VS CODE remote-ssh `code` command not working properly

Question

I connect to the remote server with vs code command invoked by CTRL+SHIFT+P Remote-SSH: Connect to Host.... Everything works fine. After some time when I try to open a new file from the vs-code terminal with the code command, I will get this error message:

/some/path/on/remote$ code some_existing_file.py                                                                                         
Unable to connect to VS Code server: Error in request.
Error: connect ENOENT /run/user/1006/vscode-ipc-789269cc-6026-4d15-8ca6-<i_changed_this>.sock
    at PipeConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (node:net:1161:16) {
  errno: -2,
  code: 'ENOENT',
  syscall: 'connect',
  address: '/run/user/1001/vscode-ipc-789269cc-6026-4d15-8ca6-<i_changed_this>.sock'
}

Killing all running vs-code processes manually "solves" the problem. The occurence of this problem seems to be random. Sometimes it happens 3 times within an hour, sometimes just once per day.

vs-code version: 1.66.0

Any suggestion on how to solve this issue?

Flinn

why use the terminal to open a file – Lakshmi

@Lakshmi Too lazy to click. I hate using the file explorer GUI in general when I can use terminal as unified interface. Especially when you are browsing nested folders, TAB autocomplete is helpful. – Carrel

you can use Ctrl+P and type part of the filename, or Ctrl+O, or Ctrl+Shift+E and type part of the filename, you have to enable workbench.list.keyboardNavigation – Lakshmi

Answer 1

I was having similar issue and error message when running code .

The solution worked for me was to remove everything under the HOME's .vscode-server directory

rm -rf ~/.vscode-server

Now do the code xxx command again should re-install the VS Code Server under the .vscode-server folder.

Skull

I did this, and it removed all of the extensions/settings I had configured for the remote connection. The "code" command worked immediately afterwards, but it doesn't work today (I deleted the .vscode-server yesterday). I would prefer not having to reinstall my extensions each time; do you have any advice for that? – Macur

Answer 2

Can you try this hack in your .bashrc or any other bash setup script you are using:

if [[ ! -z VSCODE_IPC_HOOK_CLI ]]; then
    REMOTE_CODE_BIN_PATH=$(echo $PATH | tr ':' '\n' | grep "/Users/steelphase/.vscode-server/bin/.*/bin")
    if [[ -d $REMOTE_CODE_BIN_PATH ]]; then
        NEW_PATH=$(echo $PATH | sed -e "s~:$REMOTE_CODE_BIN_PATH~~g")
        export PATH="$REMOTE_CODE_BIN_PATH:$NEW_PATH"
    fi
fi

Phasia

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Answer 3

It's caused by the client connecting to an outdated socket. To simply solve this, just SSH into the server, and kill all processes for VS code:

ps -fu $USER | grep vscode | grep -v grep | awk '{print $2}' | xargs kill

Then you can restart VS code (with remote SSH) and try again.

Appendicitis