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This guide explains how to connect directly to your Bnode through VSCode or Cursor using the Remote-SSH extension, allowing you to work within your Bnode’s volume directories as if the files were stored on your local machine.

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Requirements

Before you begin, you’ll need:
  • A local development environment with VSCode or Cursor installed.
  • Familiarity with basic command-line operations and SSH.

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Step 1: Install the Remote-SSH extension

To connect to a Bnode, you’ll need to install the Remote-SSH extension for your IDE:
  1. Open VSCode or Cursor and navigate to the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X or Cmd+Shift+X).
  2. Search for and install the Remote-SSH extension:
    • VSCode: Remote - SSH by ms-vscode-remote.
    • Cursor: Remote-SSH by Anysphere.

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Step 2: Generate an SSH key

Before you can connect to a Bnode, you’ll need an SSH key that is paired with your Brightnode account. If you don’t have one, follow these steps:
  1. Generate an SSH key using this command on your local terminal: 
    ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -f ~/.ssh/id_ed25519 -C "YOUR_EMAIL@DOMAIN.COM"
  2. To retrieve your public SSH key, run this command: 
    cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub
    This will output something similar to this: 
    ssh-ed25519 AAAAC4NzaC1lZDI1JTE5AAAAIGP+L8hnjIcBqUb8NRrDiC32FuJBvRA0m8jLShzgq6BQ YOUR_EMAIL@DOMAIN.COM
  3. Copy and paste the output into the SSH Public Keys field in your Brightnode user account settings.
To enable SSH access, your public key must be present in the ~/.ssh/authorized_keys file on your Bnode. If you upload your public key to the settings page before your Bnode starts, the system will automatically inject it into that file at startup.If your Bnode is already running when you upload the key, the system will not perform this injection. To enable SSH access, you’ll need to either terminate/redeploy the Bnode, or open a web terminal on the running Bnode and run the following commands:
export PUBLIC_KEY="<the value you cat out locally>"
echo "$PUBLIC_KEY" >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys

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Step 3: Deploy a Bnode

Next, deploy the Bnode you want to connect to. For detailed deployment instructions, see Manage Bnodes -> Create a Bnode. To connect with VSCode/Cursor, your Bnode template must support SSH over exposed TCP. To determine whether your Bnode template supports this, during deployment, after selecting a template, look for a checkbox under Instance Pricing labeled SSH Terminal Access and make sure it’s checked.
All official Brightnode Pytorch templates support SSH over exposed TCP.

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Step 4: Configure SSH for your IDE

Next, you’ll configure SSH access to your Bnode using the Remote-SSH extension. The instructions are different for VSCode and Cursor:
  • VSCode
  • Cursor
  1. From the Bnodes page, select the Bnode you deployed.
  2. Select Connect, then select the SSH tab.
  3. Copy the second command, under SSH over exposed TCP. It will look similar to this: 
    ssh root@123.456.789.80 -p 12345 -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
    If you only see one command under SSH, then SSH over exposed TCP is not supported by your selected Bnode template. This means you won’t be able to connect to your Bnode directly through VSCode/Cursor, but you can still connect using basic SSH via the terminal.
  4. In VSCode, open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P) and choose Remote-SSH: Connect to Host, then select Add New SSH Host.
  5. Enter the copied SSH command from step 3 (ssh root@***.***.***.** -p ***** -i ~/.ssh/id_ed25519) and press Enter. This will add a new entry to your SSH config file.

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Step 5: Connect to your Bnode

Now you can connect to your Bnode with the Remote-SSH extension.
  1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P).
  2. Select Remote-SSH: Connect to Host.
  3. Choose your Bnode from the list (either by IP or custom name if you configured one).
  4. VSCode/Cursor will open a new window and connect to your Bnode.
  5. When prompted, select the platform (Linux).
  6. Once connected, click Open Folder and navigate to your workspace directory (typically /workspace).
You should now be connected to your Bnode instance, where you can edit files in your volume directories as if they were local.
If you stop and then resume your Bnode, the port numbers may change. If so, you’ll need to go back to the previous step and update your SSH config file using the new port numbers before reconnecting.

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Working with your Bnode

Once connected through Remote-SSH, you can:
  • Edit files with full IntelliSense and language support.
  • Run and debug applications with access to GPU resources.
  • Use integrated terminal for command execution.
  • Install extensions that run on the remote host.
  • Forward ports to access services locally.
  • Commit and push code using integrated Git support.
Here are some important directories to be aware of:
  • /workspace: Default persistent storage directory.
  • /tmp: Temporary files (cleared when Bnode stops).
  • /root: Home directory for the root user.

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Troubleshooting

If you can’t connect to your Bnode:
  1. Verify your Bnode is running and fully initialized.
  2. Check that your SSH key is properly configured in Brightnode settings.
  3. Ensure the Bnode has SSH enabled in its template.
If the VSCode/Cursor server fails to install:
  1. Check that your Bnode has sufficient disk space.
  2. Ensure your Bnode has internet connectivity.
  3. Try manually removing the .vscode-server or .cursor-server directory and reconnecting: 
    rm -rf ~/.vscode-server