AutomationView does not create variables from a panel button. It ingests them automatically from your .machine and .seq files, then lets you list, rename, inspect, and delete them.
Using the Variables view:
Click the Variables icon in the Activity Bar (the far-left sidebar) to open the Variables view. The view populates automatically with the variables discovered in your project, grouped by usage context (Inputs, Outputs, Locals). Two display modes are available from the buttons in the view's title bar:
Using the Command Palette:
You can also drive these actions from the Command Palette:
Ctrl+Shift+P / Cmd+Shift+P).