The AWS S3 extension brings the power of Amazon S3 directly into VS Code. Browse, manage, and manipulate buckets, files, and folders without ever leaving your editor.
- Features
- Why Use It?
- Installation
- Getting Started
- Explorer Overview
- Search Functionality
- Buckets & Shortcuts
- File & Folder Views
- Edit & Copy Menus
- Endpoint & Credentials
- Bug Reporting & Contributions
- Roadmap
- Sponsor & Survey
- Contact
- File Management – Rename, copy, move, delete, upload, download.
- Folder Management – Create, rename, copy, move, delete, download.
- Copy Options – File name (with/without extension), key, ARN, URL, S3 URI.
- Shortcuts – Pin frequently used files/folders for instant access.
- Advanced Search – Search across buckets by name, extension, or key (case‑insensitive).
- Endpoint & Region Customisation – Works with custom S3‑compatible endpoints (e.g., LocalStack).
- Localstack Support – Seamlessly test against a local S3 emulator.
Whether you’re a developer, data scientist, or sysadmin, this extension streamlines your workflow with an intuitive UI that makes S3 resource management faster and more convenient.
- Open VS Code.
- Go to Extensions (
Ctrl+Shift+X). - Search for AWS S3 and click Install.
- Reload VS Code if prompted.
- Open the AWS S3 Explorer view from the Activity Bar.
- Add a bucket using the
+button (you can filter by name or list all buckets). - Browse files/folders, use the context menu for actions, or click the Search button for advanced queries.
The Explorer lists all objects in the selected bucket. Use the toolbar to refresh, upload, create folders, or navigate.
Search is case‑insensitive and supports:
- File name
- Extension
- Full key path
Results are displayed in the Search view; clicking a result opens it in the Explorer.
- Add buckets via the
+button. - Create shortcuts for quick access to frequently used objects.
You can point the extension at any S3‑compatible service (e.g., LocalStack) by setting the endpoint URL:
http://localhost:4566
The extension follows the standard AWS SDK credential chain:
- Environment variables (
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID,AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY,AWS_SESSION_TOKEN) - Shared credentials file (
~/.aws/credentialsand~/.aws/config) - EC2 Instance Metadata Service
- ECS Container Credentials
- AWS SSO
- Web Identity Tokens
For more details, see the AWS CLI credential docs.
- Report bugs / request features: https://github.com/necatiarslan/aws-s3/issues/new
- Contributions are welcome! Fork the repo, make your changes, and submit a pull request.
- S3 Select support
- Share active profile with other extensions
- Calculate folder size & object count
- Warning for > 1000 items
- Drag‑and‑drop upload
- Detailed error handling (e.g.,
NoSuchBucket) - Persist favorite/hidden node states
- Progress bars for move/copy/rename operations
- Keep search text per folder navigation
- VS Code icons for files/folders (removed in current version)
- Auto‑refresh option
- Paging beyond 1000 items
- Sort by name/type
- Display selected file/folder count
- Filter by date/size
- Multiple Explorer instances
- Hover‑highlight icons
- Freeze top bar
- Bucket ACL‑based permission handling
- Local folder sync
- Notes & colour tags for buckets/keys
If you find this extension useful, consider:
- Sponsoring me on GitHub: https://github.com/sponsors/necatiarslan
- Taking the survey to help improve the extension: https://bit.ly/s3-extension-survey
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/necati-arslan/
- Email: necatiarslan@gmail.com
Thanks for using the AWS S3 Extension!
