vscode-containerlab

A Visual Studio Code extension that integrates containerlab directly into your editor, providing a convenient tree view for managing labs and their containers.

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Features

• Auto-discovery of local *.clab.yml or *.clab.yaml files in your workspace.
• Tree view showing labs (green/red/gray/yellow icons) based on container states:
  • Green: all containers in the lab are running
  • Gray: undeployed (no containers found)
  • Red: all containers are stopped
  • Yellow: partially running (some containers running, others stopped)
• Right-click context menus on labs:
  • Deploy, Destroy, Redeploy (with or without cleanup)
  • Open Lab File, Copy Lab File Path
  • Graph topologies (local Web or draw.io modes)
  • Inspect single lab
  • Add Lab to Workspace
  • Open Folder in New Window
• Right-click context menus on containers:
  • Start, Stop
  • Attach shell (with user-defined exec commands per node kind)
  • SSH
  • View logs
  • Copy submenu for container properties:
    • Name, ID, IPv4, IPv6, Kind, Image
• Inspect commands:
  • Inspect (All Labs): shows a webview with all labs in a grouped table
  • Inspect Lab: show only the selected lab’s containers in a webview
• Graph:
  • Graph Lab (Web): runs containerlab graph in a Terminal
  • Graph Lab (draw.io): runs containerlab graph --drawio , then opens the .drawio file
  • Graph Lab (draw.io, Interactive): runs in Terminal with in interactive mode
  • Graph Lab (Topoviewer): interactive, web-based interface for visualizing Containerlab topologies

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Requirements

• containerlab must be installed and accessible via sudo containerlab in your system PATH.
• Passwordless sudo access for containerlab commands must be configured:
  1. Edit sudoers file with sudo visudo
  2. Add the following line:

     username ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/containerlab
     

     (Replace username with your actual username)
• Docker (or another container runtime) must be set up and running if your labs rely on container-based nodes.
• (Optional) A local folder with *.clab.yml or *.clab.yaml topologies, opened in VS Code.

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Getting Started

1. Install the extension.
2. Open a folder or workspace in VS Code containing .clab.yml or .clab.yaml files.
3. Click on the Containerlab icon in the Activity Bar to view your labs.
4. Right-click on a lab or container to see context menu commands (Deploy, Destroy, Redeploy, etc.).

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Commands

These are some key commands contributed by the extension:

Lab Management

• Deploy / Deploy (cleanup)
• Redeploy / Redeploy (cleanup)
• Destroy / Destroy (cleanup)
• Deploy lab file (choose a .clab.yml/.yaml from a file picker)

Lab Inspection

• Inspect (All Labs): Summaries all labs in one webview
• Inspect Lab: Summaries the containers for a single lab

Graph

• Graph Lab (Web): runs in Terminal
• Graph Lab (draw.io): uses a spinner and opens the .drawio file
• Graph Lab (draw.io, Interactive): same but with additional --drawio-args "-I".

Node / Container Management

• Start node, Stop node
• Attach shell (exec into container—respects containerlab.node.execCommandMapping in settings)
• SSH
• View logs (tails docker logs -f ...)
• Copy menu (Name, ID, IPv4, IPv6, Kind, Image)

Other

• Add Lab to Workspace: adds the lab’s folder to the current VS Code workspace
• Open Folder in New Window: opens a separate VS Code window rooted at the lab’s folder

All these commands are accessible via:

• Context menus on labs/containers (in the Containerlab Explorer)
• Editor title (top-right) when editing a .clab.(yml|yaml)
• Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P, then type “Containerlab:”)

Extension Settings

You can customize the following settings under containerlab.*:

• containerlab.defaultSshUser (string)
  Default SSH user for the SSH command (e.g. "admin").
• containerlab.sudoEnabledByDefault (boolean)
  Whether to prepend sudo to containerlab commands. Default: true.
• containerlab.refreshInterval (number)
  How often (in ms) the Containerlab Explorer refreshes. Default: 10000.
• containerlab.node.execCommandMapping (object)
  Mapping of node kind to the exec command used by Attach shell.
  For example, if you have "nokia_srlinux": "sr_cli", then docker exec -it <container> sr_cli is used.

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Known Issues

• None reported. If you spot any bug or have a feature request, please open an issue on our repository.

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Feedback and Contributions

If you’d like to request features or report issues:

• Open an issue on our GitHub repository.

• PRs are welcome! Let us know how we can improve the extension.

• GitHub Issues: Create an issue on GitHub.

• Discord: Join our Discord community

Enjoy managing your containerlab topologies directly from VS Code!