Jenkins Workbench

VS Code extension that brings Jenkins into your editor. Browse jobs, trigger builds, stream console logs, watch for status changes, and manage CI/CD pipelines without leaving VS Code.

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Features

Browse & Navigate

• Activity Bar View — Dedicated Jenkins sidebar with a hierarchical tree view
• Multi-Environment Support — Connect to multiple Jenkins instances with workspace or global scope
• Browse Everything — Explore folders, multibranch pipelines, jobs, builds, and nodes
• Curated Jenkins Views — Browse Jenkins views in a dedicated section and hide noisy defaults
• Go to Job... — Quick search across all configured Jenkins environments
• Pin Jobs & Pipelines — Keep critical items in a top-level pinned section for quick access
• Open Nodes in Jenkins — Jump from node items directly to their Jenkins page
• Deep Links — Open builds and jobs directly in VS Code via airizom.jenkins-workbench:// URIs
• Summary Badges — Running, queued, and watch-error counts displayed on tree sections

Current Branch Workflow

• Repository Linking — Link a local Git repository to a Jenkins multibranch pipeline
• Persistent Repository Links — Links are keyed to the repository path and stored on the local machine, so the same checkout reuses its link in any workspace
• PR-Aware Resolution — Prefer the active GitHub pull request job (for example PR-123) when the GitHub Pull Requests extension can resolve one
• Status Bar Summary — See current-branch Jenkins status in the VS Code status bar
• Current Branch Actions — Open the resolved Jenkins job, trigger builds, inspect the latest build, or relink without browsing the tree

Build Management

• Trigger Builds — Start builds with support for parameterized jobs (strings, booleans, choices, passwords, credentials, run, file, text, multi-choice)
• Reusable Parameter Presets — Save named per-job presets and reuse them when triggering builds
• Stop Builds — Abort running builds directly from the tree
• Replay Build — Edit the Pipeline script in a draft editor and re-run with changes, or quick-replay with the original script
• Rebuild — Re-run a build with the same parameters
• Preview Build Logs — Open console output in a lightweight preview editor
• Approve / Reject Inputs — Handle pending input steps for Pipeline builds
• Open in Jenkins — Jump to any job, pipeline, or build in your browser

Build Insights & Artifacts

• Build Progress — Estimated progress and duration for running builds
• Richer Tooltips — Optional build tooltips with causes, changes, and parameters
• Console Search & Export — Quickly search logs or export console output from build details
• Failure Insights — Focused cards that summarize why a build failed, with empty states when no data is available
• Artifact Preview & Download — Open images/text artifacts or download them to your workspace
• Workspace Browsing — Browse a classic job's current Jenkins workspace and preview files without leaving VS Code

Build Details Panel

• Live Console Streaming — Watch build output in real-time with automatic scrolling
• Pipeline Visualization — View stage-by-stage progress for Pipeline jobs
• Restart From Stage — Restart failed/unstable Declarative runs from eligible stages
• Stage Load Feedback — Inline loading states while pipeline stages resolve
• Test Results — See test summary when builds complete; optionally include per-test logs
• Build Notifications — Get notified when watched builds finish

Jenkinsfile Validation

• Declarative Linting — Validate Jenkinsfiles against the Jenkins declarative linter
• Step Intelligence — Get step autocompletion, hover docs, and parameter hints for Jenkinsfiles
• Automatic Validation — Optionally validate Jenkinsfiles on open, change, and save
• Diagnostics & Quick Fixes — See errors inline and apply guided fixes
• CodeLens — Inline validation status above the pipeline block
• Keyboard Shortcut — Validate the active Jenkinsfile with Cmd+Shift+J (macOS) or Ctrl+Shift+J

Watch Jobs

• Status Notifications — Watch jobs and receive alerts when builds succeed, fail, or change status
• Configurable Polling — Adjust poll intervals to balance responsiveness and server load
• Smart Recovery — Automatic retry with backoff for transient errors

