by Joche Ojeda | Feb 4, 2026 | A.I
How GitHub Copilot Became My Sysadmin, Writer, and Creative Partner
When people talk about GitHub Copilot, they almost always describe it the same way: an AI that writes code.
That’s true—Copilot can write code—but treating it as “just a coding tool” is like calling a smartphone
“a device for making phone calls.”
The moment you start using Copilot inside Visual Studio Code, something important changes:
it stops being a code generator and starts behaving more like a context-aware work partner.
Not because it magically knows everything—but because VS Code gives it access to the things that matter:
your files, your folders, your terminals, your scripts, your logs, and even your remote machines.
That’s why this article isn’t about code autocomplete. It’s about the other side of Copilot:
the part that’s useful for people who are building, maintaining, writing, organizing, diagnosing, or shipping
real work—especially the messy kind.
Copilot as a Linux Server Sidekick
One of my most common uses for Copilot has nothing to do with application logic.
I use it for Linux server setup and diagnostics.
If you run Copilot in VS Code and you also use Remote development (SSH), you essentially get a workspace that can:
- Connect to Linux servers over SSH
- Edit remote configuration files safely
- Run commands and scripts in an integrated terminal
- Search through logs and system files quickly
- Manage folders like they’re local projects
That means Copilot isn’t “helping me code.” It’s helping me operate.
I often set up hosting and administration tools like Virtualmin or Webmin, or configure other infrastructure:
load balancers, web servers, SSL, firewall rules, backups—whatever the server needs to become stable and usable.
In those situations Copilot becomes the assistant that speeds up the most annoying parts:
the remembering, the searching, the cross-checking, and the “what does this error actually mean?”
What this looks like in practice
Instead of bouncing between browser tabs and old notes, I’ll use Copilot directly in the workspace:
- “Explain what this service error means and suggest the next checks.”
- “Read this log snippet and list the most likely causes.”
- “Generate a safe Nginx config for this domain layout.”
- “Create a hardening checklist for a fresh VPS.”
- “What would you verify before assuming this is a network issue?”
The benefit isn’t that Copilot is always right. The benefit is that it helps you move faster with less friction—
and it keeps your work inside the same place where the files and commands actually live.
Copilot as an Operations Brain (Not Just a Code Brain)
Here’s the real mental shift:
Copilot doesn’t need to write code to be useful. It needs context.
In VS Code, that context includes the entire workspace: configuration files, scripts, documentation, logs,
command history, and whatever you’re currently working on. Once you realize that, Copilot becomes useful for:
- Debugging infrastructure problems
- Translating “error messages” into “actionable steps”
- Drafting repeatable setup scripts
- Creating operational runbooks and checklists
- Turning tribal knowledge into documentation
It’s especially valuable when the work is messy and practical—when you’re not trying to invent something new,
you’re trying to make something work.
Copilot as a Writing Workspace
Now switch gears. One of the best non-coding Copilot stories I’ve seen is my cousin Alexandra.
She’s writing a small storybook.
She started the way a lot of people do: writing by hand, collecting pages, keeping ideas in scattered places.
At one point she was using Copilot through Microsoft Office, but I suggested a different approach:
Use VS Code as the creative workspace.
Not because VS Code is “a writing tool,” but because it gives you structure for free:
- A folder becomes the book
- Each chapter becomes a file
- Markdown becomes a simple, readable format
- Git (optionally) becomes version history
- Copilot becomes the editor, brainstormer, and consistency checker
In that setup, Copilot isn’t writing the story for you. It’s helping you shape it:
rewrite a paragraph, suggest alternatives, tighten dialogue, keep a consistent voice,
summarize a scene, or generate a few options when you’re stuck.
Yes, Even Illustrations (Within Reason)
This surprises people: you can also support simple illustrations inside a VS Code workspace.
Not full-on painting, obviously—but enough for many small projects.
VS Code can handle things like vector graphics (SVG), simple diagram formats, and text-driven visuals.
If you describe a scene, Copilot can help generate a starting SVG illustration, and you can iterate from there.
It’s not about replacing professional design—it’s about making it easier to prototype, experiment,
and keep everything (text + assets) together in one organized place.
The Hidden Superpower: VS Code’s Ecosystem
Copilot is powerful on its own. But its real strength comes from where it lives.
VS Code brings the infrastructure:
- Extensions for almost any workflow
- Remote development over SSH
- Integrated terminals and tasks
- Search across files and folders
- Versioning and history
- Cross-platform consistency
So whether you’re configuring a server, drafting a runbook, organizing a book, or building a folder-based project,
Copilot adapts because the workspace defines the context.
