Python debugging in VS Code

by Akshay Avinash (@akshay11298)

This recipe shows how to debug a Python application using the VS Code extension Python .

Getting Started

1. Make sure you have the latest version of VS Code installed.

2. Make sure you have the extension Python installed.

3. Optionally you can also install a linter to throw out the errors.

Configure VS Code debugging with a launch.json file

1. Click on the Debugging icon in the Activity Bar to bring up the Debug view.

2. Then click on the gear icon to configure a launch.json file, select Launch for the environment.

3. You may get an option of the environments available, select Python.

4. The generated json will have a lot of the configurations. You can keep all of them or only the ones you want.

   {
       "version": "0.2.0",
       "configurations": [
           {
               "name": "Python: Current File (Integrated Terminal)",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "program": "${file}",
               "console": "integratedTerminal"
           },
           {
               "name": "Python: Attach",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "attach",
               "port": 5678,
               "host": "localhost"
           },
           {
               "name": "Python: Module",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "module": "enter-your-module-name-here",
               "console": "integratedTerminal"
           },
           {
               "name": "Python: Django",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "program": "${workspaceFolder}/manage.py",
               "console": "integratedTerminal",
               "args": [
                   "runserver",
                   "--noreload",
                   "--nothreading"
               ],
               "django": true
           },
           {
               "name": "Python: Flask",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "module": "flask",
               "env": {
                   "FLASK_APP": "app.py"
               },
               "args": [
                   "run",
                   "--no-debugger",
                   "--no-reload"
               ],
               "jinja": true
           },
           {
               "name": "Python: Current File (External Terminal)",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "program": "${file}",
               "console": "externalTerminal"
           }
       ]
   }

5. For basic Python debugging of files, you will only need the following configuration:

   {
       // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible attributes.
       // Hover to view descriptions of existing attributes.
       // For more information, visit: https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=830387
       "version": "0.2.0",
       "configurations": [
           {
               "name": "Python: Current File (Integrated Terminal)",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "program": "${file}",
               "console": "integratedTerminal"
           },
           {
               "name": "Python: Current File (External Terminal)",
               "type": "python",
               "request": "launch",
               "program": "${file}",
               "console": "externalTerminal"
           }
       ]
   }

Start Debugging.

1. Open your Python file in VS Code.

2. Go to the Debug view, select the Start Debugging then press F5 or click the green play button.

3. VS Code should now show the rails server logs.

4. Go ahead and set a breakpoint in any of the files by clicking on the space before the line number. A red dot should appear to show a breakpoint.

5. Press F5 to start debugging.

6. Your breakpoint should now be hit.

7. To continue, press F5 again, till you reach the end.