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There are advantages to having VSCode in Electron. I run VSCode as a web application on my server that I access remotely using a browser on a number of differen

There are advantages to having VSCode in Electron. I run VSCode as a web application on my server that I access remotely using a browser on a number of different machines. That instance has access to the file system on my server, allowing me to use any machine to do my work without installing anything. Try doing that with Sublime. Microsoft is leveraging this by allowing you to open up VSCode in Github for any file, no installation necessary. Amazon is doing the same with Cloud9 on AWS that they acquired earlier.

benologist 6y ago
You don't actually need to install VSCode on the server - the SSH extension lets you use VSCode locally. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh
- w0utert 6y ago
  That's useful, but I think the person you were replying to doesn't just use the host machine as a remote file system but also as a build host and to have a single workspace with all its settings available from any machine. I recently set this up as well using code-server [1], which works brilliantly. I have a VM running on a powerful hypervisor host, which has all the source code, the workspace configuration with all my customisations, build tasks, etc. Compilation is fully on the host side, which is a 12-core with 32GB memory, way beyond any of the computers I use as clients, and all I need to access it is an SSH connection to it. Code-server has a progressive web app mode that makes it pretty much indistinguishable from running a local installation. First time I have had to acknowledge it wasn't such a bad idea to implement VSCode as an Electron app to be honest. [1] https://github.com/cdr/code-server https://github.com/cdr/code-server
  - AaronFriel 6y ago
    The ssh extension actually does all of that as well, but it does mean the frontend runs in the Electron app vs in a browser. The first thing the ssh extension does is install the VS Code server backend in the remote host, enabling the remote host to run extensions, the terminal, and so on.
danieldk 6y ago
That instance has access to the file system on my server, allowing me to use any machine to do my work without installing anything. Many editors have had remote editing support for a while. It requires that you have installed the editor locally, but why wouldn't I have an editor on my laptop or desktop? (Tramp + LSP all the way ;).) Though being able to open VS Code in GitHub is a really nice feature!
- revnode 6y ago
  > why wouldn't I have an editor on my laptop or desktop Because it's not just the editor. It's the toolchain. I get remote terminal inside the editor. All my tooling lives on the server and can be specific to the project I'm working on, instead of gumming up my local machine.
  - zenlot 6y ago
    Have you heard about Emacs? It has all the features and more. Plus had them for long long time. 44 years on.
    - revnode 6y ago
      Indeed I have. I just don't want to party like it's 1976.
      - danieldk 6y ago
        Yet, you are probably deploying on an operating system that is a clone of another operating system that was started in the early 70ies.
        revnode 6y ago
        Just because I sometimes go through a tunnel doesn't mean I want to live in a cave.
  - danieldk 6y ago
eronhp 6y ago
Your setup sounds really intersting, do you have any links for tutorials on how to setup something similar?
- AaronFriel 6y ago
  Not sure if the parent poster has a custom setup, but there's now tooling to set this up yourself and use Microsoft as a secure proxy so you can access your host from anywhere in the world: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/online/reference/vsonline-cli https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/online/referen... You can also "cheat" and instead of registering your VS Code server instance with Microsoft and find the path in your ~/.vscode-server or whatever directory, and there should be a shell script that starts it and runs VS Code on port 8000. You can then set up any reverse proxy/TLS/auth layer in front of that and access it similarly. I think the VS Online (now called VS Codespaces) experience is a bit better but the process of creating an account and logging in is messier.
- revnode 6y ago
  I just used https://github.com/cdr/code-server https://github.com/cdr/code-server

benologist 6y ago

You don't actually need to install VSCode on the server - the SSH extension lets you use VSCode locally. https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh

w0utert 6y ago
That's useful, but I think the person you were replying to doesn't just use the host machine as a remote file system but also as a build host and to have a single workspace with all its settings available from any machine. I recently set this up as well using code-server [1], which works brilliantly. I have a VM running on a powerful hypervisor host, which has all the source code, the workspace configuration with all my customisations, build tasks, etc. Compilation is fully on the host side, which is a 12-core with 32GB memory, way beyond any of the computers I use as clients, and all I need to access it is an SSH connection to it. Code-server has a progressive web app mode that makes it pretty much indistinguishable from running a local installation. First time I have had to acknowledge it wasn't such a bad idea to implement VSCode as an Electron app to be honest. [1] https://github.com/cdr/code-server https://github.com/cdr/code-server
- AaronFriel 6y ago
  The ssh extension actually does all of that as well, but it does mean the frontend runs in the Electron app vs in a browser. The first thing the ssh extension does is install the VS Code server backend in the remote host, enabling the remote host to run extensions, the terminal, and so on.

danieldk 6y ago

That instance has access to the file system on my server, allowing me to use any machine to do my work without installing anything. Many editors have had remote editing support for a while. It requires that you have installed the editor locally, but why wouldn't I have an editor on my laptop or desktop? (Tramp + LSP all the way ;).) Though being able to open VS Code in GitHub is a really nice feature!

revnode 6y ago
> why wouldn't I have an editor on my laptop or desktop Because it's not just the editor. It's the toolchain. I get remote terminal inside the editor. All my tooling lives on the server and can be specific to the project I'm working on, instead of gumming up my local machine.
- zenlot 6y ago
  Have you heard about Emacs? It has all the features and more. Plus had them for long long time. 44 years on.
  - revnode 6y ago
    Indeed I have. I just don't want to party like it's 1976.
    - danieldk 6y ago
      Yet, you are probably deploying on an operating system that is a clone of another operating system that was started in the early 70ies.
      - revnode 6y ago
        Just because I sometimes go through a tunnel doesn't mean I want to live in a cave.
- danieldk 6y ago

eronhp 6y ago

Your setup sounds really intersting, do you have any links for tutorials on how to setup something similar?

AaronFriel 6y ago
Not sure if the parent poster has a custom setup, but there's now tooling to set this up yourself and use Microsoft as a secure proxy so you can access your host from anywhere in the world: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/online/reference/vsonline-cli https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/online/referen... You can also "cheat" and instead of registering your VS Code server instance with Microsoft and find the path in your ~/.vscode-server or whatever directory, and there should be a shell script that starts it and runs VS Code on port 8000. You can then set up any reverse proxy/TLS/auth layer in front of that and access it similarly. I think the VS Online (now called VS Codespaces) experience is a bit better but the process of creating an account and logging in is messier.
revnode 6y ago
I just used https://github.com/cdr/code-server https://github.com/cdr/code-server