portable-ovscode 0.3.3

Run openvscode-server anywhere with uvx

portable-ovscode

Run openvscode-server anywhere with a single command. No pre-install needed — just uvx.

Quick Start

# SSH to your server, then:
uvx portable-ovscode

That's it. It downloads openvscode-server (if not cached), generates a token, starts the server in the current directory, and prints the URL.

Usage

uvx portable-ovscode [OPTIONS] [-- EXTRA_ARGS]

Flag	Default	Description
--install-dir DIR	~/.local/share/openvscode-server	Where to put the binary
-V, --version		Show package version and exit
--server-version VER	latest from GitHub (fallback: 1.109.5)	openvscode-server version
--host ADDR	127.0.0.1	Bind address
--port PORT	3000	Bind port (auto-increments if occupied)
--token TOKEN	auto-generated	Connection token
--no-token		Disable auth token
--folder PATH		Default folder to open
--https		Enable HTTPS with auto-generated self-signed cert
--cert PATH		Path to TLS certificate (implies --https)
--cert-key PATH		Path to TLS private key (implies --https)
--install-only		Download only, print binary path

Extra arguments after -- are passed directly to openvscode-server.

Examples

# Install + run on port 8080, open ~/work
uvx portable-ovscode --port 8080 --folder ~/work

# Custom install location
uvx portable-ovscode --install-dir /opt/ovscode --folder ~/project

# Specific version
uvx portable-ovscode --server-version 1.95.3 --folder ~/code

# Just install, don't start
uvx portable-ovscode --install-only

# HTTPS with self-signed cert (for LAN access)
uvx portable-ovscode --https --host 192.168.1.50 --port 443

# Bring your own cert
uvx portable-ovscode --cert /path/cert.pem --cert-key /path/key.pem --host 0.0.0.0

# With SSH tunnel (from local machine)
ssh -L 3000:127.0.0.1:3000 user@remote
# then on remote:
uvx portable-ovscode --folder ~/project
# open http://127.0.0.1:3000/?tkn=<printed-token> locally

Agentic Programming

Works great with AI coding agents like Claude Code, Codex, or pi-agent. Let the agent edit your code, then spin up an editor to review the changes:

# Agent makes changes in ~/project...
# Review them instantly:
uvx portable-ovscode --folder ~/project

No IDE needs to be pre-installed — just open the URL, review diffs, and you're done.

Notes

• Right-click paste in terminal: Due to Chrome's security restrictions, right-click to paste in the integrated terminal only works over HTTPS. Use the --https flag or set up a proper TLS certificate if you need this feature.

How It Works

1. Detects platform architecture (x64/arm64).
2. Resolves openvscode-server version from GitHub latest release API (or falls back to 1.109.5 if lookup fails).
3. Downloads the release tarball from GitHub (cached in --install-dir).
4. Generates a random connection token.
5. Starts openvscode-server bound to loopback by default.
6. Prints the URL with token to stderr.

License

MIT