Balena VSCode Extension

Hi all!

We’ve been poking at a VSCode extension for Balena Cloud for the past few months and figured I’d share it here since its somewhat usable now.

It supports both native/desktop usage as well as browser envs like vscode.dev/github.dev, which I think could enable a few cool use cases like extended ipad/chromebook management of devices.

Feel free to create issues with feature requests or bugs! Let us know what you think!

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Kaleb,

This is awesome! I’m going to run it immediately and give it a try!

Phil
(balena CTO and co-CEO)

It works!!!

Love this @kpace

Some immediate thoughts for you:

  • When I’ve chosen a fleet it would be great to have the extension reflect that back to me so I know which one I’m working with at a glance
  • Provide a means to get a terminal to any service (maybe this is already possible? I couldn’t figure it out)
  • Consider a means to push releases (and maybe other functionality) without having to drop to the terminal

These aside, we’d be excited to update our docs to recommend people check out your extension if you’re happy for us to!

Might be something to look at in regard to polling interval as well - when I push a new release with the terminal it doesn’t show up in the releases column. Same goes for the device info - I updated the OS on a device and the extension hasn’t refreshed the version.

Don’t let this detract from the amazing work already done though - from here it only gets better :sweat_smile:

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Don’t let this detract from the amazing work already done though - from here it only gets better

Absolutely. This is the balena way. Release something as soon as possible, and ride the wave of feedback to make it better.

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Wow! Thank you both for the excellent feedback.

@chrisys
I actually have a few of the items you listed on my roadmap! Just confirms there are some “intuitive” features desired :smile:. Some quick notes:

  • When you choose a fleet, there should be a status bar at the bottom right which displays active fleet as well as clicking to show the selection dropdown.
  • Polling interval should be found in the settings UI for both Fleet and Device polling intervals. But, this might’ve been broken, so I’ll look into it lol. You can also use the command palette “Refresh Fleet” to invoke it manually.

My plan is to refactor and stabilize some of the “read-only” type features before v0.2, then switch to improving the shell integration, release pushing, local-mode toggling, variable editing, etc. That said, I’d be absolutely elated to have it added to doc recommendations!

@phil-d-wilson I’ll have to adopt the balena mantra on this as well then; excited to implement some of the feedback already!

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I love it!

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