The Reframe
If there’s one idea worth keeping, it’s this:
GitHub Copilot is not a coding tool. It’s a general-purpose work companion that happens to be excellent at code.
Once you stop limiting it to source files, it becomes:
- A sysadmin assistant
- A documentation partner
- A creative editor
- A workflow accelerator
- A “second brain” inside the tools you already use
And the best part is that none of this requires a new platform or a new habit.
It’s the same VS Code workspace you already know—just used for more than code.
by Joche Ojeda | Mar 27, 2023 | Apache, Linux, Ubuntu, Uncategorized, WebServers
Cloud Storage
Cloud storage is useful for mobile and web apps because it provides an efficient and scalable way to store and retrieve data from anywhere in the world.
With cloud storage, mobile and web apps can easily scale their storage needs up or down depending on usage patterns. This means that developers don’t need to worry about running out of storage space or having to invest in expensive hardware to handle increased storage needs.
Files stored in the cloud can be accessed from anywhere in the world, as long as there is an internet connection. This makes it easy for mobile and web apps to store and retrieve data from different locations and devices.
Cloud services are typically offered as pay-as-you-go pricing model, which means that developers only pay for the storage and resources they actually use. This makes cloud storage an affordable option for mobile and web apps, especially those with limited budgets. also cloud providers typically have robust security measures in place to protect data from unauthorized access and ensure data privacy.
Amazon S3
Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) is a cloud-based storage service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It is not an open-source technology, meaning that the source code of the service is not available for modification or redistribution by users. Instead, it is a proprietary technology owned and operated by AWS.
S3 Compatible services
An S3 compatible service is a cloud-based storage service that is designed to be compatible with the Amazon S3 (Simple Storage Service) API. This means that it provides a similar interface and functionality as Amazon S3, allowing users to easily migrate data and applications between the two services.
Some examples of S3 compatible services include:
- Wasabi: A cloud storage service that provides an S3-compatible interface with no egress fees or API request fees.
- DigitalOcean Spaces: A cloud storage service from DigitalOcean that provides an S3-compatible API with a simple pricing model.
- Google Cloud Storage: A cloud storage service from Google Cloud Platform that provides an S3-compatible API along with additional features like object versioning and lifecycle management.
- IBM Cloud Object Storage: A cloud storage service from IBM that provides an S3-compatible API along with features like built-in encryption and multi-region support.
- Contabo: is a cheap alternative with unlimited free transfer to AWS S3 and other vendors. Billing is simple and month-to-month at all-inclusive rate and you can easily migrate from S3
Simple Storage Service gives you a URL for each file by assigning a unique URL to each object stored in the S3 bucket. The URL includes the bucket name, the key (or path) to the object, and the S3 endpoint, which is used to access the object.
For example, if you have an S3 bucket named “my-bucket” and a file named “my-file.jpg” stored in the bucket, the URL to access the file would be:
https://my-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com/my-file.jpg
As you can see the URL includes the domain name of your cloud provider but even when there is nothing technically wrong with it, can bring some disadvantages.
Some common problems on how URLs are created in S3 storage
Here are some of the of disadvantages of not using a custom domain with Amazon S3 storage can cause several problems, including:
- URL appearance: When you access an S3 bucket using the default endpoint, the URL contains the bucket name and the Amazon S3 endpoint. The resulting URL can be long and difficult to remember, which can cause issues with branding and user experience.
- SEO: Using the default S3 endpoint can also negatively impact your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts, as search engines may view the URL as less trustworthy or relevant.
- SSL certificate: If you access an S3 bucket using the default endpoint, the SSL certificate presented to the user will be issued for the Amazon S3 endpoint, rather than your custom domain name. This can cause warnings to appear in the user’s browser, which can negatively impact trust and user experience.
- CORS: If you are using cross-origin resource sharing (CORS) to allow access to your S3 bucket from other domains, the default S3 endpoint may not allow those requests due to security restrictions.
- Maintenance: If you are using the default S3 endpoint, any changes to the S3 bucket or endpoint URLs may require updates to all references to the S3 bucket, which can be time-consuming and error-prone.
Overall, using a custom domain with an S3 storage can provide several benefits, including improved branding, better user experience, and stronger SEO.
There are several ways to provide a solution for the custom domain problem, most of the solutions you will find on the internet are related to cloud providers like Cloud Flare but in this article I want to propose a different approach of showing how this can be fixed using apache web server as a proxy, my goal is not to provide a step by step guide on how to setup a proxy but to provide the conceptual framework to understand how the proxy works
What is Apache
The Apache HTTP Server, commonly referred to as Apache web server, is a free and open-source cross-platform web server software developed and maintained by the Apache Software Foundation. It is one of the most widely used web servers in the world, serving as the backbone for many popular websites and web applications.
