Visual Studio Code | ts-node (2025)

Create a new Node.js debug configuration, add -r ts-node/register to node args and move the program to the args list (so VS Code doesn't look for outFiles).

.vscode/launch.json
json
{
 "configurations": [{
 "type": "node",
 "request": "launch",
 "name": "Launch Program",
See Also
Debugging in Visual Studio CodeDebugging configurations for Python apps in Visual Studio CodeVS Code | Build, Run and Debug in C++ - GeeksforGeeksJSON editing in Visual Studio Code
 "runtimeArgs": [
 "-r",
 "ts-node/register"
 ],
 "args": [
 "${workspaceFolder}/src/index.ts"
 ]
 }],
}
See Also
Using command line arguments via launch.json in VS Code

.vscode/launch.json
json
{
 "configurations": [{
 "type": "node",
 "request": "launch",
 "name": "Launch Program",
 "runtimeArgs": [
 "-r",
 "ts-node/register"
 ],
 "args": [
 "${workspaceFolder}/src/index.ts"
 ]
 }],
}

Note: If you are using the --project <tsconfig.json> command line argument as per the Configuration Options, and want to apply this same behavior when launching in VS Code, add an "env" key into the launch configuration: "env": { "TS_NODE_PROJECT": "<tsconfig.json>" }.