Open remote folder in local VSCode like "code ."in WSL2

Question

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.

Answer 1

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!