How to install code-server (VS Code) on a Cloud VPS

code-server runs VS Code in your browser from your own server, so you can code from any device with a consistent, powerful environment.

Self-hosting your development tools keeps code and project data inside your infrastructure, and the cost does not grow with the number of users.

One-click install on cloudlinux.ro

The fastest way: code-server (VS Code) installs automatically at the first boot of a new server.

1. Create a Cloud VPS from the control panel.
2. In the configuration step, pick code-server (VS Code) from the app catalog.
3. Start the server. The install runs in the background for a few minutes and its status shows on the server page.
4. Access details and generated passwords are saved on the server in /root/app-credentials.txt. The app will be available on port 8080.

Manual install on any Ubuntu server

If you prefer doing it yourself, below is the exact script our automatic install runs. Execute it as root on a fresh Ubuntu server (24.04 recommended). It stops at the first error, and when it finishes you will find the access details in /root/app-credentials.txt.

export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
curl -fsSL https://get.docker.com | sh
CODE_PASS=$(openssl rand -base64 24 | tr -dc 'A-Za-z0-9' | cut -c1-16)
docker volume create code_data
docker run -d --name code-server --restart=always -p 8080:8080 \
  -e PASSWORD="$CODE_PASS" -v code_data:/home/coder \
  codercom/code-server:latest --bind-addr 0.0.0.0:8080
IP=$(hostname -I | awk '{print $1}')
printf 'code-server: http://%s:8080\nParola: %s\n' "$IP" "$CODE_PASS" > /root/app-credentials.txt

You can also save this script as a recipe in your account and reuse it on any new server.