Install the Cloud Code for VS Code extension

The Cloud Code for VS Code extension adds support for Google Cloud development to VS Code.

Before you begin

Before you install Cloud Code, confirm that the following tools are installed and set up on your system:

  1. Install and set up Visual Studio Code on your machine.

  2. Install and configure language support.

    The Cloud Code extension works best with the following languages:

  3. Install Git. Git is required for copying samples to your machine.

  4. Install the Docker client and add it to the PATH environment variable:

    • If you're building exclusively using Cloud Build or Jib, you can skip installing Docker.
    • If you're using Windows Home, for steps to set up your Docker client, see Docker Desktop for Windows Home guide.
    • If you're using WSL but can't install Docker for Desktop, use minikube instead for local development with Cloud Code.

  5. If you're using Google Cloud, create a Google Cloud project and then enable billing.

    Projects allow you to collect the related resources for a single application in one place, manage APIs, enable Google Cloud services, add and remove collaborators, and manage permissions for Google Cloud resources.

Install Cloud Code

Install the Google Cloud Code extension from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.

Alternatively, open the Extensions view in VS Code:

  1. Click Extension icon Extensions or press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+X.

  2. Search for Google Cloud Code.

    Cloud Code extension in VSC marketplace

  3. Click Install.

  4. If prompted, restart VS Code.

    After the extension has successfully installed, the Cloud Code icon is added to the activity bar and ready for use. You can further configure your Cloud Code installation by specifying your preferences using the top-level application taskbar: Code > Preferences > Settings > Extensions > Cloud Code.

Custom versions of dependencies

By default, Cloud Code has Auto dependencies turned on and installs some command-line dependencies for you automatically. If you turn off auto dependencies, you can use custom versions of the dependencies but you must install the dependencies yourself for Cloud Code to work.

To use custom versions of Cloud Code dependencies:

  1. Click settings Manage > Settings and then set Auto Dependencies (cloudcode.autoDependencies) to off.

  2. Install the following dependencies on your PATH:

Optional: Verify Cloud Code vsix using VsixSignTool

To verify the Cloud Code vsix with the VsixSignTool, perform the following steps:

  1. Ensure you're using the following:

    • Nuget package manager
    • Windows OS
    • A production release of Cloud Code

  2. Install the Microsoft VsixSignTool and take note of the installation path.

  3. Open VS Code and navigate to Extensions icon in VSC Extensions > Cloud Code.

  4. In the Details tab, under Extension Resources, click Marketplace.

  5. On the Marketplace page in your browser, under Resources, click Download Extension to download the packaged version of Cloud Code. This downloads the packaged version of Cloud Code, which has a .vsix file extension, to your default download directory.

  6. If you'd prefer to verify a different version than the latest, click the Version History tab and select a different version to download.

  7. When the download is complete, open a terminal window and run the following:

    PATH_TO_VSIXSIGNTOOL verify PATH_TO_DOWNLOADED_VSIX

  8. Confirm that the output matches the following:

    VsixSignTool Success: Package PATH_TO_DOWNLOADED_VSIX is valid.

Authenticate credentials for Google Cloud

To help with application development with Google Cloud APIs, when you log in to the gcloud CLI, your Application Default Credentials are updated.

Log in to Google Cloud

If you aren't logged in to Google Cloud, follow these steps to log in:

  1. In the Cloud Code status bar, click Cloud Code - Sign in.

  2. If this is your first time connecting to Google Cloud in your IDE, you're prompted to add https://accounts.google.com to Trusted Domain. Click Configure Trusted Domains in the dialog that appears:

    Configure Trusted Domain dialog

  3. Follow the prompts to log in using your web browser.

  4. When prompted to allow Cloud Code to access your Google Account, click Allow.

Known issue: Edge browser redirects to HTTPS on authentication callback

When using the Microsoft Edge browser to authenticate your credentials, you may notice that the Edge browser redirects the URL http://localhost:3000 to https://localhost:3000. This leads to the following failure message:

The connection for this site is not secure. localhost sent an invalid response. Try running Windows Network Diagnostics. ERR_SSL_PROTOCOL_ERROR.

To solve this problem, you can exclude localhost from the redirection:

  1. In the address bar of your Edge browser, enter edge://net-internals/#hsts.

  2. Scroll down to the Delete domain security policies section.

  3. Enter localhost, then click Delete.

Log out of Google Cloud

  1. Click Cloud Code and then expand Help and Feedback.
  2. Click Sign Out of Google Cloud and when prompted, select Sign-out.
  3. Alternatively, you can log out using the Command Palette. Press Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+P or click View > Command Palette, and then click Sign out of all accounts in Google Cloud SDK.

Change the active Google Cloud project

  1. In the Cloud Code status bar, click the active project name.

    Active project name in status bar

  2. In the Quick Pick menu that appears, select sync_alt Switch Project.

  3. Select a project or enter keywords in the search bar to filter projects.

Authenticate credentials for debugging applications locally

In addition to the authentication steps in the Log in to Google Cloud section, you'll need to authenticate your credentials to debug an application locally in your IDE that makes Google API calls.

If you don't authenticate your credentials for debugging applications, an error message appears in your IDE when you attempt to run/debug a local application that tries to make a call to a Google API.

To authenticate your credentials for debugging applications locally, perform the following steps:

  1. Install gcloud to your machine if you haven't already done so.

  2. Run the following command:

    gcloud auth application-default login

  3. When you've finished debugging locally, you can sign out by running the following command:

    gcloud auth application-default revoke

To learn more about Application Default Credentials and Google APIs, see Authenticate to Cloud services using client libraries.

What's next

Get Support

To send feedback, report issues on GitHub, or ask a question on Stack Overflow.