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Installation of Visual Studio Code and Extensions

Before getting started with IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed (WCA), you will first setup Visual Studio Code (commonly referred to as VS Code) on a local machine. This will provide an integrated development environment for experimenting with WCA's generative AI capabilities.

  1. Download the latest Stable Build[A] release of VS Code availabe for your machine's operating system using the link below.

    Download: https://code.visualstudio.com

    Follow along with the installer wizard steps and continue with the hands-on lab instructions once VS Code is running on your local machine.


    FULLSCREEN IMAGES

    Click on any of the screenshots within this documentation to enlarge the image.

  1. Launch the VS Code application and take note of the sidebar along the left-side.

    • Click the Extensions icon[A] to open the marketplace of services and open source technologies that can be integrated with VS Code

    • If you have used VS Code previously, extensions that have already been integrated with the environment will be listed along the left side


  1. At the top of the Extensions panel is a search bar:

    • Type Ansible into the search bar[A] and then hit Enter

    • Click the blue Install button[B] for the official Ansible extension for VS Code, published by Red Hat (blue checkmark)

    INSTALLATION PROMPTS

    You may receive two different prompts during the installation process:

    • Do you trust the authors of the files in this workspace?: select Trust Workspace & Install

    • Do you want to allow untrusted files in this window?: select Open

    • Installation of the Ansible extension for VS Code should only take a moment — an Extension:Ansible welcome panel will open when it is finished


  1. Once the Ansible extension has been integrated with VS Code, close any Welcome tabs that open and look for Ansible under the Installed services in the Extensions panel.

    • Click the Manage ("cogwheel") icon located just to the right of the Ansible tile

    • From the drop-down options, click Extension Settings[A]


  1. Settings for the Ansible extension will be displayed within a new panel.

    • Ensure that User[A] is selected at the top of the panel — do not edit Workspace

    • Using the search bar[B] at the top of the panel, add the text Lightspeed to filter the available options

    • Check the option for Ansible > Lightspeed[C]

    • Check the option for Ansible > Lightspeed: Suggestions[D]

    • Check the option for Ansible > Lightspeed: Disable Content Suggestion Header[E]

    • Changes to Settings are automatically saved and applied – click the X button in the top-left corner of the panel's tab


Accessing your Red Hat credentials and authenticating with WCA

Red Hat credentials will already have been emailed to you prior to starting this hands-on material, as part of the registration process. The invitation email will have a header similar to Red Hat Login Email Verification, addressed from a no-reply@redhat.com account.

Locate this email in your inbox and follow along with the steps below to authenticate the VS Code extension with the IBM watsonx Code Assistant for Red Hat Ansible Lightspeed (WCA) environment that has been pre-provisioned for this training.

  1. Click the URL[A] located within the body of the invitation email to finalize your account registration with the WCA environment.

    • An Email Confirmation page will load within your web browser

    • Record the value of Red Hat login to a notepad for reference later

    • Create a new Password and record this to a notepad for reference later

    • When ready, click Save[B] to finalize registration

    REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED

    • If you already have a personal account with Red Hat, you must still register for a new account using the invitation URL provided

    • Do not attempt to use a personal Red Hat account in the later steps of the Setup & Troubleshooting guide, as that account will not have access to the WCA services needed to perform the training

    • Red Hat accounts created for this training will be de-authorized and deleted after the hands-on training period has ended


  1. Return to the VS Code editor and click the Ansible plugin[A] (denoted by the A logo) on the left-hand side of the interface.

    • Two panels will open along the left side of the interface

    • Within the Ansible Lightspeed Login panel, click the blue Connect button[B]

    • The extension Ansible wants to sign in using Ansible Lightspeed: click Allow[C]

    • Do you want Code to open the external website?: click Open[D]


  1. A web browser will load with the header Log in to Ansible Lightspeed with IBM watsonx Code Assistant — this is where you will supply your registration details recorded in Step 6 in order to authenticate the VS Code plugin with WCA.