Filtering

• Job Status Filters — Show all jobs, only failing jobs, or only running jobs
• Branch Filtering — Filter branches within multibranch pipeline folders
• Quick Access — Filter icons in the view title bar for one-click filtering

Build Queue

• Queue Visibility — See pending builds waiting in the queue
• Cancel Queue Items — Remove builds from the queue before they start
• Auto-Refresh — Queue updates automatically when expanded

Quick Start

1. Open the Jenkins Workbench view in the Activity Bar (look for the Jenkins icon)
2. Click the Add Environment button (plus icon) or run Jenkins: Add Environment from the Command Palette
3. Choose a scope:
   • Workspace — Available only in the current workspace
   • Global — Available across all workspaces
4. Enter your Jenkins details:
   • URL — Your Jenkins base URL (e.g., https://jenkins.example.com)
5. Select an auth method:
   • None — No authentication headers
   • Basic — Username + API token
   • Bearer token — Authorization: Bearer <token>
   • Cookie header — Send a Cookie header with every request
   • Custom headers (JSON) — Arbitrary headers (e.g., {"Cookie":"JSESSIONID=...","X-Forwarded-User":"jenkins"})
6. Provide credentials if prompted:
   • Basic — Username + API token
   • Bearer token — Token value
   • Cookie header — Cookie string
   • Custom headers (JSON) — JSON object of headers
7. Browse your jobs — Expand the environment to see jobs, builds, and nodes

Tasks

Jenkins jobs and pipelines appear in Run Task... under the Jenkins Workbench task type (up to 2000 per environment). Tasks run without prompts, and parameterized builds only use values provided in tasks.json.

Advanced parameter forms and reusable presets apply to the Trigger Build flow. They are not used by pending-input prompts or tasks.json in this version.

Example tasks.json:

{
  "version": "2.0.0",
  "tasks": [
    {
      "label": "Jenkins: Build API",
      "type": "jenkinsWorkbench",
      "environmentUrl": "https://jenkins.example.com/",
      "environmentId": "workspace-jenkins",
      "jobUrl": "job/api/job/build/",
      "parameters": {
        "BRANCH": "main",
        "DEPLOY": true
      }
    }
  ]
}

Canceling a Jenkins task does not stop the Jenkins build. If multiple environments share the same URL, set environmentId to disambiguate.

Parameter Presets & Secrets

• Presets are stored per job and per environment scope (workspace/global).
• Secret-like parameters are not persisted by default.
• You can explicitly opt in to save individual secret values in VS Code SecretStorage.
• File parameter presets store local file path references, not file contents.

Requirements

Requirement	Details
VS Code	^1.85.0 or later
Network	Access to your Jenkins instance(s)
Jenkins API	JSON API must be accessible (/api/json)
Permissions	Read access for browsing; write access for build actions
Workspace	A file-based workspace folder is required to download artifacts; previews do not require a workspace folder

Extension Settings

Caching & Performance

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.cacheTtlSeconds	300	Cache TTL for Jenkins data. Use 0 to disable.
jenkinsWorkbench.maxCacheEntries	1000	Maximum cache entries before eviction.
jenkinsWorkbench.requestTimeoutSeconds	30	Timeout for Jenkins API requests.

Polling & Refresh

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.pollIntervalSeconds	60	Polling interval for shared Jenkins status refreshes, including watched jobs and current-branch status.
jenkinsWorkbench.watchErrorThreshold	3	Consecutive errors before warning.
jenkinsWorkbench.queuePollIntervalSeconds	10	Polling interval for the build queue.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildDetailsRefreshIntervalSeconds	5	Polling interval for build details and logs.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildDetails.testReport.includeCaseLogs	false	Include per-test stack traces and stdout/stderr when fetching test reports.