Apache web server is designed to be highly configurable and extensible, with a modular architecture that allows users to add or remove functionality as needed. It supports a wide range of features, including dynamic content generation, SSL/TLS encryption, proxying and caching, and authentication and authorization.
Apache web server is also highly portable, running on a wide range of operating systems including Windows, Linux, macOS, and Unix. It can be configured using a variety of tools and languages, including configuration files, command-line utilities, and programming languages such as Perl, PHP, and Python.
Overall, Apache web server is a versatile and powerful web server that provides a stable and reliable platform for serving web content and applications.
What is an Apache proxy
An Apache proxy, also known as an Apache reverse proxy, is a module of the Apache HTTP Server that allows the server to act as an intermediary between clients and other servers.
With an Apache proxy, incoming requests from clients are forwarded to one or more backend servers, which handle the request and return a response. The Apache proxy then forwards the response back to the client.
This can be useful for a variety of reasons, including load balancing, caching, and security. For example, an Apache proxy can be used to distribute incoming traffic across multiple backend servers to improve performance and availability. It can also be used to cache responses from backend servers to reduce the load on those servers and improve response times.
In addition, an Apache proxy can be used to add an extra layer of security to incoming traffic, by acting as a firewall and only allowing traffic from trusted sources.
Setting up an Apache proxy involves configuring the Apache HTTP Server to act as a reverse proxy and directing traffic to one or more backend servers. This can be done using the Apache mod_proxy module, which provides the necessary functionality to act as a reverse proxy.
Apache proxy flow
+-------------------+ +-------------+
+----------+ | Apache Web Server | |Amazon S3 |
| | | (Virtual Host) | | |
| Client +----> | example.com +----> | bucket-name|
| | | (HTTPS) | | |
+----------+ +-------------------+ +-------------+
Apache proxy configuration
#this is the configuration of the virtual hosting
SuexecUserGroup "#1010" "#1010"
ServerName files.jocheojeda.com
DocumentRoot /home/files/public_html
ErrorLog /var/log/virtualmin/files.jocheojeda.com_error_log
CustomLog /var/log/virtualmin/files.jocheojeda.com_access_log combined
ScriptAlias /cgi-bin/ /home/files/cgi-bin/
ScriptAlias /awstats/ /home/files/cgi-bin/
DirectoryIndex index.php index.php4 index.php5 index.htm index.html
<Directory /home/files/public_html>
Options -Indexes +IncludesNOEXEC +SymLinksIfOwnerMatch +ExecCGI
Require all granted
AllowOverride All Options=ExecCGI,Includes,IncludesNOEXEC,Indexes,MultiViews,SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php
AddHandler fcgid-script .php
AddHandler fcgid-script .php7.4
FCGIWrapper /home/files/fcgi-bin/php7.4.fcgi .php
FCGIWrapper /home/files/fcgi-bin/php7.4.fcgi .php7.4
</Directory>
<Directory /home/files/cgi-bin>
Require all granted
AllowOverride All Options=ExecCGI,Includes,IncludesNOEXEC,Indexes,MultiViews,SymLinksIfOwnerMatch
</Directory>
ProxyPass /.well-known !
RewriteEngine on
RemoveHandler .php
RemoveHandler .php7.4
FcgidMaxRequestLen 1073741824
<Files awstats.pl>
AuthName "files.jocheojeda.com statistics"
AuthType Basic
AuthUserFile /home/files/.awstats-htpasswd
require valid-user
</Files>
#these 2 likes are the one who forward the traffic from the custom domain files.jocheojeda.com to the contabo storage
ProxyPass / https://usc1.contabostorage.com/ade25b1c43c1457b87f0716a629d0ff8:files.jocheojeda/
ProxyPassReverse / https://usc1.contabostorage.com/ade25b1c43c1457b87f0716a629d0ff8:files.jocheojeda/
SSLProxyEngine on
Where the magic happens
You only need 2 lines in the configuration when you already have an apache virtual hosting already running to proxy the request from the client to the S3 storage service
ProxyPass / https://usc1.contabostorage.com/ade25b1c43c1457b87f0716a629d0ff8:files.jocheojeda/
ProxyPassReverse / https://usc1.contabostorage.com/ade25b1c43c1457b87f0716a629d0ff8:files.jocheojeda/ SSLProxyEngine on
Conclusions
As you can see is really easy to fix the problem of custom domains for an S3 storage, specially if you already have an apache webserver with virtual hosting running
