VSCode & JetBrains SOCKS5 VPN Namespace

Isolated OpenVPN connection for VSCode & JetBrains IDEs - Keep your host IP while your IDEs use VPN

🌟 Overview

This project provides scripts to create an isolated network environment where only your IDEs (VSCode, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, DataGrip, etc.) use a VPN connection, while the rest of your system maintains its original IP address.

Why This Matters

In countries with internet filtering or restrictive networks:

• Developers need VPN to access IDE extensions, plugins, GitHub, and development resources
• BUT turning on system-wide VPN prevents:
  • Colleagues from accessing your local development servers
  • Testing applications on local network
  • Accessing local network resources
  • Using your real IP for legitimate purposes

The Solution

This project creates an isolated network namespace (on Linux) or equivalent isolation (macOS/Windows) that:

• ✅ Routes only IDE traffic through VPN (VSCode, JetBrains IDEs)
• ✅ Keeps your host IP unchanged for all other applications
• ✅ Allows local network access for colleagues and testing
• ✅ Provides true traffic isolation

🎯 Supported IDEs

✅ Fully Tested & Supported

• VSCode - Visual Studio Code
• IntelliJ IDEA - Ultimate & Community
• PyCharm - Professional & Community
• WebStorm - JavaScript & TypeScript IDE
• DataGrip - Database IDE
• PhpStorm - PHP IDE
• GoLand - Go IDE
• CLion - C/C++ IDE
• Rider - .NET IDE
• RubyMine - Ruby IDE
• AppCode - iOS/macOS IDE
• Android Studio - Built on IntelliJ platform

🚀 Quick Start

Choose Your Platform

🐧 Linux Arch • Ubuntu • Fedora Manjaro • openSUSE • Kali Mint • Pop!_OS • RHEL Zorin • Parrot cd linux/<your-distro> chmod +x connect.sh ./connect.sh

🍎 macOS View Instructions cd mac chmod +x connect.sh ./connect.sh ⚠️ Limited isolation (no namespace support)

🪟 Windows View Instructions cd windows .\connect.ps1 Requires WSL2

📋 How It Works

Linux (Full Isolation)

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                  Your Computer                  │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                 │
│  🌐 Host Network (Real IP: 192.168.1.100)     │
│  ├─ Browser: Uses real IP ✓                    │
│  ├─ Other apps: Use real IP ✓                  │
│  └─ Local servers: Accessible to team ✓        │
│                                                 │
│  ╔═══════════════════════════════════════╗     │
│  ║  🔒 VPN Namespace (Isolated)          ║     │
│  ║  ├─ OpenVPN: VPN IP (5.6.7.8)         ║     │
│  ║  ├─ SOCKS5 Proxy                      ║     │
│  ║  └─ VSCode: Uses VPN IP ✓             ║     │
│  ╚═══════════════════════════════════════╝     │
│                                                 │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Windows/WSL2

Uses WSL2 to provide the same Linux namespace isolation, with port forwarding to Windows.

macOS

Limited isolation using routing and SOCKS proxy (no native namespace support).

🎯 Features

• ✨ Interactive Setup - No manual configuration editing required
• 🎨 Multi-IDE Support - Works with VSCode and all JetBrains IDEs
• 🔍 Auto-Detection - Automatically detects network interface and IP
• 📦 Dependency Management - Offers to install missing packages
• 🎨 Colored Output - Clear, beautiful terminal interface
• 💾 Configuration Saving - Saves setup for easy disconnect
• 🧪 Built-in Testing - Verifies proxy functionality including JetBrains plugins
• 🔄 Easy Disconnect - Clean teardown of all resources
• 📚 Comprehensive Docs - Platform-specific guides for each OS and IDE

📖 Documentation

Getting Started

• QUICKSTART.md - Fast setup guide for all platforms
• USAGE_GUIDE.md - How to configure VSCode, JetBrains IDEs, browsers, and more
• JETBRAINS_GUIDE.md - 📘 Comprehensive JetBrains IDEs configuration guide
• TESTING.md - Comprehensive testing procedures
• CHANGELOG.md - Version history and changes

