AWS offers a Cloud9-based alternative to GitHub Codespaces A remote development environment for Visual Studio Code developers was suggested by Amazon Web Services (AWS), in a blog post. This setup can be used as an alternative to GitHub Codespaces. GitHub Codespaces offers cloud-powered development environments that can use computing resources such as storage, CPU, memory, and so forth that are not always available on low-powered local machines. AWS requires an SSH connection to enable the AWS Cloud9 interface and other functionality. “One of the most appealing things about Visual Studio Code is the vast ecosystem of extensions that allows me to extend its core functionality to precisely how I need it,” Nick Ragusa, a VS Code aficionado, said in a blog post. “I have spent hours installing extensions and figuring out keyboard shortcut combinations, but the theme and syntax highlighter are what I find most appealing. Despite all the effort put into creating the perfect IDE it can still fall short. It’s not easy to overcome the limitations of an IDE. These challenges include running out local disk space, RAM exhaustion or requiring more CPU cores in order to process a build. This blog post will show you how to overcome your desktop or laptop’s limitations by using AWS Cloud9 to power Visual Studio Code IDE. His solution addresses problems such as connection resets and timeouts when mounting remote file systems via SSH (Secure Shell Protocol). Instead, he seeks a solution that developers can use:

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  • You can connect to a remote instance using SSH. You can also install your favorite extensions on the remote instance.
  • You can access the instance from any IP address, even a changing one.
  • Use your existing AWS infrastructure, including VPC, IAM role and policies, to create remote instances.

AWS Cloud9 is the key to this solution. It’s a cloud-based integrated developer environment (IDE) that allows developers to write, run, and debug code using just a browser. It provides a code editor and debugger, as well as a terminal. It includes essential tools for popular programming languages like JavaScript, Python and PHP. Devs don’t have to install files or configure a machine to start new projects. The solution can be leveraged by using the Visual Studio Code Remote – SSH extension and AWS Cloud9 for VS Code.

  • When connected, automatically power on an instance
  • Configure an SSH client to connect to AWS Cloud9 instances using AWS Systems Manager Session Manager
  • Modify an AWS Cloud9 instance after you disconnect to make it work again

To follow the detailed post, you will need to have these prerequisites:

  • An AWS account
  • Visual Studio Code downloaded, installed
  • OpenSSH compatible SSH client that supports key pairings for public key authentication
  • AWS CLI installed and configured using a named profile which grants access to the AWS account

Codespaces and other remote development solutions can also use SSH to work from remote machines in VS Code. Ragusa’s solution taps into AWS services that are tailored to its cloud users. He said that AWS Cloud9 provides a pre-packaged environment with essential tools for popular programming language, as well as the power of Amazon EC2. AWS Cloud9 has an auto-shutdown feature that powers down your instance when it isn’t being used.