diff --git a/patches/keepalive.diff b/patches/keepalive.diff
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..443fc2f38
--- /dev/null
+++ b/patches/keepalive.diff
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+This can be removed after upgrading to Node >= 19 as keepAlive is defaulted to
+true after 19.
+
+Index: code-server/lib/vscode/src/vs/platform/request/node/proxy.ts
+===================================================================
+--- code-server.orig/lib/vscode/src/vs/platform/request/node/proxy.ts
++++ code-server/lib/vscode/src/vs/platform/request/node/proxy.ts
+@@ -42,6 +42,7 @@ export async function getProxyAgent(rawR
+ 		port: (proxyEndpoint.port ? +proxyEndpoint.port : 0) || (proxyEndpoint.protocol === 'https' ? 443 : 80),
+ 		auth: proxyEndpoint.auth,
+ 		rejectUnauthorized: isBoolean(options.strictSSL) ? options.strictSSL : true,
++		keepAlive: true,
+ 	};
+ 
+ 	return requestURL.protocol === 'http:'
diff --git a/patches/series b/patches/series
index d3370af12..ad79ed9ec 100644
--- a/patches/series
+++ b/patches/series
@@ -19,3 +19,4 @@ display-language.diff
 cli-window-open.diff
 getting-started.diff
 safari.diff
+keepalive.diff
diff --git a/src/node/update.ts b/src/node/update.ts
index 520c1899e..4e4a1babe 100644
--- a/src/node/update.ts
+++ b/src/node/update.ts
@@ -105,6 +105,7 @@ export class UpdateProvider {
         logger.debug("Making request", field("uri", uri))
         const isHttps = uri.startsWith("https")
         const agent = new ProxyAgent({
+          keepAlive: true,
           getProxyForUrl: () => httpProxyUri || "",
         })
         const httpx = isHttps ? https : http