Access VS Code from Any Device: Install code-server on Ubuntu 24.04

Do you want to access Visual Studio Code from your tablet, iPad, Android, iPhone, or any browser-enabled device? With code-server, you can run VS Code on a remote Ubuntu server and access it from anywhere in the world using a browser.

This guide shows you how to set up code-server using Docker on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

✨ Prerequisites

An Ubuntu 24.04 server (cloud VPS or local machine)
Root or sudo access
Domain name pointed to your server (optional but recommended)

Before starting, make sure Docker is installed. Follow this step-by-step guide to install Docker:

👉 Quickly Install Docker on Your Ubuntu 24.04 System

🔧 Step 1: Create a Project Directory

mkdir -p /root/code-projects
cd /root/code-projects

You can later clone your Git repos here:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/your-repo.git

🚀 Step 2: Run code-server in Docker

docker run -d \
  -p 9000:8080 \
  -v "/root/code-projects:/home/coder/projects" \
  -e PASSWORD="yourpassword" \
  --name code-server \
  codercom/code-server

This will:

Run code-server in background
Expose it on port 9000
Secure it with a password
Mount your Git project folder

🔧 Step 3: Install SSL Certificate with Certbot

If you have a domain like vs-code.yourdomain.com pointed to your server, install an SSL certificate with Let’s Encrypt:

sudo apt install certbot python3-certbot-apache
sudo certbot --apache -d vs-code.yourdomain.com

This will automatically configure Apache with HTTPS and generate a valid SSL certificate.

🔧 Step 4: Configure Apache for Public Access (with WebSocket Support)

Create or update your Apache SSL virtual host config at:

sudo nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/vs-code.yourdomain.com-le-ssl.conf

Paste this config:

<IfModule mod_ssl.c>
<VirtualHost *:443>
    ServerName vs-code.yourdomain.com

    SSLEngine on
    SSLCertificateFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/vs-code.yourdomain.com/fullchain.pem
    SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/letsencrypt/live/vs-code.yourdomain.com/privkey.pem
    Include /etc/letsencrypt/options-ssl-apache.conf

    ProxyPreserveHost On
    ProxyRequests Off
    ProxyPass / http://localhost:9000/ nocanon
    ProxyPassReverse / http://localhost:9000/

    RewriteEngine on
    RewriteCond %{HTTP:Upgrade} =websocket [NC]
    RewriteRule /(.*) ws://localhost:9000/$1 [P,L]

    ErrorLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/vs-code-error.log
    CustomLog ${APACHE_LOG_DIR}/vs-code-access.log combined
</VirtualHost>
</IfModule>

Enable necessary Apache modules:

sudo a2enmod proxy proxy_http proxy_wstunnel rewrite
sudo systemctl restart apache2

🔧 Step 5: Fix File Permission Errors (if needed)

If you face a permission error like:

Failed to save '.env': Unable to write file ... (NoPermissions (FileSystemError): Error: EACCES: permission denied, open ...)

This is likely because the files are owned by root on the host, but code-server runs as the coder user inside the container. To fix this, run:

sudo chown -R 1000:1000 /root/code-projects

This changes the ownership of your project folder to match the internal coder user (UID 1000), allowing full read/write access from within code-server.

🔐 Step 6: Access from Any Device

Open your browser and visit:

http://your-server-ip:9000     (if no domain)
https://vs-code.yourdomain.com (if domain is configured)

Enter the password you set (yourpassword), and you’ll have full access to VS Code — from mobile, tablet, or any device!

✨ Bonus Tips

Use Git: Open the terminal inside code-server and use Git as usual.
Clone multiple repos inside /home/coder/projects
Install extensions directly from the web interface
Add Docker volumes for persistence

✅ Conclusion

You now have a fully functional, browser-based VS Code editor accessible from any device — powered by code-serverand Docker on Ubuntu 24.04.