F5 Distributed Cloud Tools for VS Code

Manage F5 Distributed Cloud (F5 XC) resources directly from Visual Studio Code.

Features

• Profile Management: Configure multiple F5 XC tenant connections with secure credential storage
• Resource Explorer: Browse namespaces, resource types, and individual resources in a tree view
• CRUD Operations: Create, view, edit, and delete F5 XC resources
• JSON Validation: Built-in schema validation for resource configurations
• Diff Support: Compare local configurations with remote resources
• Authentication: Support for API Token and P12 certificate authentication

Installation

From VS Code Marketplace

1. Open VS Code
2. Go to Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X)
3. Search for "F5 Distributed Cloud Tools"
4. Click Install

From VSIX

1. Download the .vsix file from the releases page
2. Open VS Code
3. Go to Extensions
4. Click the ... menu and select "Install from VSIX..."
5. Select the downloaded file

Getting Started

Add a Profile

1. Open the F5 XC sidebar (click the F5 icon in the activity bar)
2. Click the + button in the Profiles section
3. Enter your profile details:
   • Name: A friendly name for this connection
   • API URL: Your F5 XC console URL (e.g., https://tenant.console.ves.volterra.io)
   • Auth Type: Choose between API Token or P12 Certificate
4. Enter your credentials when prompted

Browse Resources

Once a profile is configured and set as active:

1. The Resources tree view will show available namespaces
2. Expand a namespace to see resource categories
3. Expand a category to see resource types
4. Expand a resource type to see individual resources

Manage Resources

Right-click on any resource to:

• View: Open the resource configuration in a new editor
• Edit: Modify the resource configuration
• Delete: Remove the resource (with confirmation)
• Compare with Remote: See differences between local and remote versions

Configuration

Access settings via File > Preferences > Settings and search for "F5 XC":

Setting	Description	Default
f5xc.logLevel	Log level (debug, info, warn, error)	info
f5xc.defaultNamespace	Default namespace for new resources	default
f5xc.confirmDelete	Show confirmation before deleting	true
f5xc.autoRefreshInterval	Auto-refresh interval in seconds (0 to disable)	0

Keyboard Shortcuts

Command	Windows/Linux	macOS
Apply Configuration	Ctrl+Shift+A	Cmd+Shift+A
Refresh Explorer	Ctrl+Shift+R	Cmd+Shift+R

Supported Resource Types

The extension supports 236 F5 XC resource types organized by category:

• Load Balancing: HTTP/TCP/UDP Load Balancers, Origin Pools, Health Checks
• Security: App Firewalls, Service Policies, Rate Limiters, WAF Exclusions
• Networking: Virtual Networks, Network Connectors, Network Policies
• Sites: AWS VPC, Azure VNET, GCP VPC, App Stack, SecureMesh
• DNS: DNS Zones, DNS Load Balancers, DNS LB Pools
• IAM: Namespaces, Users, Roles, API Credentials
• Observability: Alert Policies, Alert Receivers, Log Receivers

Development

Prerequisites

• Node.js 24.x - Required for development and building

  • The repository includes .nvmrc file for automatic version management

  • Use nvm to easily switch Node versions:

    nvm use  # Automatically reads .nvmrc and switches to Node 24

• VS Code 1.85.0 or higher

For reproducible builds that match the CI/CD pipeline, see Build Reproduction Guide.

Setup

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/robinmordasiewicz/vscode-f5xc-tools.git
cd vscode-f5xc-tools

# Ensure Node 24 is active (reads .nvmrc)
nvm use

# Install dependencies (use npm ci for deterministic builds)
npm ci

# Compile the extension
npm run compile

Running Tests

# Run unit tests
npm test

# Run unit tests with coverage
npm run test:coverage

# Run integration tests (requires VS Code)
npm run test:integration

# Run all tests
npm run test:all

Development Commands

npm run compile        # Build with webpack
npm run watch          # Watch mode for development
npm run package        # Production build
npm run build:ci-local # CI/CD-aligned build (see BUILD_REPRODUCTION.md)
npm run lint           # Run ESLint
npm run lint:fix       # Auto-fix ESLint issues
npm run typecheck      # TypeScript type checking
npm run format         # Format code with Prettier

Debugging

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host with the extension loaded.

Form Maintenance

The healthcheck form (src/providers/healthcheckFormProvider.ts) must maintain alignment with API spec recommendations to ensure consistency across all resource creation methods (form-based, JSON editing, inline completions).

Validation: Run npm run validate:forms before committing changes

Source of Truth:

• API Specs: docs/specifications/api/domains/virtual.json
• Generated Types: src/generated/resourceTypesBase.ts
• Field Metadata: x-f5xc-recommended-value annotations

Validation Process:

# Validate form defaults match API spec recommendations
npm run validate:forms

# This runs automatically during pretest
npm test

If form defaults need to diverge from specs:

1. Document the reason in code comments with clear justification
2. Add exception to validation script (scripts/validate-form-defaults.ts)
3. Consider filing issue in upstream spec repo if spec is incorrect

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines before submitting pull requests.

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'feat: add amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the Apache License 2.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Support

• GitHub Issues
• F5 Distributed Cloud Documentation