Job Search

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.jobSearchConcurrency	4	Concurrent folder requests for Go to Job.
jenkinsWorkbench.jobSearchBackoffBaseMs	200	Base delay for transient error backoff.
jenkinsWorkbench.jobSearchBackoffMaxMs	2000	Maximum delay for adaptive backoff.
jenkinsWorkbench.jobSearchMaxRetries	2	Retries for transient errors (429/5xx).

Tree Views

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.treeViews.excludedNames	["all"]	Case-insensitive Jenkins view names to hide from the curated Views section.

Current Branch

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.currentBranch.pullRequestJobNamePatterns	["pr-{number}"]	Job-name patterns used to resolve current-branch PR jobs. Use {number} as the PR number placeholder.

Build Tooltips

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.buildTooltips.includeDetails	false	Fetch extra build details (causes, change sets, parameters, estimated duration) for tooltips.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildTooltips.parameters.enabled	false	Include build parameters in tooltips.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildTooltips.parameters.allowList	[]	Only show parameters whose names contain these substrings.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildTooltips.parameters.denyList	[]	Hide parameters whose names contain these substrings.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildTooltips.parameters.maskPatterns	["password", "token", "secret", "apikey", "api_key", "credential", "passphrase"]	Mask parameter values that match these substrings.
jenkinsWorkbench.buildTooltips.parameters.maskValue	[redacted]	Replacement text for masked parameter values.

Artifacts

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.artifactDownloadRoot	jenkins-artifacts	Workspace-relative folder for downloaded artifacts.
jenkinsWorkbench.artifactMaxDownloadMb	100	Maximum artifact download size in megabytes (0 disables limit).

Artifact Preview Cache

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.artifactPreviewCacheMaxEntries	50	Maximum number of in-memory artifact previews to keep before eviction.
jenkinsWorkbench.artifactPreviewCacheMaxMb	200	Maximum total size in megabytes for in-memory artifact previews.
jenkinsWorkbench.artifactPreviewCacheTtlSeconds	900	Time-to-live in seconds for unused in-memory artifact previews.

Jenkinsfile Validation

Setting	Default	Description
jenkinsWorkbench.jenkinsfileValidation.enabled	true	Enable Jenkinsfile validation using the Jenkins declarative linter.
jenkinsWorkbench.jenkinsfile.intelligence.enabled	true	Enable Jenkinsfile step completions, hover docs, and parameter hints.
jenkinsWorkbench.jenkinsfileValidation.runOnSave	true	Enable automatic Jenkinsfile validation on open, change, and save.
jenkinsWorkbench.jenkinsfileValidation.changeDebounceMs	500	Debounce delay in milliseconds before validating Jenkinsfiles on change (0 = immediate).
jenkinsWorkbench.jenkinsfileValidation.filePatterns	["**/Jenkinsfile","**/*.jenkinsfile","**/Jenkinsfile.*"]	Glob patterns used to detect Jenkinsfile documents for validation and language intelligence.

Commands

Environment Management

Command	Description
Jenkins: Add Environment	Add a new Jenkins environment
Jenkins: Remove Environment	Remove the selected environment
Jenkins: Refresh	Refresh the tree view and clear cache

Build Actions

Command	Description
Jenkins: Trigger Build	Start a new build for the selected job
Jenkins: Abort/Stop Build	Stop a running build
Jenkins: Replay Build	Open an editable draft of the Pipeline script and replay with changes
Jenkins: Quick Replay Build	Replay a Pipeline build immediately using the original script
Jenkins: Run Replay Draft	Submit an edited replay draft from the editor
Jenkins: Rebuild	Rebuild with the same parameters
Jenkins: Preview Build Logs	Open console output in a read-only preview
Jenkins: View Build Details	Open the build details panel
Jenkins: Open Last Failed Build	Jump to the last failed build
Jenkins: Cancel Queue Item	Remove a build from the queue
Jenkins: Approve Input	Approve a pending input step for a running build
Jenkins: Reject Input	Reject a pending input step for a running build

