Adds a SSH server into a container so that you can use an external terminal, sftp, or SSHFS to interact with it.
Script status: Stable
OS support: Debian 9+, Ubuntu 16.04+, and downstream distros.
Maintainer: The VS Code and GitHub Codespaces teams
./sshd-debian.sh [SSH Port] [Non-root user] [Start SSHD now flag] [New password for user] [Fix environment flag]
Argument | Default | Description |
---|---|---|
SSH port | 2222 |
Port to host SSH server on. 22 is frequently in use, so using a different port is recommended. |
Non-root user | automatic |
Specifies a user in the container other than root that will use SSH. A value of automatic will cause the script to check for a user called vscode , then node , codespace , and finally a user with a UID of 1000 before falling back to root . |
Start SSHD now flag | false |
Flag (true /false ) that specifies whether the SSH server should be started after the script runs. |
New password for user | skip |
Sets a new password for the specified non-root user. A value of skip will skip this step. A value of random will generate a random password and print it out when the script finishes. |
Fix environment flag | true |
Connections using the SSH daemon use "fresh" login shells that will not contain any environment or PATH updates made in the image. By default the script will wire into login shell creation, add any environment variables not already set, and base the PATH off of what was set in the Dockerifle. Set to false if you experience unexpected problems. |
This script can be used either ad-hoc in an already running container or in a Dockerfile.
The SSH script is included in the default Codespaces image (codespaces-linux) that is used in Codespaces when you do not have a custom devcontainer.json
. It may also be in images you or your organization has created. Here's how to enable SSH in these cases.
Usage:
-
The first time you've started the codespace, you will want to set a password for your user. If running as a user other than root, and you have
sudo
installed:sudo passwd $(whoami)
Or if you are running as root:
passwd
-
Open the Ports tab next to the Terminal tab, select Forward port and enter port
2222
. Take note of the local address port number if different than2222
. -
Your container/codespace now has a running SSH server in it. Use a local terminal (or other tool) to connect to it using the command and password from step 2. e.g.
ssh -p 2222 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o GlobalKnownHostsFile=/dev/null codespace@localhost
...where
codespace
above is the user you are running as in the container (e.g.codespace
,vscode
,node
, orroot
) and2222
after-p
is the local address port from step 2.The “-o” arguments are optional, but will prevent you from getting warnings or errors about known hosts when you do this from multiple containers/codespaces.
-
Next time you connect to your container/codespace, just repeat steps 2 and 3 and use the same password you set in step 1.
You can add this script to your own Dockerfile as follows.
Usage:
-
Add
sshd-debian.sh
to.devcontainer/library-scripts
-
Add the following to your
.devcontainer/Dockerfile
:COPY library-scripts/sshd-debian.sh /tmp/library-scripts/ RUN apt-get update && bash /tmp/library-scripts/sshd-debian.sh ENTRYPOINT ["/usr/local/share/ssh-init.sh"] CMD ["sleep", "infinity"]
The
ENTRYPOINT
script can be chained with another script by adding it to the array afterssh-init.sh
. -
And the following to
.devcontainer/devcontainer.json
:"forwardPorts": [2222], "overrideCommand": false
-
The first time you've started the container / codespace, you will want to set a password for your user (assuming you didn't set it using the script). If running as a user other than root, and you have
sudo
installed:sudo passwd $(whoami)
Or if you are running as root:
passwd
-
Connect to the container or codespace using VS Code. You can now SSH into the container on port
2222
. For example, if you are in the container as thevscode
user, run the following command in a local terminal:ssh -p 2222 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o GlobalKnownHostsFile=/dev/null vscode@localhost
...where
vscode
above is the user you are running as in the container (e.g.codespace
,vscode
,node
, orroot
).The “-o” arguments are optional, but will prevent you from getting warnings or errors about known hosts when you do this from multiple containers/codespaces.
If you are unable to connect, it's possible SSH is available on a different local port because 2222 was busy. Open the Ports tab next to the Terminal tab, take note of the local address port for port 2222 in the container and update -p 2222
to match.
If you already have a running container, you can use the script to spin up SSH inside it.
-
Connect to the container or codespace using VS Code.
-
Open a terminal in VS Code and run the following if you're connected as a non-root user and
sudo
is installed:sudo bash -c "$(curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/vscode-dev-containers/main/script-library/sshd-debian.sh)" -- 2222 $(whoami) true random
Or if running as root:
bash -c "$(curl -sSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/microsoft/vscode-dev-containers/main/script-library/sshd-debian.sh)" -- 2222 $(whoami) true random
-
Take note of the password that was generated and the SSH command.
-
Open the Ports tab next to the Terminal tab, select Forward port and enter port
2222
. Take note of the local address port number if different than2222
. -
Your container/codespace now has a running SSH server in it. Use a local terminal (or other tool) to connect to it using the command and password from step 2. e.g.
ssh -p 2222 -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null vscode@localhost
...where
vscode
above is the user you are running as in the container (e.g.codespace
,vscode
,node
, orroot
) and2222
after-p
is the local address port from step 4.The “-o” arguments are optional, but will prevent you from getting warnings or errors about known hosts when you do this from multiple containers/codespaces.
-
Next time you connect, you can spin up the SSH server again by running
/usr/local/share/sshd-init.sh
in a terminal in the container/codespace and using the same command / password.
SSHFS allows you to mount a remote filesystem to your local machine with nothing but a SSH connection. Here's how to use it with a dev container.
-
Follow the steps in one of the previous sections to ensure you can connect to the dev container using the normal
ssh
client. -
Install a SSHFS client.
-
Mount the remote filesystem.
-
macOS / Linux: Use the
sshfs
command to mount the remote filesystem. The arguments are similar to the normalssh
command but with a few additions. For example:mkdir -p ~/sshfs/devcontainer sshfs "vscode@localhost:/workspaces" "$HOME/sshfs/devcontainer" -p 2222 -o follow_symlinks -o StrictHostKeyChecking=no -o UserKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -o GlobalKnownHostsFile=/dev/null -C
...where
vscode
above is the user you are running as in the container (e.g.codespace
,vscode
,node
, orroot
) and2222
after the-p
is the same local port you used in thessh
command in step 1. -
Windows: Press Window+R and enter the following in the "Open" field in the Run dialog:
\\sshfs.r\vscode@localhost!2222\workspaces
...where
vscode
above is the user you are running as in the container (e.g.codespace
,vscode
,node
, orroot
) and2222
after the!
is the same local port you used in thessh
command in step 1.
-
-
Your dev container's filesystem should now be available in the
~/sshfs/devcontainer
folder on macOS or Linux or in a new explorer window on Windows.