VS Code Debug Setup

Workflow

Step 1 — Scan projects

Glob: **/*.csproj (exclude bin/ and obj/ directories)

Read each .csproj and classify:

• Web project: Sdk attribute is Microsoft.NET.Sdk.Web
• Test project: PackageReference contains xunit, MSTest, or NUnit (case-insensitive)
• Class Library: everything else — skip, no launch config needed

Also collect per project:

• <TargetFramework> value (e.g. net9.0)
• Project directory (path relative to workspace root)
• Project name (.csproj filename without extension)

Step 2 — Read port settings

For each web project, read {ProjectDir}/Properties/launchSettings.json:

1. Find the first non-IIS-Express profile (commandName is not "IISExpress")
2. Take applicationUrl — full value (e.g. https://localhost:5001;http://localhost:5000)
3. Also extract {httpsUrl} — the https-only portion (e.g. https://localhost:5001)
4. If launchUrl is present (e.g. swagger), record it for use in uriFormat

Step 3 — Generate tasks.json

For each web + test project, one "build: {ProjectName}" task. Add a "build: solution" task (isDefault: true) that builds the whole .sln (Glob *.sln to get the path). For each web project, also add a "watch: {ProjectName}" background task using dotnet watch for hot reload.

See REFERENCE.md § tasks.json.

Step 4 — Generate launch.json

For each web project, generate two launch configurations in sequence:

1. Standard launch: type: coreclr, preLaunchTask: "build: {ProjectName}", full .dll path as program, cwd set to project dir, console: "integratedTerminal", sourceFileMap, and serverReadyAction; use uriFormat: "{httpsUrl}/{launchUrl}" when launchUrl is present, otherwise "{httpsUrl}/"
2. Hot Reload launch: program: "dotnet", args: ["watch", "--project", ..., "--non-interactive", "run", "--no-restore", "--", "--urls={applicationUrl}"], no preLaunchTask, cwd set to workspace root, console: "integratedTerminal", sourceFileMap, and serverReadyAction

For each test project: one launch config with program: "dotnet", args: ["test", ...], console: "integratedTerminal". Always append an "Attach to Process" config at the end.

≥ 2 web projects: add two compounds entries:

1. Standard compound — launches all web projects using their standard configs
2. Hot Reload compound — launches all web projects using their Hot Reload configs

See REFERENCE.md § launch.json.

Step 5 — Write files

1. mkdir -p .vscode (if not exists)
2. Write .vscode/tasks.json
3. Write .vscode/launch.json
4. Report each web project name, its URL, and confirm that standard + hot reload configs were generated