code-server

code-server allows you to run VS Code on any machine anywhere and access it in the browser. By moving the development environment to a cloud server, it empowers developers to code from any device while leveraging the performance and security of cloud infrastructure.

This solution helps enterprises and individual developers adopt AI coding agents and heavy workflows without compromising security or local machine performance. It brings developers and coding agents together in self-hosted environments on your infrastructure. code-server fully supports the VS Code ecosystem, including extensions, terminal access, and debugging tools.

Highlights

• Code on Any Device. Consistent development environment on iPad, tablets, or low-spec laptops.
• Cloud Performance. Use cloud servers to speed up tests, compilations, downloads, and ML tasks.
• Battery Efficiency. Preserve battery life when you’re on the go; all intensive tasks run on your server.
• Security. Keep source code secure within your infrastructure. No code resides on the end-user device.
• Seamless Continuity. Pick up exactly where you left off, regardless of which device you log in from.

Use Cases

• Development on portable devices without a full desktop OS (e.g., iPad, tablets).
• Software development on low-spec hardware utilizing powerful cloud resources for compilation and heavy tasks.
• Secure coding in isolated environments (e.g., banking/fintech) where source code must not leave the secure perimeter, serving as a lightweight alternative to VDI/RDP.
• Standardizing development environments across a team to ensure consistent configuration.
• Remote server management and direct editing of files in the cloud.

1. Make sure you have a Network with at least one Subnet.
2. Create a Service Account with compute.editor, resource-manager.admin, and vpc.admin roles (admin role includes all the required roles).
3. (Optional) Create a Secret with the password to be used in web-browser. Make sure to use password as key in the secret.
4. (Optional) Create a Certificate to use for TLS connections, or upload an existing Certificate.
5. In the management console select the Cloud Apps service.
6. In the left panel, select Application Store.
7. Select code-server and click the Use button.
8. Specify:
   • Application name.
   • (Optional) Application description.
   • The service account created earlier.
   • The Subnet where your virtual machine will be located.
   • (Optional) The Lockbox Secret containing your password. If no Secret is provided the password will be generated automatically. Warning: SSH access to the virtual machine will be required to obtain the generated password.
   • (Optional) The website domain name. If not provided the virtual machine’s IP address will be used for access.
   • (Optional) The certificate to be used for TLS connections. If not provided a Self-Signed certificate will be generated.
   • (Optional) User name and public key for SSH access to the virtual machine.
   • The number of vCPUs and the amount of RAM for the virtual machine. If not provided the default values will be used.
   • The kind and size of the network storage for user data. If not provided the default values will be used.
   • IP address mask from which access to code-server will be opened; if the field is left empty — there will be no additional IP restrictions.
9. Click the Install button and wait for the application to install.
10. In the Application Resources section, follow the compute-instance link and on the opened page in the Network Interface section find the Public IPv4 address parameter value.
11. Access your code-server using one of the following options:

• Enter the specified address in the browser address bar (if a Self-Signed certificate is used you may need to allow it in the browser).
• Add the A record with the IP address to the DNS zone, wait for the DNS servers to update, and enter the domain address in the browser address bar.
• Create an SSH connection with the command: ssh -L 8080:localhost:8080 <username>@<virtual-machine-IP-address>, then enter http://localhost:8080 in the browser address bar.

1. Enter the password that has been provided in the Lockbox Secret or autogenerated. The password can be obtained using the command: ssh <username>@<virtual-machine-IP-address> grep password: /user_storage/.config/code-server/config.yaml.

• Development on portable devices without a full desktop OS (e.g., iPad, tablets).
• Software development on low-spec hardware utilizing powerful cloud resources for compilation and heavy tasks.
• Secure coding in isolated environments (e.g., banking/fintech) where source code must not leave the secure perimeter, serving as a lightweight alternative to VDI/RDP.
• Standardizing development environments across a team to ensure consistent configuration.
• Remote server management and direct editing of files in the cloud.

Yandex Cloud technical support is available 24/7. The types of requests you can submit and the appropriate response time depend on your pricing plan. You can switch to the paid support plan in the management console. You can learn more about the technical support terms here.