diff --git a/docs/changelog.rst b/docs/changelog.rst
index d85a0d7a7..949587cd7 100644
--- a/docs/changelog.rst
+++ b/docs/changelog.rst
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@ To update |kitty|, :doc:`follow the instructions <binary>`.
   used by full screen terminal programs and even games, see
   :doc:`keyboard-protocol` (:iss:`3248`)
 
+- diff kitten: Implement recursive diff over SSH (:iss:`3268`)
+
 - Add support for the color settings stack that XTerm copied from us without
   acknowledgement and decided to use incompatible escape codes for.
 
diff --git a/kittens/diff/collect.py b/kittens/diff/collect.py
index a10c98ec3..47d16af57 100644
--- a/kittens/diff/collect.py
+++ b/kittens/diff/collect.py
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ if TYPE_CHECKING:
 
 
 path_name_map: Dict[str, str] = {}
+remote_dirs: Dict[str, str] = {}
+
+
+def add_remote_dir(val: str) -> None:
+    remote_dirs[val] = os.path.basename(val).rpartition('-')[-1]
 
 
 class Segment:
@@ -88,6 +93,20 @@ class Collection:
         return len(self.all_paths)
 
 
+def remote_hostname(path: str) -> Tuple[Optional[str], Optional[str]]:
+    for q in remote_dirs:
+        if path.startswith(q):
+            return q, remote_dirs[q]
+    return None, None
+
+
+def resolve_remote_name(path: str, default: str) -> str:
+    remote_dir, rh = remote_hostname(path)
+    if remote_dir and rh:
+        return rh + ':' + os.path.relpath(path, remote_dir)
+    return default
+
+
 def collect_files(collection: Collection, left: str, right: str) -> None:
     left_names: Set[str] = set()
     right_names: Set[str] = set()
@@ -184,8 +203,8 @@ def create_collection(left: str, right: str) -> Collection:
         collect_files(collection, left, right)
     else:
         pl, pr = os.path.abspath(left), os.path.abspath(right)
-        path_name_map[pl] = left
-        path_name_map[pr] = right
+        path_name_map[pl] = resolve_remote_name(pl, left)
+        path_name_map[pr] = resolve_remote_name(pr, right)
         collection.add_change(pl, pr)
     collection.finalize()
     return collection
diff --git a/kittens/diff/main.py b/kittens/diff/main.py
index 5152b8026..d5c5583be 100644
--- a/kittens/diff/main.py
+++ b/kittens/diff/main.py
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ from kitty.cli_stub import DiffCLIOptions
 from kitty.conf.utils import KittensKeyAction
 from kitty.constants import appname
 from kitty.fast_data_types import wcswidth
-from kitty.key_encoding import KeyEvent, EventType
+from kitty.key_encoding import EventType, KeyEvent
 from kitty.options_stub import DiffOptions
 from kitty.utils import ScreenSize
 
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ from ..tui.operations import styled
 from . import global_data
 from .collect import (
     Collection, create_collection, data_for_path, lines_for_path, sanitize,
-    set_highlight_data
+    set_highlight_data, add_remote_dir
 )
 from .config import init_config
 from .patch import Differ, Patch, set_diff_command, worker_processes
@@ -567,17 +567,39 @@ def terminate_processes(processes: Iterable[int]) -> None:
             os.kill(pid, signal.SIGKILL)
 
 
+def get_ssh_file(hostname: str, rpath: str) -> str:
+    import io
+    import shutil
+    import tarfile
+    tdir = tempfile.mkdtemp(suffix=f'-{hostname}')
+    add_remote_dir(tdir)
+    atexit.register(shutil.rmtree, tdir)
+    is_abs = rpath.startswith('/')
+    rpath = rpath.lstrip('/')
+    cmd = ['ssh', hostname, 'tar', '-c', '-f', '-']
+    if is_abs:
+        cmd.extend(('-C', '/'))
+    cmd.append(rpath)
+    p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdout=subprocess.PIPE)
+    assert p.stdout is not None
+    raw = p.stdout.read()
+    if p.wait() != 0:
+        raise SystemExit(p.returncode)
+    with tarfile.open(fileobj=io.BytesIO(raw), mode='r:') as tf:
+        members = tf.getmembers()
+        tf.extractall(tdir)
+        if len(members) == 1:
+            for root, dirs, files in os.walk(tdir):
+                if files:
+                    return os.path.join(root, files[0])
+        return os.path.abspath(os.path.join(tdir, rpath))
+
+
 def get_remote_file(path: str) -> str:
     if path.startswith('ssh:'):
         parts = path.split(':', 2)
         if len(parts) == 3:
-            hostname, rpath = parts[1:]
-            with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(suffix='-' + os.path.basename(rpath), prefix='remote:', delete=False) as tf:
-                atexit.register(os.remove, tf.name)
-                p = subprocess.Popen(['ssh', hostname, 'cat', rpath], stdout=tf)
-                if p.wait() != 0:
-                    raise SystemExit(p.returncode)
-                return tf.name
+            return get_ssh_file(parts[1], parts[2])
     return path
 
 
@@ -588,12 +610,12 @@ def main(args: List[str]) -> None:
         raise SystemExit('You must specify exactly two files/directories to compare')
     left, right = items
     global_data.title = _('{} vs. {}').format(left, right)
-    if os.path.isdir(left) != os.path.isdir(right):
-        raise SystemExit('The items to be diffed should both be either directories or files. Comparing a directory to a file is not valid.')
     opts = init_config(cli_opts)
     set_diff_command(opts.diff_cmd)
     lines_for_path.replace_tab_by = opts.replace_tab_by
     left, right = map(get_remote_file, (left, right))
+    if os.path.isdir(left) != os.path.isdir(right):
+        raise SystemExit('The items to be diffed should both be either directories or files. Comparing a directory to a file is not valid.')
     for f in left, right:
         if not os.path.exists(f):
             raise SystemExit('{} does not exist'.format(f))