SSH Port Forwarding

I started trying to use my iPad for programming purposes with server side languages (e.g. PHP). While a workflow of having to upload the files to a test server via SFTP and then reloading a browser window is doable, what I don‘t enjoy is having to have the web server be publicly available. I can use Termius to open an SSH connection and then forward the web server port to my iPad localhost. This workflow works fine, as long as I have both apps open in split screen view, otherwise Termius will drop the connection. So then I have to have the browser window in Slide Over mode, making reloading quite awkward.

Would it be possible to add the local port forwarding feature to the built in SSH client, which can already keep running together with editor windows? That would make the workflow a lot smoother, without having to have the webserver be exposed.