Run/Debug Configurations
One-click Run and Debug for any file, plus JetBrains-style run configurations with a GUI. No launch.json to hand-write. Works in VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf, and VSCodium.
Status: early release (0.1.0). Run, Debug, and the GUI configs work today, across ~50 languages.
Why
Code Runner (40M+ installs) runs a file but can't debug it, and it ships an unpatched remote-code-execution bug (CVE-2025-65715) among its 700+ open issues. VS Code's launch.json debugs well but means writing JSON by hand. Run/Debug Configurations gives you both: one-click runs and real breakpoints, set up from a GUI.
Features
- Run File:
ctrl+alt+n, the editor title ▶ button, or the context menu. ~50 built-in languages across scripting, compiled, and CLI-first runtimes (JS/TS, Python, Go, Rust, C/C++, Java, Ruby, PHP, Swift, Kotlin, Zig, Gleam, F#, .NET projects, V, Raku, CUDA, and more).
- Debug File:
ctrl+alt+d. Hands off to VS Code's debug engine with the right adapter (Node/JS/TS, Bun, Python via debugpy, Go, and Rust/C/C++/Objective-C/D/Pascal/Fortran/CUDA via CodeLLDB, compiled with debug symbols first), and offers to install the debugger extension if you don't have it. Already keep a launch.json? Set rundebug.preferLaunchConfig to reuse a matching config.
- Watch & Re-run:
ctrl+alt+w (eye icon in the title bar) re-runs the file on every save and shows a status-bar indicator. Stop one watch by pressing ctrl+alt+w again, pick which to stop when several run, or Stop All Watches.
- Test Explorer, CodeLenses & coverage: tests show up in VS Code's native Testing panel with Run, Debug, and Run with Coverage profiles. Run Test | Debug Test CodeLenses sit above each test, with Run File Tests | Watch Tests at the top of the file. Run a single test at the caret with
ctrl+alt+t. The framework is detected per project — Vitest, Jest, Mocha, node:test (from your dependencies, defaulting to the zero-config node:test), plus pytest, go test, cargo test — or pin one with rundebug.testFramework. Coverage runs load the framework's lcov output straight into the editor's gutter, so no instrumentation of ours is involved.
- Watch tests: the Watch Tests CodeLens (or
rundebug.watchTests) re-runs a file's tests on every save, with the same status-bar indicator as file watch.
- Run Selection: run just the highlighted snippet.
- Run Configurations: a sidebar list with a GUI editor for the name, target file, run/debug mode, args, working directory, and environment variables. It saves to
.vscode/rundebug.json, so you can commit and share it. No JSON to write.
- Promote file → config: right-click Save Current File as Run Configuration, name it, pick run or debug. An Edit shortcut fine-tunes the rest.
- Python that respects your venv: Run uses the interpreter the Python extension selected (virtualenv/conda), the same one Debug and IntelliSense use, so you skip the activate step. Toggle with
rundebug.python.useSelectedInterpreter.
- Native Node TypeScript: pick
node as the TS runtime to run and debug .ts with no extra tooling (Node 22.6+). rundebug.node.typeStripping sets the flag (transform handles enums and namespaces).
- Tidy compiled output: point
rundebug.compiledOutputDirectory at a build folder to keep binaries out of your source tree.
- Safe by default: it honours Workspace Trust, so a repo you just cloned can't run code through its own settings, saved configs, or shebang lines.
