VSCode: Using dev container remotely without local installation of docker

Is there a way, with local VSCode, to develop in a remote container, without local installation of docker (obviously with docker installed on the host)?

No. In the 'advanced containers' docs it says

You can use the Docker CLI locally with a remote Docker host by setting local environment variables like DOCKER_HOST, DOCKER_CERT_PATH, DOCKER_TLS_VERIFY. Since VS Code uses the Docker CLI under the hood, you can use these same environment variables to connect the Remote - Containers extension to the same remote host.

I added the bolding. Note that it is referring to the client not the remote there. This is from Developing inside a container on a remote Docker host.

Though not officially supported, it seems that it is possible to install Docker CLI without the daemon...

Is it possible to install only the docker cli and not the daemon

Maybe you can do this without admin?

That would, though, certainly be swimming against the grain. Probably your best bet is to stick with the 'remote - SSH' setup you've got going.

I just achieved this using the solution linked by @Tom (but with admin rights, I didn't test it without them)

I downloaded the docker-cli from the docker-cli-builder github repo and created the docker context successfully.

After selecting it in VSCode, it has started using the context allowing me to see the containers on the remote machine.

We have build a small tool called LiveSync which could solve your problem. You simply run

python3 -m pip install livesync
livesync <virtual-machine>

from inside your vscode workspace. It will start watching for changes and push them immediately to the remote. Hence you can code locally (even run your tests) and have all changes synced with your target system.