code-server: Cannot sign in to Github account

I had the same issue and was able to figure out a solution. I took the url that a regular instance of VSCode spits out and used it to reverse engineer how the url is put together.

A auth url from code-server looks like this: https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=https://example.com/callback%3Fvscode-requestId%xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx%26vscode-scheme%3Dcode-oss%26vscode-authority%3Dvscode.github-authentication%26vscode-path%3D%252Fdid-authenticate&scope=repo&state=state-from-code-server&responseType=code

What I did was take the state parameter at the end of the auth url given by code-server and insert it into the url below which is derived from the url a normal version of VSCode spits out.

A final url will look like this: https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate&scope=repo&state=insert-state-from-code-server-here&responseType=code

After going to the page you will get an auth token that looks something like this: vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate?code=secretcode&state=magicstate

Then, back in code-server you can click signing into github.com in the task bar and paste the auth token.

Hope this helps!

I had the same issue and was able to figure out a solution. I took the url that a regular instance of VSCode spits out and used it to reverse engineer how the url is put together.

A auth url from code-server looks like this: https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=https://example.com/callback%3Fvscode-requestId%xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx%26vscode-scheme%3Dcode-oss%26vscode-authority%3Dvscode.github-authentication%26vscode-path%3D%252Fdid-authenticate&scope=repo&state=state-from-code-server&responseType=code

What I did was take the state parameter at the end of the auth url given by code-server and insert it into the url below which is derived from the url a normal version of VSCode spits out.

A final url will look like this: https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate&scope=repo&state=insert-state-from-code-server-here&responseType=code

After going to the page you will get an auth token that looks something like this: vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate?code=secretcode&state=magicstate

Then, back in code-server you can click signing into github.com in the task bar and paste the auth token.

Hope this helps!

It gave me Sign in failed: Error: network error

Definitely need to look into this, I took a swing a few weeks ago but wasn’t able to figure it out at the time.

@vordenken that may depend on the versions you are using. I’ve created myself another instruction for newer version recently:

1. Try `git clone` in the VS Code instance console.
2. The popup will appear to authenticate to GitHub.
3. Allow the extension to authenticate (it doesn't look very convincing, but
this is the account of the VS Code Server author)
4. You will be redirected to a non-working page. Do not close it.
5. Copy the browser address of your VS Code instance & paste it instead the
part before `/callback(...)` part of the non-working page. Do not close it.
6. At the end of the address there will be `?code=(...)&state=(...)`,
copy these.
7. Go to the VS Code instance.
8. In the status bar there's something like `GitHub: authenticating...`,
click it.
9. Paste values to the format
`vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate?code=(...)&(...)`
and put into the popup.
10. Voila, you are logged in.

It’s a bit different than the workaround above, there are slightly different URIs.

The above stopped working for me too some time ago already, so now I’ve set up git credentials helper to store my credentials, and when Signing in to GitHub.com... is about to fail, it asks for username and password. You can generate your personal access token on GitHub and use it there. The credential helper will take care of the remaining stuff. Just remember, that the credentials will be stored in the container, so it may be a security issue if you plan to share the container.

If anyone wants to modify GitHub workflow files, I modified the URL a bit:

https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate&scope=repo,workflow&state=insert-state-from-code-server-here&responseType=code

I had the same issue and was able to figure out a solution. I took the url that a regular instance of VSCode spits out and used it to reverse engineer how the url is put together.

A auth url from code-server looks like this: https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=https://example.com/callback%3Fvscode-requestId%xxxxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx%26vscode-scheme%3Dcode-oss%26vscode-authority%3Dvscode.github-authentication%26vscode-path%3D%252Fdid-authenticate&scope=repo&state=state-from-code-server&responseType=code

What I did was take the state parameter at the end of the auth url given by code-server and insert it into the url below which is derived from the url a normal version of VSCode spits out.

A final url will look like this: https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate&scope=repo&state=insert-state-from-code-server-here&responseType=code

After going to the page you will get an auth token that looks something like this: vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate?code=secretcode&state=magicstate

Then, back in code-server you can click signing into github.com in the task bar and paste the auth token.

Hope this helps!

Sorry for comment to a closed issue. I confirm this solution still works. However, I need to copy paste quickly. Otherwise, the state expires in seconds.

Unfortunately the workaround doesn’t work for me. I installed code-server using the script & reverseproxying with nginx (if this is relevant).

Pasting the vscode:// part after clicking on “Signing in to GitHub.com…” doesn’t do anything, no error message. A few seconds later the “Signing in to GitHub.com”-party disappears but I’m not logged in.

OMG, I just couldn’t find your post on my own googling. Luckily Quietsy from the linuxserver group helped point me your way. I will say that the structure changed a little bit for me so I’ll paste my case for future reference. Thank you again for troubleshooting this.

https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=vscode://vscode.github-authentication/did-authenticate&scope=repo&state=PASTE-CODE-HERE&responseType=code

https://vscode-auth.github.com/authorize/?callbackUri=https://code.example.com/callback%XXXXX-requestId%XXXXX-XXXXXX-XXXXX%26vscode-scheme%3XXXX-XXXX%26vscode-authority%XXXXXXgithub-authentication%26vscode-path%3D%252Fdid-authenticate&scope=read:user repo user:email&state=COPY-CODE-HERE&responseType=code