Job Actions

Command	Description
Jenkins: View Job Config	Open the selected job or pipeline's config.xml in a read-only preview
Jenkins: Update Job Config	Open an editable draft of config.xml, show a diff, validate XML, and submit with confirmation
Jenkins: Submit Job Config	Submit the active job config draft after validation and confirmation
Jenkins: New Item	Create a Freestyle job or Pipeline at an environment root or regular folder
Jenkins: Enable Job	Enable a disabled job or pipeline
Jenkins: Disable Job	Disable an enabled job or pipeline
Jenkins: Rename Job	Rename the selected job or pipeline
Jenkins: Copy Job	Copy the selected job or pipeline
Jenkins: Delete Job	Delete the selected job or pipeline
Jenkins: Scan Repository Now	Trigger a multibranch scan for the selected multibranch folder

Artifacts

Command	Description
Jenkins: Preview Artifact	Open an artifact (image/text) from a build
Jenkins: Download Artifact	Download an artifact to the workspace
Jenkins: Preview Workspace File	Open a file from the selected job workspace

Navigation & Search

Command	Description
Jenkins: Go to Job...	Search and navigate to any job
Jenkins: Open in Jenkins	Open the selected item in your browser

Current Branch

Command	Description
Jenkins: Link Current Repository to Multibranch Pipeline	Link the active Git repository to a Jenkins multibranch pipeline
Jenkins: Link Repository Here	Link a Git repository directly from a selected multibranch folder in the tree
Jenkins: Unlink Current Repository from Jenkins	Remove the stored Jenkins link for a Git repository
Jenkins: Current Branch Actions	Open the action picker for the active repository's current branch
Jenkins: Open Current Branch in Jenkins	Open the resolved current-branch Jenkins job
Jenkins: Trigger Current Branch Build	Trigger a build for the resolved current-branch Jenkins job

Current-branch PR awareness is optional and uses the GitHub Pull Requests extension when it is installed and can identify an active pull request for the checked-out repository. Otherwise Jenkins Workbench falls back to branch-based resolution.

Nodes

Command	Description
Jenkins: View Node Details	Open the node details panel
Jenkins: Take Node Offline...	Mark the selected Jenkins node temporarily offline
Jenkins: Bring Node Online	Return a temporarily offline node to service
Jenkins: Launch Node Agent	Ask Jenkins to launch the selected node agent

Filtering

Command	Description
Jenkins: Filter Jobs	Open the job filter picker in the view header
Jenkins: Show All Jobs	Clear job status filters
Jenkins: Show Failing Jobs	Show only failing jobs
Jenkins: Show Running Jobs	Show only running jobs
Jenkins: Filter Branches	Filter branches in a multibranch folder
Jenkins: Clear Branch Filter	Clear the branch filter

Organization

Command	Description
Jenkins: Pin Job	Pin a job or pipeline into the pinned section at the top of an instance
Jenkins: Unpin Job	Remove a pinned job or pipeline
Jenkins: Remove Missing Pins	Remove stale pinned entries that no longer exist in Jenkins

Watch

Command	Description
Jenkins: Watch Job	Watch a job for status changes
Jenkins: Unwatch Job	Stop watching a job

Jenkinsfile Validation

Command	Description
Jenkins: Validate Jenkinsfile	Validate the active Jenkinsfile
Jenkins: Select Jenkinsfile Environment	Choose which environment powers Jenkinsfile validation and language intelligence
Jenkins: Clear Jenkinsfile Validation Diagnostics	Clear Jenkinsfile validation diagnostics
Jenkins: Show Jenkinsfile Validation Output	Show the Jenkinsfile validation output channel

Security

Security notes:

