VSCode Server¶

services:
code-server:
    image: lscr.io/linuxserver/code-server:latest
    container_name: code-server
    environment:

      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1001
      - TZ=America/Vancouver
      - DEFAULT_WORKSPACE=/projects #optional
      - DOCKER_MODS=linuxserver/mods:code-server-python3|linuxserver/mods:universal-docker
      - DOCKER_HOST=socket-proxy
    env_file:
      - .env
    volumes:
      # Master configuration
      - ~/docker/code-server:/config
      # dotfiles
      - ~/.bashrc:/config/.bashrc
      - ~/.bash_aliases:/config/.bash_aliases
      - ~/.ssh:/config/.ssh
      - ~/.gitconfig:/config/.gitconfig
      - ~/Documents/ssh:/config/Documents/ssh # ssh keys
      # Workspace folders (eg. Docker, other projects)
      - ~/docker:/docker
      - ~/projects:/projects
      # Linuxserver mod cache
      - ~/docker/code-server/modcache:/modcache
    ports:
      - 4443:8443
    networks:
      - public
      - socket
    restart: unless-stopped

networks:
  public:
    name: public
    external: true
  socket:
    name: socket
    external: true

Setup¶

The setup follows the same 01-docker-infra, since this is externally accessible, it has a network of public. It also have a network of socket to access Docker socket proxy.

Environments¶

DEFAULT_WORKSPACE - the directory that VSCode will open to when accessing it, defaults to /config
The container is Linuxserver so it follows their standards of PUGID and TZ
The Docker Mods will add python3 into the environment for debugging python files.

env file¶

HASHED_PASSWORD=

Directory¶

The base configuration is stored in ~/docker/code-server as usual

• the bind mount /config is the container is also the XDG_HOME which is the default Linux home directory
  Given that the config is also the home directory, many dotfiles such as bash, git and SSH configuration need to be bind mounted from the hosts ~ directory into containers /config or home directory.

The workspace folder contains docker (docker configuration and data) and projects (cloned from git repo) which are frequently edited files.

Since Linuxserver mods are used, a modcache folder is used.

Usage¶

The app functions similarly to VSCode and mostly follows the shortcut of the desktop version. Such as Ctrl+Shift+P to open command palette.
The app has high idle usage, try to close workspace/sign out and restart after editing, or use solutions to use on-demand.
The app also have access to Github accounts, first clone a private repo and code-server will prompt for login for Github.

Problems¶

Official account sync login doesn’t work, third party extensions doesn’t work either, so the settings has to be done manually.

• for basic configurations keybindings.json and settings.json contains all the theme and extension settings for a minimal viable VSCode
• the json files are periodically copied from main Desktop and synced to the server via Syncthing

Remote SSH doesn’t work, but can be solved by SSH extension.
Github Copilot doesn’t work.
Python syntax highlighting doesn’t work.

Extensions¶

SSH¶

Since the default Remote SSH doesn’t work, the extension SSH FS can be used.

The configuration is done in settings.json and will show up in UI.

"sshfs.configs": [
    {
        "name": "mediaserver-docker",
        "host": "10.10.120.16",
        "username": "karis",
        "privateKeyPath": "/config/Documents/ssh/openssh_keys/mediaserver.key",
        "root": "~/docker"
    },
    {
        "name": "mediaserver-homeassistant",
        "host": "10.10.120.16",
        "username": "karis",
        "privateKeyPath": "/config/Documents/ssh/openssh_keys/mediaserver.key",
        "root": "/srv/homeassistant"
    }
    ],

• Open Folder - open the folder (configured as root) to workspace for editing, for SSH connections outside the network like VPS, the speed is slow
• Open Terminal - start a terminal session to the remote folder
• Settings
• Disconnect - after editing the remote folder, this will remote the remote folder from the workspace

Copilot¶

Copilot Chat and inline chat feature like Ctrl+I doesn’t work. But Copilot completion works on some files. Download Github Copilot Chat and Github Copilot VSIX file, drag and drop it into VSCode workspace. Then go to extensions > menu > Install from file and the extensions will be installed.

Docker¶

To use Docker and manage containers in code-server, the Linuxserver mod linuxserver/mods:universal-docker must be used. It is possible to simply expose the Docker socket volume, but for security, socket-proxy is used. Hence, the environment DOCKER_HOST=socket-proxy is needed. Since code-server has access to the proxy because of named Docker network, the DNS name socket-proxy is enough. The following permissions need to be granted.

NETWORKS POST ALLOW_START ALLOW_STOP ALLOW_RESTART

Reverse Proxy/Authentication¶

Reverse Proxy¶

The app supports both subdomain and subpath for proxying in Nginx Proxy Manager.

SSO¶

For Authelia SSO in Nginx Proxy Manager and custom location support.

location /vscode/ {
    proxy_set_header Upgrade $http_upgrade;
    proxy_set_header Connection $http_connection;
    include /snippets/proxy.conf;
    include /snippets/authelia-authrequest.conf;
    proxy_pass http://10.10.120.12:4443/;
}

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