Hello everyone, I’m looking for a web based IDE that can create isolated development environments as you could do in Koding or with VSCode with the “Remote” extension.

My use case is quite simple, I want to play around with different projects and languages without installing anything directly on my machine (docker containers FTW) to reduce conflicts between packages and garbage. The “web based” requirement is because I have a server with plenty of capacity to take care of this task and I’d like to keep as clean as possible my PC.

I’ve tried already code server but I cannot install the “Remote” extension to have it create containers on demand.

Any suggestion or help is more than welcome! :D

Edit: Thanks everyone for your great suggestions and idea, much appreciated! It took (and it’s taking) me some time to explore the options you mentioned and the most aligned with my needs is Coder - thanks @cooopsspace@infosec.pub ) ! Basically with it I can create ephemeral development environments with the toolchain I want that contains instances of code-server.

  • cooopsspace@infosec.pubEnglish
    5·
    8 months ago

    You’re looking for Coder.

    You can even set up your DE with the bits required to build your apps.

    • knF@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      8 months ago

      Thanks a lot, great suggestion! I’ll play around with it and let you know :)

      • poVoq@slrpnk.netEnglish
        2·
        8 months ago

        This looks interesting indeed, but there is some unclarity on which features are behind the enterprise edition paywall. If you try it out please let us know what your impression is.

    • knF@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      8 months ago

      Thanks but that would not fit my case as I’d have to install locally all the toolchain. As much as possible I’d like to have everything on a remote server.

  • OSH@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    8 months ago

    Another alternative approach could be Distrobox, where you can set up isolated environments for your specific needs.

  • ck_@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    1·
    8 months ago

    If all you want is to experiment without cluttering you local system, then the nix package manager is probably a better idea that self-hosting a web based IDE. It can be installed on any Linux (or Mac) and once installed works without extra privileges. As nix isolates all dependencies by design, it can be used to create pristine, project specific dev environments without impacting or relying on the rest of the system.

    There are plenty of blog posts out there explaining the concepts and how to get started, eg. https://monospacedmonologues.com/2022/06/throwaway-development-environments-with-nix/