Declarative Manifest Operations

The F5 Distributed Cloud Tools extension provides declarative file-based operations that allow you to manage infrastructure using local workspace files (.json, .yaml, .yml, and .xcsh.json). This enables Git-based configuration versioning, pull request reviews, and automated deployment pipelines.

Manifest Structure

F5 Distributed Cloud declarative manifests define a resource kind, metadata, and specification. Supported formats include both JSON and YAML:

metadata:
  name: demo-web-app
  namespace: production
  labels:
    environment: prod
    tier: frontend
spec:
  domains:
    - app.example.com
  https_auto_cert:
    http_redirect: true
    add_hsts: true
  default_route_pools:
    - pool:
        name: demo-origin-pool
        namespace: production
      weight: 1

Editor and Explorer Commands

When you open or select a manifest file in your workspace, the extension contributes specialized commands to the editor title bar and file context menus:

Command	Action	Keybinding
Apply Manifest (xcsh.fileApply)	Applies the local manifest to the live tenant (creates or replaces).	Ctrl+Shift+A (macOS: Cmd+Shift+A)
Diff Manifest (xcsh.fileDiff)	Compares local manifest buffer against live tenant state in side-by-side diff.	—
Create from File (xcsh.fileCreate)	Submits manifest payload as a new resource creation request.	—
Delete from File (xcsh.fileDelete)	Deletes the live tenant resource matching the manifest’s name and namespace.	—

Server-Side Diffing

Before applying local changes to a live environment, you can inspect the exact configuration delta using the visual diff engine:

1. Open your local manifest file in the editor.
2. Select the Diff Against Tenant icon in the editor title bar (or right-click the file in the File Explorer and select xcsh: Diff Manifest).
3. The extension queries the live resource from the F5 Distributed Cloud API and opens a native Visual Studio Code side-by-side diff editor.
4. Review differences between the local manifest (left) and the live tenant configuration (right).

+------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| Local Manifest (Workspace)         | Live Tenant Configuration (Remote) |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------------+
| "domains": [                       | "domains": [                       |
|   "app.example.com",               |   "app.example.com"                |
|   "api.example.com"                |                                    |
| ]                                  | ]                                  |
+------------------------------------+------------------------------------+

Applying Manifests

To apply a local manifest to your active tenant:

1. Ensure your desired target profile and namespace are active in the Profiles view.
2. Open the manifest file in the editor.
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+A (macOS: Cmd+Shift+A) or select Apply to F5 Distributed Cloud from the editor title bar.
4. The extension validates required fields and schema constraints.
5. If the resource exists, the extension submits an update (PUT); if the resource does not exist, it submits a create request (POST).
6. A notification confirms successful deployment.

GitOps Workflow Integration

You can organize your repository with standard directory layouts to manage multi-service deployments:

my-infrastructure/
├── .xcsh/
│   └── contexts/
│       └── dev-context.json
├── healthchecks/
│   └── web-hc.yaml
├── origin-pools/
│   └── web-pool.yaml
└── load-balancers/
    └── web-lb.yaml

Because manifests use standard OpenAPI schemas, you can commit configurations to Git, review changes using pull requests, and deploy them directly from Visual Studio Code or continuous integration (CI) workflows.