VS Code in the browser, on your own Linux machine
This is code-server: VS Code, served from your machine, rendered in a browser tab. It is not a viewer and not a limited web IDE — it is the editor with a terminal attached to the machine it is running on.
It starts by default, so a new machine has an editor waiting the first time you open the dashboard.
How it arrives
- On the machine
- Installed as part of the build
- At boot
- Starts on its own
- Reached at
- /code/ on your machine's own HTTPS name
- Memory while running
- about 3 GB
We did not write VS Code. It is coder/code-server — VS Code packaged to run on a server; the editor itself is Microsoft's. We install it on every machine and put it behind the login.
The terminal is the same machine
The editor's terminal is a shell on the box, with root, the toolchain, and your repositories. Running the tests you just edited does not involve a second environment or a sync step.
Extension packs are already in place
Go, Python, Rust, web and Tailwind, containers and YAML, and the coding-agent extensions are installed as part of the build. A new machine is not a bare editor asking you to configure it.
It works from a tablet
Because the editor renders in a browser and the compute is on the machine, the device in front of you only has to draw the page. An iPad or a Chromebook gets the same editor as a laptop.
Questions
- Is this real VS Code or a limited web editor?
- It is code-server — the VS Code editor running on your machine and served to the browser. It has a terminal, an extension marketplace, and access to the machine's filesystem.
- Do I need to install it?
- No. It is installed on every machine and starts by default.
- Can I use it from an iPad or Chromebook?
- Yes. All the work happens on the machine; the browser draws the interface.
Once you have one
It comes with the machine
Every tool on this site is installed on every machine. You are choosing a size, not a bundle.