Exercise 1: Install and set up Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code

In this exercise, you’ll install Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code and set up your environment.

Task 1: Install Teams Toolkit for Visual Studio Code

  1. Open Visual Studio Code.
  2. Select the Extensions icon from the sidebar.
  3. Search for “Teams Toolkit” in the Extensions section by using the search bar. Then select Install.

Screenshot of installing Teams Toolkit on Visual Studio Code.

Note: The exercises in this module use Teams Toolkit v5.6.0. Please note that minor versions may vary.

You can also install Teams Toolkit from Visual Studio Marketplace.

Task 2: Prepare your Microsoft 365 work or school account

If you already have admin access to a Microsoft 365 work or school account that is suitable for development and testing, you can use that account to run and debug your app. Be sure to use a tenant that is safe to perform operations in without impacting real users.

Otherwise, you can create a free test account using the Microsoft 365 Developer Program. After the setup is completed, the Microsoft 365 Developer Program will provide you with admin access to a tenant that you can use for building Teams apps.

Task 3: Configure your Microsoft 365 tenant to upload apps for Teams

Turn on custom app uploading for your tenant by following these steps:

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Teams admin center with your Microsoft 365 admin credentials.

  2. From the sidebar, select Teams apps, and then select Setup policies.

  3. Select the Global (Org-wide default) policy, and then turn on the Upload custom apps toggle.

    Screenshot of configuring custom app uploading.

  4. Select the Save button to save your changes. Your tenant is now configured to allow custom app sideloading.

In the next unit, you’ll learn how to create a Teams app and run it locally in Teams.