1. Install

Install from the VS Code Marketplace — search for AWS BucketBuddy in the Extensions panel, or visit getbucketbuddy.com.

2. Configure an AWS profile

BucketBuddy uses your existing AWS CLI profiles. If you haven't set one up:

aws configure
# or for SSO:
aws configure sso

3. Open the sidebar

Click the BucketBuddy icon in the Activity Bar. On first launch, the extension automatically connects every AWS profile found in your ~/.aws/credentials and ~/.aws/config files — no manual setup needed. Each profile appears as its own colour-coded root node with its configured buckets already pinned.

On subsequent launches, BucketBuddy restores the exact set of profiles that were active when VS Code last closed (respecting any profiles you manually disconnected).

4. Browse or go to a bucket

• Owned buckets appear automatically if your credentials have s3:ListAllMyBuckets
• Pre-configured buckets from buckets= in your AWS config are pinned immediately
• Direct access — click "Go to bucket…" on a profile row and enter a bucket name or s3:// URL

5. Connect an additional profile

Click the + icon in the panel header and select a profile. It appears as a new root node — each session has a distinct colour badge for easy identification.

Add a buckets= field to your AWS config and BucketBuddy will automatically pin those buckets when you connect the profile — no manual "Go to bucket…" needed each time:

[MyProfile]
aws_access_key_id     = ...
aws_secret_access_key = ...
region                = us-east-1
account_id            = 123456789012
buckets               = prod-data, staging-bucket, my-logs

The account_id field is also shown in the profile header for easy identification.

No s3:ListAllMyBuckets permission? No problem. Use Go to bucket… to navigate directly to any bucket by name or s3:// URL — even cross-account buckets your credentials have been explicitly granted access to. BucketBuddy validates the bucket is accessible before confirming.

Click any S3 object — a dedicated Version History panel updates automatically showing all versions and delete markers. From the panel you can:

• Open any prior version in the VS Code editor
• Download a specific version
• Restore a prior version (promotes it to LATEST via a copy)

Requires the bucket to have versioning enabled.

Right-click any object → Copy to Another Profile…

1. Select the target profile (e.g. staging, prod)
2. Enter the target bucket name
3. Confirm (or edit) the target key

The object streams from the source account through VS Code to the target account — no server-side copy required, so it works seamlessly across AWS accounts, environments, and regions.

On a profile session node:

• Go to Bucket…
• Disconnect Profile

On a bucket:

• Upload File
• Create Folder
• Create Bucket
• Refresh Node
• Search Objects
• Copy S3 URI
• Open in AWS Console
• Download Folder
• Delete Folder
• Copy Folder…

On a folder:

• Upload File
• Create Folder
• Refresh Node
• Search Objects
• Copy S3 URI
• Open in AWS Console
• Download Folder
• Delete Folder
• Copy Folder…

On an object:

• Open in Editor
• Download
• Copy S3 URI
• Copy Pre-signed URL
• Copy as AWS CLI Command
• Copy as curl Command
• Open in AWS Console
• Rename / Move
• Copy to Another Profile…
• Version History
• Delete

On a version (Version History panel):

• Open Version
• Download Version
• Restore Version

Connect as many AWS profiles as you need — each appears as a collapsible root node with a distinct color badge (🔵 🟢 🟡 🟣 🟠 🔴) and shows the region and account ID from your config.

Useful when:

• You have buckets spread across dev, staging, and production accounts
• You need to compare or migrate objects between AWS accounts
• Your IAM role grants direct bucket access but not ListAllMyBuckets

Add a session: click + in the panel header, or ➕ Connect another profile… at the bottom Connect all: click the plug icon in the panel header to reconnect every profile at once Remove a session: right-click the profile node → Disconnect Profile Disconnect all: click the disconnect button in the panel header

First launch: all profiles in ~/.aws/credentials + ~/.aws/config are connected automatically. Subsequent launches: restores the profiles that were active when VS Code last closed. Sessions and pinned buckets are persisted — they reconnect automatically when you reopen VS Code.

• No credentials stored. BucketBuddy never persists access keys anywhere. Only profile names (plain strings) are saved across sessions.
• No network calls from WebViews. All AWS API calls run in the VS Code extension host.
• Credential chain per session: fromIni() → fromSSO() → fromProcess() — restricted to the selected AWS profile so ambient environment credentials cannot silently override it.

• VS Code 1.85.0 or later
• AWS CLI configured with at least one profile (aws configure)
• Node.js is not required — the extension bundles all dependencies