>("Id")
@@ -1389,6 +1487,87 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Infrastructure.Migrations
                         });
                 });
 
+            modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.VaultSpelunkKey", b =>
+                {
+                    b.Property<Guid>("Id")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("id");
+
+                    b.Property<long>("ChangeSequence")
+                        .HasColumnType("bigint")
+                        .HasColumnName("change_sequence");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid?>("ContentKeyId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("content_key_id");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset>("CreatedAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("created_at_utc");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid>("CreatedByUserId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("created_by_user_id");
+
+                    b.Property<byte[]>("DataKeyWrap")
+                        .HasColumnType("bytea")
+                        .HasColumnName("data_key_wrap");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset?>("DeletedAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("deleted_at_utc");
+
+                    b.Property<int>("KeyGeneration")
+                        .HasColumnType("integer")
+                        .HasColumnName("key_generation");
+
+                    b.Property<byte[]>("Payload")
+                        .IsRequired()
+                        .HasColumnType("bytea")
+                        .HasColumnName("payload");
+
+                    b.Property<short>("PayloadAadVersion")
+                        .HasColumnType("smallint")
+                        .HasColumnName("payload_aad_version");
+
+                    b.Property<DateTimeOffset>("UpdatedAtUtc")
+                        .HasColumnType("timestamp with time zone")
+                        .HasColumnName("updated_at_utc");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid>("UpdatedByUserId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("updated_by_user_id");
+
+                    b.Property<Guid>("VaultId")
+                        .HasColumnType("uuid")
+                        .HasColumnName("vault_id");
+
+                    b.Property<int>("Version")
+                        .HasColumnType("integer")
+                        .HasColumnName("version");
+
+                    b.Property<uint>("xmin")
+                        .IsConcurrencyToken()
+                        .ValueGeneratedOnAddOrUpdate()
+                        .HasColumnType("xid")
+                        .HasColumnName("xmin");
+
+                    b.HasKey("Id")
+                        .HasName("pk_spelunk_key");
+
+                    b.HasIndex("VaultId")
+                        .HasDatabaseName("ix_spelunk_key_vault_live")
+                        .HasFilter("deleted_at_utc IS NULL");
+
+                    b.HasIndex("VaultId", "ChangeSequence")
+                        .HasDatabaseName("ix_spelunk_key_vault_id_change_sequence");
+
+                    b.ToTable("spelunk_key", "dodo", t =>
+                        {
+                            t.HasCheckConstraint("ck_spelunk_key_version", "version >= 1");
+                        });
+                });
+
             modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.VaultSshKey", b =>
                 {
                     b.Property<Guid>("Id")
@@ -1756,6 +1935,18 @@ namespace DodoSSH.Infrastructure.Migrations
                     b.Navigation("Vault");
                 });
 
+            modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.VaultSpelunkKey", b =>
+                {
+                    b.HasOne("DodoSSH.Domain.Vault", "Vault")
+                        .WithMany()
+                        .HasForeignKey("VaultId")
+                        .OnDelete(DeleteBehavior.Cascade)
+                        .IsRequired()
+                        .HasConstraintName("fk_spelunk_key_vaults_vault_id");
+
+                    b.Navigation("Vault");
+                });
+
             modelBuilder.Entity("DodoSSH.Domain.VaultSshKey", b =>
                 {
                     b.HasOne("DodoSSH.Domain.Vault", "Vault")

tests/DodoSSH.Api.Tests/ApiFixture.cs

@@ -1,9 +1,14 @@
+using System.Net;
 using System.Net.Http.Headers;
 using System.Net.WebSockets;
+using DodoSSH.Api.Features.Relay;
 using DodoSSH.Contracts;
 using DodoSSH.Infrastructure;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.Server;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Hosting.Server.Features;
 using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Mvc.Testing;
+using Microsoft.AspNetCore.TestHost;
 using Microsoft.EntityFrameworkCore;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
@@ -27,6 +32,13 @@ public sealed class ApiFixture : WebApplicationFactory<Program>, IAsyncLifetime
         .WithPassword("test")
         .Build();
 
+    private readonly Lazy<(WebApplicationFactory<Program> Host, Uri Address)> kestrel;
+
+    public ApiFixture()
+    {
+        kestrel = new Lazy<(WebApplicationFactory<Program>, Uri)>(StartKestrel);
+    }
+
     /// <summary>The stubbed identity provider.</summary>
     public StubIdentityProvider IdentityProvider { get; } = new();
 
@@ -43,6 +55,11 @@ public sealed class ApiFixture : WebApplicationFactory<Program>, IAsyncLifetime
     /// <inheritdoc />
     public override async ValueTask DisposeAsync()
     {
+        if (kestrel.IsValueCreated)
+        {
+            await kestrel.Value.Host.DisposeAsync();
+        }
+
         await base.DisposeAsync();
         await container.DisposeAsync();
         IdentityProvider.Dispose();
@@ -70,7 +87,17 @@ public sealed class ApiFixture : WebApplicationFactory<Program>, IAsyncLifetime
             // The stub serves plaintext HTTP on a loopback port.
             ["DODOSSH_Oidc__RequireHttpsMetadata"] = "false",
 
