VSCode Debug Nestjs and Docker Environment

in .vscode folder:

{
    // Use IntelliSense to learn about possible 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": "attach",
            "name": "Debug Nestjs Apps",
            "address": "localhost",
            "port": 9229,
            "sourceMaps": true,
            "restart": true,
            "localRoot": "${workspaceFolder}",
            "remoteRoot": "/usr/src/app"
        }
    ]
}

in docker-compose.yml

services:
  auth:
    build:
      context: .
      dockerfile: ./apps/auth/Dockerfile
      target: development
    command: npm run start:debug auth
    env_file: 
     - ./apps/auth/.env
    ports:
     - '3000:3000'
     - '9229:9229'
    volumes:
     - .:/usr/src/app
     - /usr/src/app/node_modules

in package.json

edit the start:debug with ip address and port for remote debug:

"start:debug": "nest start --debug 0.0.0.0:9229 --watch",

package.json demo

{
  "name": "nestjs-microservices-auth",
  "version": "0.0.1",
  "description": "",
  "author": "",
  "private": true,
  "license": "UNLICENSED",
  "scripts": {
    "build": "nest build",
    "format": "prettier --write \"apps/**/*.ts\" \"libs/**/*.ts\"",
    "start": "nest start",
    "start:dev": "nest start --watch",
    "start:debug": "nest start --debug 0.0.0.0:9229 --watch",
    "start:prod": "node dist/apps/nestjs-microservices-auth/main",
    "lint": "eslint \"{src,apps,libs,test}/**/*.ts\" --fix",
    "test": "jest",
    "test:watch": "jest --watch",
    "test:cov": "jest --coverage",
    "test:debug": "node --inspect-brk -r tsconfig-paths/register -r ts-node/register node_modules/.bin/jest --runInBand",
    "test:e2e": "jest --config ./apps/nestjs-microservices-auth/test/jest-e2e.json"
  },
  "dependencies": {
    "@nestjs/common": "^10.0.0",
    "@nestjs/config": "^3.3.0",
    "@nestjs/core": "^10.0.0",
    "@nestjs/mongoose": "^10.1.0",
    "@nestjs/platform-express": "^10.0.0",
    "joi": "^17.13.3",
    "mongoose": "^8.9.3",
    "reflect-metadata": "^0.2.0",
    "rxjs": "^7.8.1"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@nestjs/cli": "^10.0.0",
    "@nestjs/schematics": "^10.0.0",
    "@nestjs/testing": "^10.0.0",
    "@types/express": "^5.0.0",
    "@types/jest": "^29.5.2",
    "@types/node": "^20.3.1",
    "@types/supertest": "^6.0.0",
    "@typescript-eslint/eslint-plugin": "^8.0.0",
    "@typescript-eslint/parser": "^8.0.0",
    "eslint": "^8.0.0",
    "eslint-config-prettier": "^9.0.0",
    "eslint-plugin-prettier": "^5.0.0",
    "jest": "^29.5.0",
    "prettier": "^3.0.0",
    "source-map-support": "^0.5.21",
    "supertest": "^7.0.0",
    "ts-jest": "^29.1.0",
    "ts-loader": "^9.4.3",
    "ts-node": "^10.9.1",
    "tsconfig-paths": "^4.2.0",
    "typescript": "^5.1.3"
  },
  "jest": {
    "moduleFileExtensions": [
      "js",
      "json",
      "ts"
    ],
    "rootDir": ".",
    "testRegex": ".*\\.spec\\.ts$",
    "transform": {
      "^.+\\.(t|j)s$": "ts-jest"
    },
    "collectCoverageFrom": [
      "**/*.(t|j)s"
    ],
    "coverageDirectory": "./coverage",
    "testEnvironment": "node",
    "roots": [
      "<rootDir>/libs/",
      "<rootDir>/apps/"
    ],
    "moduleNameMapper": {
      "^@app/common(|/.*)$": "<rootDir>/libs/common/src/$1"
    }
  }
}

start the app using docker compose up first

then click debug profile to start attach into the remote app