> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.squarecloud.app/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# VS Code extension

> Install the Square Cloud extension for VS Code, connect your account and follow the Get Started walkthrough.

The Square Cloud extension lets you deploy, manage and monitor your applications, databases and workspaces without leaving VS Code.

<Frame>
  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/squarecloudofc/vscode-extension/main/resources/readme/overview.png" alt="The Square Cloud side bar in VS Code, with every application and its live status and usage" />
</Frame>

* **Connect in the browser:** approve with an eight-character code, no key to copy or paste.
* **Every application at a glance:** live status, CPU and RAM, one-click start, stop, restart and logs.
* **Deploy from the editor:** upload a new application or commit to an existing one, with your [`squarecloud.ignore`](/en/getting-started/squarecloud-ignore) rules applied.
* **The whole toolbox:** realtime logs, 24h metrics, snapshots, environment variables, GitHub deploys, edge analytics, databases and workspaces.
* **A config file that checks itself:** autocomplete, validation and quick fixes for [`squarecloud.app`](/en/getting-started/config-file).

## Install

<Steps>
  <Step title="Install the extension">
    Install **Square Cloud** from the [VS Marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=squarecloud.squarecloud), or from [Open VSX](https://open-vsx.org/extension/squarecloud/squarecloud) in editors that use it, such as VSCodium and Cursor. You can also search for "Square Cloud" in the Extensions view.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Connect your account">
    Click the **Square Cloud** icon in the activity bar and press **Connect account**, or run `Square Cloud: Connect Account` from the command palette (`Ctrl+Shift+P` / `Cmd+Shift+P`).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Approve in the browser">
    The side bar shows an eight-character code and copies it to your clipboard. Paste it on the approval page that opens in your browser and approve.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Done">
    The side bar confirms which account you connected, then loads your applications, databases and workspaces.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Warning>Never enter a code that someone sent you. A code belongs on the approval page only when your own VS Code shows it: approving someone else's code connects their editor to your account.</Warning>

<Frame>
  <img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/squarecloudofc/vscode-extension/main/resources/readme/connect.png" alt="Connecting in three steps: VS Code shows a code, you paste it on the approval page and approve, and VS Code is connected" />
</Frame>

VS Code gets an authorization of its own: scoped to what the extension uses, valid for **90 days**, and revocable at any time under **My Account → Authentication** in the [dashboard](https://squarecloud.app/en/account/security). Your password never passes through VS Code. When the authorization expires, the extension asks you to connect again.

**Other ways to connect** takes an API key created in the dashboard, for example on a machine without a browser. Either way, the credential is stored in the OS keychain through VS Code's secret storage, never in plain text on disk. Connecting or disconnecting in one VS Code window applies to every open window.

## Get Started walkthrough

`Square Cloud: Get Started` opens a guided walkthrough on VS Code's Welcome page. It opens by itself the first time the extension runs without a connected account, and is also linked from the sign-in view and the side bar's `...` menu.

Each step explains one idea in plain words, with an animated illustration and buttons that run the real command:

1. **Connect your account**
2. **Describe your app in `squarecloud.app`**
3. **Upload your application**
4. **Start, stop and restart**
5. **Follow logs and metrics**
6. **Back up with snapshots**
7. **Create a database**
8. **Work as a team** with workspaces
9. **Deploy on every git push** with the GitHub App
10. **Understand your traffic** with edge analytics

Steps tick themselves off as you use the features.

## Languages

The extension speaks the eight languages of the Square Cloud website: English, Portuguese, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese. It follows VS Code's display language, and links into the website open in the same language.

## Requirements

* **VS Code 1.125** or newer.
* **A Square Cloud account.** Some features (databases, workspaces, edge analytics, GitHub App linking and the snapshot list) need a paid plan; the extension says so when your plan doesn't include an action.

## Privacy

* The extension talks only to Square Cloud, through the official [JavaScript SDK](/en/sdks/js/client). There is no telemetry and no third-party service.
* When you create a database, its connection URL is copied to your clipboard once, and the password only through **Copy password**. The extension never stores either.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Features" icon="grid-2" href="/en/vscode-extension/features">
    Deploy, manage applications, databases and workspaces from the side bar.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Commands and settings" icon="terminal" href="/en/vscode-extension/commands">
    Every command, the settings and how to solve common problems.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>