Remote Dev Kit

Run your Docker projects
on a VPS — not your Mac.

Code stays on your laptop. Builds and containers live on the server. Every project gets its own HTTPS subdomain, automatically.

$ curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Enochthedev/remote-dev-kit/main/install-global.sh | bash

Get started Star on GitHub

01 — Why

You bought a laptop to write code, not to host a container farm.

Six reasons the build belongs on the server.

🧹

Reclaim your Mac

No local images, no build cache, no daemon eating RAM. You can quit Docker Desktop and OrbStack entirely.

🔒

Code never leaves your machine

It's baked into a throwaway image on the VPS — not synced as a folder. Tear it down and it's genuinely gone.

🌐

Instant HTTPS subdomains

myapp.dev.yourdomain.com, certificate and routing handled. One DNS record covers every project you'll ever deploy.

🧩

Any language

If it has a Dockerfile, it works. Node, Go, Rust, Python, PHP, static sites.

🖥️

Just needs a VPS

The kit brings its own Traefik. No PaaS required. Already running Coolify? It plugs into that instead.

🛡️

Hardened, and auditable

No eval of your config, secrets auto-ignored, and rdk audit checks a live deploy for TLS, headers and exposed debug pages.

02 — Reclaim your Mac

Docker's weight, lifted off your laptop.

Docker Desktop runs a whole Linux VM in the background — RAM reserved, a daemon idling, a disk image that only grows, and fans that notice. rdk moves all of it to the VPS. You can quit Docker Desktop entirely.

On your Mac

Docker Desktop — quit
4–8 GB RAM — freed
Build cache — 0 bytes
Fans — silent

The whole workload moves to the VPS, where you can watch it run — CPU, memory, disk and every container, live.

your VPS · live

details

CPU0.0 %

MEM0.0 %

DISK0.0 %

NET0.0 MB/s

Live resource monitor · component via 21st.dev

03 — How it works

Your Docker CLI points at the VPS over SSH. The build happens there.

   your Mac                                   your VPS
 ┌───────────────┐                      ┌────────────────────────────┐
 │ code + docker │  build ctx over SSH  │  Docker builds the image   │
 │ CLI (no VM)   │ ───────────────────▶ │  Traefik routes + TLS      │
 │ rdk up        │                      │  <app>.dev.domain.com  🔒   │
 └───────────────┘                      └────────────────────────────┘
        ▲                                            │
        └──────────  https://<app>.dev.domain.com ◀──┘

Nothing lands on your Mac, and no editable source folder persists on the server — the app isbaked into the image, not bind-mounted.

04 — Three steps to live

From clone to a certificate in minutes.

Point a wildcard at your VPS

One A record — *.dev → your VPS IP, DNS only (grey cloud). Set it once; you never touch DNS again.

Configure the project

rdk init writes .env.remote — the only file the kit adds to your repo.

cd ~/Code/your-project
rdk init      # writes .env.remote, then edit it
rdk connect   # create the docker context (once)

Deploy

rdk proxy up  # bare VPS only — once per server
rdk up        # build on the VPS + go live

Live at https://<APP_HOST>, with a certificate. 🎉

Already running Coolify? Skip the proxy step and setPROXY_NETWORK=coolify — it already owns ports 80 and 443, and two proxies cannot share them.

05 — The commands

There aren't many. That's on purpose.

The whole surface area, on one screen.

Command	Does
`rdk init`	Scaffold `.env.remote` — the only per-project file
`rdk connect`	Create the Docker context for this project
`rdk up`	Build on the VPS and deploy
`rdk watch`	Live-sync your edits into the container (hot reload)
`rdk logs · ps · sh`	Follow logs · list this project's services · shell in
`rdk vps`	List everything on the VPS — every project, not just yours
`rdk stop`	Stop containers, keep the data
`rdk down`	Destroy — containers, images and volumes
`rdk doctor`	Check prerequisites: docker, SSH, context
`rdk audit`	Security audit of the live deployment

06 — Prefer not to touch a terminal?

There's a VS Code extension. Same engine, same config file.

Sidebar, not shell

Deploy, Watch, Logs, Status, Open in Browser, Destroy — all from the Remote Dev Kit view.

One source of truth

Configure… writes the same .env.remote the CLI reads, so the two can't drift apart.

Mix freely

Deploy from the sidebar, tail logs from your terminal. It's the same stacks underneath.

Extension docs →

Build local · run remote · tear down clean.