AWS recently announced that it enhanced its local IDE experience for Step Functions with Workflow Studio, now available in Visual Studio Code (VS Code) via the AWS Toolkit extension. This integration enables developers to create and edit state machines locally, using the same visual authoring tools as in the AWS Console.
The company describes Step Functions as a visual workflow service that helps developers use AWS services to build distributed applications, automate processes, orchestrate microservices, and create data and machine learning (ML) pipelines. The local IDE is an enhancement to the Workflow Studio for Step Functions.
Chris McPeek, a principal solution architect at AWS, writes in compute blog post:
The Workflow Studio integration offers the same intuitive and visual approach to designing state machines as the AWS Console without switching context.
To use the updated IDE experience, developers must ensure they have the AWS Toolkit version 3.49.0 or higher installed in VS Code. After installation, they can open a state machine definition in Workflow Studio from their local workspace or download it from AWS Explorer. The integration supports Amazon States Language (ASL) definitions in JSON and YAML formats, with files needing to end in .asl.json, .asl.yml, or .asl.yaml to open automatically. Workflow Studio converts YAML to JSON for editing and back to YAML for saving.
In addition, Workflow Studio in VS Code has Design and Code modes. Design mode offers a graphical interface for building workflows, while Code mode allows editing the ASL definition. Developers can return to text editing by selecting the Return to Default Editor link at the top right of Workflow Studio.
(Source: AWS Compute blog post)
Workflow Studio integration also allows developers to test a single state using the Step Functions TestState API directly from their local IDE – enabling localized testing without creating or updating a state machine. Developers can refine input/output processing or update conditional logic in a choice state while remaining in their IDE.
On X, Focus Otter, a speaker, writer, and teacher, tweeted:
Step Functions need a dedicated DA. There are so many cool things that SF unlocks, but it’s a bit overwhelming to know where to start. An end-to-end course/workshop would be helpful here. Has that been updated?
Next to AWS, Azure offers services similar to Step Functions with Logic Apps. The Azure Logic Apps (Standard) extension provides a visual designer for creating workflows and integrates with Visual Studio Code. With Logic Apps, developers can build, test, and deploy workflows locally before deploying them to the cloud.
Lastly, developers can find more hands-on examples and resources at Serverless Land.
