I am connected to a remote server via SSH and using the Remote - SSH plugin by VS Code to do so. However, when opening up a terminal, the default terminal is the terminal of the remote server. I know this makes a lot of sense but there are times where I'd like to actually use the local terminal from VS Code as well.
Is there any way to do this or is the terminal limited to the host that VS Code's session is established?
If you can SSH back home, an easy way is to open a new terminal in VS Code and ssh home.
EDIT in fact, just search "terminal local" in the Command Palette. This feature exists out-of-the-box in VSCode, see : https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-remote-release/issues/730
Related
I use VSCode with the Remote - SSH extension to connect to a remote dev enviroment.
During development on the remote machine, I use integrated terminal to view application logs. At this moment, I have to open new terminals and run commands manually, which is too much work for my lazy hands ;)
Questions are:
When I connect, I want VScode to open terminal tabs for me and run some commands (like tail ./logs/whatever). Is that possible?
If (1) is possible, can I also configure the terminals to open in VSCode Split Terminal mode?
Is it possible to use $ code . in remote server ssh session just like I do in WSL when I want to open current working directory in remote host in local VSCode?
ADDENDUM:
In local WSL, I can issue $ code . and that would open the current directory in VSCode which is installed on Windows 10.
I am trying to get the same behavior in another remote Linux which I have connected to remotely through ssh. So when I am on that remote machine and issue $ code . it would open that directory in VSCode installed on local window.
I don't imagine this would be simple to do but I certainly share your desire to want to be able to do it.
Problem
Here's an explanation of why it doesn't work, and a hint at why it's probably quite a difficult thing to setup:
The way code . works from WSL (or PowerShell) is by launching VS Code in the given directory (passed as the first argument as the dot).
When you run code from WSL it uses wslpath to convert the path to the Windows accessible one, and the WSL magic executes code.exe (which is, after all, a Windows binary and not a Linux one) in Windows with the WSL path (\\wsl$...);
Theory
In order for this to work you need to achieve three things:
Work out which remote you're connected to, and be able to pass that information to vscode
Execute code.exe on your local machine, but from your remote terminal
Ideas
A couple of ideas you could play with if you wanted to try and implement it:
A script on your remote could output a vscode:// URL for you to click (or find a way to get your client to auto-load it).
You might be able to use a forwarded port in your SSH session to contact something on your PC (perhaps custom made, or maybe with Windows RDP or a telnet/ssh server perhaps?)
Perhaps mount a local directory as part of your SSH connection (I don't know all the edges of SSH but it does a lot of cool stuff! SCP might help?) and be able to execute/trigger things?
Just some musings! It's not something I need enough to put any effort into it, but I came across your question looking for something else and found it interesting. Hope that's helpful to anybody, any thoughts/feedback is welcome!
I'm working on some tutorials and trying to do something, but no idea if it can be done. I am using windows terminal in Windows 10. I have an Ubuntu virtual machine running.
I'd like to:
Open Windows terminal
SSH into the Linux Virtual Machine
Type in the code . command and have it open a version of VS Code on my Windows PC that is working on the folder in the Ubuntu VM.
I tried install code locally and on the command line in the other machine, but it doesn't work. I am sure there are other ways to do this but wanted to explain how I was doing it to show I at least tried something. Thanks for your help.
It's not quite as easy as the code . technique you get with the Remote - WSL extension, but Microsoft also provides a Remote - SSH extension that can be used to directly access the remote machine (without requiring WSL in-the-middle).
Once the Remote - SSH extension is installed in VSCode (and it may have already been installed in an extension pack with the WSL extension), and you have installed an OpenSSH client in Windows, there are several ways to access files on the remote host through SSH:
From the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P), type Remote SSH to filter on those commands. From Connect to Host, you can add a new configuration, etc.
From the Activity Bar on the left, select the Remote Explorer icon, then in the dropdown at the top, select SSH Targets. You can add hosts here through the + icon.
There's a direct shortcut to Open a Remote Window at the far left of the status bar. This will give you similar filter options on the Command Palette as above.
