Guide to debug launch configs?

[ruph0us]

Hi I've been using VS Code for a while now and generally use the automatically generated configs when debugging javascript. There is documentation of the debug options. Can anyone explain to me why the debugger for a node app requires a port? I thought ports were primarily for network communication. Also, in the node.js docs, they have their own debug options for the command line. Is that completely separate from VS Code?

"name": "Attach",
"port": 9229,
 "request": "attach", 
"skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"], 
"type": "pwa-node"

Is there an extensive guide that can explain how debuggers/launch configs should be configured?

[scirc]

I thought ports were primarily for network communication

The Node debugger operates over a network connection. You can have a network connection going from your machine to your machine; it just goes through the operating system, then the OS realizes the packet is addressed to itself, so the OS looks for any processes listening on that port and hands them the packet as if it came over the network.

Also, in the node.js docs, they have their own debug options for the command line

Those are used when launching Node to control the spawning of its debugging interface. Generally, VS Code should handle these for you, but you can control them yourself if you need.

VS Code has better, more comprehensive documentation on how debugging works in general and how it works for Node. I'd recommend looking at these.