Skip to content
View as Markdown
View as Markdown

Configuration

The extension shares the B2C CLI's configuration system. This page focuses on the extension's connection requirements, project selection, and settings.

This page covers:

Connecting to a B2C Instance

The extension uses the same configuration resolver as the B2C CLI. Environment variables, a project .env, dw.json, supported settings under package.json#b2c, shared CLI credential storage, and configuration sources added by installed B2C CLI plugins are all honored. The CLI Configuration guide is the reference for available fields and precedence.

A dw.json at your project root is the conventional setup and is the easiest way for the extension to locate a B2C project nested inside a larger workspace. It is not required when another configuration source provides what you need.

Per-feature requirements

A summary by feature, regardless of which configuration source provides the values:

FeatureRequired configuration
Sandbox Realm ExplorerOAuth (browser login by default; client-id + client-secret for headless). Sandbox API User role with a tenant filter.
WebDAV Browserhostname, username, password (WebDAV access key). OAuth (client-id + client-secret) also accepted.
Content LibrariesSame as WebDAV. Optionally contentLibrary (or libraries) to seed the tree.
Cartridge Code SyncWebDAV for transfer and OCAPI (client-id + client-secret) for code-version operations.
SCAPI API Browserclient-id, client-secret, short-code, tenant-id.
B2C Script DebuggerWebDAV (for source-mapping).
Log TailingWebDAV (logs are read from Logs/).
CAP installWebDAV; some apps additionally require OAuth client credentials.
ScaffoldNone — local-only.

Example dw.json

jsonc
{
  // WebDAV (Code Sync, WebDAV Browser, Content Libraries, Log Tailing, Debugger)
  "hostname": "abcd-001.dx.commercecloud.salesforce.com",
  "username": "your-bm-username",
  "password": "your-webdav-access-key",
  "code-version": "version1",

  // OCAPI / OAuth (Sandbox API, Code Versions, CAP)
  "client-id": "...",
  "client-secret": "...",

  // SCAPI (API Browser)
  "short-code": "...",
  "tenant-id": "...",

  // Optional — content tree seed
  "contentLibrary": "your-library-id",
}

See the Authentication Setup guide for OAuth scope requirements and Account Manager API client setup.

How the Extension Chooses a Project

You do not need to open the exact project directory for the extension to find it. These common layouts work automatically:

  • Project folder open: configuration is resolved from that folder using all supported sources.
  • Parent folder open: the extension searches its subfolders. For example, a workspace containing react/ and sfra/dw.json uses sfra/ as the B2C project.
  • Multi-root workspace: folders containing dw.json are checked in the order shown in Explorer. If none contains one, root-level .env and package.json#b2c configuration are also considered.

If one workspace folder contains more than one B2C project, the project closest to that workspace folder is selected. Open the intended project directly when sibling projects are equally close.

dw.json is the conventional nested-project discovery signal. When a project uses only environment variables, .env, package.json, or a plugin-provided source, open that project as a workspace folder so the extension has the correct project root.

To keep a particular project directory selected, right-click that folder in Explorer and choose B2C DX > Use as B2C Commerce Root. This works for nested folders such as sfra/ as well as top-level folders in a multi-root workspace. Run B2C DX: Reset B2C Commerce Root to Auto-Detect from the Command Palette to return to automatic selection.

Switching the Active Instance

When dw.json defines multiple named instances (the recommended pattern for working across dev / staging / sandbox), click the cloud icon in the status bar to open a quick pick of the configured instances. Selecting a new one updates the underlying dw.json active-instance pointer and refreshes every view.

The same pointer is shared with the CLI: switching here is equivalent to running b2c setup instance set-active <name>.

Settings Reference

These VS Code settings live under the b2c-dx.* namespace. You usually don't need to change any of them — they exist for niche cases like disabling a feature you don't use, or quieting the log channel for a bug report. To browse: Settings (Cmd+,) → search for b2c-dx.

Feature toggles

Each feature is enabled by default. Set to false to skip its activation entirely (no tree views, no commands, no context-menu entries). Useful for trimming the UI, isolating activation issues, or running in a project where a feature isn't applicable.

SettingDefault
b2c-dx.features.sandboxExplorertrue
b2c-dx.features.webdavBrowsertrue
b2c-dx.features.contentLibrariestrue
b2c-dx.features.codeSynctrue
b2c-dx.features.logTailingtrue
b2c-dx.features.scaffoldtrue
b2c-dx.features.apiBrowsertrue
b2c-dx.features.captrue

The B2C Script Debugger registers regardless of these toggles — it activates only when a b2c-script launch configuration is used.

Verbosity, polling, telemetry

SettingDefaultDescription
b2c-dx.logLevelinfoVerbosity for the extension output channel. Allowed: trace, debug, info, warn, error, silent. Applied immediately on change. Drop to debug or trace when filing a bug.
b2c-dx.sandbox.pollingInterval10Seconds between polls while a sandbox is in a transitional state (creating, starting, stopping, deleting, cloning). Range: 2–300. Polling stops automatically once the realm settles.
b2c-dx.telemetry.enabledtrueSend anonymous usage telemetry. Honors VS Code's telemetry.telemetryLevel — disabling that disables this regardless of this setting.

XML schema validation

The extension contributes XSD-based validation for B2C metadata XML files via the Red Hat XML extension, which is declared as an extension dependency and installed automatically. When a file path matches one of the contributed globs, diagnostics, autocomplete, and hover docs are driven by the corresponding B2C schema.

Both common workspace conventions are recognized:

  • Canonical site-archive layoutsites/<site-id>/, catalogs/<id>/, libraries/<id>/, customer_lists/<id>/, pricebooks/, inventory_lists/, meta/.
  • Exploded metadata/ workspace layoutmetadata/sites/<id>/*.xml, metadata/catalogs/*.xml, metadata/promotions/*.xml, etc.

Schemas covered include catalog, promotion, slot, customer-group, customer-list, custom-object, inventory, library, payment-method, payment-processor, preference, pricebook, redirect-url, search/search2, shipping, site, sourcecode, store, url-rule, jobs, services, schedules, ab-test (and participants), assignment, cache-settings, commerce-feature-state, coupon (and redemption), csrf-allowlist, customer, customer-cdn-settings, dcext, form, geolocation, gift-certificate, locales, meta (system/custom-objecttype-extensions), oauth-providers, page-meta-tags, price-adjustment-limits, product-list, sitemap-configuration, sorting-rules, storefronts, and tax. The full mapping is at packages/b2c-vs-extension/resources/xsd-mappings.json.

To disable XML validation globally in your workspace, set:

jsonc
{
  "xml.validation.enabled": false,
}

To opt out of the Red Hat XML dependency entirely, uninstall this extension or pin to a release prior to the one that introduced XML validation.

Complete defaults (copy-paste)

jsonc
// .vscode/settings.json
{
  "b2c-dx.features.sandboxExplorer": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.webdavBrowser": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.contentLibraries": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.codeSync": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.logTailing": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.scaffold": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.apiBrowser": true,
  "b2c-dx.features.cap": true,
  "b2c-dx.logLevel": "info",
  "b2c-dx.sandbox.pollingInterval": 10,
  "b2c-dx.telemetry.enabled": true,
}

Next Steps

Released under the Apache-2.0 License.