diff --git a/deployer/index.ts b/deployer/index.ts
index 2cae01c..ab0b00c 100644
--- a/deployer/index.ts
+++ b/deployer/index.ts
@@ -1,9 +1,10 @@
 import { ssh, SSH } from './ssh.js'
-import { Expression, BuiltOutput } from './nix.js'
+import { Expression } from './nix.js'
 
+type Command = () => Promise<void>
 class Cmd {
-  registry: Record<string, () => Promise<void>> = {};
-  register(obj: string, action: string, fn: () => Promise<void>) {
+  registry: Record<string, Command> = {};
+  register(obj: string, action: string, fn: Command) {
     this.registry[`${obj}.${action}`] = fn
   }
   registerAll(obj: string, intf: Object & { _commands?: string[] }) {
@@ -43,10 +44,11 @@ class Machine {
   name: string;
   hasHome: boolean = false;
   hostname?: string;
-  constructor(args: {name?: string, hasHome?: boolean, hostname?: string}) {
-    Object.assign(this, args)
-    // todo
-    this.name = ""
+  constructor({name = "", hasHome = false, hostname}: {name?: string, hasHome?: boolean, hostname?: string}) {
+    this.name = name
+    this.hasHome = hasHome
+    this.hostname = hostname
+    // name can be set later
   }
   isLocal() {
     return os.hostname() == this.name
@@ -93,7 +95,7 @@ const machines = {
 for (const [name, machine] of Object.entries(machines))
     machine.name = name
 
-function cmd<R>(target: { _commands?: string[] }, propertyKey: string, descriptor: PropertyDescriptor): void {
+function cmd(target: { _commands?: string[] }, propertyKey: string, _descriptor: PropertyDescriptor): void {
   if (target._commands == undefined) target._commands = []
   target._commands.push(propertyKey)
 }
diff --git a/deployer/ssh.ts b/deployer/ssh.ts
index 95fee51..0ffcf9f 100644
--- a/deployer/ssh.ts
+++ b/deployer/ssh.ts
@@ -1,10 +1,30 @@
 
 import 'zx/globals';
-import { retry } from 'zx/experimental'
 
-import { spawn, SpawnOptions, ChildProcess } from 'child_process'
+import { spawn, ChildProcess } from 'child_process'
 import { Socket } from 'node:net'
 
+async function promiseWithTimeout<T>(timeoutMs: number, promise: Promise<T>, failureMessage?: string) { 
+  let timeoutHandle: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null
+  const timeoutPromise = new Promise<never>((_resolve, reject) => {
+    timeoutHandle = setTimeout(() => reject(new Error(failureMessage)), timeoutMs)
+  })
+  const result = await Promise.race([promise, timeoutPromise])
+  if (timeoutHandle) clearTimeout(timeoutHandle)
+  return result
+}
+
+const to_kill: ProcessPromise[] = []
+
+// sad that I can't chain these
+process.on("uncaughtException", err => {
+  console.error("uncaught exception", err)
+  console.log("killing", to_kill.length, "child processes")
+  for (const k of to_kill) if (k.child?.pid) process.kill(k.child.pid)
+  to_kill.length = 0
+  process.exit(1)
+})
+
 export function ssh(host: string): Promise<SSH>
 export function ssh<R>(host: string, cb: () => Promise<R>): Promise<R>
 export async function ssh<R>(host: string, cb?: () => Promise<R>) {
@@ -14,10 +34,14 @@ export async function ssh<R>(host: string, cb?: () => Promise<R>) {
   } catch (p) {
     if (p instanceof ProcessOutput && p.exitCode == 255) {
       console.log("Spawning ssh master")
-      let x = $`ssh ${host} -M -N -o compression=no`
-      await sleep(1000)
-      await retry(20, '1s', () => $`ssh ${host} -O check`.quiet())
-      console.log("SSH connected")
+      const x = $`ssh ${host} -M -N -o Compression=no -o PermitLocalCommand=yes -o LocalCommand="echo connected"`
+      to_kill.push(x)
+      await promiseWithTimeout(60000, new Promise<void>((resolve, _reject) => {
+        x.stdout.on('data', (d: Buffer) => {
+          if (d.toString('utf8').trim() == "connected")
+            resolve()
+        })
+      }))
       if (x.child) {
         x.child.unref()
         if (x.child.stderr instanceof Socket) x.child.stderr.unref()
@@ -42,6 +66,9 @@ export class SSH {
   constructor(public host: string) { }
   within<R>(cb: () => Promise<R>): Promise<R> {
     return within(async () => {
+      // todo: the default options.shell is set to local which.sync('bash')
+      // which doesn't neccesarily work on the remote
+      $.shell = "bash"
       $.spawn = (command: string, options: any): any => {
         const stdio = ["pipe", options.stdio[1], options.stdio[2]]
         const proc: ChildProcess = spawn("ssh", [this.host, options.shell],