diff --git a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts
index 6d815452211..c1cfd6f47a6 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.test.ts
@@ -7159,6 +7159,45 @@ describe('OrcaRuntimeService', () => {
     }
   })
 
+  it('refuses SSH hosts instead of setting the project up on the local machine', async () => {
+    const spawnSpy = vi.spyOn(gitRunner, 'gitSpawn')
+    const repos: Record<string, unknown>[] = []
+    const runtimeStore = {
+      ...store,
+      getRepos: () => [...repos] as never,
+      addRepo: (repo: Record<string, unknown>) => {
+        repos.push(repo)
+      }
+    }
+    const runtime = new OrcaRuntimeService(runtimeStore as never)
+
+    try {
+      await expect(
+        runtime.setupProjectClone({
+          projectId: 'github:stablyai/orca',
+          hostId: 'ssh:openclaw',
+          url: 'https://example.com/orca.git',
+          destination: '/home/brennan'
+        })
+      ).rejects.toThrow(/SSH hosts are not supported/)
+
+      await expect(
+        runtime.setupProjectExistingFolder({
+          projectId: 'github:stablyai/orca',
+          hostId: 'ssh:openclaw',
+          path: '/home/brennan/orca',
+          kind: 'git'
+        })
+      ).rejects.toThrow(/SSH hosts are not supported/)
+
+      // Why: the defect was a silent local clone/probe recorded as remote, not a bad message.
+      expect(spawnSpy).not.toHaveBeenCalled()
+      expect(repos).toHaveLength(0)
+    } finally {
+      spawnSpy.mockRestore()
+    }
+  })
+
   it('adopts public clone repos into host-qualified project setup', async () => {
     const destination = await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), 'orca-runtime-project-clone-'))
     const clonePath = join(destination, 'orca')
diff --git a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
index 6e66cda4e60..ce66d582c79 100644
--- a/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
+++ b/src/main/runtime/orca-runtime.ts
@@ -1801,6 +1801,19 @@ function runtimeRepoMatchesExecutionHost(
   return repo.connectionId == null
 }
 
+// Why: this runtime only has local git and local fs, so an ssh: host here would clone and
+// probe the wrong machine and then register the result as remote. SSH setup is owned by the
+// desktop IPC path (addRemoteRepoFromPath / cloneRemoteRepo), which the renderer routes to;
+// only `local` and `runtime:` legitimately reach these RPCs.
+function assertProjectHostSetupHostIsSupported(hostId: ExecutionHostId | null | undefined): void {
+  if (parseExecutionHostId(hostId)?.kind !== 'ssh') {
+    return
+  }
+  throw new Error(
+    'SSH hosts are not supported by this operation. Set the project up from the Orca desktop app, which owns the SSH connection.'
+  )
+}
+
 function getRuntimeFolderWorkspaceInstanceId(repo: Repo, instanceId: string): string {
   return `${getRuntimeFolderWorkspaceRootId(repo)}${FOLDER_WORKSPACE_INSTANCE_SEPARATOR}${instanceId}`
 }
@@ -14929,6 +14942,7 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeService {
     if (!this.store) {
       throw new Error('runtime_unavailable')
     }
+    assertProjectHostSetupHostIsSupported(args.hostId)
     let repo = await this.addRepo(args.path, args.kind === 'folder' ? 'folder' : 'git', args.hostId)
     let setup = getProjectHostSetupForRepo(this.listProjectHostSetups(), repo)
     if (setup.projectId !== args.projectId) {
@@ -14971,6 +14985,8 @@ export class OrcaRuntimeService {
   }
 
   async setupProjectClone(args: ProjectHostSetupCloneArgs): Promise<ProjectHostSetupResult> {
+    // Why: guard before cloneRepo, which would otherwise clone to the local disk.
+    assertProjectHostSetupHostIsSupported(args.hostId)
     const repo = await this.cloneRepo(args.url, args.destination, args.hostId)
     return await this.setupProjectExistingFolder({
       projectId: args.projectId,