microsoft / microsoft/vscode-remote-release

Ability to open remote file in a different local program

Open
#9,776 3 comments 21 reactions 1 assignee View on GitHub

Nobody has claimed this yet.

feature-request ssh
Dominant language
Dockerfile
Stars
4.2k
Forks
469
Avg merge
1d 1h
Merged PRs (30d)
1

Description

Context

In one situation, I need to open .html files created by the code I am working on in the local web browser to see if it looks right.

If the file is on the local disk, you can use the "Open in Browser" extension to easily open the file in your local browser

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=techer.open-in-browser

Screenshot 2024-04-12 at 3 44 10 PM

However if you try to do this with a file that is on a remote server, which you are accessing over the "Remote - SSH" extension, it does not work.

Screenshot 2024-04-12 at 3 43 59 PM

In other situations, I could have any arbitrary file on the remote server's filesystem, within the directory loaded into VS Code with the "Remote SSH" extension, and need to open the file in some other locally installed program.

In all of these situations, instead of relying on a different VS Code extension to enable opening the file in a different local program, this feature should really just be built directly into the "Remote SSH" extension.


I have looked into several other methods that would seemingly allow you to open files in an external program, such as solutions suggested here;

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30039512/how-to-view-an-html-file-in-the-browser-with-visual-studio-code

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/68629811/can-vs-code-open-files-with-external-programs

However it seems like these, and most all other options, simply do not work if the file is being accessed over "Remote SSH"

Can we add the feature directly to Remote SSH to allow for easily opening any file in any external program?

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Assessment

This issue has not been assessed yet.

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.