diff --git a/internal/codespaces/ssh.go b/internal/codespaces/ssh.go
index d2bd0acf3cb..abffdbf81fd 100644
--- a/internal/codespaces/ssh.go
+++ b/internal/codespaces/ssh.go
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@ type printer interface {
 // port-forwarding session. It runs until the shell is terminated
 // (including by cancellation of the context).
 func Shell(
-	ctx context.Context, keepAliveOverride chan (bool), p printer, sshArgs []string, port int, destination string, printConnDetails bool,
+	ctx context.Context, p printer, sshArgs []string, command []string, port int, destination string, printConnDetails bool,
 ) error {
-	cmd, connArgs, err := newSSHCommand(ctx, keepAliveOverride, port, destination, sshArgs)
+	cmd, connArgs, err := newSSHCommand(ctx, port, destination, sshArgs, command)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("failed to create ssh command: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -51,42 +51,30 @@ func Copy(ctx context.Context, scpArgs []string, port int, destination string) e
 // NewRemoteCommand returns an exec.Cmd that will securely run a shell
 // command on the remote machine.
 func NewRemoteCommand(ctx context.Context, tunnelPort int, destination string, sshArgs ...string) (*exec.Cmd, error) {
-	cmd, _, err := newSSHCommand(ctx, nil, tunnelPort, destination, sshArgs)
+	sshArgs, command, err := ParseSSHArgs(sshArgs)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	cmd, _, err := newSSHCommand(ctx, tunnelPort, destination, sshArgs, command)
 	return cmd, err
 }
 
 // newSSHCommand populates an exec.Cmd to run a command (or if blank,
 // an interactive shell) over ssh.
-func newSSHCommand(ctx context.Context, keepAliveOverride chan (bool), port int, dst string, cmdArgs []string) (*exec.Cmd, []string, error) {
+func newSSHCommand(ctx context.Context, port int, dst string, cmdArgs []string, command []string) (*exec.Cmd, []string, error) {
 	connArgs := []string{
 		"-p", strconv.Itoa(port),
 		"-o", "NoHostAuthenticationForLocalhost=yes",
 		"-o", "PasswordAuthentication=no",
 	}
 
-	// The ssh command syntax is: ssh [flags] user@host command [args...]
-	// There is no way to specify the user@host destination as a flag.
-	// Unfortunately, that means we need to know which user-provided words are
-	// SSH flags and which are command arguments so that we can place
-	// them before or after the destination, and that means we need to know all
-	// the flags and their arities.
-	cmdArgs, command, err := parseSSHArgs(cmdArgs)
-	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, err
-	}
-
 	cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, connArgs...)
 	cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, "-C") // Compression
 	cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, dst)  // user@host
 
 	if command != nil {
 		cmdArgs = append(cmdArgs, command...)
-
-		// If the user specified a command to run non-interactively,
-		// make sure we send activity signals to keep the connection alive
-		if keepAliveOverride != nil {
-			keepAliveOverride <- true
-		}
 	}
 
 	exe, err := safeexec.LookPath("ssh")
@@ -102,7 +90,14 @@ func newSSHCommand(ctx context.Context, keepAliveOverride chan (bool), port int,
 	return cmd, connArgs, nil
 }
 
-func parseSSHArgs(args []string) (cmdArgs, command []string, err error) {
+// ParseSSHArgs parses the given array of arguments into two distinct slices of flags and command.
+// The ssh command syntax is: ssh [flags] user@host command [args...]
+// There is no way to specify the user@host destination as a flag.
+// Unfortunately, that means we need to know which user-provided words are
+// SSH flags and which are command arguments so that we can place
+// them before or after the destination, and that means we need to know all
+// the flags and their arities.
+func ParseSSHArgs(args []string) (cmdArgs, command []string, err error) {
 	return parseArgs(args, "bcDeFIiLlmOopRSWw")
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/codespaces/ssh_test.go b/internal/codespaces/ssh_test.go
index 7389bd2f925..faea74ae2ca 100644
--- a/internal/codespaces/ssh_test.go
+++ b/internal/codespaces/ssh_test.go
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ func TestParseSSHArgs(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for _, tcase := range testCases {
-		args, command, err := parseSSHArgs(tcase.Args)
+		args, command, err := ParseSSHArgs(tcase.Args)
 
 		checkParseResult(t, tcase, args, command, err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/cmd/codespace/ssh.go b/pkg/cmd/codespace/ssh.go
index ea567a0e50e..43e081103c7 100644
--- a/pkg/cmd/codespace/ssh.go
+++ b/pkg/cmd/codespace/ssh.go
@@ -281,17 +281,22 @@ func (a *App) SSH(ctx context.Context, sshArgs []string, opts sshOptions) (err e
 			// args is the correct variable to use here, we just use scpArgs as the check for which command to run
 			err = codespaces.Copy(ctx, args, localSSHServerPort, connectDestination)
 		} else {
-			// Create a channel to send down to the shell to keep it alive
-			keepAliveOverride := make(chan bool, 1)
-			go func() {
-				// If we receive true on the channel, ignore the timeout
-				if <-keepAliveOverride {
-					invoker.KeepAlive()
-				}
-			}()
+			// Parse the ssh args to determine if the user specified a command
+			args, command, err := codespaces.ParseSSHArgs(args)
+			if err != nil {
+				shellClosed <- err
+				return
+			}
+
+			// If the user specified a command, we need to keep the shell alive
+			// since it will be non-interactive and the codespace might shut down
+			// before the command finishes
+			if command != nil {
+				invoker.KeepAlive()
+			}
 
 			err = codespaces.Shell(
-				ctx, keepAliveOverride, a.errLogger, args, localSSHServerPort, connectDestination, opts.printConnDetails,
+				ctx, a.errLogger, args, command, localSSHServerPort, connectDestination, opts.printConnDetails,
 			)
 		}
 		shellClosed <- err