Platform-Specific Guides

• Linux Distributions:

  • Arch Linux
  • Ubuntu / Debian
  • Fedora / RHEL / CentOS
  • Manjaro
  • openSUSE
  • Kali Linux
  • Parrot OS

• Other Platforms:

  • macOS
  • Windows (WSL2)

Additional Resources

• SECURITY.md - Security best practices and hardening
• CONTRIBUTING.md - How to contribute
• PROJECT_SUMMARY.md - Technical architecture overview

🛠️ Requirements

All Platforms

• OpenVPN configuration file (.ovpn) - See Preparing Your OpenVPN Config below
• Root/Administrator privileges

Linux

• openvpn - VPN client
• dante-server (or dante) - SOCKS5 server
• socat - Socket relay
• curl - HTTP client
• iproute2 - Network namespaces
• iptables - Firewall rules

macOS

• Homebrew package manager
• Same packages as Linux (installed via brew)

Windows

• Windows 10 version 2004+ or Windows 11
• WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux 2)
• Ubuntu or another Linux distribution in WSL2

📋 Preparing Your OpenVPN Config

Before running the scripts, you need an OpenVPN configuration file (.ovpn).

Where to Get Your .ovpn File

1. VPN Provider: Download from your VPN service (NordVPN, ProtonVPN, ExpressVPN, etc.)
2. Corporate VPN: Request from your IT department
3. Self-hosted: Export from your OpenVPN server

Setting Up Your Config File

1. Save your .ovpn file in an accessible location:

# Create a VPN directory
mkdir -p ~/vpn

# Move your downloaded config there
mv ~/Downloads/your-vpn.ovpn ~/vpn/config.ovpn

# Secure the file
chmod 600 ~/vpn/config.ovpn

2. When the script asks for the path, provide the FULL absolute path:

Enter full path to your OpenVPN config file: /home/yourusername/vpn/config.ovpn

Important:

• Use absolute paths (e.g., /home/user/vpn/config.ovpn)
• Don't use ~ (may not expand with sudo)
• Common locations: /etc/openvpn/, ~/vpn/, ~/Documents/vpn/

3. (Optional) Add credentials for automatic login:

If your VPN requires username/password:

# Create credentials file
cat > ~/vpn/credentials.txt <<EOF
your_username
your_password
EOF

# Secure it
chmod 600 ~/vpn/credentials.txt

# Add to your .ovpn file
echo "auth-user-pass /home/yourusername/vpn/credentials.txt" >> ~/vpn/config.ovpn

4. Test your config before using the script:

# Test connection
sudo openvpn --config ~/vpn/config.ovpn

# If it connects successfully, press Ctrl+C
# You're now ready to use it with this script!

🎬 Usage Example

Connect

$ cd linux/Ubuntu
$ ./connect.sh

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║  VSCode SOCKS5 VPN Namespace Setup                      ║
║  Isolated OpenVPN connection for VSCode                 ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

✓ All dependencies found

Configuration Setup
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Enter namespace name [vpnspace]: 
Enter full path to your OpenVPN config file: /home/user/vpn/config.ovpn
Enter your main network interface [eth0]: 
Enter your host IP address [192.168.1.100]: 
Enter SOCKS5 port inside namespace [1080]: 
Enter local proxy port (exposed to host) [1081]: 
Enter DNS server for namespace [8.8.8.8]: 
Launch VSCode with proxy after setup? (y/n) [y]: 

✓ VPN connected successfully! Assigned IP: 10.8.0.2
✓ Proxy working inside namespace! Public IP: 5.6.7.8
✓ Proxy successfully accessible from host!

