diff --git a/functions.sh b/functions.sh
index 72ce02c..b8714ea 100644
--- a/functions.sh
+++ b/functions.sh
@@ -114,3 +114,10 @@ function rv() {
 	printf ' RV=%d \e[0m\n' $RV >&2
 }
 
+function hexy() {
+	python3 -c 'import sys
+for v in sys.argv[1:]:
+  print("{:02x}".format(int(v)), end="")
+print("")
+' $*
+}
diff --git a/is_remote.sh b/is_remote.sh
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5b0b8da
--- /dev/null
+++ b/is_remote.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+# Detect if the current session is running on a remote server by listing parent
+# processes of this shell and checking for things like sshd/tailscaled. Runs
+# first because multiple other things rely on this.
+
+
+function __is_remote() {
+	# names of daemon processes a remote shell might be a child process of
+	remote_daemons=(
+	    sshd
+	)
+
+	is_remote=()
+	parent_procs="$(pstree -s $$)"
+	for d in ${remote_daemons[@]}; do
+		if [[ "$parent_procs" =~ "$d" ]]; then
+			return 1
+		fi
+	done
+
+	return 0
+}