Fast, lightweight Terraform and OpenTofu support: highlighting, outline, go to definition and references across a module, hovers, completion, undefined-reference errors and formatting.
Maintained. No sign-in. No telemetry. Works in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium and other editors that use Open VSX.
Features
- Fast and light. No language server to download and nothing running in the background, so it opens instantly even in large repos. Works with Terraform and OpenTofu (
.tf, .tofu, .tfvars) and plain .hcl files.
- Highlighting for blocks, labels, attributes, functions, references, strings with
${…} interpolation and heredocs.
- Go to Definition across the module. Ctrl+click
var.region, local.name, module.network, data.aws_iam_policy_document.read or aws_s3_bucket.logs to jump to its declaration, in whichever .tf file of the folder it lives.
- Find All References from a variable, resource, data source, module or local, with a reference count above each block. Unused variables stand out at "0 references".
- Hover over
var.x for its type, default and description, over local.x for its value, and over a resource, data source or module for its declaration and source.
- Completion after
var., local., module., data. and a resource type, from the module's own declarations.
- Undefined references are marked as errors (
No variable var.missing in this module.) as you type, before you run plan.
- Outline and breadcrumbs list every block, with
locals entries nested.
- Format Document runs
tofu fmt or terraform fmt if one is on your PATH, or the program you set.
- Works in the browser on vscode.dev and github.dev; formatting with
tofu fmt or terraform fmt needs the desktop app.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
What it does |
nifty.hcl.validateReferences |
true |
Report references to variables, locals, modules, data sources and resources that don't exist |
nifty.hcl.referenceCodeLens |
true |
Show reference counts above blocks |
nifty.hcl.formatter |
auto |
auto (tofu, then terraform), tofu, terraform, or a full path |
A module is the set of .tf files in one folder, as in Terraform itself. Provider schemas (resource attribute names) aren't included. For those, use this alongside the official extension, or on its own when you want speed.
Terraform is a trademark of HashiCorp. This extension isn't affiliated with or endorsed by HashiCorp or the OpenTofu project.
Install
- VS Code: search for "Nifty HCL Tools" in the Extensions view, or install from the Visual Studio Marketplace.
- Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, Kiro, Antigravity: install from Open VSX.
Privacy
This extension collects no telemetry and needs no account.
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