【Update in March 2024】Recommended plug-in summary of Visual Studio Code for cloud engineers

Created date: 2025/01/04, Update date: 2025/01/04

Visual Studio Code is an open source code editor provided by Microsoft.
For cloud engineers these days, I think Visual Studio Code is often used when writing IaC code.
In this article, we have compiled the recommended plugins of Visual Studio Code for cloud engineers.

Table of Contents

Those who should read this article
General
Operation environment switching
Git
Markdown
Python
1. 1. Flake8
2. 2. Black Formatter
CloudFormation
Terraform
1. 1. HashiCorp Terraform
2. 2. tfsec

Those who should read this article

Here are some recommended plugins for those who use Visual Studio Code (hereinafter abbreviated: vscode) at cloud engineers (mainly AWS, GCP, Azure).
If you are a front or back -end engineer, please use a plug -in specialized in development languages, such as PHP, Java, and Ruby.

General

1. Japanese Language Pack for Visual Studio Code

VS Marketplace link

It is a plug -in to translate vscode in Japanese.
At the time of initial installation, it is written in English, so if you want to be Japanese, please install it.

2. GitHub Copilot

VS Marketplace link

GitHub Copilot is a plug-in that provides code complementary functions with AI.
If you describe what kind of processing you want to do with function name or comment out, it will propose a code according to it.
There is a 30 -day free trial period, but a paid plan of 10 USD (100 USD per month) is required to continue using it.
In particular, it is described on the official page that it is suitable for Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby, GO, C#, C ++, but can be used in infrastructure such as Terraform and CloudFormation.
I realize that the development speed will change more than double depending on whether there is GitHub Copilot, and it is a particularly recommended plugin.

If you want to prohibit the use of GitHub Copilot in the project, you can use the following settings to the basic settings so that GitHub Copilot is not available in the project.


                    {
                        "github.copilot.enable": {
                            "*": false
                        }
                    }

3. Vscode Google Translate

VS Marketplace link

If you select the text and press the shortcut key (default is Alt + Shift + T ), it will display the translation result by Google Translate.
It can be translated without leaving vscode, so it is useful when you want to think about function names and translate comments and Git commit messages in English.

4. change-case

VS Marketplace link

It is a plug -in that converts the selected text into a camel case, snake case, pascal case, etc.
You can convert it by selecting the text you want to convert the character case and selecting the following menu from the command palette (Windows (Windows is Ctrl + Shift + P , Mac is Command + Shift + P )).
- Change Case camel
- Change Case constant
- Change Case dot
- Change Case kebab
- Change Case lower
- Change Case lowerFirst
- Change Case no
- Change Case param
- Change Case pascal
- Change Case path
- Change Case sentence
- Change Case snake
- Change Case swap
- Change Case title
- Change Case upper
- Change Case upperFirst

5. Draw.io Integration

VS Marketplace link

Draw.io is a free use tool that can be used for free.
You can use the tool from draw.io in the web browser, but if you cannot enter customer information on the web due to internal security rules.You can use the VSCode plugin that can be used offline.
It can be used to create architectural diagrams for AWS, GCP, and Azure.There is only an old icon, but you can use other items other than the standard icons by importing images with copy and paste or importing XML files.

6. Prettier - Code formatter

VS Marketplace link

Prettier is a code formatter that supports various languages.
- The corresponding language is described in What is Prettier? · Prettier .
There are many major Formatters depending on the language, but if you put it in, it will be compatible with some languages.

Operation environment switching

1. Remote - SSH

VS Marketplace link

This is a plug -in for connecting to a remote server using SSH connection.
You can edit the connected remote server files on vscode.
By describing the connection destination information in ~/.ssh/config , the connection information can be centrally managed.

2. WSL（For Windows）

VS Marketplace link

A plug -in to launch vscode that runs on the WSL using WSL (Windows Subsystem for Linux).
It is an essential plug -in for users who use the WSL.

3. Dev Containers

VS Marketplace link

It is a plug -in for building a development environment using a Docker container.
I do not use much, but I can unify the development environment by sharing the file at the time of the DEV CONTAINER building with the team.
However, it is necessary to operate the container, so a PC with some specifications is required.
It may not be much needed for infrastructure engineers, but maybe something can be used?That’s why I introduce it as a recommendation.

Git

1. Git History

VS Marketplace link

It is a major plug -in that allows you to check the Git history.
You can display the history of brunch, editor, file, and compare history between brunch and commit.