Settings
| Setting |
Default |
Description |
rundebug.runInTerminal |
true |
Run in the integrated terminal (off = output channel). |
rundebug.saveAllOnRun |
true |
Save the active file before running. |
rundebug.clearPreviousOutput |
false |
Clear before each run. |
rundebug.respectShebang |
true |
Honour a #! line over the language default (trusted workspaces only). |
rundebug.executorMapByGlob |
{ "pom.xml": "cd {fileDirname} && mvn clean package" } |
Override run commands by glob, matched against the file name or workspace-relative path (e.g. tests/**/*.py). |
rundebug.runtime.javascript |
node |
Runtime for JS: node · bun · deno. |
rundebug.runtime.typescript |
tsx |
Runtime for TS/TSX: tsx · bun · ts-node · deno · node. |
rundebug.runtime.python |
python3 |
Runtime for Python: python3 · python · uv. |
rundebug.node.typeStripping |
transform |
Flag for the TS node runtime: transform · strip · none (Node 22.6+). |
rundebug.executorMap |
{} |
Full per-language command override (wins over runtime), e.g. { "javascript": "bun {file}" }. Placeholders: {file} {fileBasename} {fileBasenameNoExt} {fileDirname} {workspaceFolder} {relativeFile}. |
rundebug.executorMapByFileExtension |
{} |
Override run commands by exact file extension, e.g. .csproj or .kt. |
rundebug.languageIdToFileExtensionMap |
{ "typescriptreact": ".tsx", ... } |
Map VS Code language ids to extensions when the file extension is missing or ambiguous. |
rundebug.defaultLanguage |
"" |
Fallback language id when no runner or override matches a file. |
rundebug.cwd |
"" |
Global default working directory for run commands. |
rundebug.fileDirectoryAsCwd |
true |
Use the file’s directory as cwd when no explicit cwd is set. |
rundebug.python.useSelectedInterpreter |
true |
Run Python with the interpreter the Python extension selected (venv/conda). |
rundebug.compiledOutputDirectory |
"" |
Directory for built binaries (C/C++/Rust/Go/…); empty = next to the source. |
rundebug.preferLaunchConfig |
false |
When debugging, reuse a launch.json config whose program matches the file. |
rundebug.showRunActionsForUnsupportedFiles |
true |
Show the Run/Debug actions on every file; off = only files with a known runner. |
rundebug.testFramework |
auto |
Test framework for the Test Explorer/CodeLenses: auto · vitest · jest · mocha · node:test · pytest · go · cargo. |
rundebug.testCodeLens |
true |
Show Run/Debug CodeLenses above tests and test files. |
rundebug.testFileGlobs |
["**/*.{test,spec}.{js,jsx,ts,tsx,cjs,mjs,cts,mts}", "**/*_test.go", "**/test_*.py", "**/*_test.py"] |
Globs the Test Explorer uses to discover test files (node_modules always excluded). |
rundebug.coverageFile |
coverage/lcov.info |
Workspace-relative lcov file loaded into the editor's coverage view after a coverage run. |
Pick bun, deno, or uv from a dropdown and Debug follows the same choice. For anything the dropdowns miss, executorMap and the glob and extension overrides take a raw command.
Use any runtime you want
Three layers, most specific wins:
- Per run-configuration: each saved config has a Runtime field (
tsx, bun, deno, uv, node, …) and a Custom command field (e.g. bun --hot {file}) in the GUI editor. Two configs for the same file can use different runtimes.
- Per language (workspace/user): the
rundebug.runtime.* dropdowns set the default for every file of that language.
rundebug.executorMap: a raw command per language for anything the layers above miss.
Run resolution order: custom command → per-config runtime → executorMap → shebang → executorMapByGlob → built-in runner / executorMapByFileExtension → defaultLanguage.
Workspace Trust
Run/Debug runs shell commands, so it follows VS Code's Workspace Trust. Open an untrusted workspace and it runs your code with the built-in runners and your user-level settings only. It ignores everything a hostile repo controls:
- workspace run commands:
executorMap, the glob and extension maps, defaultLanguage, cwd, compiledOutputDirectory;
- a committed
.vscode/rundebug.json's custom command, args, cwd, and env;
- shebang lines;
- file paths with characters that could break out of shell quoting.
Trust the workspace to turn all of that back on. This closes the class of bug behind CVE-2025-65715.
Develop
pnpm install
pnpm watch # esbuild in watch mode
# press F5 in VS Code to launch the Extension Development Host
pnpm typecheck # tsc --noEmit
pnpm test:unit # fast, headless registry/runtime tests (mocha)
pnpm test # full integration suite in a real VS Code host (@vscode/test-cli)
pnpm vsix # build a .vsix
Publish
The same VSIX publishes to both registries. Build it once:
pnpm vsix # produces rundebug-<version>.vsix
VS Code Marketplace (publisher: jagreehal)
Either upload the .vsix by hand at the Marketplace management page
(+ New extension → Visual Studio Code), or publish from the CLI with a
Personal Access Token:
export VSCE_PAT=<azure-devops-token>
pnpm publish:vsce # vsce publish --no-dependencies
package.json publisher must equal jagreehal, or the upload is rejected.
Open VSX (Cursor, Windsurf, VSCodium, Gitpod, …)
ovsx reads the token from OVSX_PAT, so it never appears on a command line:
export OVSX_PAT=<open-vsx-token>
npx ovsx create-namespace jagreehal # one-time; skip if it already exists
npx ovsx publish rundebug-0.1.0.vsix # or: pnpm publish:ovsx
Lands at https://open-vsx.org/extension/jagreehal/rundebug.
Cutting a release
Bump, tag, and push. The release.yml workflow packages the VSIX, publishes to
Open VSX (needs the OVSX_PAT repo secret), and attaches the .vsix to the
GitHub release:
pnpm version patch # e.g. 0.1.0 -> 0.1.1, creates a v* tag
git push --follow-tags
The VS Code Marketplace upload stays manual: download the .vsix from the
GitHub release and upload it at the Marketplace management page.
License
MIT © Jag Reehal
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