Click View -> Terminal to see your SSH command line on the bottom of the screen (here’s where you can actually run the programs on your cluster). You can navigate through these files in your remote machine the same way as MobaXterm. Click “Open folder…” and select “OK” to see your remote directory on the left.

Now, you in are in your remote SSH environment.

A new window will open and prompt you to enter your password for the server.

In the same pop-up window, click the remote server that you just added.

Here, enter your remote SSH (here at Cornell, this would be connect to our remote computing cluster, the Cube).

Choose the first pop-up option “Remote-SSH: Connect to host…” and then select “Add New SSH Host…”.Ĭlick the first box and then the “Add New SSH Host” button to connect to your SSH client.

The green box is the Remote – SSH extension.

On the bottom left of your screen, there should be a small green box with two opposite pointing arrow heads.

Check out this extension’s description below (I’ll run through the basics in this post). You should see the message “ This extension is enabled globally” appear.

With VS Code opened, go to View -> Extensions, and search “Remote – SSH.” Click on the extension and press the green “Install” button.

For installation help and a brief overview of the app, check out this video. Here’s how you can set up a remote session on Mac (and Windows) using VS Code: A screenshot from my VS Code remote interface, with the graphical file browser on the left panel, the SSH server terminal on the bottom-right, and the VS Code editor on the top-right. Looking for alternatives, I discovered that using VS Code with the “Remote – SSH” extension is a great replacement with significant advantages to MobaXterm, as it an SSH client interface and code editor in one. Unfortunately, MobaXterm is not available for download on Mac OS. Working remotely on my Mac laptop, I have been struggling to achieve the same workflow as in the office, with a Windows machine. David Gold’s blog post walks through the installation and use of this app, which works well in Windows environments.

On Windows machines, the application MobaXterm is a valuable tool for computing on virtual machines and working through SSH clients.

Mobaxterm alternative mac