diff --git a/src/cli.ts b/src/cli.ts
index cc866de28..d06b7d2c5 100644
--- a/src/cli.ts
+++ b/src/cli.ts
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ import pkg from "vs/platform/product/node/package";
 
 import { MainServer, WebviewServer } from "vs/server/src/server";
 import "vs/server/src/tar";
-import { generateCertificate, generatePassword } from "vs/server/src/util";
+import { generateCertificate, generatePassword, open } from "vs/server/src/util";
 
 interface Args extends ParsedArgs {
 	"allow-http"?: boolean;
@@ -192,6 +192,11 @@ const main = async (): Promise<void> => {
 	} else {
 		console.log("  - Not serving HTTPS");
 	}
+
+	if (args["open"]) {
+		await open(serverAddress).catch(console.error);
+		console.log("  - Opened URL");
+	}
 };
 
 main().catch((error) => {
diff --git a/src/util.ts b/src/util.ts
index a4f3ac791..a4995030a 100644
--- a/src/util.ts
+++ b/src/util.ts
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+import * as cp from "child_process";
 import * as crypto from "crypto";
 import * as fs from "fs";
 import * as os from "os";
@@ -76,3 +77,40 @@ export const getMediaMime = (filePath?: string): string => {
 		".json": "application/json",
 	}[extname(filePath)]) || "text/plain";
 };
+
+export const isWsl = async (): Promise<boolean> => {
+	return process.platform === "linux"
+		&& os.release().toLowerCase().indexOf("microsoft") !== -1
+		|| (await util.promisify(fs.readFile)("/proc/version", "utf8"))
+			.toLowerCase().indexOf("microsoft") !== -1;
+};
+
+export const open = async (url: string): Promise<void> => {
+	let command: string;
+	const args = <string[]>[];
+	const options = <cp.SpawnOptions>{};
+	const platform = await isWsl() ? "wsl" : process.platform;
+	switch (platform) {
+		case "darwin":
+			command = "open";
+			break;
+		case "win32":
+		case "wsl":
+			command = platform === "wsl" ? "cmd.exe" : "cmd";
+			args.push("/c", "start", '""', "/b");
+			url = url.replace(/&/g, "^&");
+		default:
+			command = "xdg-open";
+			break;
+	}
+	args.push(url);
+	const proc = cp.spawn(command, args, options);
+	await new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+		proc.on("error", reject);
+		proc.on("close", (code) => {
+			return code !== 0
+				? reject(new Error(`Failed to open with code ${code}`))
+				: resolve();
+		});
+	});
+};