Use Cursor or VS Code on a cloud dev box with Remote-SSH

Open a cloud Linux box in Cursor or VS Code over Remote-SSH, with no keys or hosts to set up, and keep Claude Code or Codex running after the editor closes.

On this page8

1. Create a box
2. Check that ssh reaches it
3. Connect the editor
4. Keep agents running after the editor closes
If the box is asleep
Sync or Remote-SSH
Troubleshooting
Related

Prized adds your box to your SSH config, so Cursor and VS Code open it like any SSH host: the window stays on your laptop, and files, terminals and extensions run on the box.

1. Create a box

cd ~/code/myproject
npx prized

It signs you up, starts a box on $30 of free credit with no card, and syncs this folder with ~/code/myproject on the box. Pick Cursor and, on macOS, it opens that folder on the box for you. Already signed in? Run prized setup in the folder instead.

Setup writes a Host entry for the box to ~/.ssh/config.d/prized and an Include line at the top of ~/.ssh/config. There are no keys to copy, and the box has no inbound SSH port (Security).

2. Check that ssh reaches it

ssh mango echo connected

Use your box's name for mango (prized box ls lists them). If it prints connected, the editor will connect too: Remote-SSH runs the same ssh.

3. Connect the editor

Cursor: open the Command Palette (Cmd-Shift-P, or Ctrl-Shift-P), run Remote-SSH: Connect to Host, and pick mango. If the command is missing, install the Remote - SSH extension from Cursor's Extensions view.
VS Code: install Microsoft's Remote - SSH extension, then run the same command.
Asked for the platform: pick Linux.

Then File > Open Folder and open ~/code/myproject. The editor's terminal, search and extensions now run on the box.

4. Keep agents running after the editor closes

The editor's terminal ends with its window, or when the laptop sleeps. For an agent that keeps working, start tmux in that terminal:

you@mango ~/code/myproject

tmux new -A -s claude

Run claude (or codex) inside it, then close the editor or the laptop. The same command reattaches, as does prized ssh mango -s claude from any terminal (Sessions).

If the box is asleep

Remote-SSH, plain ssh and sync do not wake a paused box: the editor fails to connect, and its log says the box is not running. Wake it, then run Developer: Reload Window:

prized box resume mango --wait

prized ssh mango wakes it too. On the free credit, a box pauses after 2 hours idle, but never in its first 24 hours; on a plan, only if you set auto-pause (Auto-pause).

Sync or Remote-SSH

Remote-SSH runs the editor's tools on the box, which must be awake. Sync keeps the folder on your laptop for any local editor, offline too. Both work on the same project at once; when both sides change a file, the box's copy wins by default (Conflicts).

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to do
`Could not resolve hostname mango`	The `Include` line is missing from `~/.ssh/config`: `prized doctor` adds it (Troubleshooting).
`mango is paused because your free credit ran out`	Nothing was deleted. Pick a plan at the link it prints to start the box again (Running out).
`"mango" is not the box this machine knew by that name`	The box was recreated, or another box took its name: `prized box rebind mango`.