Treat ssh terminal like it is local?

Question

I'm trying to work on a computer remotely, but some of what I want to do involves calling GUI programs. I want them to open on the physical display of the remote laptop.

Essentially my question is how can I ssh into machine and open firefox or nautilus.

Whenever I try commands I get

server@hyrule:~$ gnome-terminal
Failed to parse arguments: Cannot open display:
server@hyrule:~$ firefox
Error: no display specified
server@hyrule:~$ nautilus
Could not parse arguments: Cannot open display:
server@hyrule:~$

I just want the session to be treated like its local.

Answer 1

I do this daily by running

export DISPLAY=:0.0

before invoking the program itself. Note that if you're logged in as a different user locally vs. remotely, you may need to use xhost to allow the remote user permission to do this.