A few months ago I came upon the code-server project by Coder, which allows you to run VS Code on a remote server.
This sparked an idea: I could keep a machine running in the cloud, whether on AWS or another cloud platform, that ran code-server as well as any other tools or containers needed for development. Then, all of my development tasks could be done through this in-browser instance of VS Code.
Furthermore, when it comes time to replace my laptop (an aging but hardy 2015 MBP), instead of looking for a new MBP, I could get a Chromebook and use Google's SSH app to login to my development machine. When I was an intern at Google, I remember this was how you could keep working if you needed to use a loaner Chromebook.
Almost all of my development occurs "online," since I need to search StackOverflow and look at documentation online. I don't think this setup would change much for me.
Has anyone else tried this setup for themselves? What might be the pros and cons that I haven't considered?
Top comments (3)
I had the same idea, I’m running code-server from my home lab and vpn into my home network to access it. It even allows me to develop off of my iPad. I hope to blog about my setup at some point.
I know the
code-serverdocs say there is a separate marketplace for extensions, has that impacted you in any way?No, but I also haven’t used it enough to notice if it would. Supposedly if there’s something they are missing there is a process to add to their marketplace.