# TRAMP for Emacs 25 Hacker News commenters recommended TRAMP for Emacs and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Built into Emacs, it edits remote files over SSH and containers without installing anything remotely. Common caveat: it is slow on high-latency connections. ## Why people recommend it - No install needed on remote machine (4 comments): "It does not install emacs on the target, but instead use a somewhat permanent connection as a tunnel for most emacs commands" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47993080)) "it doesn't require the installation of anything onto the computer you're connecting to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943332)) "does it without installing anything on remote machine, just SSH, and shell commands" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49823725)) - Edits remote files from local Emacs (4 comments): "It allows you to use emacs just to author text and to use the remote for everything else." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055515)) "TRAMP is built-in and can open remote files in a local instance over SSH" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48117989)) "Run Emacs on your local machine and use Tramp to edit the remote files" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45946724)) - Works well and integrates into Emacs (3 comments): "interacting with the containers is of course just using TRAMP to "connect" to them, and that of course works just fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46173008)) "it works nicely and is surprisingly well integrated into the rest of Emacs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46055788)) "Note that tramp will kvetch if you do this, but it still works fine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47320055)) - Multi-hop SSH and container editing (2 comments): "The fact it can do multi-hop edits is far too much power for us mere mortals." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47320071)) "You can edit files over ssh hops or docker hops using tramp." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49666151)) ## What people warn about - Slow and laggy on high latency (8 comments): "the main downside is if your connection is laggy Emacs will lock up momentarily" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45942914)) "The drawback of the emacs approach in my case is the tramp latency." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48585796)) "I know people say it's slow (it is) and synchronous (yes, it is)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46034525)) - Poor with large projects (2 comments): "Using TRAMP with large projects is not a pleasant experience." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943905)) "this is experience with monorepo + tramp" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47331847)) - Hangs or crashes Emacs (2 comments): "the main downside is if your connection is laggy Emacs will lock up momentarily" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45942914)) "the ssh connection underlying Tramp can get downright creative in the ways it crashes or hangs emacs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49831516)) - Less functional than alternatives (2 comments): "I've used TRAMP to open single files over SSH, but it seems less functional than mounting with FUSE." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46057661)) "TRAMP is way behind feature-wise." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45943723)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Evil mode for Emacs](https://hackerapproved.com/p/evil-mode.md): 39 recommend - [SLIME](https://hackerapproved.com/p/slime.md): 19 recommend - [Vertico](https://hackerapproved.com/p/vertico.md): 18 recommend - [Eglot](https://hackerapproved.com/p/eglot.md): 16 recommend - [Consult (Emacs package)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/consult.md): 16 recommend ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "TRAMP for Emacs", https://hackerapproved.com/p/tramp/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).