Debugger Not Stopping at Breakpoints in VS Code for Python

Setting "justMyCode": false makes it stop at breakpoint:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Python: Debug Current File",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${file}",
            "console": "integratedTerminal",
            "stopOnEntry": true,
            "justMyCode": false
        },
    ]
}

If you're using a pytest-cov module you might also wanna have a look at pytest configuration settings note:

Note If you have the pytest-cov coverage module installed, VS Code doesn't stop at breakpoints while debugging because pytest-cov is using the same technique to access the source code being run. To prevent this behavior, include --no-cov in pytestArgs when debugging tests, for example by adding "env": {"PYTEST_ADDOPTS": "--no-cov"} to your debug configuration.

See an example configuration file (launch.json) below:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Debug Tests",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "test",
            "console": "integratedTerminal",
            "justMyCode": false,
            "env": {"PYTEST_ADDOPTS": "--no-cov"}
        }
    ]
}

I experienced the same behaviour and was able to solve it by installing the virtual environment of Python in the following way:

[MyProjectFolder] \ venv

by entering the command

python -m venv [MyProjectFolder]\venv

in the console.

VS Code seems to expect exactly that folder structure.

Before I had installed the venv-folder-structure directly in my projects-folder, i.e.

[MyProjectFolder] \ Scripts
[MyProjectFolder] \ Lib
[MyProjectFolder] \ Include
[MyProjectFolder] \ pyvenv.cfg

which did not work and caused exactly the described debug problems.

just as a reference: VS Code version 1.52.1 and Python 3.8.5

Downgrading from Python 3.9 to 3.8 worked for me.

VC Code 1.56.2 ignored breakpoints running Python 3.9 64-bit on Windows 10 version 20H2. Installing Python 3.8.10 64-bit fixed the problem. I just needed to select the Python 3.8.10 interpreter within VS code and it now recognizes breakpoints. No changes to the configuration file were needed, for example, I did not need "justMyCode": false

I realize this is an old question, but my google search lead me to it. Many of the previous answers no longer apply. So I'm posting this fix for others who land here in 2021 trying to use 3.9.

For everyone coming here looking for a solution related to breakpoints in python unittests:

1. If not already done add a configuration file, i.e. launch.json, as described in the vscode python debugging tutorial.

2. For me the following configuration settings worked, whereby setting cwd (because of src and test folders) and purpose (see also here) were essential.

"version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Python: Test Cases",
            "type": "python",
            "request": "launch",
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/afinad/src",
            "purpose": [
                "debug-test"
            ],
            "console": "integratedTerminal",
        }
    ]

Happy debugging!

I had the same problem having upgraded from Python version 3.7 to version 3.9. I later found out that the old version was 32 bit, and the new version I upgraded to was 64 bit, which apparently caused the issues. Uninstalling the 64 bit version and installing the 32 bit version of Python 3.9 solved my problem, and I was then able to use the Visual Studio Code breakpoint functionality again.

I recently found out ( 5th May 2020) that using Python 3.9 as interpreter the breakpoints were not hitting. Install 3.8 and it will start working again.

My issue was that I was putting the breakpoint on the line of the function declaration itself, so the def foo(x): line, instead of putting the breakpoint on the first non-comment line inside of the function.

If the first line of your function is a comment, the debugger will assume you meant to place the breakpoint on the line of the function declaration and move your breakpoint back, so really make sure you aren't placing your breakpoint on a comment!

Another source of no-breakpoints-working is elevate:

try: # https://pypi.org/project/elevate/
    from elevate import elevate
except ModuleNotFoundError: # install it if not found
    subprocess.call([sys.executable, "-m", "pip", "install", 'elevate'])
finally:
    from elevate import elevate

# require elevated permissions right away...
elevate()

The elevate() command restarts the program as a new (child) process, so the entire file becomes un-breakpoint-able. From the author:

On Windows, the new process’s standard streams are not attached to the parent, which is an inherent limitation of UAC.

In windows, to debug python applications in VS Code which need to be run as administrator, a work-around is this:

1. Close VS Code.
2. Right-click VS Code icon, choose "Run as Administrator."

Linux users could likely do the same with sudo code. Now the process will be spawned initially as administrator, so the call to elevate() does nothing and the whole file is debuggable.

Another source of debugger not stopping at breakpoint: an homonym file, from another directory, is open in VS Code.

In fact, VS Code can set breakpoints on any Python file, even outside of your Python project's directory; if the path of the file does not match the one in launch.json, "program": [your-file-name-here] entry, then breakpoints are not hit.

For example: copies of Python source files are located under dist/lib, the output of setuptools (run: python setup.py bdist_wheel to generate them).

If dist/lib is not excluded through .gitignore, then its contents shows up in the search results sidebar and can be click open by mistake.

Caveat: the above does not hold if the launch.json configuration has "program": "${file}".