diff --git a/.github/workflows/release.yml b/.github/workflows/release.yml
index c84ef38..f75fe53 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/release.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/release.yml
@@ -177,6 +177,7 @@ jobs:
       LINUX64_MUSL: linux64-musl
       LINUX64_MUSL_BIN: distant-linux64-musl
     steps:
+      - uses: actions/checkout@v2
       - uses: actions/download-artifact@v2
       - name: Generate MacOS SHA256 checksums
         run: |
@@ -203,6 +204,7 @@ jobs:
         run: |
           TAG_NAME=${{ github.ref }}
           echo "TAG_NAME=${TAG_NAME#refs/tags/}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
+          echo "TAG_VERSION=${TAG_NAME#refs/tags/v}" >> $GITHUB_ENV
       - name: Check git tag for pre-release
         id: check-tag
         run: |
@@ -212,6 +214,12 @@ jobs:
       - name: Print pre-release status
         run: |
           echo "Is ${{ github.ref }} a pre-release: ${{ steps.check-tag.outputs.match }}"
+      - name: Get Changelog Entry
+        id: changelog
+        uses: mindsers/changelog-reader-action@v2
+        with:
+          version: ${{ env.TAG_VERSION }}
+          path: "./CHANGELOG.md"
       - name: Publish
         uses: softprops/action-gh-release@v1
         with:
@@ -227,6 +235,8 @@ jobs:
             ${{ env.LINUX64_MUSL }}/${{ env.LINUX64_MUSL_BIN }}
             **/*.sha256sum
           body: |
+            ## Release Notes
+            ${{ steps.changelog.outputs.changes }}
             ## Binaries
             Standalone binaries are built out for Windows (x86_64), MacOS (Intel & ARM), and Linux (x86_64).
             - **linux64-gnu** is the x86-64 release on Linux using libc
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 21cc761..c6617e0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 ### Fixed
 ### Removed
 
+## [0.16.3] - 2022-05-29
+### Added
+- New `--ssh-backend` option for CLI that accepts `libssh` or `ssh2` for
+  native backend ssh support
+- `distant_ssh2::SshBackend` now supports parsing from a `&str` and producing a
+  `&'static str` from an instance
+
 ## [0.16.2] - 2022-05-27
 ### Changed
 - The following fields now default to false when missing in JSON request body
diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index b9dcd63..4c52f24 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -539,7 +539,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "distant"
-version = "0.16.2"
+version = "0.16.3"
 dependencies = [
  "assert_cmd",
  "assert_fs",
@@ -567,7 +567,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "distant-core"
-version = "0.16.2"
+version = "0.16.3"
 dependencies = [
  "assert_fs",
  "bitflags",
@@ -596,7 +596,7 @@ dependencies = [
 
 [[package]]
 name = "distant-ssh2"
-version = "0.16.2"
+version = "0.16.3"
 dependencies = [
  "assert_cmd",
  "assert_fs",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index b549ef7..a885e56 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "distant"
 description = "Operate on a remote computer through file and process manipulation"
 categories = ["command-line-utilities"]
 keywords = ["cli"]
-version = "0.16.2"
+version = "0.16.3"
 authors = ["Chip Senkbeil <chip@senkbeil.org>"]
 edition = "2018"
 homepage = "https://github.com/chipsenkbeil/distant"
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ ssh2 = ["distant-ssh2/ssh2"]
 
 [dependencies]
 derive_more = { version = "0.99.16", default-features = false, features = ["display", "from", "error", "is_variant"] }
-distant-core = { version = "=0.16.2", path = "distant-core", features = ["structopt"] }
+distant-core = { version = "=0.16.3", path = "distant-core", features = ["structopt"] }
 flexi_logger = "0.18.0"
 indoc = "1.0.3"
 log = "0.4.14"
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ termwiz = "0.15.0"
 whoami = "1.1.2"
 
 # Optional native SSH functionality
-distant-ssh2 = { version = "=0.16.2", path = "distant-ssh2", default-features = false, features = ["serde"], optional = true }
+distant-ssh2 = { version = "=0.16.3", path = "distant-ssh2", default-features = false, features = ["serde"], optional = true }
 
 [target.'cfg(unix)'.dependencies]
 fork = "0.1.18"
diff --git a/distant-core/Cargo.toml b/distant-core/Cargo.toml
index 44b66c5..9365b2b 100644
--- a/distant-core/Cargo.toml
+++ b/distant-core/Cargo.toml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ name = "distant-core"
 description = "Core library for distant, enabling operation on a remote computer through file and process manipulation"
 categories = ["network-programming"]
 keywords = ["api", "async"]
-version = "0.16.2"
+version = "0.16.3"
 authors = ["Chip Senkbeil <chip@senkbeil.org>"]
 edition = "2018"
 homepage = "https://github.com/chipsenkbeil/distant"
diff --git a/distant-ssh2/Cargo.toml b/distant-ssh2/Cargo.toml
index 453da0e..48400e4 100644
--- a/distant-ssh2/Cargo.toml
+++ b/distant-ssh2/Cargo.toml
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 name = "distant-ssh2"
 description = "Library to enable native ssh-2 protocol for use with distant sessions"
 categories = ["network-programming"]
-version = "0.16.2"
+version = "0.16.3"
 authors = ["Chip Senkbeil <chip@senkbeil.org>"]
 edition = "2018"
 homepage = "https://github.com/chipsenkbeil/distant"
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ ssh2 = ["wezterm-ssh/ssh2", "wezterm-ssh/vendored-openssl-ssh2"]
 
