This is the AWS CDK v2 Developer Guide. The older CDK v1 entered maintenance on June 1, 2022 and ended support on June 1, 2023.

# Use other tools with the AWS CDK
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You can use other tools with the AWS CDK to improve your development workflows.

## AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio Code
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The [AWS Toolkit for Visual Studio Code](https://aws.amazon.com/visualstudiocode/) is an open source plugin for Visual Studio Code that makes it easier to create, debug, and deploy applications on AWS. The toolkit provides an integrated experience for developing AWS CDK applications. It includes the AWS CDK Explorer feature to list your AWS CDK projects and browse the various components of the CDK application. [Install the AWS Toolkit](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/toolkit-for-vscode/latest/userguide/setup-toolkit.html) and learn more about [using the AWS CDK Explorer](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/toolkit-for-vscode/latest/userguide/cdk-explorer.html).

## AWS SAM integration
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Use the AWS CDK and the AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM) together to locally build and test serverless applications defined in the CDK. For complete information, see [AWS Cloud Development Kit (AWS CDK)](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/serverless-application-model/latest/developerguide/serverless-cdk.html) in the * AWS Serverless Application Model Developer Guide*. To install the AWS SAM CLI, see [Install the AWS SAM CLI](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/serverless-application-model/latest/developerguide/serverless-sam-cli-install.html).