VS Code remote development is a brilliant feature from the VS Code team. Using the extensions available in the VS Code remote extension pack, you can develop your applications in an external development environment viz. a remote server (through SSH), containers, and WSL. The premise of the three modes of development is the same. The application code is stored either on your local system (on container and WSL through volume mount) or remote server (through SSH), and the local instance of the VS Code attaches itself to the external system through an exposed port (container and WSL), or SSH tunnel (remote server). For a developer, this experience is seamless and requires a one-off setup. VS Code is responsible for the heavy lifting of the entire experience of remote development.
Let’s discuss some of the everyday use cases of remote development. The primary use of remote development is to develop and test Linux compatible apps with WSL on Windows. Remote development allows you to use a remote machine with better specs for development (e.g., code and debug on your desktop from your tablet), which is another use of the feature. However, the most beneficial use case for most developers working in a team environment is that they now can specify the development environment (including VS Code extensions) in the form of Dockerfiles and container specifications, and add them to the source control. With the configurations in place, anyone can recreate the development environment and be productive immediately.