# Waypipe

24 Hacker News commenters recommended Waypipe and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** People recommend Waypipe for running single Wayland GUI apps over SSH as a replacement for ssh -X. Critics say its design is a proxy added after the fact.

## Why people recommend it

- Better than X11 forwarding (6 comments): "much better at the job of "display remote graphical application on my computer" than X11's client-server design ever managed to accomplish" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46060275)) "This way you get even better performance than with traditional X11 forwarding methods." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45797055)) "I have been having great luck with waypipe as an X11 forwarding alternative" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48497570))
- Works fine for single apps (6 comments): "waypipie if you only need to access a gui application, not a desktop" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48437254)) "To forward one application like `ssh -X`, you want waypipe" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796532)) "If you want something closer to ssh -X, look up waypipe." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48533105))
- Replaces ssh -X forwarding (4 comments): "waypipe just works too. That replaces any reason to do SSH forwarding." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796602)) "To forward one application like `ssh -X`, you want waypipe" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796532)) "If you want something closer to ssh -X, look up waypipe." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48533105))
- Easy to use, production ready (3 comments): "waypipe just works too. That replaces any reason to do SSH forwarding." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45796602)) "Waypipe does indeed work fantastically for this" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46487830)) "Waypipe is production ready & easy to use." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49412239))

## What people warn about

- Design seen as flawed proxy (2 comments): "Last time I tried waypipe it did not work and its design seems flawed" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45849798)) "waypipe is inferior by design as it is a proxy added after the fact" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48916722))

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Waypipe", https://hackerapproved.com/p/waypipe/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).