diff --git a/plugins/terminal/frontend/resources/intellij.terminal.frontend.xml b/plugins/terminal/frontend/resources/intellij.terminal.frontend.xml
index faf8aae8573a..4606e0d1173a 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/frontend/resources/intellij.terminal.frontend.xml
+++ b/plugins/terminal/frontend/resources/intellij.terminal.frontend.xml
@@ -11,6 +11,8 @@
                     interface="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.action.TerminalEscapeHandler" dynamic="true"/>
     <extensionPoint qualifiedName="org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.terminalSettingsProvider" dynamic="true"
                     interface="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.settings.TerminalSettingsProvider"/>
+    <extensionPoint qualifiedName="org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.portForwardingManager" dynamic="true"
+                    interface="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding.TerminalPortForwardingManager"/>
   </extensionPoints>
 
   <extensions defaultExtensionNs="com.intellij">
@@ -50,10 +52,6 @@
       serviceInterface="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.session.TerminalActivityTracker"
       serviceImplementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.session.TerminalNoOpActivityTracker"
       open="true"/>
-    <applicationService
-      serviceInterface="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding.TerminalPortForwardingManager"
-      serviceImplementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding.TerminalPortForwardingManagerImpl"
-      open="true"/>
     <projectService
       serviceInterface="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding.TerminalPortForwardingPersistenceService"
       serviceImplementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding.TerminalPortForwardingNoOpPersistenceService"
@@ -77,6 +75,8 @@
   <extensions defaultExtensionNs="org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal">
     <toolWindowInitializer implementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.toolwindow.impl.TerminalToolWindowTabsManagerImpl$Initializer"/>
 
+    <portForwardingManager implementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding.TerminalPortForwardingManagerImpl"/>
+
     <escapeHandler implementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.action.CancelSelection"/>
     <escapeHandler implementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.action.CloseSearch"/>
     <escapeHandler implementation="com.intellij.terminal.frontend.action.ClosePopupCompletion"/>
diff --git a/plugins/terminal/frontend/src/com/intellij/terminal/frontend/view/portForwarding/TerminalPortForwardingManager.kt b/plugins/terminal/frontend/src/com/intellij/terminal/frontend/view/portForwarding/TerminalPortForwardingManager.kt
index 999db2505eb2..bfad0dd49299 100644
--- a/plugins/terminal/frontend/src/com/intellij/terminal/frontend/view/portForwarding/TerminalPortForwardingManager.kt
+++ b/plugins/terminal/frontend/src/com/intellij/terminal/frontend/view/portForwarding/TerminalPortForwardingManager.kt
@@ -4,11 +4,12 @@ package com.intellij.terminal.frontend.view.portForwarding
 import com.intellij.openapi.actionSystem.DataKey
 import com.intellij.platform.eel.EelDescriptor
 import com.intellij.platform.eel.EelMachine
+import com.intellij.openapi.extensions.ExtensionPointName
 import kotlinx.coroutines.flow.Flow
 import org.jetbrains.annotations.ApiStatus
 
 /**
- * Application-level service that performs TCP port forwarding from the IDE host environment to any
+ * Application-level extension that performs TCP port forwarding from the IDE host environment to any
  * EEL environment and tracks the active forwardings so multiple terminals on the same physical
  * machine share a single tunnel per remote port.
  *
@@ -45,7 +46,19 @@ interface TerminalPortForwardingManager {
   fun stopForwarding(eelMachine: EelMachine, remotePort: Int)
 
   companion object {
+    private val EP_NAME: ExtensionPointName<TerminalPortForwardingManager> =
+      ExtensionPointName.create("org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.portForwardingManager")
+
+    val DATA_KEY: DataKey<TerminalPortForwardingManager> = DataKey.create("TerminalPortForwardingManager")
+
+    /**
+     * Returns the highest-priority registered implementation: [TerminalPortForwardingManagerImpl] in the monolith,
+     * or the Remote Dev thin-client implementation (declared with `order="first"`) when the RD client is loaded.
+     */
     @JvmStatic
-    fun getInstance(): TerminalPortForwardingManager = service()
+    fun getInstance(): TerminalPortForwardingManager {
+      return EP_NAME.findFirstSafe { true }
+             ?: error("No ${TerminalPortForwardingManager::class.simpleName} implementation is registered")
+    }
   }
 }
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