How do I skip external code when debugging in VS Code

Question

When debugging in vscode I'd like to make some "blackboxing" and do not enter into code I didn't write. How can I do this?

Answer 1

In your launch or attach debug task you can enter a

"skipfiles"

option which is

"An array of file or folder names, or path globs, to skip when debugging."

For example, from skipping node internals during debugging

"skipFiles": [
 "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/**/*.js",
 "${workspaceFolder}/yourLibToSkip/**/*.js"
]

Also, there is a "magic reference" to the built-in core node modules you can use:

"skipFiles": [
 "<node_internals>/**/*.js"
]

• Pavel L: could you kindly provide some example, I still cannot prevent entering to different dependencies folders inside of "node_modules" folder (i.e. ./node_modules/react-dom/lib/...), when debugging . part of launch task is "skipFiles":"[./node_modules/**]"
• Mark: @d2048 See my edits to the answer and the included link.
• Tomas Baran: This doesn't work for flutter. Can you please show us the full example for flutter please? This looks like for javascript
• Dan Dascalescu: That "magic reference" doesn't work. I've downloaded VSCode today, debugged a TypeScript project, and am still ending up in async_hooks.js.
• Craig Hicks: Although "skipFiles":["<node_internals>/**"] works for debug sessions which are NOT attached, it doesn't seem to work in case of attaching a process.

Answer 2

I was confused on where to put the setting, so just in case, if you want to skip both node_modules deps and node_internals files, your .vscode/launch.json file should look something like this:

{
 "version": "0.2.0",
 "configurations": [
 {
 "name": "Debug Tests",
 "type": "node",
 "request": "launch",
 ...
 "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**", "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/**/*.js"]
 }
 ]
}

• ggariepy: This was the answer that worked for me debugging a ReactJS app using Chrome on Windows.
• fivestones: I was trying with lots of other answers to this question and none of them worked. Turns out my problem was that I had skipFiles as a sibling to configurations instead of as a child. This fixed it for me. Thanks!
• quilkin: thank you for showing me exactly where to place skipFiles in the file. The other refs don't explain this.

Answer 3

Only this worked for me.

"debug.javascript.terminalOptions": {
 "skipFiles": [
 "<node_internals>/**"
 ]
}

Answer 4

It depends on the language/debug-support extension. VS Code does not have a generalized way to do this. I don't know the reason why, and it could just be because nobody has the time to design and implement it, but I'd guess that a challenge is that languages and their surrounding implementations and tooling differ in the ways that they describe programs in source and object/binary formats, and in the ways that their backing debug tooling support skipping things in debugging.

• For node launch configurations, use the skipFiles property of the launch config. Related user documentation can be found at https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/nodejs/nodejs-debugging#_skipping-uninteresting-code.

  You can also use the skipFiles property of the debug.javascript.terminalOptions setting for auto-attach and JS debug terminals.

• For Python debugging, use the justMyCode property of the launch configuration. See also Visual Studio Code - Python debugging - How to step into external functions/packages?. There's also a debugpy.debugJustMyCode contributed by the debugpy extension.

• For Jupyter notebook debugging, use the jupyter.debugJustMyCode setting. See also How to debug external libraries in vscode-jupyter cell debugger?.

• For Java debugging with the vscode-java-debug extension, use the java.debug.settings.stepping.skipClasses user setting. It takes an array of patterns and supports special values like $JDK, $Libraries, and java.lang.ClassLoader, and also supports wildcards.

• For C/C++ when using a debugger like GDB with the cppdbg launch config type, use GDB's skip command in the setupCommands property of the launch config. See also Exclude files from vscode C++ debug step into?, Tell gdb to skip standard files, and GDB C++ How to Stop Stepping Inside Standard Libraries.

• C# debugging supports justMyCode in launch configs via the justMyCode property, and in settings via the csharp.debug.justMyCode setting.

• For Flutter/Dart, use the dart.debugSdkLibraries and dart.debugExternalPackageLibraries settings.

• For Go, I don't know. But you can at least use the go.delveConfig setting's hideSystemGoroutines to hide system goroutines from the call-stack view.

• starball: Normally I'd vote to close such a question as lacking focus. But people on meta have gotten cross at me for doing that on well-established questions... Also, I have no idea what to do about stackoverflow.com/q/52980448/11107541, which seems to have been interpreted by the community just as broadly despite being about C#.
• srm: the issue on this question is that most users (including myself until recently) don't think of the question as broad -- VSCode is VSCode in our heads, and we don't really think of it as a framework into which languages plug in. I knew this intellectually, but it's not intuitive. So most users are likely to ask the question about VSCode generically. And so it needs a comprehensive answer like this one.
• starball: @srm my thoughts have changed since I wrote that comment. I wouldn't close this question as lacking focus today since I'm no longer so confident that there's some reason VS Code couldn't present a standard interface at least for extension developers to adhere to, and I agree with where you're coming from and think it's valid. by the way, if you think this is a useful answer, consider applying your ability to vote.

Answer 5

For Typescript built with Webpack, I had to put the exclusions in launch.json - putting them in settings.json/terminalOptions had no effect.

Also, I had to exclude the pattern of the generated files, not the source files. In my case it looks like:

"skipFiles": [
 "<node_internals>/**",
 "**/vendors-*",
],

Answer 6

For some reason, I've needed to add both types of skip file entries,

 "skipFiles": [
 "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/**/*.js",
 "<node_internals>/**"
 ],

This seems to have resolved the issue.

Answer 7

For flutter apps, add to your user settings the following:

"debugExternalPackageLibraries": false,
"dart.debugSdkLibraries": false,

Answer 8

this is my launch.json file (it works for me):

{
 "version": "0.2.0",
 "configurations": [
 {
 "type": "edge",
 "request": "launch",
 "name": "Launch Edge against localhost",
 "url": "http://localhost:4200",
 "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}",
 "skipFiles": [
 "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/**/*.js"
 ]
 }
 ]
}

Answer 9

Just to amplify on Mauro Aguilar's correct answer, here are the complete contents of my launch.json file. Note that I am debugging a ReactJS app (circa 2021) with VS Code 1.60.2 on Windows 10 using Chrome v.94. If you're using a Linux machine or a Mac, YMMV.

{
 // 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": [
 {
 "type": "pwa-chrome",
 "request": "launch",
 "name": "Launch Chrome against localhost",
 "url": "http://localhost:3000",
 "webRoot": "${workspaceFolder}",
 "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**/*.js", "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/**/*.js"]
 },
 ]
}