visual studio code debuggin mocha is ignoring breakpoints - node.js

Question

I am trying to debug mocha unit test in visual studio code. I followed this question and got this run configuration:
{
"name": "Run mocha",
"type": "node",
"program": "/usr/bin/mocha",
"stopOnEntry": false,
"args": ["testUtils.js"],
"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
"runtimeExecutable": null,
"env": { "NODE_ENV": "development"}
},
It works. But it does not stop at breakpoints! If I run the file with a normal launch configuration, breakpoints are not ignored.
Any Idea what could be the reason for this?

Answer 1

This works for me, you need to point to _mocha. Using just mocha does not allow attaching breakpoints.
{
"name": "Debug mocha",
"type": "node",
"request": "launch",
"runtimeArgs": ["C:\\Users\\CS\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\mocha\\bin\\_mocha"],
"program": "${workspaceRoot}\\test.js",
"stopOnEntry": false,
"args": [
],
"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
"runtimeExecutable": null,
"env": {
"NODE_ENV": "development"
}
}

Answer 2

If you include the port and the "--debug-brk" argument, you should be able to debug mocha unit tests. I have the following setup in my launch.json file. I included the "--recursive" argument as well so mocha would run all tests in subfolders as well. With this configuration file, I just set my VS Code debugger to use the "Debug Mocha Test" configuration and I'm able to hit breakpoints in any of my test files.
{
// Use IntelliSense to learn about possible Node.js debug 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": "node",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Launch Program",
"program": "${workspaceRoot}/server.js",
"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}"
},
{
"type": "node",
"request": "attach",
"name": "Attach to Process",
"port": 5858
},
{
"type": "node",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Debug Mocha Test",
"port": 5858,
"runtimeArgs": ["${workspaceRoot}/node_modules/mocha/bin/mocha"],
"cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
"args": ["--recursive", "--debug-brk"]
}
]
}
You can verify the port mocha will use for debugging by running mocha --debug-brk