Debug Log Capture

Capture VS Code's ephemeral debug console output to log files and expose them to AI coding assistants (Claude Code, GitHub Copilot) via an MCP server — no more copy-pasting stack traces into chat.

Features

• Zero-config capture — activates on any debug session (Python, Node.js, Go, Java — anything that speaks DAP) and writes all output to <workspace>/debug-logs/<session-name>.log.
• One file per launch — subprocess sessions (e.g. debugpy children from uvicorn --reload or TaskIQ workers) are merged into the parent's log file, so a single launch produces a single file no matter how many child processes it forks.
• Built-in MCP server — ships with a standalone Model Context Protocol stdio server that exposes four tools (list_debug_logs, read_debug_log, search_debug_logs, get_debug_errors) and a live-updating summary resource. Point your AI assistant at it and ask it to debug for you.
• One-click AI integration — dedicated commands to wire the MCP server into Claude Code (.mcp.json) or GitHub Copilot in VS Code (.vscode/mcp.json) with the correct absolute path for your install.
• Smart cleanup — old logs are cleared at the start of each new debug run, size-capped files are rolled at a configurable limit, and DAP categories you don't care about (like telemetry) can be excluded.

Quick start

1. Install the extension from the Marketplace.
2. Start any debug session. The log file is created automatically and its path is shown in the Debug Log Capture output channel.
3. (Optional) Wire it up to your AI assistant:
   • Open the Command Palette → Debug Log Capture: Configure Claude Code MCP (writes <workspace>/.mcp.json), or
   • Debug Log Capture: Configure GitHub Copilot MCP (writes <workspace>/.vscode/mcp.json). Reload the window and ask your assistant to "list my debug logs" to verify.

Commands

AI integration

The extension ships a Node.js MCP server at <extension-dir>/out/mcpServer.js. The two Configure … commands above write the correct absolute path for your install into the AI assistant's config file — no manual path-hunting.

Once configured, natural-language prompts that work well:

• "List my debug logs"
• "Read the last 100 lines of the API server log"
• "Find all errors in the taskiq worker log"
• "Search every debug log for 'connection refused'"

MCP tools provided

The MCP server also exposes a debug://logs/summary resource that clients can subscribe to — the server sends notifications/resources/updated events whenever the log directory changes, so your assistant can be aware of live log updates without polling.

Recommended launch configuration

How much output reaches the log file depends on two things: the debugger being used and the "console" setting in your launch.json.

Recommendation: set "console": "internalConsole" for the most reliable, tool-agnostic capture. The output lands in VS Code's Debug Console panel instead of a terminal; for server workloads (uvicorn, TaskIQ, etc.) that's usually fine — you rarely need an interactive TTY for the process you're debugging.

Example: uvicorn + FastAPI with reload

{
  "version": "0.2.0",
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "API: debug",
      "type": "debugpy",
      "request": "launch",
      "module": "uvicorn",
      "console": "internalConsole",
      "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
      "args": ["main:app", "--host", "0.0.0.0", "--port", "8000", "--reload"],
      "justMyCode": false
    }
  ]
}

This captures the uvicorn startup banner, request logs, your application's logging output, and exception tracebacks into one log file per launch. The reload worker is a separate debugpy subprocess — its output is automatically merged into the parent's log with ── Subprocess attached ── markers.

Tested so far: Python / debugpy. Other debugger types (Node.js, Go, Java, etc.) should also work given DAP is a standard protocol — please open an issue if you find one that doesn't.

Settings

Known limitations

• "console": "integratedTerminal" and "externalTerminal" partially or fully bypass capture — see Recommended launch configuration above for a per-debugger breakdown. The extension raises a one-time warning when such a session starts so you don't silently end up with an empty or incomplete log file.
• ANSI escape sequences in captured output are preserved verbatim — rendered colors appear as [32m…[0m markers in the file. This is mostly cosmetic and AI assistants can still parse the content, but log viewers won't display colored output.
• MCP server is stdio-only. HTTP/SSE transport is not implemented; the debugLogCapture.mcpServer.port setting is reserved for a future version.

Requirements

• VS Code 1.85 or later.
• Node.js runtime for the MCP server. Ships automatically with the extension — no separate install needed for the user.

Release notes

See the CHANGELOG.

Issues & feedback

• Report a bug
• Source code

License

MIT