KDE (K8s Dev Environments) – VS Code Extension

This extension adds a tree view in the Activity Bar to manage Kubernetes-based development environments and projects.

Requirements

• kde CLI is installed and available in your shell. (https://github.com/r82wei/KDE-cli)
• docker installed.

Usage

1. Open the Activity Bar view "KDE" and the tree "K8S DEV Environments".
2. Use "Add" to create an environment (choose kind/k3d/k8s).
3. Use "Create Project" to create a project and enter the project settings.

• a git remote repo: the project folder will be created by cloning from the remote git repository
• a git local repo: the project folder will be created locally from an existing local repository

4. Implement build.sh and deploy.sh scripts for the CI/CD pipeline.
5. Click the "Deploy" button at the project level to deploy your project.
6. Expand an environment to load projects; expand a project to load Pods.
7. Use inline buttons or context menu actions at each level to operate.

Output and progress

• All background command output and errors are written to the Output Channel named "k8s-dev-environments".
  • Open it via: View → Output → select "k8s-dev-environments".
• Loading projects/Pods shows a progress indicator in the window status area.
• Errors are surfaced with the underlying stderr text.

Terminals and Tasks

• New terminal sessions are created for long-running/interactive tools (K9s, Headlamp, Logs, Exec, Port Forward). These terminals auto-exit after the command finishes.
• Long-running operations (create/stop/deploy/undeploy/redeploy/create project) run as VS Code Tasks. Non-zero exit codes are reported via VS Code notifications.

How it works

• Environments are listed using kde ls.
• Environment status is read via kde status json and shown with icons:
  • RUNNING → filled circle (passed color)
  • UNREADY → outline circle (disabled color)
  • error → filled circle (failed color)
• Expanding an environment runs kde use <env> followed by kde project ls to list projects.
• Expanding a project runs kde use <env> then kde project pod <project> to list Pods.

Commands and actions

View actions (title bar)

• Add: interactive environment creation flow (see below)
• Refresh: refresh the tree

Environment-level commands

• Add (interactive):
  • Pick an environment type: kind, k3d, or k8s.
  • You will be prompted to enter an environment name, a kube-api-server port, and an ingress port.
  • For k8s, you will be prompted to select a kubeconfig file.
  • Executes: kde init && kde create <envName> <type> (for k8s: kde init && kde create <envName> k8s <kubeconfigPath>), as a VS Code Task.
  • You can edit the settings for kind or k3d by modifying kind-config.yaml or k3d-config.yaml after this task.
• Create:
  • Depending on the ENV_TYPE specified in k8s.env, either create a local Kubernetes environment (kind/k3d) or connect to a remote Kubernetes cluster
  • Executes: kde create <envName> (Task)
  • For ENV_TYPE=k8s, you will be prompted to select a kubeconfig file.
• Stop:
  • Stop the local Kubernetes environment.
  • Executes: kde stop <envName> (Task).
• K9s:
  • Start K9s (a TUI Kubernetes dashboard).
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde k9s (New terminal)
• Headlamp:
  • Start Headlamp (a Web UI for Kubernetes dashboard).
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde headlamp (New terminal)
• Port Forward (environment):
  • Expose a service or pod in K8S
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde expose (New terminal)
• Create Project:
  • Add a kde-based project with CI/CD shell.
  • You will be prompted to input a project name.
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde project create <project> (Task)

Project-level commands

• Deploy:

  • Uses the DEVELOP_IMAGE and DEPLOY_IMAGE specified in project.env to start build.sh and deploy.sh respectively, executing CI/CD.
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde project deploy <project> (Task)
  • For more details, please refer to the "Run CI/CD deployment" section in https://github.com/r82wei/KDE-cli

• Undeploy:

  • Undeploy project by running undeploy.sh
  • If undeploy.sh does not exist, the default action is to delete the namespace with the same name as the project.
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde project undeploy <project> (Task)
  • For more details, please refer to the "Undeploy" section in https://github.com/r82wei/KDE-cli

• Redeploy:

  • Redeploys the project by sequentially performing the undeploy and deploy actions.
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde project redeploy <project> (Task)

• Develop Env:

  • Starts a container using the DEVELOP_IMAGE specified in project.env, allowing the user to enter the development environment.
  • Executes:kde use <envName> && kde project exec <project> develop (new terminal)
  • For more details, please refer to the "Enter the local container development environment" section in https://github.com/r82wei/KDE-cli

• Deploy Env:

  • Starts a container using the DEPLOY_IMAGE specified in project.env, allowing the user to enter the deployment environment.
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde project exec <project> deploy (new terminal)
  • For more details, please refer to the "Enter the local container development environment" section in https://github.com/r82wei/KDE-cli

• Telepresence Replace:

  • Starts a container using the DEPLOY_IMAGE specified in project.env, and intercepts the traffic from the specified remote K8S pod to the local development environment.
  • The environment variables from the Pod will also be injected into the local development container.
  • The local development container can also connect to services inside the remote K8S cluster.
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde telepresence replace <project> (new terminal)
  • For more details, please refer to the "Remote debugging" section in https://github.com/r82wei/KDE-cli

Pod-level commands

• Logs:
  • You will be prompted to enter a number of lines to show.
  • Executes:kde use <envName> && kde project tail <project> <pod> <lines> (new terminal)
• Port Forward (single Pod):
  • prompts localPort and targetPort
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde expose <project> pod <pod> <localPort> <targetPort> (new terminal)
• Exec:
  • Enter the Pod using kubectl exec
  • Executes: kde use <envName> && kde project pod-exec <project> <pod> (new terminal)