Home/Developer Tools/code-server

code-server

coder/code-server

VS Code in the browser

GitHub Website

GraphCanon updated 2w · GitHub synced 2w

79k stars6.8k forksLast push 3w TypeScript MIT

Decision brief

code-server offers VS Code functionality over the web enabling remote development with TypeScript. It is licensed under MIT.

Good fit when

Need for browser-based access to VS Code
Remote collaboration on code projects without needing to install software locally

Avoid when

Require full offline functionality since it is web-based and needs an internet connection
System environments that prohibit the use of WebSockets due to security or compliance policies

Observed Jul 17, 2026 · Source: enrich:decision_facts

code-server alternatives Trust report

Verify the decision

Adoption

Package downloads where a registry match exists. GitHub stars (78,598) are secondary evidence.

npm downloads (30d): 33,193·npm downloads API·2w

Maintenance and security

Full trust report

Maintenance: Very active (3d since push); As of 2w
Provenance: Not a fork · Organization account; As of 2w
Security (OSV): No criticals; As of 1mo

Public GitHub metadata and optional OSV scans. Signals, not a guarantee. Trust methodology.

Install

npm install code-server

npm

How it fits your stack(1)

Typed graph edges - alternatives, integrations, successors, and dependencies. Ranked by relationship type, not raw GitHub stars.

browser-use

`code-server`, a browser-accessible development environment, and `browser-use`, an AI tool for web automation, serve different purposes but share a common interface (the browser) that could benefit from mutual functionality in some scenarios.

Similar tools

Same-category neighbours not already linked as typed edges.

oh-my-openagent

A coding agent for complex codebases, supporting multiple AI agents like ChatGPT and Claude.

68k★

context7

Up-to-date code documentation for LLMs and AI code editors

61k★

chrome-devtools-mcp

Developer tools to enhance coding efficiency and debugging capabilities

48k★

Evidence and technical details

Sourced facts, taxonomy, compatibility claims, README excerpt, and machine-readable endpoints.

Overview

code-server provides visual studio code functionality over the web, allowing for remote development.

Capability facts

CLI: CLI entrypoint
Source: package.json:bin|scripts · Aug 3, 2026
MCP server: No MCP server detected
Source: repo_scan · Aug 3, 2026
Languages: typescript, javascript
Source: github.language+package.json · Aug 3, 2026

README

Requirements

See requirements for minimum specs, as well as instructions on how to set up a Google VM on which you can install code-server.

TL;DR: Linux machine with WebSockets enabled, 1 GB RAM, and 2 vCPUs

Getting started

There are five ways to get started:

Using the install script, which automates most of the process. The script uses the system package manager if possible.
Manually installing code-server
Deploy code-server to your team with coder/coder
Using our one-click buttons and guides to deploy code-server to a cloud provider ⚡
Using the code-server feature for devcontainers, if you already use devcontainers in your project.

If you use the install script, you can preview what occurs during the install process:

curl -fsSL https://code-server.dev/install.sh | sh -s -- --dry-run

To install, run:

curl -fsSL https://code-server.dev/install.sh | sh

When done, the install script prints out instructions for running and starting code-server.

Note To manage code-server for a team on your infrastructure, see: coder/coder

We also have an in-depth setup and configuration guide.

For agents

This page has a .md twin and JSON over the API.

/tools/coder-code-server.md GET /api/graphcanon/tools/coder-code-server GET /api/graphcanon/graph?tool=coder-code-server