Working with AWS CDK applications

This is prerelease documentation for a feature in preview release. It is subject to change.

Use the AWS CDK Explorer in the AWS Toolkit for VS Code to visualize and work with AWS CDK applications.

Prerequisites

• Be sure your system meets the the prerequisites specified in Installing the Toolkit for VS Code.

• Install the AWS CDK command line interface, as described in the first few sections of Getting Started with the AWS CDK in the AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK) Developer Guide.

  Important

  The AWS CDK version must be 1.17.0 or later. Use cdk --version on the command line to see what version you're running.

Visualize an AWS CDK application

Using the AWS Toolkit for VS Code AWS CDK Explorer, you can manage the stacks and resources that are stored in the CDK constructs of your apps. The AWS CDK Explorer displays your resources in a tree view using the information defined in the tree.json file, which is created when you run the cdk synth command. The tree.json file is located in an app's cdk.out directory, by default.

To get started using the Toolkit AWS CDK Explorer, you'll need to create a CDK application.

1. Complete the first several steps of the Hello World Tutorial located in the AWS CDK Developer Guide.

   Important

   When you arrive at the turotial step Deploying the Stack, stop and return to this guide.

   Note

   You can run the commands provided in the tutorial, for example, mkdir and cdk init, on an operating system command line or in a Terminal window inside the VS Code editor.

2. After you complete the required steps of the CDK tutorial, open the CDK content that you created in the VS Code editor.

3. From the AWS navigation pane, expand the CDK (Preview) heading. Your CDK applications and their associated resources are now displayed in the CDK Explorer tree view.

Important notes

• When you load CDK apps into the VS Code editor, you can load multiple folders at one time. Each folder can contain multiple CDK apps, as shown in the preceding image. The AWS CDK Explorer finds apps in the project root directory and its direct subdirectories.

• When you perform the first several steps of the tutorial, you might notice that the last command you execute is cdk synth, which generates the tree.json file. If you change aspects of a CDK app, for example, add more resources, you need to execute that command again to see the changes reflected in the tree view.

Perform other operations on an AWS CDK app

You can use the VS Code editor to perform other operations on a CDK app, just as you would by using the command line of your operating system or other tools. For example, you can update the code files in the editor and deploy the app by using a VS Code Terminal window.

To try out these types of actions, use the VS Code editor to continue the Hello World Tutorial in the AWS CDK Developer Guide. Be sure to perform the last step, Destroying the App's Resources, so that you don't incur unexpected costs to your AWS account.