diff --git a/kittens/ssh/main.py b/kittens/ssh/main.py
index 1daa82a3d..7bebbe8d7 100644
--- a/kittens/ssh/main.py
+++ b/kittens/ssh/main.py
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ from kitty.types import run_once
 from kitty.utils import SSHConnectionData
 
 from .completion import complete, ssh_options
+from .config import options_for_host
 from .options.types import Options as SSHOptions
 from .options.utils import DELETE_ENV_VAR
 
@@ -115,7 +116,6 @@ def load_ssh_options() -> Dict[str, SSHOptions]:
 
 
 def get_ssh_data(msg: str, ssh_opts: Optional[Dict[str, SSHOptions]] = None) -> Iterator[bytes]:
-    from .config import options_for_host
     record_sep = b'\036'
 
     if ssh_opts is None:
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ def parse_ssh_args(args: List[str]) -> Tuple[List[str], List[str], bool]:
     return ssh_args, server_args, passthrough
 
 
-def get_posix_cmd(remote_args: List[str]) -> List[str]:
+def get_remote_command(remote_args: List[str], hostname: str = 'localhost', interpreter: str = 'sh') -> List[str]:
     command_to_execute = ''
     if remote_args:
         # ssh simply concatenates multiple commands using a space see
@@ -328,7 +328,7 @@ def get_posix_cmd(remote_args: List[str]) -> List[str]:
         args = [c.replace("'", """'"'"'""") for c in remote_args]
         command_to_execute = "exec \"$login_shell\" -c '{}'".format(' '.join(args))
     sh_script = load_script(exec_cmd=command_to_execute)
-    return [f'sh -c {shlex.quote(sh_script)}']
+    return [f'{interpreter} -c {shlex.quote(sh_script)}']
 
 
 def main(args: List[str]) -> NoReturn:
@@ -348,8 +348,8 @@ def main(args: List[str]) -> NoReturn:
             cmd.append('-t')
         cmd.append('--')
         cmd.append(hostname)
-        f = get_posix_cmd
-        cmd += f(remote_args)
+        hostname_for_match = hostname.split('@', 1)[-1].split(':', 1)[0]
+        cmd += get_remote_command(remote_args, hostname, options_for_host(hostname_for_match, load_ssh_options()).interpreter)
     os.execvp('ssh', cmd)
 
 
diff --git a/kittens/ssh/options/definition.py b/kittens/ssh/options/definition.py
index d1159abb5..1bd6a924e 100644
--- a/kittens/ssh/options/definition.py
+++ b/kittens/ssh/options/definition.py
@@ -70,6 +70,14 @@ are processed alphabetically. The special value :code:`_kitty_copy_env_var_`
 will cause the value of the variable to be copied from the local machine.
 ''')
 
+opt('interpreter', 'sh', long_text='''
+The interpreter to use on the remote host. Must be either a POSIX complaint shell
+or a python executable. If the default sh is not available for broken, using
+an alternate interpreter can be useful. Note that as the interpreter is used for
+bootstrapping, hostname specific values are matched again the hostname from the
+command line args rather than the actual remote hostname.
+''')
+
 opt('remote_dir', '.local/share/kitty-ssh-kitten', option_type='relative_dir', long_text='''
 The location on the remote computer where the files needed for this kitten
 are installed. The location is relative to the HOME directory. Absolute paths or paths
diff --git a/kittens/ssh/options/parse.py b/kittens/ssh/options/parse.py
index 69fe7adbb..c6a79ac86 100644
--- a/kittens/ssh/options/parse.py
+++ b/kittens/ssh/options/parse.py
@@ -18,6 +18,9 @@ class Parser:
     def hostname(self, val: str, ans: typing.Dict[str, typing.Any]) -> None:
         hostname(val, ans)
 
+    def interpreter(self, val: str, ans: typing.Dict[str, typing.Any]) -> None:
+        ans['interpreter'] = str(val)
+
     def remote_dir(self, val: str, ans: typing.Dict[str, typing.Any]) -> None:
         ans['remote_dir'] = relative_dir(val)
 
diff --git a/kittens/ssh/options/types.py b/kittens/ssh/options/types.py
index 03922bafb..94efcde36 100644
--- a/kittens/ssh/options/types.py
+++ b/kittens/ssh/options/types.py
@@ -5,11 +5,12 @@ import kittens.ssh.copy
 
 
 option_names = (  # {{{
- 'copy', 'env', 'hostname', 'remote_dir', 'shell_integration')  # }}}
+ 'copy', 'env', 'hostname', 'interpreter', 'remote_dir', 'shell_integration')  # }}}
 
 
 class Options:
     hostname: str = '*'
+    interpreter: str = 'sh'
     remote_dir: str = '.local/share/kitty-ssh-kitten'
     shell_integration: str = 'inherit'
     copy: typing.Dict[str, kittens.ssh.copy.CopyInstruction] = {}