Us developers spend a lot of time setting up and maintaining our development environments. For me, it got out of hand.
I work on multiple computers: a desktop and a laptop, and have to switch environments and operating systems across projects. At one point, I had Node.js 16 on one machine, 18 on another, and a bunch of Python packages that refused to behave consistently between Windows and Linux.
I’d lose hours to fixing outdated dependencies, reconfiguring environments, chasing weird permission issues, or dealing with unsupported apps.
Eventually, I got fed up, So I moved everything to the cloud. Now I can spend time building software instead of debugging my dev setup.
Why I Switched to Remote Development
Remote development isn’t new. But it’s only recently gotten fast, stable, and flexible enough to replace local setups for real work.
I didn’t switch because it was trendy, I switched because I was tired of fighting my tools. I wanted:
- Consistent dev environments across all devices
- A way to start coding instantly without reinstalling half the internet
- Freedom from OS-level incompatibilities
- Less risk of losing progress when hardware failed or got swapped
What Changed for Me
Faster Setup
I no longer waste time installing dependencies, configuring paths, or fiddling with OS-level quirks. My dev environments live in the cloud: pre-configured, reproducible, and always ready.
If I need to spin up a new project or switch between branches, I can do it in seconds.
Seamless Device Switching
Whether I’m on my laptop or my desktop, my workspace stays the same. Same tools, same versions, same configs, and no setup required.
No More “It Works on My Machine”
When you share the same base image or devcontainer with your team, it works everywhere. That includes your CI/CD pipeline, too.
We’ve all wasted time on bugs caused by subtle environment differences. Remote dev eliminates most of them.
What Tools I Use
There are lots of options, but here’s what I’ve used personally:
- Replit: A cloud dev environment, useful for web projects.
- GitHub Codespaces: When I need something ready-to-go and integrated into the GitHub workflow.
- Coder: Coder helped me setup the infastructure to manage the dev environments on my own server.
- VSCode SSH remote: To access my VPS server for development. It is very flexible however not isolated across projects.
- My own custom setup: I’m also working on a more flexible solution tailored to my needs — something that gives me full control over environment isolation, reproducibility, and resource management.
Whether you’re using a hosted platform or your own cloud VMs, the core idea is the same: separate the code from the machine.
Things to Watch Out For
It’s not all rainbows. Here are a few trade-offs I ran into:
- Latency: If you’re used to zero-delay local editing, the slight lag from remote tools can be noticeable (though often negligible).
- Offline work: If you lose internet, you’re stuck unless you keep a local fallback.
- Storage costs: Cloud VMs, especially with GPUs or heavy disk usage, can get expensive if left running 24/7.
That said, the pros far outweighed the cons for me.
Final Thoughts
I’ve gained back hours of lost time, reduced the friction of switching between tasks, and finally stopped worrying about breaking my local environment when experimenting with something new.
If you’re a developer juggling multiple devices, working with teams, or just tired of environment setup fatigue — I highly recommend trying it.
Even starting small, with a single containerized project in the cloud, can show you how much easier life can be.
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