Debugging in VS Code

It’s possible to debug the CrowdPlay backend Python code while running inside a dockerized deployment. For this, you need Visual Studio Code with the Python and Docker plugins. Run docker-compose -f docker-compose.vscode.yml up -d --build, or right-click on the docker-compose.vscode.yml in VS Code and select Compose Up.

Then, in the VS Code Debug menu, select Add Configuration... and add the following to your launch.json file under configurations:

        {
            "name": "Python: Remote Attach",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "attach",
            "port": 5678,
            "host": "localhost",
            "pathMappings": [
                {
                    "localRoot": "${workspaceFolder}/backend",
                    "remoteRoot": "/usr/src/crowdplay"
                }
            ]
        }

Finally, select Python: Remote Attach in the debug menu and click the green triangle. Note that when using the docker-compose.vscode.yml file, the backend will not run unless a debugger is connected - this is normal behavior. If you find the backend unresponsive, check that the debugger is connected.

Most code changes you make on both the frontend and backend will be automatically synced to the Docker containers, without needing to restart them. There are two exceptions:

1. Any changes to required (Python, npm or system) packages will require the containers to be rebuilt. You can do this by right-clicking the docker-compose.vscode.yml file in VS code and selecting Compose Restart.
2. Some code errors can cause the respective main process in either Docker container to crash. This is mostly an issue with syntax errors in the backend. If this happens, the respective container needs to be restarted, but a full rebuild is usually not necessary. It is easiest to do this in the Docker Desktop dashboard.