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. You can use it on cloud instances without needing to install a Linux desktop. 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.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to install OpenVSCode Server natively on an Arm Linux machine.

Before you begin

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 OpenVSCode Server

Download a release of OpenVSCode Server from GitHub . 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-v1.109.5/openvscode-server-v1.109.5-linux-arm64.tar.gz

    

Install OpenVSCode Server

Install the download by extracting the file

    

        
        
tar xvfz openvscode-server-v1.109.5-linux-arm64.tar.gz

    

Start OpenVSCode Server

To start OpenVSCode Server run:

    

        
        
./openvscode-server-v1.109.5-linux-arm64/bin/openvscode-server 

    

The server will print a URL to access VS Code in a browser. The URL is a 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

Connect using SSH port forwarding

For more information about SSH, see 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 is similar to:

    

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

        
    

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

Connect by opening a port on the remote machine

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. For an example. see the AWS documentation .

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. You don’t need an SSH connection.

Other available configuration options

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

    

        
        
./openvscode-server-v1.109.5-linux-arm64/bin/openvscode-server --help

    

If you are running entirely on a local machine, you can eliminate the token using the --without-connection-token option.

You can also run an existing Docker image which uses Ubuntu Linux for Arm and mounts your host directory to access files on your computer. For more information, see the GitHub README .

You’re now ready to use OpenVSCode. You can install your favorite Extensions, select your favorite Color Theme, and enjoy VS Code in the browser.