2. Git History Diff

VS Marketplace link

Git History is more famous for checking the Git history, but when comparing between brunch, this is recommended because it is personally easier to use.
In Git History, all files differences are displayed in the editor -like when comparing between brunch, but in Git History Diff, the difference is displayed on the sidebar, so which file has a difference.You can see at a glance.

3. GitLens — Git supercharged

VS Marketplace link

Gitlens is also a plug -in to check the git history, but unlike Git History and Git History Diff, it is displayed directly on the code, so you can check the history while looking at the code.
Although the screen is messed up, it cannot be used, but you can check the difference between commits and brunch like Git History.

Markdown

1. Markdown All in One

VS Marketplace link

A plug-in that is packed with functions related to Markdown.The following functions can be used by inserting this plugin.
- Shortcut key (bold, slope, cancellation line, preview, etc.)
- Automatic generation of Table of Contents
- Automatically adjust indent and serial number when editing the list
- Conversion to HTML file
- Table format
- Use of mathematical formulas
- If you select a text and paste the link, it will automatically generate a link.

As for the purpose I am in, I mainly use Linting and automatically generating the table of contents.Other functions use those plugins because other plugins are easier to use.

2. Paste Image

VS Marketplace link

A plug -in that can be pasted into a Markdown file, etc. by pressing the image copied to the clipboard (Windows for Windows, Ctrl + Alt + V , and Command + Alt + V ).
The pasted image is saved in the specified directory, and the path is described in the Markdown file.
By putting the following settings in the basic settings, I create a .Images/ directory in the same directory as the pasted file, and save the image in it.


                    {
                        "pasteImage.basePath": "${currentFileDir}/.images",
                        "pasteImage.path": "${currentFileDir}/.images",
                        "pasteImage.insertPattern": "${imageSyntaxPrefix}.images/${imageFilePath}${imageSyntaxSuffix}"
                    }

3. Markdown Table

VS Marketplace link

This is a plug -in for creating and shaping a table with Markdown.
I tried a variety of table shaping plugins, but I used this because it was properly shaped on a table including multi -byte characters in Japanese.(It may be compatible with fonts)

4. Markdown PDF

VS Marketplace link

A plug -in for converting Markdown files to PDF, HTML, JPEG, PNG, etc.
Markdown all in One also has a PDF conversion function, but I use this because PDF etc. can be selected as a conversion destination of this plug -in.

Python

1. Flake8

VS Marketplace link

This is Linter of Python.Use it to check the quality of the code when writing Python code.For example, you can check the following.
- Is the code length exceeding 100 characters?
- Is there an unused variable ?
- Is there a module imported ?
- etc.

By putting the following settings in the basic settings, you can customize the rules to check with Flake8.
- If you want to unify within the project, you can unify by creating .vscode/Settings.json on the project and writing the following settings.


                    {
                        "flake8.args": [
                            "--ignore=S311,S410,W503",
                            "--max-line-length=170",
                            "--max-complexity=20"
                        ]
                    }

2. Black Formatter

VS Marketplace link

This is a plug -in for formatting Python code.For example, you can format the following.
- Convert single quotation to double quotation
- Convert indent into 4 space
- Convert the empty line between functions to two lines
- etc.

By putting the following settings in the basic settings, you can automatically format when saving Python files.


                    {
                        "[python]": {
                            "editor.insertSpaces": true,
                            "editor.detectIndentation": true,
                            "editor.tabSize": 4,
                            "editor.defaultFormatter": "ms-python.black-formatter",
                            "editor.formatOnSave": true
                        }
                    }

CloudFormation

1. YAML

VS Marketplace link

CloudFormation can also be described in JSON, but it is often described in YAML, so we will introduce plugins for Linting and input complementing of YAML.
By inserting this plug -in, it will display a syntax error of YAML when you open the YAML file.
In addition, when editing a YAML file, it will complement indent and keys.
Since the pseudo function of CloudFormation is not included by default, a syntax error is displayed.By putting the following settings in the basic settings, you can prevent the syntax error displayed.


                    [
                        "yaml.customTags": [
                            "!And sequence",
                            "!Base64 scalar",
                            "!Cidr scalar",
                            "!Condition scalar",
                            "!Equals sequence",
                            "!FindInMap sequence",
                            "!GetAZs scalar",
                            "!GetAtt scalar",
                            "!GetAtt sequence",
                            "!If sequence",
                            "!ImportValue scalar",
                            "!Join sequence",
                            "!Not sequence",
                            "!Or sequence",
                            "!Ref scalar",
                            "!Select sequence",
                            "!Split sequence",
                            "!Sub scalar",
                            "!Sub sequence",
                            "!Transform mapping",
                        ]
                    ]

As you can see from schemastore/src/api/json/catalog.json at master · SchemaStore/schemastore , the initial setting of the plug-in has the following CloudFormation schema settings.


