# Auto attach

A lot of people don't run their applications from VS Code, but rather from their terminal. To accommodate this and still enable debugging, VS Code has an "Auto Attach" setting for the debugger that will auto-attach the debugger whenever the application is launched from the integrated terminal.

{% tabs %}
{% tab title="Exercise" %}
Set VS Code's auto-attach debugger setting to on.

Start the "2-launch-configs" project from the terminal. Set a breakpoint on line 13. Enter a color value and hit the breakpoint.
{% endtab %}

{% tab title="Answer" %}

* Open the Command Palette (**Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + P**)
* Select "Toggle Auto Attach"

![](https://707761804-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LlvtEHKkq5bvzPq1pJ4%2F-Lm5WIB-swfdJcB6Is3B%2F-Lm1AwQ4S2NrXcU26Exk%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=9be8b196-578e-4cc2-b75d-14b970b1fa1c)

* Open the integrated terminal (**Cmd/Ctrl + \`**)
* Make sure that you are in the folder "2-launch-configs"

![](https://707761804-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LlvtEHKkq5bvzPq1pJ4%2F-Lm5WIB-swfdJcB6Is3B%2F-Lm1BF0CHcOfgLikjS6C%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=f42c16ae-fac9-4066-ba7a-18bc4857fed2)

* Open the "index.ts" file in the "2-lauch-configs" project and set a breakpoint on line 13
* Run `node --inspect index.js` from the terminal
* VS Code will open the debugger and auto-attach to the running process

![](https://707761804-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-legacy-files/o/assets%2F-LlvtEHKkq5bvzPq1pJ4%2F-Lm5WIB-swfdJcB6Is3B%2F-Lm1BgiQ7KXqKfeOz5wb%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=9fba3e23-4eca-4f20-a675-e0d3cd900a70)

{% hint style="info" %}
Note that you have to run Node with the `--inspect` flag for the auto-attach feature to work. VS Code can't attach to Node if it's not in "inspect" mode.
{% endhint %}
{% endtab %}
{% endtabs %}


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