• Credential storage — API tokens, bearer tokens, cookie values, and custom headers are stored in VS Code SecretStorage
• Auth headers — Basic, Bearer, Cookie, and custom headers are sent on every request, including CSRF crumb acquisition
• CSRF crumbs — Supports the Jenkins crumb issuer when CSRF protection is enabled
• Transport — The extension does not enforce HTTPS; credentials will be sent in cleartext if an http:// URL is configured. Always use https:// for production instances
• SSO — The extension does not run browser-based OAuth/SAML flows; supply cookies or tokens manually

Recommended Setup

1. Use HTTPS — Always configure your Jenkins URL with https://
2. Create an API Token — Generate a dedicated API token in Jenkins (User > Configure > API Token)
3. Use a Service Account — Consider a dedicated Jenkins user with minimal required permissions

Troubleshooting

Empty Tree View

• Verify the Jenkins URL is correct and reachable
• Test that /api/json returns JSON data in your browser
• Check that your network allows connections to Jenkins

403 Forbidden Errors

• Confirm your account has read permissions for jobs
• Regenerate your API token if it may have expired
• Ensure the username matches the token owner

CSRF / Login Redirect Errors

• Verify your Jenkins user can access /crumbIssuer/api/json
• Check that Jenkins security settings allow API access
• Confirm you're using an API token or another supported header-based auth method
• For SSO-backed Jenkins, capture a session cookie or token and use Cookie/Bearer/Custom headers

Missing Build Actions (404)

• Some actions require Jenkins plugins:
  • Replay requires the Workflow Plugin
  • Rebuild requires the Rebuild Plugin
  • Restart from Stage requires Declarative Pipeline support from Pipeline: Model Definition
• Check that the plugins are installed and the user has permissions

Artifact Downloads

• Artifact downloads require a folder-backed workspace; previews do not
• If downloads fail, check the jenkinsWorkbench.artifactMaxDownloadMb limit

Workspace Browsing

• Workspace browsing reflects the current Jenkins classic job workspace, not a historical per-build snapshot
• Pipeline jobs do not expose the same job-level workspace browser, so they do not show a Workspace branch
• If a job has not created a workspace yet, the tree will show Workspace unavailable or an empty workspace state

Slow Job Search

• Adjust jobSearchConcurrency based on your Jenkins server capacity
• Increase jobSearchBackoffBaseMs if you see rate limiting
• Large Jenkins instances may take longer to index

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please follow these guidelines:

1. Fork the repository and create a feature branch
2. Follow Conventional Commits: type(scope): message
   • Examples: feat(tree): add folder icons, fix(auth): handle expired tokens
3. Include in your PR:
   • A concise summary of changes
   • Link to related issues
   • Screenshots for UI changes
   • Commands run (e.g., npm run compile)

Development Setup

The extension backend is TypeScript. The webview panels (Build Details, Node Details) are a separate Vite bundle using React, Tailwind CSS, and Radix UI. Biome is used for linting and formatting (not ESLint/Prettier).

Prerequisites: Node 24 or later.

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile the webview bundle, typecheck it, then compile the extension
npm run compile

# Watch mode for development
npm run watch

# Check source files without modifying them (Biome)
npm run check

# Lint and format with fixes (Biome)
npm run check:fix

# Launch Extension Development Host
# Press F5 in VS Code

npm run compile is the canonical sync point for the project. It rebuilds the webview bundle, typechecks the webview code, and then runs the extension TypeScript compile so the runtime webview manifest stays aligned with the backend.

Manual Testing Checklist

1. Run npm run compile and npm run check, then press F5 to launch the Extension Development Host
2. Add a workspace and a global environment
3. Verify jobs, builds, and nodes load correctly
4. Test build actions (trigger, stop, replay, rebuild)
5. Verify watch notifications work
6. Test node actions and node details
7. Trigger a multibranch scan and verify branch filtering still works
8. Confirm removing an environment clears it from the tree
9. Preview or download a build artifact
10. Browse a classic job workspace, expand nested folders, and preview a workspace file
11. Pin and unpin a job or pipeline, then verify the pinned section and remove any missing pins

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.

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