SFMC DevTools | Visual Studio Code Extension

Accenture SFMC DevTools VS Code Extension was built to simplify the command execution for Accenture SFMC DevTools, offering a more intuitive interface that streamlines the process of retrieving and deploying Marketing Cloud assets, configuration and code across various Business Units and instances. This tool eliminates the necessity of manual command line input (CLI), making your workflow more efficient and user-friendly.

Pre Requisites

• Install Node.js
• Install Git
• Install Accenture SFMC DevTools

Install Accenture SFMC DevTools

npm install -g mcdev

Install SFMC DevTools VS Code Extension

• In Visual Studio Code, navigate to the Extensions tab (or click Ctrl + Shift + X
• Search for SFMC DevTools and click on Install
• After installation is completed click on the button Reload Required or simply reopen your Visual Studio Code
• A mcddev button should display at the bottom bar

Companion extensions

Installing SFMC DevTools automatically brings along a small set of companion extensions that make working with mcdev projects much smoother. One of them is required (it installs automatically and stays for as long as DevTools is installed) because DevTools relies on it to be usable:

• SFMC Language Service (required) - so your code is readable and gets linted/formatted. DevTools retrieves and deploys .ssjs and .amp files, but VS Code has no built-in support for AMPscript or SSJS. Without this extension those files are plain, uncolored text with no completions, hover docs, or diagnostics - and the ESLint/Prettier tooling mcdev sets up has nothing to hook into. It provides the syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, and language server that make the retrieved code readable and lintable.

The following soft companions ship as a pack and can each be removed individually if you do not want them:

• ESLint and Prettier - the mcdev CLI scaffolds ESLint and Prettier configs into your project, so these are advisable to have installed.
• SFMC Data Loader - companion mcdev tooling for loading and manipulating Data Extension records, so you can move data alongside the metadata DevTools retrieves and deploys.

Readable mcdev logs are now built in. DevTools streams the mcdev CLI output into the VS Code Output panel, which has no syntax coloring of its own. DevTools now colorizes its own "mcdev" Output channel internally via an embedded mcdev-log grammar, so success, warning, and error lines are distinguishable at a glance. Because this is built in, the third-party Output Colorizer extension is no longer a required companion.

Why bundle these? The SFMC extension packs are optional and do not assume you use mcdev. Developers who do use mcdev often skip the packs - this minimal set makes sure they still get the crucial language service (readable, lintable code) and the linting/formatting and data-loading tooling mcdev expects, while the Output panel is colorized by DevTools itself.

For a fuller toolchain (SFMC Data Loader, MSO Conditionals, EditorConfig, Peacock), install one of our extension packs:

• SFMC Extension Pack - SFMC Data Loader, SFMC DevTools, SFMC Language Service, and MSO Conditionals.
• SFMC Extension Pack Plus - the same four SFMC extensions plus ESLint, Prettier, and EditorConfig for a typical SFMC project toolchain.

New mcdev init projects also ship a .vscode/extensions.json file, so VS Code will surface these companions through its built-in Recommended Extensions prompt when you open a DevTools project.

Initialize SFMC DevTools Project

If you are starting a completely new SFMC DevTools project

• Go to Terminal and click on New Terminal
• Enter the command mcdev init and follow the interactive instructions to initialize a new project. For more guidance, consult the official SFMC DevTools documentation here

Wiki

Consult the Wiki for a complete guide on how to use the SFMC DevTools Vscode Extension.

AI assistants (optional MCP)

For mcdev project help (wiki search, .mcdevrc concepts such as markets and marketList, createDeltaPkg, journey checklists, metadata type listing), you can add the community MCP server mcp-server-mcdev to your editor’s MCP configuration. It is published to the MCP Registry as io.github.JoernBerkefeld/mcp-server-mcdev and runs locally via npx (see that package’s README). It complements language-focused tooling such as mcp-server-sfmc for AMPscript and SSJS.

Example .vscode/mcp.json:

{
	"servers": {
		"mcdev": {
			"type": "stdio",
			"command": "npx",
			"args": ["-y", "mcp-server-mcdev@latest"]
		}
	}
}

Features

• Retrieve and Deploy Marketing Cloud assets by right clicking on the file in the File Explorer and selecting the command option
• Retrieve and Deploy multiple Marketing Cloud assets from multiple metadata types at the same time from the same and different business unit
• Retrieve and Deploy Marketing Cloud assets by right clicking on the file tab and selecting the command option
• Deploy Marketing Cloud assets directly from the retrieve folder
• Copy multiple Marketing Cloud assets from one business unit to another
• Deploy multiple Marketing Cloud assets from one business unit to another

Telemetry

This extension collects a small amount of anonymous usage telemetry to understand adoption and reliability. It never collects personal data, file contents, credentials, or Business Unit / tenant identifiers.

What is collected:

• Activation — that the extension started, whether an mcdev project is open, and which related SFMC extensions are co-installed (booleans only).
• mcdev version — the installed mcdev CLI version and this extension's own version.
• Command outcomes — for mcdev-run commands (e.g. retrieve, deploy, build): the command id, its duration, and success/failure (a coarse errorCategory, plus optional sanitized errorName / errorCode when execute throws — never an error message, stack, or path).

Every event also carries the host OS, the VS Code version, and this extension's version. Events are sent to PostHog (EU cloud). The full event catalog ships in telemetry.json and is visible via the VS Code CLI --telemetry dump.

Opt out: telemetry follows VS Code's global setting. Set telemetry.telemetryLevel to off (Settings → search "telemetry") and no events are sent. The extension re-checks this setting live, so turning it off stops collection immediately.

Copyright

Copyright (c) 2026 Accenture. MIT licensed.