deploying `code-server` on DigitalOcean

⚠️ The deploy script referenced in this guide uses the code-server --link service which is now deprecated. If this solution does not work for you, we recommend following our guide to use LetsEncrypt with Caddy to securely connect to code-server on your VM.

DigitalOcean is an developer-friendly platform with cloud servers. Here is the easiest way to launch code-server on DigitalOcean:

Log into DigitalOcean and create a new Ubuntu 20.10 droplet with any size, in any region
Under "Select additional options," check User data. This will allow you to specify a script that will run on first boot.
Paste in the contents of launch-code-server.sh to the textarea.
Create your server. Feel free to add SSH keys or other preferences.
Once your server starts, you can simply navigate to the IP address and get forwarded to a secure version of code-server, which will be proxied behind your GitHub account. For information on how this works, see code-server --link.

See our troubleshooting guide if you are unable to connect after some time.