Remote Development With Visual Studio Code

This guide explains how to use Teleport and Visual Studio Code's remote SSH extension.

Prerequisites

• A running Teleport cluster version 16.4.7 or above. If you want to get started with Teleport, sign up for a free trial or set up a demo environment.

• The tsh client tool.

  Visit Installation for instructions on downloading tsh.

• OpenSSH client.
• Visual Studio Code with the Remote - SSH extension for the Remote - SSH extension.
• One or more Teleport agents running the Teleport SSH Service. If you have not yet done this, read the Server Access Getting Started Guide to learn how.

Step 1/3. First-time setup

Configure your local SSH client to access Teleport Nodes. Replace teleport.example.com with the address of your Teleport Proxy Service (e.g., mytenant.teleport.sh for Teleport Cloud users), and replace alice with your Teleport user.

log in to your proxy:
tsh login --proxy teleport.example.com --user alice

generate the OpenSSH config for the proxy:
tsh config --proxy teleport.example.com

Append the resulting configuration snippet into your SSH config file located in the path below:

tsh.exe config | out-file .ssh\config -encoding utf8 -append

You should be able to connect to the desired node using following command, replacing user with the username you would like to assume on the node.

ssh user@example-node.teleport.example.com

alice@proxy.foo.example.com: Permission denied (publickey).
ERROR: exit status 255

kex_exchange_identification: Connection closed by remote host

Step 2/3. Configure Visual Studio Code

Install the Remote - SSH extension in your local VS Code instance. A new "Window Indicator" (icon with two arrows) should appear in the bottom left of your VS Code window.

Prior to connecting with a host, set the Remote.SSH: Use Local Server setting to false in the extension setting. You can search for @ext:ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh to find the plugin-specific settings.

To connect, click on the icon with two arrows and select "Connect to Host...". Select "+ Add New SSH Host..."

For each host you wish to remotely develop on, add an entry like the following:

alice@node000.foo.example.com

When prompted to choose which SSH Configuration file to update select the one we generated during Step 1.

This will write a new node into your SSH Configuration file. You can edit and manage all your nodes in this file.

Step 3/3. Start a Remote Development session

Start a Remote Development session by either:

1. Clicking "Connect" on the notification that opens after adding a new host.

2. Clicking on the Window Indicator again and selecting "Connect to Host". You should see the host you just added and any others in your Configuration file in the drop down.

On first connect, you'll be prompted to configure the remote OS. Select the proper platform and VS Code will install its server-side component. When it completes, you should be left with a working editor:

The Window Indicator in the bottom left highlights the currently connected remote host.

Next Steps

Connecting to OpenSSH Hosts

It's possible to remotely develop on any OpenSSH host joined to a Teleport cluster so long as its host OS is supported by VS Code. Refer to the OpenSSH guide to configure the remote host to authenticate via Teleport certificates, after which the procedure outlined above can be used to connect to the host in VS Code.

Using OpenSSH clients

This guide makes use of tsh config; refer to the dedicated guide for additional information.

Further reading

• VS Code Remote Development