How do I get Visual Studio Code to trust our self-signed proxy certificate?

1. Importing the Certificate into the Operating System：

First, ensure that your operating system trusts the self-signed certificate. This is typically achieved by adding the certificate to the system's trusted root certificate authorities list. The specific steps vary depending on your operating system.

• Windows: Import the certificate using the 'Manage Computer Certificates' tool.
• macOS: Use 'Keychain Access' to add the certificate and mark it as trusted.
• Linux: This typically involves updating /etc/ssl/certs and running update-ca-certificates.

1. Configuring Visual Studio Code：

Once the operating system trusts the certificate, ensure Visual Studio Code also uses it. For VS Code, several settings may need updating:

• http.proxyStrictSSL: Set to false to relax SSL certificate validation. Although this can resolve the issue, it is not recommended from a security perspective as it reduces security.
• http.proxy: Verify your proxy server settings are correct.
• http.proxyAuthorization: If the proxy server requires authentication, configure this setting.

1. Using Environment Variables：

Configure VS Code to trust the self-signed certificate by setting environment variables. For example, set the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable to point to the path of your self-signed certificate.

bash
export NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=/path/to/your/certificate.pem

This method is particularly suitable for development environments as it avoids modifying the certificate store system-wide.

1. Restart Visual Studio Code：

After completing the above settings, restart VS Code to ensure all new configurations take effect.

Real-World Application Example

In a previous project, we needed to connect to an internal API using a self-signed certificate. Due to security policies, setting http.proxyStrictSSL to false was not permitted. Instead, we imported the certificate into the operating systems of all team members and set the NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS environment variable to ensure all development tools and scripts correctly validate SSL connections. This approach maintained both security and development convenience.

I hope this information is helpful! If you have any other questions or need further clarification, please feel free to ask.