Use code-server command locally to open folder remotely

[bchandos]

Hello! My setup is a docker container running on my local machine (Fedora 35), with the PWA installed locally via the Flatpak version of Chromium.

What I'm trying to accomplish is being able to type code-server . in a folder on my local machine and have it open an instance of the PWA starting in that folder, much like code . would with VSCode.

The remote folders are mapped to local folders in docker-compose.yaml using volumes: so it would be easy to make that translation and pass the correct folder name from code-server's perspective. What I can't figure out is how to run the flatpak command and pass the folder query parameter to Chromium.

The command that the .desktop file executes:

flatpak 'run' '--command=/app/bin/chromium' 'org.chromium.Chromium' '--profile-directory=Default' '--app-id=<app-id>'

I tried --extra-search-query-params but that doesn't seem to work (I think it's a debugging tool for adding query parameters only to search queries).

I can run it with the URL directly, like:

flatpak 'run' '--command=/app/bin/chromium' 'org.chromium.Chromium' '--profile-directory=Default' 'http://localhost:8080?folder=/home/coder/project/my_app'

... but that opens in the Chromium browser as a tab, instead of launching the installed PWA version.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[im-coder-lg]

I don't know if you can directly access PWAs during the command line, but if you can, don't question me! I use Windows with just launching my browser and visiting the server from my Linux machines.

[jsjoeio]

Have you tried something like this?

[bchandos]

Thanks for the reply. Unless I am misunderstanding, that solution appears more geared for passing multiple app IDs to Chromium. I think I need to pass the folder query parameter to a single, unchanging, app ID, and am unsure how to do so via the command-line.

I guess this is ultimately a Chromium question, but I thought it might have come up here before.

[bchandos]

One possible solution is to pass the full URL with folder parameter to Chromium using the --app switch. This will open the code editor as an app. However, it will appear in the application manager as an instance of Chromium, instead of as the installed code-server PWA. I'm not sure yet if this would be a "deal-breaker". I suspect it would cause task and window switching to be more confusing: instead of all code-server PWA windows being under a single, separate, application, they will become entangled with any other Chromium windows that are open.

Still, it's something.

flatpak 'run' '--command=/app/bin/chromium' 'org.chromium.Chromium' '--profile-directory=Default' '--app=http://localhost:8080?folder=/home/coder/project/my_app'

[jsjoeio]

Hmm 🤔 I've had similar issues on my PC because my window manager thinks they're all the same application.

Maybe @code-asher has a suggestion?

[code-asher]

Unfortunately I have no experience here 😞