TFLint for Visual Studio Code

Inline tflint diagnostics directly in VS Code. Issues appear as squiggles in your Terraform files as you work — no terminal required.

Features

Highlights tflint issues inline as errors, warnings, and informational hints
Runs automatically on file open and save
Lints the entire Terraform module (directory), not just the open file
Clickable rule names in the Problems panel link to the rule's documentation
Configurable rule exclusions per workspace
Output channel for debugging (View → Output → TFLint)

Requirements

tflint must be installed and available on your PATH.

macOS / Linux (Homebrew):

brew install tflint

Linux (direct download):

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/terraform-linters/tflint/master/install_linux.sh | bash

Windows (Chocolatey):

choco install tflint

See the official installation guide for all options.

Usage

Open any .tf file — the extension activates automatically and runs tflint in the background. Issues appear:

As squiggles in the editor
In the Problems panel (Ctrl+Shift+M)
Grouped by file and severity

Clicking a rule name in the Problems panel opens the rule's documentation page.

Configuration

All settings are under the tflint namespace and can be set in your workspace or user settings.json.

Setting	Type	Default	Description
`tflint.executablePath`	`string`	`"tflint"`	Path to the tflint binary. Set this if tflint is not on VS Code's PATH.
`tflint.runOnSave`	`boolean`	`true`	Run tflint every time a `.tf` file is saved.
`tflint.runOnOpen`	`boolean`	`true`	Run tflint when a `.tf` file is opened.
`tflint.chdir`	`boolean`	`true`	Lint the file's directory instead of a single file. Recommended — tflint is module-aware.
`tflint.excludeRules`	`string[]`	`[]`	Rule names to disable, passed as `--disable-rule=<name>`.

Examples

Custom tflint path (e.g. Linuxbrew):

"tflint.executablePath": "/home/linuxbrew/.linuxbrew/bin/tflint"

Disable specific rules:

"tflint.excludeRules": [
  "terraform_required_version",
  "terraform_required_providers",
  "terraform_typed_variables"
]

Lint only on save (not on open):

"tflint.runOnOpen": false

Troubleshooting

No diagnostics appear

Open View → Output and select TFLint from the dropdown.
Check that tflint runs and exits with code 0 or 2. Exit code 1 means a fatal tflint error.

Verify tflint works manually in the same directory:

tflint --format=json --chdir=/path/to/your/module

If tflint is not found, set tflint.executablePath to the full path of the binary.

tflint not found

VS Code may not inherit your shell's PATH. Find the tflint path with which tflint and set it explicitly:

"tflint.executablePath": "/usr/local/bin/tflint"

Issues from other files in the module don't appear

This is expected — tflint reports issues for all files in the module, but VS Code only shows diagnostics for files it has open. Open the relevant .tf file to see its diagnostics.

How It Works

When you open or save a .tf file, the extension:

Resolves the file's directory as the module root
Runs tflint --format=json --chdir=<module-dir>
Parses the JSON output and maps each issue to its file, line, and column
Writes the results to VS Code's diagnostics API

tflint is always run against the whole module directory (not a single file) because many rules — such as terraform_required_providers — require cross-file analysis.

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/your-org/vscode-tflint
cd vscode-tflint
npm install
npm run compile

Press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host.

To package as a .vsix:

npm install -g @vscode/vsce
vsce package

License

MIT

TFLint

Ole-JH