Mounting a Remote Server in VS Code with SSH FS

The SSH FS extension mounts a remote directory as a workspace folder over SFTP, so you edit remote files with local VS Code.

Note: You will need to replace SITE_USERNAME and PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY with your details!

1. Install the extension

code --install-extension Kelvin.vscode-sshfs

2. Write the configuration

Configuration lives in settings.json under the sshfs.configs array. Writing it to the workspace file keeps it next to your project and avoids clobbering your personal settings.

Note: This is editing a json file located at ~/.vscode/settings.json. You could edit the file directly, but copypasting the snippets below should get the job done quickly.

Linux / macOS

mkdir -p .vscode && cat > .vscode/settings.json <<'JSON'
{
  "sshfs.configs": [
    {
      "name": "cse365",
      "label": "CSE 365 Server",
      "host": "cse365.robwaz.net",
      "port": 2223,
      "username": "SITE_USERNAME",
      "privateKeyPath": "PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY",
      "root": "/home/SITE_USERNAME"
    }
  ]
}
JSON

Windows (PowerShell)

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force .vscode | Out-Null
@'
{
  "sshfs.configs": [
    {
      "name": "cse365",
      "label": "CSE 365 Server",
      "host": "cse365.robwaz.net",
      "port": 2223,
      "username": "SITE_USERNAME",
      "privateKeyPath": "PATH_TO_PRIVATE_KEY",
      "root": "/home/SITE_USERNAME"
    }
  ]
}
'@ | Set-Content -Encoding utf8 .vscode\settings.json

If .vscode/settings.json already exists, these commands overwrite it — paste the sshfs.configs key into the existing object instead.

3. Connect

There should now be a folder looking icon on the left sidebar of your VSCode window near the bottom. Selecting it will show "configurations" and "connections". Hovering your mouse over the cse365 configuration will reveal several small icons. The folder icon will mount the challenge environment into your VSCode explorer. The terminal icon will open a terminal inside VSCode that is connected to the challenge instances.