Node.js Debugging Recipes

Visual Studio Code supports debugging of many languages and platforms via debuggers that are either built-in or contributed by extensions.

To make it easier to get started with debugging, we have made a collection of debugging “recipes” which contain the steps and configuration you need to set up debugging for your favorite platform. The recipes are in GitHub at https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode-recipes.

Debug server-side JavaScript in Node.js

The Visual Studio Code editor supports debugging Node.js applications via the built-in Node.js debugger.

Recipes:

• Debugging Node.js with Nodemon

Debug client-side JavaScript in Google Chrome

The Visual Studio Code editor supports debugging of JavaScript running in Google Chrome applications via the Debugger for Chrome extension.

You can read more about how our Debugger for Chrome works in this introduction blog post.

Recipes:

• Debugging Angular apps with Angular CLI
• Debugging Next.js apps
• Debugging Meteor apps
• Debugging Vue.js apps
• Debugging Mocha tests
• Debugging Jest tests

Blog posts:

• Live edit and debug your React apps directly from VS Code

• Super-charged live editing and JavaScript debugging for Angular using VS Code

Debug Node.js in Docker containers

This recipe shows how to run and debug a VS Code Node.js project written in TypeScript running inside a Docker container.

Recipes:

• Debugging Node.js with TypeScript in Docker

MERN - Mongo, Express, React and Node.js

This recipe shows how to run and debug a MERN (Mongo, Express, React and Node.js) based project in VS Code.

Recipes:

• Developing the MERN Starter in VS Code

Electron - Debug Electron applications

The Visual Studio Code editor supports debugging Electron applications via the built-in Node.js debugger and the Debugger for Chrome extension.

Recipes:

• Debugging Electron Main and Renderer processes

Next steps

• Debugging - Read about general VS Code debugging features.
• Node.js Debugging - Learn about the built-in Node.js debugger.
• Video: Getting started with Node.js debugging - Attach to a running Node.js process.