 [dependencies]
 async-compat = "0.2.1"
-distant-core = { version = "=0.16.2", path = "../distant-core" }
+distant-core = { version = "=0.16.3", path = "../distant-core" }
 futures = "0.3.16"
 log = "0.4.14"
 rand = { version = "0.8.4", features = ["getrandom"] }
diff --git a/distant-ssh2/src/lib.rs b/distant-ssh2/src/lib.rs
index 3534a3f..5f13a1d 100644
--- a/distant-ssh2/src/lib.rs
+++ b/distant-ssh2/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+#[cfg(not(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2")))]
+compile_error!("Either feature \"libssh\" or \"ssh2\" must be enabled for this crate.");
+
 use async_compat::CompatExt;
 use distant_core::{
     Request, Session, SessionChannelExt, SessionDetails, SessionInfo, Transport,
@@ -11,6 +14,7 @@ use std::{
     io::{self, Write},
     net::{IpAddr, SocketAddr},
     path::PathBuf,
+    str::FromStr,
     sync::Arc,
     time::Duration,
 };
@@ -26,26 +30,67 @@ mod process;
 #[cfg_attr(feature = "serde", serde(rename_all = "lowercase"))]
 pub enum SshBackend {
     /// Use libssh as backend
+    #[cfg(feature = "libssh")]
     LibSsh,
 
     /// Use ssh2 as backend
+    #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
     Ssh2,
 }
 
+impl SshBackend {
+    pub fn as_static_str(&self) -> &'static str {
+        match self {
+            #[cfg(feature = "libssh")]
+            Self::LibSsh => "libssh",
+
+            #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+            Self::Ssh2 => "ssh2",
+        }
+    }
+}
+
 impl Default for SshBackend {
-    /// Defaults to ssh2
+    /// Defaults to ssh2 if enabled, otherwise uses libssh by default
     ///
     /// NOTE: There are currently bugs in libssh that cause our implementation to hang related to
     ///       process stdout/stderr and maybe other logic.
     fn default() -> Self {
-        Self::Ssh2
+        #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+        {
+            Self::Ssh2
+        }
+
+        #[cfg(not(feature = "ssh2"))]
+        {
+            Self::LibSsh
+        }
+    }
+}
+
+impl FromStr for SshBackend {
+    type Err = &'static str;
+
+    fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
+        match s {
+            #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+            s if s.trim().eq_ignore_ascii_case("ssh2") => Ok(Self::Ssh2),
+
+            #[cfg(feature = "libssh")]
+            s if s.trim().eq_ignore_ascii_case("libssh") => Ok(Self::LibSsh),
+
+            _ => Err("SSH backend must be \"libssh\" or \"ssh2\""),
+        }
     }
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for SshBackend {
     fn fmt(&self, f: &mut fmt::Formatter) -> fmt::Result {
         match self {
+            #[cfg(feature = "libssh")]
             Self::LibSsh => write!(f, "libssh"),
+
+            #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
             Self::Ssh2 => write!(f, "ssh2"),
         }
     }
diff --git a/src/opt.rs b/src/opt.rs
index b520732..9537287 100644
--- a/src/opt.rs
+++ b/src/opt.rs
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ pub enum Method {
     Distant,
 
     /// Connect to an SSH server running on a remote machine
-    #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+    #[cfg(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2"))]
     Ssh,
 }
 
@@ -504,6 +504,11 @@ pub struct LaunchSubcommand {
     #[structopt(long, default_value = "ssh")]
     pub ssh: String,
 
+    /// If using native ssh integration, represents the backend
+    #[cfg(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2"))]
+    #[structopt(long, default_value = distant_ssh2::SshBackend::default().as_static_str())]
+    pub ssh_backend: distant_ssh2::SshBackend,
+
     /// If specified, will use the external ssh program to launch the server
     /// instead of the native integration; does nothing if the ssh2 feature is
     /// not enabled as there is no other option than external ssh
diff --git a/src/subcommand/launch.rs b/src/subcommand/launch.rs
index caae9ed..0f1436d 100644
--- a/src/subcommand/launch.rs
+++ b/src/subcommand/launch.rs
@@ -192,21 +192,21 @@ async fn socket_loop(
 }
 
 async fn spawn_remote_server(cmd: LaunchSubcommand, opt: CommonOpt) -> Result<SessionInfo, Error> {
-    #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+    #[cfg(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2"))]
     if cmd.external_ssh {
         external_spawn_remote_server(cmd, opt).await
     } else {
         native_spawn_remote_server(cmd, opt).await
     }
 
-    #[cfg(not(feature = "ssh2"))]
+    #[cfg(not(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2")))]
     external_spawn_remote_server(cmd, opt).await
 }
 
 /// Spawns a remote server using native ssh library that listens for requests
 ///
 /// Returns the session associated with the server
-#[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+#[cfg(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2"))]
 async fn native_spawn_remote_server(
     cmd: LaunchSubcommand,
     _opt: CommonOpt,
@@ -223,6 +223,7 @@ async fn native_spawn_remote_server(
     if let Some(path) = cmd.identity_file {
         opts.identity_files.push(path);
     }
+    opts.backend = cmd.ssh_backend;
     opts.port = Some(cmd.port);
     opts.user = Some(cmd.username);
 
diff --git a/src/subcommand/mod.rs b/src/subcommand/mod.rs
index cddb2d2..c9c970a 100644
--- a/src/subcommand/mod.rs
+++ b/src/subcommand/mod.rs
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ impl CommandRunner {
         } = self;
 
         let (session, lsp_data) = match method {
-            #[cfg(feature = "ssh2")]
+            #[cfg(any(feature = "libssh", feature = "ssh2"))]
             Method::Ssh => {
                 use distant_ssh2::{Ssh2Session, Ssh2SessionOpts};
                 let SshConnectionOpts { host, port, user } = ssh_connection;