OpenVSCode Server

OpenVSCode Server is a version of VS Code which runs on any computer and can be accessed using a browser. The project was initiated by Gitpod and is available on GitHub

OpenVSCode Server supports the Arm architecture and is useful for developing on a remote Arm machine. It can be used on cloud instances, without requiring a Linux desktop to be installed. It’s also useful when developing on a local Arm machine with a Linux subsystem, such as Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), ChromeOS with Linux enabled, or Multipass.

Before you begin

Follow the instructions below to install OpenVSCode Server natively on an Arm Linux machine.

Confirm you are using an Arm machine by running:

    

        
        
            uname -m
        
    

The output should be:

    

        
        aarch64

        
    

If you see a different result, you are not using an Arm computer running 64-bit Linux.

Download

Download a release of OpenVSCode Server from the GitHub release area . The releases are in sync with VS Code and change frequently. Make sure to download the arm64 version.

For example, use wget to download.

    

        
        
            wget https://github.com/gitpod-io/openvscode-server/releases/download/openvscode-server-v1.90.0/openvscode-server-v1.90.0-linux-arm64.tar.gz 
        
    

Install

Install the download by extracting the file

    

        
        
            tar xvfz openvscode-server-v1.90.0-linux-arm64.tar.gz
        
    

Start OpenVSCode Server

To start OpenVSCode Server run:

    

        
        
            ./openvscode-server-v1.90.0-linux-arm64/bin/openvscode-server 
        
    

The server will print a URL to access VS Code in a browser. The URL is localhost URL. If your machine is a remote system or a Linux subsystem there are two options to connect using your local browser.

• Use SSH to forward port 3000 and connect using localhost
• Open port 3000 on the remote machine and use the public IP address instead of localhost

Option 1

Refer to SSH for more info about SSH.

Use the -L option of ssh to forward port 3000.

    

        
        
            ssh -L 3000:localhost:3000 user@ip-address
        
    

After connecting with port forwarding, use the localhost link printed by openvscode-server. It includes a token for security and will be similar to:

    

        
        http://localhost:3000/?tkn=40711257-5e5d-4906-b88f-fe13b1f317b7

        
    

Open the link in your local browser and VS Code will appear.

Option 2

The second option is to open port 3000 for access. On a cloud instance this involves changing the security group to open TCP port 3000. For best security, Make sure to open the port for your IP address only, not from all IP addresses.

Each cloud provider will have instructions on how to work with security group. Refer to the AWS documentation as an example.

With the port open, substitute the public IP address of the instance instead of localhost.

On ChromeOS you can use the Linux configuration settings to automatically do port forwarding. No SSH connection is needed.

Other information

There are command line options to change the port, the token, and other configuration options. To see the options run:

    

        
        
            ./openvscode-server-v1.90.0-linux-arm64/bin/openvscode-server --help
        
    

If you are running all on a local machine the token can be eliminated using the --without-connection-token option.

It’s also possible to run an existing docker image which uses Ubuntu Linux for Arm and mounts your host directory to access files on your computer. Refer to the GitHub README for more information.

Install your favorite Extensions, select your favorite Color Theme, and enjoy VS Code in the browser.