-            ["DODOSSH_Relay__Enabled"] = "false",
+            // On, so the relay's endpoints can be tested at all. Nothing dials a real network: the seam
+            // below answers every resolve and connect, and the address policy still judges what it says.
+            ["DODOSSH_Relay__Enabled"] = "true",
+            ["DODOSSH_Relay__WebSocketUrl"] = "ws://localhost" + RelayProtocol.ConnectPath,
+
+            // Small, so a test can reach the cap with two sockets rather than ten.
+            ["DODOSSH_Relay__MaxConcurrentSessionsPerUser"] = "2",
+
+            // Short enough that a test can watch a session time out, long enough that no test which is
+            // moving bytes comes near it.
+            ["DODOSSH_Relay__IdleTimeout"] = "00:00:03",
 
             // Fixed so cursors stay valid for the lifetime of the test host.
             ["DODOSSH_Sync__CursorSigningKey"] = Convert.ToBase64String(new byte[32]),
@@ -80,8 +107,20 @@ public sealed class ApiFixture : WebApplicationFactory<Program>, IAsyncLifetime
         {
             Environment.SetEnvironmentVariable(name, value);
         }
+
+        builder.ConfigureTestServices(services => services.AddSingleton<IRelayNetwork>(RelayNetwork));
     }
 
+    /// <summary>
+    /// What the relay resolves and dials, in place of the machine's own resolver and sockets.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// Every address a test machine can reach by itself is loopback, which the relay refuses outright, so
+    /// a relay test needs a network that pretends. This one maps the addresses a test names onto loopback
+    /// listeners the test owns, and remembers what it was asked to dial.
+    /// </remarks>
+    internal FakeRelayNetwork RelayNetwork { get; } = new();
+
     /// <summary>Creates a client carrying a valid token for the given subject.</summary>
     /// <remarks>
     /// There is no verified-address knob here, and its absence is worth a sentence. It used to exist so
@@ -138,6 +177,64 @@ public sealed class ApiFixture : WebApplicationFactory<Program>, IAsyncLifetime
             new Uri(Server.BaseAddress, VaultEvents.Path.TrimStart('/')),
             cancellationToken);
     }
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Opens the event socket with the supplied raw token, over real Kestrel and a real TCP connection.
+    /// </summary>
+    /// <remarks>
+    /// <para>
+    /// For what <c>TestServer</c> cannot show: how the socket behaves when it ends. Kestrel hands the
+    /// endpoint a <c>ManagedWebSocket</c>, which aborts itself when a pending operation is cancelled,
+    /// and an aborted socket cannot send the close frame that tells a client why it was dropped. The
+    /// in-memory socket <c>TestServer</c> provides does not reproduce that, so a close-code test run
+    /// through it can pass against a server that never sends one.
+    /// </para>
+    /// <para>
+    /// A second host on the same database, started on first use. It listens on loopback only, for the
+    /// same Windows Firewall reason as <see cref="StubIdentityProvider"/>.
+    /// </para>
+    /// </remarks>
+    public async Task<WebSocket> ConnectEventsOverTcpAsync(string token, CancellationToken cancellationToken)
+    {
+        var socket = new ClientWebSocket();
+
+        try
+        {
+            socket.Options.AddSubProtocol(VaultEvents.SubProtocol);
+            socket.Options.SetRequestHeader("Authorization", $"Bearer {token}");
+
+            var address = new UriBuilder(new Uri(kestrel.Value.Address, VaultEvents.Path.TrimStart('/')))
+            {
+                Scheme = Uri.UriSchemeWs,
+            };
+
+            await socket.ConnectAsync(address.Uri, cancellationToken);
+
+            return socket;
+        }
+        catch
+        {
+            socket.Dispose();
+            throw;
+        }
+    }
+
+    private (WebApplicationFactory<Program> Host, Uri Address) StartKestrel()
+    {
+        // WithWebHostBuilder rather than a second fixture class, so the host inherits ConfigureWebHost
+        // above and therefore this container, this identity provider and this signing key.
+        var host = WithWebHostBuilder(_ => { });
+
+        host.UseKestrel(options => options.Listen(IPAddress.Loopback, 0));
+        host.StartServer();
+
+        var address = host.Services
+            .GetRequiredService<IServer>()
+            .Features.Get<IServerAddressesFeature>()!
+            .Addresses.Single();
+
+        return (host, new Uri(address));
+    }
 }
 
 /// <summary>Shares one host and container across every test class in the assembly.</summary>

tests/DodoSSH.Api.Tests/EndpointInventoryTests.cs

@@ -62,6 +62,13 @@ public sealed class EndpointInventoryTests(ApiFixture fixture)
         // the handshake, unlike the relay's ticket. See ADR 0012.
         "GET /api/v1/events name=VaultEvents tags=Events policies=Enrolled anon=False",
 
+        // The relay's two halves, and the split between them is the design. The ticket is Enrolled, as sync
+        // is, and every decision is made there with the full access model; the socket is anonymous because
+        // the ticket it carries is the whole of its authorization — single-use, thirty seconds, one host —
+        // and a constrained client cannot put a bearer token on an upgrade. See ADR 0004.
+        "POST /api/v1/relay/tickets name=IssueRelayTicket tags=Relay policies=Enrolled anon=False",
+        "GET /api/v1/relay/connect name=RelayConnect tags=Relay policies= anon=True",
+
         // Enrolled, because the answer exists to be wrapped to and a caller with no key of their own has
         // nothing to wrap and no signature to attribute it with. There is no search here — see
         // DirectoryService for why an exact-match-only directory is a decision rather than a shortcut.