VS Code Launch Config Generator

A JS scrip that automatically generates or merges VS Code launch.json debug configurations based on the scripts defined in your package.json. in package.json. It supports npm, yarn, or pnpm, with optional script name filtering, timestamped backups, and a single confirmation prompt when overwriting existing entries.

Features:

• Detects and loads scripts from package.json
• Adds one launch configuration per script
• It supports npm, yarn, or pnpm
• Optionally filters scripts by prefix (e.g., dev)
• Confirmation prompt before overwriting existing launch configurations
• Automatic timestamped backups of existing .vscode/launch.json file
• Command-line options to skip prompts (--yes) and specify package manager and filter
• Skipping scripts containing "generate-launch" anywhere in their names

---

📦 Installation

Place the script in your project under scripts/ folder:

mkdir -p scripts

Then add the script to scripts/generate-launch-config.js.

🚀 Usage

Run the script with Node.js from your project root:

node scripts/generate-launch-config.js

Or add it to your package.json scripts for convenience:

"scripts": {
  "generate-launch": "node scripts/generate-launch-config.js",
  "generate-launch:yes": "node scripts/generate-launch-config.js --yes",
  "generate-launch:yarn": "node scripts/generate-launch-config.js --manager yarn --yes",
  "generate-launch:dev": "node scripts/generate-launch-config.js --filter dev --yes"
}

Then run:

npm run generate-launch

⚙️ CLI Options

Flag	Description
--manager <npm|yarn|pnpm>	Specify package manager: npm (default), yarn, or pnpm
--filter <prefix>	Only include scripts starting with the given prefix (e.g. dev)
--yes	Automatically confirm overwrites (no prompts)

💡 Examples

Generate all launch configs using npm:

node scripts/generate-launch-config.js

Only include scripts starting with dev::

node scripts/generate-launch-config.js --filter dev

Use yarn and skip confirmation prompts:

node scripts/generate-launch-config.js --manager yarn --yes

🧠 Behavior Details

• Existing launch.json is backed up to .vscode/launch.backup.YYYY-MM-DDTHH-MM-SS.json
• The script will only prompt once to confirm overwriting multiple configs
• Scripts are translated into VS Code launch configurations like:

{
  "type": "node",
  "request": "launch",
  "name": "npm: dev",
  "runtimeExecutable": "npm",
  "runtimeArgs": ["run", "dev"],
  "console": "integratedTerminal",
  "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen",
  "skipFiles": ["<node_internals>/**"]
}

🖥️ How it works

• Reads your project's package.json and extracts the scripts section.
• Filters out any scripts containing generate-launch in their names.
• Optionally filters scripts by prefix if --filter is specified.
• Loads existing .vscode/launch.json and creates a timestamped backup.
• Adds launch configurations for all matched scripts.
• Prompts once if any configs will be overwritten (unless --yes is used).
• Saves the merged configurations back to .vscode/launch.json.

🛠️ Requirements

• Node.js installed
• A valid package.json with scripts
• VS Code workspace with a .vscode/ directory (created automatically if missing)

🧩 License

MIT License

🤝 Contributing

Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests if you'd like to improve this script!