    • Click the Log in with Red Hat button[A]

    • If you had previously logged in to Red Hat with your browser, you might not be asked again for those credentials

    • If you are asked to provide a Username and Password, supply the values recorded in Step 6 of this module


  1. After logging in with Red Hat, the web browser will display the prompt to Authorize Ansible Lightspeed for VS Code.

    • Click Authorize[A]

    • Do you want to allow this website to open Visual Studio Code?: click Allow[B]

    • Allow Ansible extension to open this URL?: click Open[C]


  1. At this stage, the Ansible extension for VS Code is now authenticated and connected to IBM watsonx Code Assistant.

    • Verify[A] that the environment is logged in as your unique Username and that the User Type: Licensed

    • A notification pop-up will also appear in the bottom-right corner of the VS Code interface confirming the successful login


    CLICK TO EXPAND — FAILURE TO LOGIN OR TIMED OUT

    • If the authentication procedure in Steps 7-9 takes too long, activation of the plugin will be "timed out" and the VS Code environment will display an error message[B] in the bottom-right corner

    • Click the Connect[C] button as shown and repeat Steps 7-9 as before; the login process should run smoother (and faster) on the second attempt


Preparing the Ansible Playbook materials

To begin experimenting with WCA's generative AI capabilities, you will first need access to some Ansible Playbooks to generate Tasks with. Playbook templates have already been prepared ahead of time for this training so that you can get straight to work.

  1. Click the Explorer button at the top of the left-hand VS Code interface. Depending on your VS Code environment, the Explorer tab will look one of two ways. Click to expand whichever one of the two options best describes your situation and follow the instructions.

    I AM NEW TO VS CODE

    If you are working within a new installation of VS Code, the Explorer tab[A] will display NO FOLDER OPENED and give options to either Open Folder or Clone Repository. You must specify the public GitHub repository from which to "clone" the Ansible Playbook templates into the local (VS Code) environment. A "clone" request in GitHub is essentially a request to replicate code from the cloud-hosted repository into the local environment.

    • Click the Clone Repository button[B], which will open an executable console[C] at the top of VS Code

    • You must specify the public GitHub repository from which to "clone" the Ansible Playbook templates into the local (VS Code) environment

      Enter following GitHub repository address into the console and hit Enter to confirm:

      https://github.com/chetan-hireholi/ansible-wca-demo-kit

    • If prompted Would you like to open the cloned repository?: click Open[D]

    • If prompted Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder?: click Yes, I trust the authors[E]


    I HAVE USED VS CODE BEFORE

    If you have worked with VS Code before and have added projects or folders to the environment previously, those folders (and their contents) will be displayed within the Explorer tab. However, you still need to clone (replicate) the Ansible Playbook templates from GitHub to a folder on your local machine. A "clone" request in GitHub is essentially a request to replicate code from the cloud-hosted repository into the local environment.

    • To perform a clone request with VS Code, perform the following action (depending on your operating system):

      1. Windows: Press Ctrl+Shift+P to open an executable console at the top of VS Code

      2. macOS: Press Cmd+Shift+P to open an executable console at the top of VS Code

    • Enter following command into the console and hit Enter to confirm:

      git:clone

    • Next, specify the public repository from which to clone the Ansible Playbook templates. Enter following GitHub repository address into the console and hit Enter to confirm:

      https://github.com/chetan-hireholi/ansible-wca-demo-kit

    Regardless of whether you are new to VS Code or have used VS Code previously, the remainder of the steps in the Setup & Troubleshooting module are the same.

  1. Confirm that the working directory[A] is now set to ansible-wca-demo-kit and that it contains files similar to those listed in the screenshot below.


  1. As a final step, verify that the VM has access to the latest demo code by performing the following git fetch and git pull commands:

    • From the top of the VM interface, drill down into View and then Command Palette[A]

    • Into the pop-up console[B], type git fetch, hit Enter, and wait for the operation to finish

    • Open the console once again, type git pull, and then hit Enter

    • At this stage, the hands-on environment has been fully configured


Troubleshooting and support

If you require assistance or run into issues with the hands-on lab, help is available.

  • Environment issues: The lab environment is managed by IBM Technology Zone. Opening a support case ticket is recommended for issues related to the hands-on environment (provisioning, running, and so on.)

  • Documentation issues: If there is an error in the lab documentation, or if you require additional support in completing the material, open a thread on the #wca-ansible-techzone-support Slack channel.

  • Product questions: For questions related to IBM watsonx Code Assistant capabilities, sales opportunities, roadmap, and other such matters, open a thread on the #watsonx-code-assistant Slack channel.

