Step By Step - Connect Visual Studio Code to AWS

This step by step guide will cover how to connect Visual Studio Code to AWS using the AWS Toolkit. While this guide is optional, connecting Visual Studio Code to AWS using the AWS Toolkit makes it easier to use Visual Studio Code when building AWS Solutions. Note the author has hidden certain fields such as email addesses, account names, codes and credentials, etc. for security purposes using colored boxes.

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Ensure you have a valid email address.

Ensure you have a smartphone with a Two Factor Authentication tool such as Microsoft Authenticator.

Step By Step - Configure a GitHub Account

Step By Step - Install Visual Studio Code

Step By Step - Install and Configure Git

Step By Step - Connect Visual Studio Code to GitHub

Step By Step - Create an AWS Account

Step 1: In VS Code on the right side menu bar, choose the "Extension" option.

Step 2: In the text box, type in "AWS Toolkit." You should see the AWS Toolkit option show up in the list. Click the "Install" button on the AWS Toolkit option.

Step 3: You may be prompted by VS Code to ensure you trust the publish. Click the "Trust Publisher & Install" option.

Step 4: You may notice some pop ups on the left side of your screen. You can ignore them for now.

Step 5: Once the installation is complete, you should notice a new menu option on the right side menu bar called "AWS."

Step 6: Before proceeding, you should confirm that the AWS CLI toolkit is installed. To check, open a terminal window by selecting "Terminal" and then "New Terminal."

Step 7: In the command prompt window, type "aws --version" and confirm that the AWS CLI verions is 2 or higher.

Step 8: If you do not have AWS CLI version 2 or higher installed, please see the AWS documentation on how to proceed here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/getting-started-install.html Note, per the document, that if you have a lower version of AWS CLI, you need to follow the migration instructions here: https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cliv2-migration.html

Step 9: Once you have confirmed AWS CLI version 2 or higher is installed, click on the "AWS" icon in VS Code. You will be prompted to select a method to sign into your AWS Account since VS Code needs your AWS credentials to access the AWS Account. Choose the "Console credentials" option and click "Continue."

Step 10: You will need to enter your profile name. This was the admin profile that you created in the previous guide (setting up the AWS Account). You also need to select the correct Region. Once done, click "Continue." If you don't know what Region to enter here, the steps for getting this information are below.

Step 11: Optional - if you need to know the Region for the above Step, log into your AWS Console via the normal method (use the URL you were provided when you set up the admin user, enter the Username and Password, and your 2FA information). On the login screen (see below), you should see the profile name. To get the Region information, click the "Access keys" option.

Step 12: There will be a new box that pops up with the Region information you need (see screenshot below). Use this information in step above.

Step 13: Once you enter the correct information and click "Continue," you should see a browser window open asking you to confirm if you want to proceed with your active session. Click on your active session to contine the process. If you run into errors, you can cancel the process in VS Code, re-sign into the AWS Console in your browser first, and the restart the process in VS Code.

Step 14: You should see a prompt telling you that you can now close your browser window and go back to VS Code.

Step 15: In VS Code, you should see the AWS window change. You should see a message indicating you are connected to the Region you selected, and a list of AWS services.

Step 13: If you have created any services in AWS, you can expand those options and see the services you have created. This completes the process to connect Visual Studio Code to AWS. You can now follow the Step By Step guides that use AWS Services to deliver working solutions, such as creating a static website. These guides can be found in the main Step By Step Guides page.