Unified Adapter Studio

The Unified Adapter Studio provides an integrated development environment (IDE) that simplifies the traditionally complex process of building custom adapters. Hence, eliminating the need for specialized SDI skills and allowing you to focus on your application's APIs rather than adapter technology.

Licenses

Before downloading this extension, review the License and Third Party Notices.

Table of contents

• Overview
• Features
  • Guided Adapter Creation Wizard
  • AI-Powered Code Generation
  • Built-in Debug & Test Panel
  • Structured Validation
  • Adapter Management
  • License & Free Trial
• Requirements
• Installation
• Quick Start
• Available Commands
• Sidebar Views
• Troubleshooting
• Privacy Notice
• Resources

Overview

Unified Adapter Studio guides you through the complete adapter development lifecycle:

• Create — Define adapter metadata, import an OpenAPI/Swagger spec, configure target system authentication and connection parameters, and map SCIM attributes to your target API.
• Generate — AI-assisted code generation produces ready-to-use adapter operation files (for example, addUser.js, getUser.js, modifyUser.js) from your mappings. Regenerate any function by using IBM BOB, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor with a single click.
• Debug & Test — A built-in test panel lets you invoke individual adapter operations against a live target system and inspect results without leaving the IDE.
• Validate — Run structured E2E test suites (test connection, sanity, user management, reconciliation, group management) against your adapter and view detailed pass or fail reports.
• Deploy — Export your adapter as a .zip package and upload it to IBM Verify SaaS and IBM Verify Identity Governance as an Identity Adapter Profile, ready for application onboarding.

Features

Guided Adapter Creation Wizard

A 5-step wizard walks you through every aspect of adapter creation:

AI-Powered Code Generation

• Automatically generates adapter operation functions from your API mappings.
• Regenerate Function with Custom Prompt — send any operation file to IBM BOB, GitHub Copilot, or Cursor with full context and custom instructions.
• AI-assisted payload mapping from OpenAPI request/response schemas.

Built-in Debug & Test Panel

• Execute any adapter operation against a live target from within the IDE.
• Store reusable inputs (base URL, tokens, credentials) as encrypted Variables.
• Navigate directly from a failing test to the operation source file.

Structured Validation

Run bucket-based E2E test suites with one click:

• Test Connection
• Sanity Test
• User Management (add, get, modify, delete)
• User Reconciliation
• Group Management
• Group Reconciliation

View per-test logs, download full reports, and access Test History for all past runs.

Adapter Management

• List, edit, clone, delete, and bulk-delete adapters.
• Import adapters from .zip packages.
• Export adapters (development or production builds).
• Open any adapter in its own VS Code workspace for direct file editing.

License & Free Trial

• 90-days free trial starts automatically on first launch — no key required.
• Enter a license key at any time from Settings → License to activate a full license.
• License status is visible in the status bar and sidebar.

Requirements

• VS Code >= 1.85.0 (or IBM BOB — recommended for AI features)
• Node.js 22.x.x (required to run/debug adapter code locally)
• A workspace folder with write access (selected on first launch)

Installation

1. Open the Extensions view (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X).
2. Search for Unified Adapter Studio.
3. Click Install.
4. Your 90-days free trial starts automatically.

Quick Start

Create your first adapter

1. Click the Unified Adapter Studio icon in the activity bar to open the sidebar.
2. Click Create Adapter from the Home tab.
3. Enter a name, version (1.0.0), and import your OpenAPI/Swagger spec (JSON or YAML).
4. Follow the wizard steps — the AI suggests attribute mappings and generates operation code.
5. Click Generate Adapter to create the adapter workspace.
6. Use the Files view to open operation files and the Test Panel to execute them.

Validate your adapter

1. From the Home tab, click Validate next to your adapter.
2. Enter target connection details and click Test Connection.
3. Select test buckets and configure a test payload.
4. Click Run — results appear in an accordion view with per-test logs.
5. Click Finish to return Home. Access all past results through Test History.

Change workspace

Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P) and run:

Adapter Studio: Change Workspace

Available Commands

Sidebar Views

Troubleshooting

Extension does not activate or sidebar is blank

• Ensure Node.js 22.x.x is installed and on PATH.
• Check the Output panel (View → Output → Unified Adapter Studio) for errors.

npm install required for Debug & Test

• After generating an adapter, open a terminal inside the adapter workspace folder and run npm install before using the Test Panel.

Test Connection fails

• Verify the connection target details (base URL, auth credentials) in the Variables panel or the Configure Test Connection screen.
• Ensure the target system is reachable and the certificate (if any) is uploaded in Settings → Manage Certificates.

Adapter not visible after creation

• Check that the workspace directory was correctly configured during first launch.
• Run Adapter Studio: Change Workspace if the path has moved or been deleted.

Privacy Notice

Unified Adapter Studio may collect anonymous usage telemetry to help improve the product. You can disable telemetry in VS Code settings (telemetry.telemetryLevel). See IBM's General Privacy Statement for details.

Resources

• IBM Verify Documentation
• IBM Verify Unified Adapter Studio Community Blog
• IBM Identity and Security Community