You'll need a machine on which you can run code-server. You can use a physicalmachine you have, or you can use a VM on GCP/AWS.

At the minimum, we recommend:

• 1 GB of RAM
• 2 CPU cores

You can use any Linux distribution, butourdocs assume that you're usingDebian hosted by Google Cloud (see the following section for instructions onsetting this up).

Your environment must have WebSockets enabled, since code-server uses WebSocketsfor communication between the browser and the server.

Set up a VM on Google Cloud

The following steps walk you through setting up a VM running Debian using GoogleCloud (though you are welcome to use any machine or VM provider).

If you'resigning up with Google for the first time, you should get a 3-month trial with$300 of credits.

After you sign up and create a new Google Cloud Provider (GCP) project, create anew Compute Engine VM instance:

1. Using the sidebar, navigate toCompute Engine >VM Instances.
2. ClickCreate Instance.
3. Provide aname for new instance.
4. Choose theregion that's closest to you based onGCPping.
5. Choose azone (any option is fine).
6. We recommend choosing anE2 series instance from thegeneral-purposefamily.
7. Change the instance type tocustom and set at least2 cores and2GB of RAM. You can add more resources if desired, though you can also edityour instance at a later point.
8. Though optional, we highly recommend switching the persistent disk to an SSDwith at least 32 GB. To do so, clickchange underBoot Disk. Then,change the type toSSD Persistent Disk, and set the size to32. (Youcan also grow your disk at a later date).
9. Go toNetworking >Networking Interfaces and edit the existinginterface to use a static internal IP. ClickDone to save.
10. If you don't have aproject-wide SSHkey,go toSecurity >SSH Keys to add your public key.
11. ClickCreate to proceed.

Notes:

• To lower costs, you can shut down your server when you're not using it.
• We recommend using thegcloud cli to avoid using the GCP Dashboard if possible.
• For serving code-server over HTTPS, we recommend using an external domain name along with a service such as Let's Encrypt