coder/docs/user-guides/workspace-access/vscode.md

Visual Studio Code

You can develop in your Coder workspace remotely with VS Code. We support connecting with the desktop client and VS Code in the browser with code-server. Learn more about how VS Code Web and code-server compare in the code-server doc.

VS Code Desktop

VS Code desktop is a default app for workspaces.

Click VS Code Desktop in the dashboard to one-click enter a workspace. This automatically installs the Coder Remote extension, authenticates with Coder, and connects to the workspace.

Note

The VS Code Desktop button can be hidden by enabling Browser-only connections.

Manual Installation

You can install our extension manually in VS Code using the command palette. Launch VS Code Quick Open (Ctrl+P), paste the following command, and press enter.

ext install coder.coder-remote

Alternatively, manually install the VSIX from the latest release.

Local telemetry

The Coder Remote extension records local telemetry to help diagnose extension and workspace connection issues. Telemetry is stored on your machine. It is not sent to Coder unless you export it or include it in a support bundle and share that file.

Local telemetry is controlled by the VS Code setting coder.telemetry.level:

Value	Behavior
off	Disable extension telemetry collection.
local	Record telemetry events on this machine. This is the default.

Stored data

Telemetry can include diagnostic details such as extension version, VS Code version, operating system, machine and session identifiers, deployment URL, workspace and agent names, command outcomes, connection state, request routes, timing, and error details. It does not intentionally collect source code, terminal contents, tokens, or credentials.

Tracked activity

The exact events vary by extension version. For a comprehensive list of current events, properties, and attributes, see the extension event reference. The following categories summarize the diagnostic signals the extension may record:

Area	Examples
Extension lifecycle	Activation, deployment initialization, and configuration loading.
Authentication and credentials	Sign-in state, token refresh, logout, credential storage, and deployment recovery.
Commands and diagnostics	Command outcomes, telemetry exports, support bundle creation, ping, and speed tests.
Workspace workflows	Workspace selection, open attempts, dev container handoff, start, and update prompts.
CLI and remote setup	CLI binary resolution, download, verification, configuration, and setup through SSH handoff.
Connection health	Workspace and agent state transitions, reconnects, SSH process health, and network samples.
HTTP diagnostics	Normalized routes, status classes, and latency rollups.

Storage and retention

The extension stores telemetry as JSON Lines files in its VS Code global storage under a telemetry directory. Files rotate at 5 MiB, are kept for up to 30 days, and are capped at 100 MiB total by default.

You can tune local retention with the advanced coder.telemetry.local setting. Most users should keep the default values.

Diagnostics and support bundles

The extension includes commands for collecting diagnostics from VS Code:

• Coder: Export Telemetry exports only local telemetry. Choose a date range and JSON or OTLP JSON zip format, then review the file before sharing it.
• Coder: Create Support Bundle runs coder support bundle and adds a vscode-logs/ directory with recent VS Code extension diagnostics, including extension logs, proxy and Remote-SSH logs, redacted VS Code settings, and local telemetry files when available. The vscode-logs/ directory is only added when the bundle is created from the VS Code Coder Remote extension; bundles created with the CLI alone do not include it.
• Coder: View Logs opens the extension output logs in VS Code.

Support bundles can contain sensitive diagnostic data. Review the generated bundle before sharing it. Learn more about support bundles.

VS Code extensions

There are multiple ways to add extensions to VS Code Desktop:

1. Using the public extensions marketplaces with Code Web (code-server)
2. Adding extensions to custom images
3. Installing extensions using its vsix file at the command line
4. Installing extensions from a marketplace using the command line

Using the public extensions marketplaces

You can manually add an extension while you're working in the Code Web IDE. The extensions can be from Coder's public marketplace, Eclipse Open VSX's public marketplace, or the Eclipse Open VSX local marketplace.

Note

Microsoft does not allow any unofficial VS Code IDE to connect to the extension marketplace.

Adding extensions to custom images

You can add extensions to a custom image and install them either through Code Web or using the workspace's terminal.

1. Download the extension(s) from the Microsoft public marketplace.

   

2. Add the vsix extension files to the same folder as your Dockerfile.

   ~/images/base
    ➜  ls -l
    -rw-r--r-- 1 coder coder       0 Aug 1 19:23 Dockerfile
    -rw-r--r-- 1 coder coder 8925314 Aug 1 19:40 GitHub.copilot.vsix
   

3. In the Dockerfile, add instructions to make a folder and to copy the vsix files into the newly created folder.

   FROM codercom/enterprise-base:ubuntu
   
   # Run below commands as root user
   USER root
   
   # Download and install VS Code extensions into the container
   RUN mkdir -p /vsix
   ADD ./GitHub.copilot.vsix /vsix
   
   USER coder
   

4. Build the custom image, and push it to your image registry.

5. Pass in the image and below command into your template startup_script (be sure to update the filename below):

   Startup Script

   resource "coder_agent" "main" {
     ...
     startup_script = "code-server --install-extension /vsix/GitHub.copilot.vsix"
   }
   

   Image Definition

   resource "kubernetes_deployment" "main" {
     spec {
       template {
         spec {
           container {
             name   = "dev"
             image  = "registry.internal/image-name:tag"
           }
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

6. Create a workspace using the template.

You will now have access to the extension in your workspace.

Installing extensions using its vsix file at the command line

Using the workspace's terminal or the terminal available inside code-server, you can install an extension whose files you've downloaded from a marketplace:

/path/to/code-server --install-extension /vsix/GitHub.copilot.vsix

Installing from a marketplace at the command line

Using the workspace's terminal or the terminal available inside Code Web (code server), run the following to install an extension (be sure to update the snippets with the name of the extension you want to install):

SERVICE_URL=https://extensions.coder.com/api ITEM_URL=https://extensions.coder.com/item /path/to/code-server --install-extension GitHub.copilot

Alternatively, you can install an extension from Open VSX's public marketplace:

SERVICE_URL=https://open-vsx.org/vscode/gallery ITEM_URL=https://open-vsx.org/vscode/item /path/to/code-server --install-extension GitHub.copilot

Using VS Code Desktop

For your local VS Code to pickup extension files in your Coder workspace, include this command in your startup_script, or run in manually in your workspace terminal:

code --extensions-dir ~/.vscode-server/extensions --install-extension "$extension"