Architect

AIVory Architect for VS Code

Visual cloud infrastructure design directly in Visual Studio Code. Design infrastructure visually, generate production-ready Terraform, and deploy with one click.

Visual designer with drag-and-drop canvas for cloud resources
Multi-cloud support for AWS, Azure, GCP, Hetzner, RunPod, and more
One-click Terraform generation with automatic dependency resolution
Integrated deployment with real-time progress and state tracking
Kubernetes management with pod assignment and status monitoring

Installation

VS Code Marketplace

Search “AIVory Architect” in Extensions (Ctrl+Shift+X / Cmd+Shift+X) and click Install

Install from VSIX

Run code --install-extension aivory-architect-X.Y.Z.vsix in your terminal

Requirements

VS Code 1.85+

Required for extension compatibility

Terraform 1.6+

For deployment and code generation features

kubectl

For Kubernetes management features

Docker

For container-related features

Note Only VS Code is required to use the visual designer. Other tools are needed only for their respective features.

Quick Start

1. Open a Project

Open any workspace - AIVory Architect will detect existing .env, .tf, and terraform.tfstate files.

2. Open the Designer

Click the AIVory Architect icon in the Activity Bar (left sidebar)
Click Open Designer in the sidebar panel

3. Design Your Infrastructure

Drag resources from the Cloud Provider palette onto the canvas
Click resources to edit their Properties
Connect resources to define dependencies
Assign Kubernetes pods to VMs in the Pod Assignment panel

4. Generate Terraform

Click Generate Terraform in the toolbar
Review generated files in the diff viewer
Files are saved to your project’s .aivory/ directory

5. Deploy

Click Deploy to run terraform apply
Monitor progress in the integrated terminal
View deployed resources in real-time

Note The designer auto-saves your work. You can close and reopen without losing progress.

Features

Visual Infrastructure Designer

Drag-and-Drop Canvas

Grid snapping, zoom, and pan for precise layouts

Resource Palette

VMs, databases, load balancers, networks, storage, GPUs

Multi-Cloud Support

AWS, Azure, GCP, Hetzner, RunPod, DeepInfra, Cloudflare

Property Panels

Validation and cloud-specific configuration

Visual Dependencies

Connect nodes to define resource relationships

Auto-Save

Designs saved automatically with full serialization

Terraform Code Generation

Production-Ready Output

Generates main.tf, variables.tf, outputs.tf

Smart Templates

Provider-specific with proper resource naming

Dependency Resolution

Automatic topological sorting

Diff Viewer

Review changes before overwriting files

Integrated Deployment

One-Click Deploy

Run terraform init, plan, apply from VS Code

Real-Time Progress

Streaming output with progress indicators

Plan Preview

Review changes before applying

State Tracking

Parse state files for deployed resources

Kubernetes Management

Direct Deployment

Deploy manifests from designer to clusters

Pod Assignment

Visual mapping of pods to VMs

Health Monitoring

Real-time pod status with color-coded indicators

SSH/Exec

Connect to running containers

Credential Vault & Environment Management

Secure Storage

AES-256-GCM encryption for credentials

Environment Variables

Manage variables per deployment

Firewall Rules

Visual configuration of network rules

Team Export

Share configurations securely

Configuration

Access settings: File → Preferences → Settings → Search for “Architect”

Key Settings

Setting	Default	Description
`architect.terraformPath`	`""`	Path to terraform binary (uses PATH if empty)
`architect.kubectlPath`	`""`	Path to kubectl binary (uses PATH if empty)
`architect.dockerPath`	`""`	Path to docker binary (uses PATH if empty)
`architect.defaultEnvironment`	`dev`	Default environment (dev/staging/production)
`architect.autoRefreshInterval`	`30`	Auto-refresh interval in seconds
`architect.enableFileWatcher`	`true`	Watch .env, .tf, .yaml files for changes
`architect.gridSize`	`20`	Designer canvas grid size for snapping

Note Leave path settings empty to use binaries from your system PATH. Only set explicit paths if you have multiple versions installed.

Commands

All commands are available via the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).

Command	Description
`Architect: Show Panel`	Open the main designer panel
`Architect: Sign In`	Authenticate with browser OAuth2
`Architect: Sign Out`	Clear authentication tokens
`Architect: Terraform Init`	Initialize Terraform in workspace
`Architect: Terraform Plan`	Preview infrastructure changes
`Architect: Terraform Apply`	Apply infrastructure changes
`Architect: Deploy Infrastructure`	Full deployment workflow
`Architect: New Design`	Create a new infrastructure design
`Architect: Save Design`	Save current design
`Architect: Load Design`	Load an existing design
`Architect: Export to Terraform`	Generate Terraform files
`Architect: Refresh`	Refresh infrastructure state

File-Based Configuration

AIVory Architect automatically detects and parses these file types:

File Type	Purpose
`.env`	Environment variables and cloud credentials
`terraform.tfvars`	Terraform variable values
`*.tf`	Terraform resource definitions
`terraform.tfstate`	Deployed resource state
`*.yaml`	Kubernetes manifests
`docker-compose.yml`	Docker Compose stacks

Supported Environment Variables

# Cloud Providers
HCLOUD_TOKEN=...
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=...
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=...
AZURE_SUBSCRIPTION_ID=...
AZURE_CLIENT_ID=...
GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS=...
RUNPOD_API_KEY=...
DEEPINFRA_API_TOKEN=...
CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN=...

# Kubernetes
KUBECONFIG=/path/to/kubeconfig