Node.js TypeScript debugging in VS Code

Question

Can someone provide an example of VS Code configuration that would allow me to:

• Start Node.js debugger
• Edit any TS file, see the project recompiled and debugger restarted?

Is this supported out of the box? Can nodemon be used somehow? Thanks.

Answer 1

Yes, you can use nodemon. In your launch.json, if you trigger intellisense (ctrl+space), you will see snippets with suggested launch configs. There's one for nodemon which looks like this:

{
    "type": "node",
    "request": "launch",
    "name": "nodemon",
    "runtimeExecutable": "nodemon",
    "runtimeArgs": [
        "--debug=5858"
    ],
    "program": "${workspaceRoot}/app.js",
    "restart": true,
    "port": 5858,
    "console": "integratedTerminal",
    "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen"
}

The docs have an explanation of how it works: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/node-debugging#_restaring-debug-sessions-automatically-when-source-is-edited