AWS BucketBuddy

Browse, upload, download, and manage Amazon S3 objects directly from VS Code — without ever leaving your editor.

AWS BucketBuddy gives developers a visual S3 browser in the VS Code sidebar. No AWS Console access required. Connect using any AWS CLI profile — standard credentials, SSO, assumed roles, or process credentials — and navigate your S3 buckets like a file explorer. Connect multiple profiles simultaneously to browse cross-account buckets side-by-side and copy objects between them.

Publisher: kkmohan Author: Krish Kanchinadam

What it looks like

S3 Buckets
│
├── 👤 work-profile  |  us-east-1
│   ├── ➡️  Go to bucket…
│   ├── 📁 prod-data
│   │   ├── 📂 configs/
│   │   │   └── 📄 app.json          12.4 KB
│   │   ├── 📂 logs/
│   │   └── 📄 README.md             1.1 KB
│   └── 📁 staging-bucket
│       └── 📄 deploy.zip            4.2 MB
│
├── 👤 personal  |  eu-west-1
│   ├── ➡️  Go to bucket…
│   └── 📁 my-backups
│       ├── 📂 2024/
│       └── 📄 archive.tar.gz        820 MB
│
└── ➕ Connect another profile…

Features

Direct Bucket Access

No s3:ListAllMyBuckets permission? No problem. Use Go to bucket… (first entry under each profile, or the → toolbar button) to navigate directly to any bucket by name or s3:// URL — even cross-account buckets your credentials have been explicitly granted access to.

This mirrors the aws s3 ls s3://bucket-name --profile my-profile workflow, without the terminal.

Multiple Profiles Simultaneously

Connect as many AWS profiles as you need — each appears as a collapsible root node in the tree with its own bucket list. This is useful when:

• You have buckets in different AWS accounts
• You need to copy objects from a work account to a personal account
• Your IAM role grants direct bucket access but not ListAllMyBuckets

To add a session: click the + button in the panel header, or the ➕ Connect another profile… node at the bottom of the tree. To remove a session: right-click the profile root node → Disconnect Profile. To disconnect all sessions: click the disconnect button in the panel header toolbar.

Cross-Profile Object Copy

Right-click any object → Copy to Another Profile…

1. Select the target profile session
2. Enter the target bucket name
3. Confirm (or edit) the target key

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

Getting Started

1. Install

From a .vsix file:

Extensions panel → ⋯ → Install from VSIX…

Or via the install script:

./install.sh        # macOS / Linux
install.bat         # Windows

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. The extension activates and loads your default profile automatically.

4. Browse or go to a bucket

• Owned buckets appear in the tree automatically if your credentials have s3:ListAllMyBuckets
• Direct access — click "Go to bucket…" and enter a bucket name or s3:// URL. Works without ListBuckets permission — ideal for cross-account access.

5. Connect a second profile

Click the + icon in the panel header. Select a profile from the list — it opens alongside your existing session. Both are browseable independently.

Panel Header Buttons

Context Menu Actions

On a profile session node (root):

• Disconnect Profile
• Go to Bucket…

On a bucket or folder:

• Upload File
• Search Objects
• Copy S3 URI

On an object:

• Open in Editor
• Download
• Copy S3 URI
• Copy Pre-signed URL
• Rename / Move
• Copy to Another Profile…
• Delete

Commands

Settings

Security

• 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() → fromEnv() → fromProcess() — standard AWS SDK v3 resolution, independently per profile.

⚠️ Data Loss Warning

This extension performs live operations directly against Amazon S3. Object deletions are permanent and irreversible unless versioning is enabled on the bucket. The author accepts no responsibility for any accidental, inadvertent, or unintended deletion, modification, or loss of data. Use at your own risk. Always ensure critical buckets have versioning enabled and maintain independent backups.

Requirements

• 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

License

Proprietary. Copyright © 2026 Krish Kanchinadam / kkmohan. All rights reserved.
See LICENSE for full terms.