Enable Azure Bash Cloud Shell in VSCode

The Challenge

Whilst running through an Azure DevOps Kubernetes Lab, I decided I’d rather use the terminal in VSCode to run the necessary code snippets, so I could more easily copy, paste and individualise the requisite variables as I went through.

How I Did It

Step 1 was to install the “Azure Account” extension in VSCode:

code --install-extension ms-vscode.azure-account

Then when I hit F1 in VSCode to get the Command Palette up and typed “bash”, the command Azure: Open bash in cloud shell was available, however, when I clicked it, I got a message saying: “Opening a Cloud Shell currently requires Node.js 6 or later to be installed.”

Therefore, step 2 was to install node.js (I did it with chocolatey, it can also be found through the link offered by VSCode when you try to run the Azure command without node.js):

choco install nodejs -y

Since I had VSCode open, I had to close and re-open it.

After the installation succeeded, I tried F1 and “bash” then Azure: Open bash in cloud shell again…

After providing my Azure login credentials in the authentication window which spawned, I got the result I was hoping for.

Requesting a Cloud Shell...
Connecting terminal...
username@Azure:~$