╔══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║              Setup Completed Successfully!               ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Proxy address: socks5://10.200.200.2:1081
VPN public IP: 5.6.7.8

✓ VSCode launched

Using the SOCKS5 Proxy

Once connected, you can configure various applications to use the proxy:

VSCode:

code --proxy-server="socks5://10.200.200.2:1081"

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.):

• Go to: Settings → Appearance & Behavior → System Settings → HTTP Proxy
• Select: Manual proxy configuration → SOCKS
• Host: 10.200.200.2, Port: 1081

Git:

git config --global http.proxy socks5://10.200.200.2:1081

cURL:

curl --socks5-hostname 10.200.200.2:1081 https://api.github.com

📖 For complete configuration guides, see USAGE_GUIDE.md

This guide includes detailed instructions for:

• Visual Studio Code (4 methods)
• All JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.)
• Web Browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Brave)
• Git (HTTPS and SSH)
• Docker
• Terminal applications (curl, wget, ssh)
• And many more...

Disconnect

$ ./disconnect.sh

✓ Processes terminated
✓ Namespace removed
✓ Virtual interfaces removed
✓ iptables rules removed
✓ Temporary files cleaned
✓ All resources successfully cleaned

System is now clean. You can safely re-run the connect script anytime.

🔧 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Permission Denied"

Solution: Run with sudo or ensure your user is in the correct group:

# Linux
sudo usermod -aG wheel $USER  # Arch/Fedora
sudo usermod -aG sudo $USER   # Ubuntu/Debian

"dante-server not found"

Solution: Package name varies by distribution:

• Ubuntu/Debian: dante-server
• Arch/Manjaro: dante
• Fedora/RHEL: dante-server (requires EPEL)

"VPN connection failed"

Solution: Check OpenVPN logs:

cat /tmp/openvpn_<namespace>.log

DNS not working

Solution: Try different DNS servers when prompted (1.1.1.1, 9.9.9.9)

Platform-Specific Issues

See the README.md file in each platform directory for detailed troubleshooting.

🤝 Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

Areas for Contribution

• Support for additional Linux distributions
• Improved error handling
• Additional features
• Documentation improvements
• Bug fixes

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

• Original concept developed for developers in countries with internet filtering
• Inspired by the need for isolated VPN connections during development
• Built with love for the open-source community

💡 Use Cases

Development in Restricted Countries

• Access VSCode extensions marketplace through VPN
• Access GitHub and development resources
• Keep local IP for team collaboration
• Test local applications without VPN interference

Penetration Testing (Kali/Parrot)

• Separate development (VSCode) traffic from pentesting traffic
• Different VPN connections for different activities
• Maintain multiple isolated connections

Privacy-Conscious Development

• Route sensitive development traffic through VPN
• Keep regular browsing on normal connection
• Separate work and personal traffic

Multi-VPN Scenarios

• Run multiple VPN connections simultaneously
• Each in its own isolated namespace
• No conflicts between connections

📞 Support

• Issues: GitHub Issues
• Discussions: GitHub Discussions

🌐 Tested Platforms

Linux (Full Support - Network Namespace Isolation)

• ✅ Arch Linux
• ✅ Manjaro
• ✅ Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04, 24.04)
• ✅ Linux Mint
• ✅ Pop!_OS
• ✅ Zorin OS
• ✅ Fedora (37+)
• ✅ RHEL (8, 9)
• ✅ CentOS Stream
• ✅ Rocky Linux
• ✅ AlmaLinux
• ✅ openSUSE Leap
• ✅ openSUSE Tumbleweed
• ✅ Kali Linux
• ✅ Parrot Security OS

macOS (Limited Support - SOCKS Proxy Only)

• ⚠️ macOS Big Sur (11.x) and newer

Windows (Full Support via WSL2)

• ✅ Windows 10 (version 2004+)
• ✅ Windows 11

🔒 Security

This tool is designed for legitimate development purposes. Always ensure:

• You have the right to use VPN services in your location
• Your VPN provider allows this type of connection
• You're complying with your organization's network policies
• Your OpenVPN credentials are stored securely

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Made with ❤️ for developers facing internet restrictions

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