Remote Development on a Linux Machine from macOS or Windows

If your main development machine is a Mac or Windows computer, at some point you’ll probably need to develop or test something on Linux. Maybe you’re building for multiple platforms, working a lot with containers (which often run faster natively on Linux), or simply want to offload some workloads to a different machine. Whatever the case, sometimes you need Linux even if it’s not your primary system.

If you have a second machine running Linux, setting it up for remote development over SSH is a great option. This lets you use the full power and performance of Linux while still working from your Mac or Windows environment.

In my case, I’m using a machine running Ubuntu Desktop 24.04 and accessing it from my Mac over SSH within my local network. Here’s how I configured it.

Note: These commands are for Ubuntu. On other Linux distros, the package manager or firewall commands may vary.

PART 1: Set Up the Ubuntu Machine (SSH Server)

1. Install and enable the SSH server

sudo apt update
sudo apt install openssh-server
sudo systemctl enable ssh
sudo systemctl start ssh

2. Find the machine’s IP address

hostname -I

Take note of the first IP shown (for example, 192.168.1.100).

3. Configure the firewall to allow local SSH connections

sudo ufw enable
sudo ufw default deny incoming
sudo ufw default allow outgoing

# Allow SSH only from devices on your local network
# Use your IP with the last number replaced by 0, followed by /24
# Example: if your IP is 192.168.1.100, use 192.168.1.0/24
sudo ufw allow from 192.168.1.0/24 to any port 22

sudo ufw status verbose

4. Verify that SSH is running

sudo systemctl status ssh

It should show active (running).

PART 2: Set Up the Mac (SSH Client)

Note: If you’re on Windows, you can run the same SSH commands from PowerShell or Windows Terminal — Windows 10/11 already includes OpenSSH.

1. Test the SSH connection

ssh your_ubuntu_username@192.168.1.100

Replace the username and IP address with your own.
Type yes when asked about the fingerprint, then enter your Ubuntu password.

If the connection works, disconnect with:

exit

2. Create an SSH key for passwordless login

ssh-keygen -t ed25519

Press Enter to accept the defaults. (You can optionally add -C "your_email" as a label.)

Copy the key to the Ubuntu machine:

ssh-copy-id your_ubuntu_username@192.168.1.100

Enter your password one last time.

Optional Enhancements

1. Create an SSH alias (recommended)

Creating an alias makes it easier to connect without typing your full username and IP each time.

nano ~/.ssh/config

Add:

Host ubuntu-dev
    HostName 192.168.1.100
    User your_ubuntu_username
    IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    # Allows your local SSH keys to be used on the remote machine
    # (e.g., to clone private Git repos from your Linux environment)
    ForwardAgent yes

Save and close the file.

Now you can connect with:

ssh ubuntu-dev

2. Set a static IP for your Ubuntu machine

By default, your Ubuntu machine gets its IP address from your router (DHCP). This can change after a reboot, which would break your SSH connection until you update it.

If you prefer your Ubuntu machine to always keep the same IP, you can set a static IP address.

You can do this in two ways:

1. Reserve the IP on your router (easier and recommended)
2. Configure a static IP directly on Ubuntu using Netplan

If you want to configure it directly on Ubuntu, here is a clear step-by-step guide for Ubuntu 24.04:

Ubuntu 24.04 static IP guide

Connect and Start Developing

Once everything is set up, you can open a terminal on your Mac or Windows machine and connect to your Linux development environment instantly:

ssh ubuntu-dev

Your Linux machine stays fully usable locally, and you get access to its entire environment for development.

If you use VS Code, you can also install the Remote – SSH extension:
VS Code Remote – SSH

This makes it easy to work on Linux projects seamlessly from your Mac or Windows setup.