                    [
                        {
                          "name": "AWS CloudFormation",
                          "description": "AWS CloudFormation provides a common language for you to describe and provision all the infrastructure resources in your cloud environment",
                          "fileMatch": [
                            "*.cf.json",
                            "*.cf.yml",
                            "*.cf.yaml",
                            "cloudformation.json",
                            "cloudformation.yml",
                            "cloudformation.yaml"
                          ],
                          "url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/awslabs/goformation/master/schema/cloudformation.schema.json"
                        }
                    ]

If you want to change the format of this file name and the URL that is referenced to the schema, you can change the classification settings of the CloudFormation by inserting the following definitions in the basic settings.
- The following URL references to the following schema refers to CloudFront’s Tokyo Region.I don’t know which referral is better…


                    {
                      "yaml.schemas": {
                            "https://d33vqc0rt9ld30.cloudfront.net/latest/gzip/CloudFormationResourceSpecification.json": [
                                "*.cf.yaml",
                                "*.cf.yml",
                                "cloud*formation/*.yaml",
                                "cloud*formation/*.yml"
                            ]
                        }
                    }

2. CloudFormation Linter

VS Marketplace link

CloudFormation Linter.Unlike the YAML plug -in mentioned above, it displays a syntax error unique to CloudFormation.For example, you can check the following:
- Is the resource name overlapping?
- Is the resource property correct?
- Is the dependencies between resources correct?
- etc.

The rules that can be checked are cfn-lint/docs/rules.md at main · aws-cloudformation/cfn-lint .

By putting the following settings in the basic settings, you can ignore certain rules.


                    {
                        "cfnLint.ignoreRules": [
                            "W3011"
                        ]
                    }

3. Cfn-Nag Linter

VS Marketplace link

CloudFormation Linter. Unlike CloudFormation Linter, you can check security.For example, you can check the following.
- Is the IAM policy contained a wildcard ?
- Is the S3 bucket server access log effective ?
- Is 0.0.0.0/0 specified by the security group inbound rule specified å?
- etc.

The rules that can be checked are described in cdk-nag/RULES.md at main · cdklabs/cdk-nag .

By putting the following settings in the basic settings, you can ignore certain rules.Since cfn-nag cannot describe the rules that are ignored directly to settings.json , create a YAML file with an appropriate name such as .cfn-nag-blacklist.yml and describe the rules to ignore it.You can ignore it.In this example, .cfn-nag-blacklist.yml is created in the .vscode directory, and the following settings are described.


                    {
                        "cfnNagLint.blacklistPath": ".vscode/.cfn-nag-blacklist.yml"
                    }

The contents of .cfn-nag-blacklist.yml can be ignored by describing the contents as follows.If you define the rules to be ignored here, you will be ignored by all projects, so only the rules common to all resources need to be ignored.


                    ---
                    RulesToSuppress:
                      # S3 Bucket should have access logging configured
                      - id: W35
                        reason: No access log settings are required
                      # Resource found with an explicit name, this disallows updates that require replacement of this resource
                      - id: W28
                        reason: The IAM roll name is set by fixed, not dynamic
                      # CloudWatchLogs LogGroup should specify a KMS Key Id to encrypt the log data
                      - id: W84
                        reason: Do not use the encryption of the customer management key

Terraform

1. HashiCorp Terraform

VS Marketplace link

A plug-in that is packed with functions related to Terraform.The following functions can be used by inserting this plugin.
- Input complements for providers, resource names, data sources, attributes, variable names, etc.
- Symphony error check
- Formatting Terraform code (execution of terraform fmt )
- Cooperation with Terraform Cloud
- Terraform Module, Provider Explorer
- Run commands such as terraform init and terraform plan from the command palette

2. tfsec

VS Marketplace link

Terraform’s Linter. Used to check security when writing Terraform code.For example, you can check the following.
- Is the IAM policy contained a wildcard ?
- Is the encryption of the S3 bucket effective ?
- Is 0.0.0.0/0 specified by security group outbound/inbound rules?
- etc.

The rules that can be checked are enable-access-logging - tfsec .