Square Cloud VS Code extension features

Deploy, manage and monitor Square Cloud apps, databases and workspaces from the VS Code side bar, with snapshots, edge analytics and config file IntelliSense.

Deploying

Upload a new application

Run Square Cloud: Upload New Application from the command palette, the upload icon in the side bar’s title bar, or Upload your first application on an empty account.

1. Pick a folder

   Your open workspace folders come first; Browse… picks any other folder.

2. Check the config

   The folder must contain a squarecloud.app or squarecloud.config file. Without one, nothing is uploaded and the error links to the config file guide.

3. Confirm

   A dialog asks before anything leaves your machine.

4. Zip and upload

   The folder is zipped with your ignore rules applied, with a live file count, and you can cancel until the upload starts. Zips are limited to 100 MB.

The notification shows the detected runtime and offers Open dashboard and Copy ID. If the config file declares a SUBDOMAIN, the application answers at https://<subdomain>.squareweb.app once it starts.

Commit changes to an existing application

Open an application’s action menu (right-click its card, or use its ⋯ button) and pick Commit. Choose whether to restart the application afterwards, then pick one or more files, or a folder. A folder is zipped with the same ignore rules and lands inside a folder of the same name in the application.

Upload creates a new application, with a new ID. Commit sends files to an application that already exists and keeps its ID, domain and configuration.

Ignore rules

The extension and the Square Cloud CLI read the same squarecloud.ignore file, with the same .gitignore syntax and the same defaults: node_modules, .git, .github, .vscode and the lockfiles are always left out unless a ! rule brings them back. Your .gitignore is not read, since it often lists files the application needs to run, like .env.

Applications

The side bar opens with your account: name, plan and a RAM meter for the plan’s memory. Below it, every application is a card with a live status badge (Online, Offline, Checking while the status loads, or amber while an action you clicked is on its way), its RAM and, while it runs, its CPU. Click a card to see its ID, memory, runtime, cluster, domain and when it started.

• Pointing at a card shows start or stop, restart and logs. The star next to the name marks a favorite and keeps it at the top.
• Right-click a card, or use its ⋯ button, for the full action menu, grouped by purpose, with destructive actions last.
• Past 10 applications, the list shows 10 at a time with previous and next arrows, and a filter by name, domain or ID finds any of them.
• Actions that can’t work are not offered: edge tools only appear for applications with a domain, and metrics only for applications with 512 MB or more.

Action	What it does
Start, Stop, Restart	Sends the action and follows the status until it changes. Starting a running application, or stopping a stopped one, is shown as information, not as an error.
Show logs	Fetches the latest logs into an output channel of their own, with colors preserved.
Toggle realtime stream	Opens a live feed of the application in an output channel; run it again to stop. When the server closes the connection, the extension reconnects on its own.
Show 24h metrics	Prints the last 24 hours of CPU, RAM and network in 5-minute samples, plus the latest sample and the averages. Needs 512 MB or more.
Download snapshot	Generates a fresh snapshot and saves the zip to the folder you choose. A large application can take a couple of minutes to generate one: the extension says so, and running the command again then saves it.
Restore snapshot	Lists stored snapshots, newest first with their size, and restores the one you pick after a confirmation.
Environment variables	Lists, adds, edits and deletes variables, or clears them all after a confirmation. The application reads them at startup, so restart it to apply a change.
Link / Unlink GitHub repository	Links a repository and branch through the Square Cloud GitHub App, so every push deploys the application.
Edge logs / errors / performance	For applications with a domain: pick a range (1 hour, 6 hours, 24 hours or 7 days) and the report opens in an output channel.
Purge edge cache	Clears the whole edge cache of the application after a confirmation.
Delete	Asks you to type the application’s name, takes a recovery snapshot and then deletes. If that snapshot is still being generated, nothing is deleted and you are asked to try again in a couple of minutes.

Databases

The Databases section lists your managed databases with engine and memory. Right-click one, or use its ⋯ button, for Start, Stop, Download TLS certificate and Delete (type the name to confirm). The certificate is saved as a .pem file readable only by you.

Create database is in the side bar’s ... menu, the command palette and the empty Databases section. Give it a name, an engine (mongo, mysql, redis or postgres), its memory in MB and a version. As soon as the database exists, its connection URL, password included, is copied to your clipboard, with a Copy password button.

Square Cloud shows a new database’s credentials only once. Keep them somewhere safe.

Workspaces

The Workspaces section shows every workspace you own or joined, with its member and application counts. Right-click one, or use its ⋯ button, to Leave or Delete it (only the owner can delete). Create workspace is in the side bar’s ... menu, the command palette and the empty Workspaces section.

To join someone else’s workspace, use Copy My Invite Code in the side bar’s ... menu. It copies your personal invite code: send it to the workspace owner, who uses it to add you.

Status and problems

• Platform health sits in the footer of the side bar. When Square Cloud reports trouble, a banner at the top shows its message and a link to the status page.
• Every problem has its own illustrated state: no connection, a rate-limit pause with a countdown to the automatic retry, maintenance, an authorization that needs connecting again, an unexpected error, and an account without a plan. Each one offers the button that helps: Try again, Connect account, Service status or See plans.
• If a refresh fails while your data is on screen, a small banner says so and keeps the last data it loaded.
• The status bar item shows whether an account is connected, how many applications are online, and whether Square Cloud is offline, pausing requests or degraded. Hover it for the account, plan and service status; click it to refresh.

Config file IntelliSense

squarecloud.app and squarecloud.config get full editor support, with nothing else to install.

• Validation as you type: missing required keys and duplicates, value lengths, a MAIN file that doesn’t exist, a MEMORY below the minimum or above what your plan has free, invalid SUBDOMAIN characters, and unknown RUNTIME or VERSION values are underlined as errors.
• Autocomplete: every key on an empty line, and after = the source files for MAIN, the runtimes for RUNTIME, recommended and latest for VERSION, true and false for AUTORESTART, and memory sizes for MEMORY.
• Quick fixes: the light bulb on an AUTORESTART, VERSION or RUNTIME line sets a valid value in one click.
• Highlighting and icons for squarecloud.app, squarecloud.config and squarecloud.ignore.

See the config file guide for every key.

From the terminal

Most actions in the side bar also have a Square Cloud CLI command, handy in scripts and CI: upload and commit, applications, logs, environment variables, snapshots, edge analytics, databases and workspaces.