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F5 Distributed Cloud Tools for Visual Studio Code

Resource Management

The Resource Explorer (xcsh.explorer) provides a centralized interface inside Visual Studio Code to browse, inspect, create, modify, and export F5 Distributed Cloud (XC) resources across your active tenant.

Resource Explorer Hierarchy

Section titled “Resource Explorer Hierarchy”

The Explorer panel displays resources organized into logical functional categories (such as Application Delivery, Security, Networking, DNS, Infrastructure, and Observability). The extension supports 236+ resource types across 25 API domains.

Catalog View Modes

Section titled “Catalog View Modes”

You can toggle between two catalog display modes to match your operational focus:

  • Console Mode (console): Shows a curated subset of commonly managed resources (for example, HTTP Load Balancers, Origin Pools, App Firewalls, Health Checks, and Service Policies). This is the default view.
  • Full Mode (full): Displays the complete catalog of all 236+ resource types defined in the F5 Distributed Cloud OpenAPI specification.

To switch view modes, select the Toggle View Mode icon in the Explorer title bar or run xcsh: Toggle View Mode from the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).

Preview APIs Toggle

Section titled “Preview APIs Toggle”

Certain resource types belong to early-access or preview API sets. You can control whether preview resource types appear in the tree through the xcsh.showPreviewApis configuration setting.

Resource Operations (CRUD)

Section titled “Resource Operations (CRUD)”

The extension supports full lifecycle resource management directly from the tree view and editor.

1. Create Resources

Section titled “1. Create Resources”

To create a new resource from the tree view:

  1. Expand the target resource type category in the Explorer view (for example, HTTP Load Balancers).
  2. Select the Add (+) action button next to the resource type header, or run xcsh: Create Resource.
  3. The extension generates a new buffer pre-populated with the minimal required configuration template (x-f5xc-minimum-configuration) for that resource type.
  4. Fill in the required fields with IntelliSense assistance.
  5. Apply the resource to the tenant by pressing Ctrl+Shift+A (macOS: Cmd+Shift+A) or selecting xcsh: Apply Resource.

Interactive Health Check Form

Section titled “Interactive Health Check Form”

For health checks, the extension provides a dedicated form-based webview:

  1. Right-click Health Checks in the Explorer view and select Create with Form Builder (or run xcsh.createHealthcheckForm).
  2. Configure monitor protocol (HTTP/HTTPS/TCP), intervals, healthy/unhealthy thresholds, and expected HTTP response codes.
  3. Select Create Health Check to apply the configuration.

2. Read and Describe Resources

Section titled “2. Read and Describe Resources”

To inspect an existing resource without altering live state:

  • Describe (xcsh.describe): Double-click a resource node or right-click and select Describe. The extension renders a formatted Markdown document showing metadata, specification summary, active routes, attached policies, and direct links to the F5 XC Console.
  • Get JSON (xcsh.get): Right-click a resource and select Get Resource (JSON). This opens a read-only document (xcsh-view://) containing the raw API JSON payload.

3. Edit Resources via Virtual File System (xcsh://)

Section titled “3. Edit Resources via Virtual File System (xcsh://)”

The extension implements a custom Visual Studio Code FileSystemProvider registered under the xcsh:// Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) scheme.

  1. In the Explorer view, right-click any resource and select Edit Resource.

  2. Visual Studio Code opens an editable virtual document using the path:

    xcsh://<profile-name>/<namespace>/<resource-type>/<resource-name>.json

  3. Modify the JSON configuration directly in the editor with real-time schema validation and IntelliSense.

  4. Press Ctrl+S (macOS: Cmd+S) to save the file. The extension intercepts the save operation, strips read-only metadata, validates required fields, and submits an HTTP PUT update request to the target F5 Distributed Cloud API endpoint.

4. Delete Resources

Section titled “4. Delete Resources”

To remove a resource from your tenant:

  1. In the Explorer view, right-click the resource and select Delete Resource.
  2. If deletion confirmation is enabled (xcsh.confirmDelete: true), a confirmation dialog prompts you to verify the deletion.
  3. Confirming the dialog sends a DELETE request to the API and refreshes the Explorer tree.

[!TIP] You can fine-tune deletion confirmation prompts using the xcsh.deleteConfirmationLevel setting (always, high-only for destructive security/infrastructure resources, or never).

5. Export Resources

Section titled “5. Export Resources”

You can export live tenant configurations into local JSON or YAML files for version control, backup, or GitOps pipelines:

  • Export Single Resource: Right-click any resource and select Export JSON (xcsh.exportJson) or Export YAML (xcsh.exportYaml).
  • Export All Resources: Right-click a resource category header and select Export All to JSON (xcsh.exportAllJson) or Export All to YAML (xcsh.exportAllYaml) to batch-export all resources of that type in the active namespace.

Context Menu Utilities

Section titled “Context Menu Utilities”

Right-clicking any resource node exposes additional quick utilities:

  • Copy Name (xcsh.copyName): Copies the resource’s kebab-case name to your clipboard.
  • Copy as JSON (xcsh.copyAsJson): Copies the complete resource configuration object to your clipboard.
  • Open in Browser (xcsh.openInBrowser): Opens the resource directly in the F5 Distributed Cloud Console web UI in your default browser.
  • Add to Chat (xcsh.addToChat): Attaches the resource definition as context into the @xcsh Copilot Chat panel.