Open Remote (Github) Code Repositories in Visual Studio Code without Cloning

Microsoft’s github provides the Remote Repositories extension for the Microsoft Visual Code editor to open remote code repositories such as from Github without cloning those projects to your local system.

First, I highly recommend that you use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL), with or without Visual Studio Code, but especially if you code in Visual Studio Code.

To open remote repositories without cloning them, you will need Visual Studio Code and the Remote Repositories extension:

• https://code.visualstudio.com/
• https://code.visualstudio.com/blogs/2021/06/10/remote-repositories

I recommend the Windows version of Visual Studio Code over the Linux version, even with WSL.

After installing the extension, in Code, press Ctrl+Shift+P or press the icon at the bottom left corner to bring up a dialog for entering commands and then type remote.

Select Open repository… and enter the URL of a code repository. Here is an example.

https://github.com/deliverystack/wink

The first time, you should see a prompt for your github credentials.

Now you can browse the code in Visual Studio Code. I think you may be able to check in code changes, which might be fine when a single individual owns all the code but would be bad practice for team projects.

You may also see something like this.

• Remote Repositories extension for Visual Studio Code
• Microsoft’s GitHub Releases ‘Visual Studio Code’ Extension Allowing Editing Without Cloning Repositories – Slashdot