code-server/docs/install.md

Install

• Upgrading
• install.sh
  • Flags
  • Detection Reference
• Debian, Ubuntu
• Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, SUSE
• Arch Linux
• Termux
  • Known Search Issue
• yarn, npm
• macOS
• Standalone Releases
• Docker
• helm
• Cloud Providers

This document demonstrates how to install code-server on various distros and operating systems.

Upgrading

When upgrading you can just install the new version over the old one. code-server maintains all user data in ~/.local/share/code-server so that it is preserved in between installations.

install.sh

We have a script to install code-server for Linux, macOS and FreeBSD.

It tries to use the system package manager if possible.

First run to print out the install process:

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

Now to actually install:

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

The script will print out how to run and start using code-server.

If you believe an install script used with curl | sh is insecure, please give this wonderful blogpost by sandstorm.io a read.

If you'd still prefer manual installation despite the below detection reference and --dry-run then continue on for docs on manual installation. The install.sh script runs the exact same commands presented in the rest of this document.

Flags

• --dry-run to echo the commands for the install process without running them.
• --method to choose the installation method.
  • --method=detect to detect the package manager but fallback to --method=standalone.
  • --method=standalone to install a standalone release archive into ~/.local.
• --prefix=/usr/local to install a standalone release archive system wide.
• --version=X.X.X to install version X.X.X instead of latest.
• --help to see full usage docs.

Detection Reference

• For Debian, Ubuntu and Raspbian it will install the latest deb package.

• For Fedora, CentOS, RHEL and openSUSE it will install the latest rpm package.

• For Arch Linux it will install the AUR package.

• For any unrecognized Linux operating system it will install the latest standalone release into ~/.local.

  • Add ~/.local/bin to your $PATH to run code-server.

• For macOS it will install the Homebrew package.

  • If Homebrew is not installed it will install the latest standalone release into ~/.local.
  • Add ~/.local/bin to your $PATH to run code-server.

• For FreeBSD, it will install the npm package with yarn or npm.

• If ran on an architecture with no releases, it will install the npm package with yarn or npm.

  • We only have releases for amd64 and arm64 presently.
  • The npm package builds the native modules on postinstall.

Debian, Ubuntu

NOTE: The standalone arm64 .deb does not support Ubuntu <16.04. Please upgrade or build with yarn.

curl -fOL https://github.com/cdr/code-server/releases/download/v3.9.2/code-server_3.9.2_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i code-server_3.9.2_amd64.deb
sudo systemctl enable --now code-server@$USER
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, SUSE

NOTE: The standalone arm64 .rpm does not support CentOS 7. Please upgrade or build with yarn.

curl -fOL https://github.com/cdr/code-server/releases/download/v3.9.2/code-server-3.9.2-amd64.rpm
sudo rpm -i code-server-3.9.2-amd64.rpm
sudo systemctl enable --now code-server@$USER
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Arch Linux

# Installs code-server from the AUR using yay.
yay -S code-server
sudo systemctl enable --now code-server@$USER
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

# Installs code-server from the AUR with plain makepkg.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/code-server.git
cd code-server
makepkg -si
sudo systemctl enable --now code-server@$USER
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Termux

Termux is an Android terminal application and Linux environment, which can also run code-server from your phone.

1. Install Termux from the Google Play Store
2. Make sure it's up-to-date by running apt update && apt upgrade
3. Install required packages: apt install build-essential python git nodejs yarn
4. Install code-server: yarn global add code-server
5. Run code-server: code-server and navigate to localhost:8080 in your browser

To upgrade run: yarn global upgrade code-server --latest

Known Search Issue

There is a known issue with search not working on Android because it's missing bin/rg. To fix:

1. Install ripgrep with pkg

   pkg install ripgrep
   

2. Make a soft link using ln -s

# run this command inside the code-server directory
ln -s $PREFIX/bin/rg ./lib/vscode/node_modules/vscode-ripgrep/bin/rg

For more context, see comment.

yarn, npm

We recommend installing with yarn or npm when:

1. You aren't on amd64 or arm64.
2. If you're on Linux with glibc < v2.17 or glibcxx < v3.4.18 on amd64, or glibc < v2.23 or glibcxx < v3.4.21 on arm64.
3. You're running Alpine Linux, or are using a non-glibc libc. See #1430

note: Installing via yarn or npm builds native modules on install and so requires C dependencies. See ./npm.md for installing these dependencies.

You will need at least node v12 installed. See #1633.

yarn global add code-server
# Or: npm install -g code-server
code-server
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

macOS

brew install code-server
brew services start code-server
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Standalone Releases

We publish self contained .tar.gz archives for every release on github. They bundle the node binary and node_modules.

These are created from the npm package and the rest of the releases are created from these. Only requirement is glibc >= 2.17 && glibcxx >= v3.4.18 on Linux and for macOS there is no minimum system requirement.

1. Download the latest release archive for your system from github.
2. Unpack the release.
3. You can run code-server by executing ./bin/code-server.

You can add the code-server bin directory to your $PATH to easily execute code-server without the full path every time.

Here is an example script for installing and using a standalone code-server release on Linux:

mkdir -p ~/.local/lib ~/.local/bin
curl -fL https://github.com/cdr/code-server/releases/download/v3.9.2/code-server-3.9.2-linux-amd64.tar.gz \
  | tar -C ~/.local/lib -xz
mv ~/.local/lib/code-server-3.9.2-linux-amd64 ~/.local/lib/code-server-3.9.2
ln -s ~/.local/lib/code-server-3.9.2/bin/code-server ~/.local/bin/code-server
PATH="~/.local/bin:$PATH"
code-server
# Now visit http://127.0.0.1:8080. Your password is in ~/.config/code-server/config.yaml

Docker

# This will start a code-server container and expose it at http://127.0.0.1:8080.
# It will also mount your current directory into the container as `/home/coder/project`
# and forward your UID/GID so that all file system operations occur as your user outside
# the container.
#
# Your $HOME/.config is mounted at $HOME/.config within the container to ensure you can
# easily access/modify your code-server config in $HOME/.config/code-server/config.json
# outside the container.
mkdir -p ~/.config
docker run -it --name code-server -p 127.0.0.1:8080:8080 \
  -v "$HOME/.config:/home/coder/.config" \
  -v "$PWD:/home/coder/project" \
  -u "$(id -u):$(id -g)" \
  -e "DOCKER_USER=$USER" \
  codercom/code-server:latest

Our official image supports amd64 and arm64.

For arm32 support there is a popular community maintained alternative:

https://hub.docker.com/r/linuxserver/code-server

helm

See the chart.

Cloud Providers

We maintain one-click apps and install scripts for different cloud providers such as DigitalOcean, Railway, Heroku, Azure, etc. Check out the repository:

https://github.com/cdr/deploy-code-server