Once a host is configured, you can browse it just as (well, almost) if it were local, open files, edit, etc. The one thing you can't do (as far as I'm aware) is any type of sudo/su editing on files that you don't have permissions to directly.
Full details in the VSCode docs here.
If I want to open a workspace on a regular local folder under C:\ I can just execute the command:
code.exe C:\the-local-workspace-folder
Is there any equivalent command for opening remote SSH workspaces?
I want to be able to use my keyboard launcher to open them, rather than needing to open them the fiddly way in the internal menus inside vscode.
So I need a regular system command to be able to do this.
I've looked through the command line arguments here: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/command-line - but can't find anything about remote workspaces at all.
I've also tried commands like:
code.exe username#hostname.example.com:/workspace-folder
code.exe username#hostname.example.com/workspace-folder
...but they don't work for this.
This looks like a recent fix, according to the issue tracking here. I've tested with my own settings, and this works:
"C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Local\Programs\Microsoft VS Code\Code.exe" \
--remote ssh-remote+myubuntumachine /home/myusername/myprojectdirectory
The myubuntumachine should be the name given in the Host myubuntumachine in the SSH config file on CTRL+SHIFT+P/Remote SSH: Open Configuration File...
(Actually, on my machine I don't have the machine name, but some sort of hash value, although either works.)
VSCode 1.63 (Nov. 2021) adds the option -n (issue 137529), to make sure a new window is opened for remote CLI:
The following options got added to the remote CLI:
-n to open a new window of the same remote as the current window
-n --remote=wsl+ubuntu to open a new window of a different remote
-n --remote=local to open a new local window
To get started, you need to:
Install an OpenSSH compatible SSH client if one is not already present.
Install Visual Studio Code or Visual Studio Code Insiders.
Install the Remote Development extension pack.
Read more : https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/ssh
Installations extension :
code.exe --install-extension ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh
Follow the step-by-step tutorial or if you have a simple SSH host setup, connect to it as follows:
Press F1 and run the Remote-SSH: Open SSH Host... command. Enter
your user and host/IP in the following format in the input box that
appears and press enter: user#host-or-ip or
user#domain#host-or-ip If prompted, enter your password (but we suggest setting up key based authentication). After you are connected,
use File > Open Folder to open a folder on the host.
You can press F1 to bring up the Command Palette and type in Remote-SSH for a full list of available commands.
command list
You can change the location by launching VS Code with the --extensions-dir command-line option.
Where are extensions installed?#
Extensions are installed in a per user extensions folder. Depending on your platform, the location is in the following folder:
Windows %USERPROFILE%.vscode\extensions
Linux ~/.vscode/extensions
macOS ~/.vscode/extensions
To run remote ssh and open the folder in command-line :
code.exe --remote ssh-remote+root#server.com <your-directory>
When i open my workspace in VScode i go directly into my SSH work area, which is what i want. But i want to have a split terminal with access to both my SSH-work area and a terminal for my local computer, but i cant access the local one without making an explicitly new terminal from the dropdown window. And if i try to split the new local terminal i get the error "The terminal shell CWD "/Users/asd/work/" does not exist" as if its being looked for in my SSH work directory. Is there any way of specifying the default terminal to be on my local computer? If i do so in the terminal preferences in VScode i get the CWD-error on startup instead.
This should have been resolved with microsoft/vscode-remote-release issue 1479
Both of you don't have C:\Windows\System32 on your path, I don't understand why that is.
But I will change this to not rely on the PATH.
Even if this was for Windows originally, opening a local shell, (Mac or Windows) should now be possible while having a remote session.
Wtih ctrl+shift+p or cmd+shift+p(Command Palette), you have:
Terminal: Create New Integrated Terminal (local)
Bonus, with VSCode 1.53 (Jan. 2021), there is now:
Remote layout persistence
Terminal layout is restored on remote terminal reconnection. In the video below, the terminal layout is restored when reloading VS Code and reconnecting to a Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) remote instance.