That will run both the backend and the frontend on the remote server, while VS Code SSH will only run the backend on the remote. ssh -X is very slow for a complex GUI across a non-local network.
- Keystrokes and edits are instant (not just predicted), even on a high-latency internet connection. (Since ~2007 I've been constantly annoyed by what's called "bufferbloat", and I want to be more resilient to a not-perfect internet connection because I don't control internet latency at coffee shops, etc.) (Mosh is annoying, having to set up special firewall rules to allow UDP ports, etc, and doesn't fully solve the problem.)
- VS Code is also easier to pick up where I left off if I lose the connection. (Yes, can be mostly solved with screen/tmux/byobu, but annoying to manage that.)
- Nice typing support, autocomplete and code navigation. I can command+click functions to jump straight to their actual definitions (not just something named the same thing). I get more instant feedback, catching more errors before actually running the code. (I use Python + pyright/pylance, and I suppose vim has some plugins for this too, but it's nice having something officially supported by the editor. I'm also guessing VS Code is way more powerful.)
- Easer to deal with multiple open files and switching between files in a projects. Uses many of the same keyboard-shortcuts as browser tabs. (I suppose vim has this functionality, but I never learned it.) Project-wide find/replace is also really really nice. (Easy to toggle between regex and case-sensitive modes, etc. Easier than "pie": perl -p -i -e 's/this/that/g' $(git ls-files))
- I can drag local files to the remote server really easily, and I can also right-click->download any file I see.
- Files open in the editor automatically update contents on screen if their content changes on the file system (unless there are unsaved changes).
Downsides so far are:
- VS Code is pretty memory hungry on the server and uses multiple node.js processes that probably don't share a lot of memory despite sharing tons of dependencies. (So, yes, bloat.)
- Remote SSH plugin isn't open source, and kinda just downloads and runs closed-source code on the server. I trust Microsoft more than some open-source projects to not abuse this though ideally I'd prefer to apt install something that Debian or Ubuntu has vetted.
- Annoying having to install a local client. Maybe we'll get a fully-featured browser-only version of it someday, but from what I've gathered it's not there yet (probably harder to lock down security-wise too).