[linspace]

> I don't want to do all development-related tasks in my web browser

You don't need to use a browser to do remote development. Emacs has been able to remote dev through SSH for ages. Not only opening files, but also launching processes. VSCode also has this feature via an extension that works automatically.

> I want to be able to experiment with the software in various local setups

Precisely. Not everyone has a suitable local machine, maybe because of security, maybe because access to data or maybe because needed hardware.

> Are people really clamoring for this feature?

Absolutely. I think it's truly part of the success of jupyter notebooks, to put an example.