As you settle in to the environment and begin your training, you may encounter unexpected warnings or errors. Many of these can be safely ignored or can be easily rectified. This section will serve as a running list of frequently asked questions and troubleshooting techniques. Click on any of the following topics for additional details.

FAILED TO CONNECT TO THE SERVER

This warning will occur when the Ansible plugin for VS Code needs to be re-authenticated with WCA. It can occur after an extended period of inactivity or a system restart. For example, if your lab environment is running inside a VM, pausing or restarting the VM may produce this error.

To re-authenticate:

  • Sign out from the VS Code application by clicking the User icon[A] in the bottom-left corner of the interface, hover over your username, and then click Sign Out[B]

  • If you are running this environment inside a virtual machine (VM), closing and restarting the VM will not resolve the issue — you must sign out from the VS Code application, not the VM

  • Once logged out, follow from Step 7 of the Setup & Troubleshooting to re-authenticate with WCA


ANSIBLE LIGHTSPEED IS MISSING OR CODE RECOMMENDATIONS ARE NOT GENERATING

Ansible Lightspeed and WCA will only generate code recommendations for Ansible Playbooks and YAML files. VS Code will typically auto-detect the programming language of the document you're working with, but on occassion you may need to manually specify the language. Even if working with a YAML file, you'll still need to specify the language mode as Ansible for the Lightspeed plugin to engage.

To set the language mode correctly:

  • In the bottom-right corner of the VS Code interface, hover over the Select Language Mode toggle[A]

  • A console will appear at the top of VS Code with a drop-down list of options[B]

  • Click Ansible from the suggested languages, or enter the text yourself and hit Enter

  • Confirm that the Select Language Mode toggle in the bottom-right corner displays Ansible


ANSIBLE-LINT IS NOT AVAILABLE

ansible-lint checks playbooks for practices and behavior that could potentially be improved and can fix some of the most common ones for you. It will constantly check your Ansible syntax as you type and provide recommendations for how to improve it.

You can safely ignore this error if it occurs during the lab exercises.


RED ANSIBLE ICON ALONG BOTTOM-RIGHT INTERFACE

The Ansible extension for VS Code will check your local machine to determine if Red Hat Ansible has been installed locally. If you have not set up Ansible (the standalone version) on your local machine previously, this tile will display as red.

You can safely ignore this error if it occurs during the lab exercises.


CANNOT SET PROPERTIES OF UNDEFINED (SETTING 'currentModelValue')

Make sure that the Model ID Override field is set to empty in your Ansible for VS Code extension settings.

To verify this:

  • Click the Extensions tab[A] along the left-hand interface

  • Click the Manage icon[B] on the right side of the Ansible extension tile, then drill down into Extension Settings[C]

  • Add the text Model to the search filter[D] at the top of the Extension Settings panel

  • Clear the input field[E] of any model IDs and leave it blank

  • Close the Extension Settings panel by clicking X and return to the Ansible Playbook


SPAWN C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe ENOENT

This warning is not related to Ansible or WCA. You can safely ignore this error if it occurs during the lab exercises.


PYTHON DRIVERS ARE MISSING

The WCA extension for VS Code requires that Python drivers are included within the workspace. These are usually configured within VS Code by default, but can be easily set if necessary. Look for a Python tile adjacent to the Ansible tile along the bottom-right corner of the VS Code interface. If it is not set, click the tile and select the Python 3.11.5 64-bit drivers.

  • Click the gold-colored Select python environment button at the bottom-right of the interface

  • From the console at the top of the VS Code environment, select the recommended Python 3.11.5 64-bit option and hit Enter to confirm


COPY AND PASTE INSTRUCTIONS INTO A VIRTUAL MACHINE

If you are running the lab environment inside a virtual machine (VM), it might not be possible to "paste" lab instructions from your local machine's clipboard directly into the VM.

If you wish to copy and paste instructions directly from the lab documentation, it is recommended that you open the GitHub instructions inside the VM's web browser (Firefox). This will allow you to copy instructions to the VM's clipboard and paste instructions inside the VS Code editor.

Next steps

The following section will cover the fundamentals of AI-recommended code generation for Ansible Playbooks using IBM watsonx Code Assistant.