add how-to-debug-local

Author: guenp

content/how-tos/how-to-debug-local.md

@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+---
+title: "How do I debug my code with VS Code?"
+---
+
+1. [Create a new VS Code Python profile](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/configure/profiles#_create-a-profile) and activate it. This will install all recommended VS Code extensions for developing Python code.
+
+1. Create a local development environment using the ["How to create a local environment"](#placeholder-link-to-how-to) guide. (Optional) You can create an environment with VS Code using the [Create Environment](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/environments#_creating-environments) command.
+
+1. [Activate your environment](#placeholder-link-to-activate-env) and install your project in editable mode. Optionally, also install dev requirements, if your project has them. To do this, you can run in a terminal:
+
+    ```
+    pip install -r <path/to/dev-requirements.txt>
+    pip install -e .
+    ```
+
+1. Set up your VS Code Python interpreter to use the Python environment using the [Python: Select Interpreter](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/environments#_working-with-python-interpreters) command.
+
+1. Open the Python file you want to debug in VS Code. Familiarize yourself with the [Debugger user interface](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/debugtest/debugging#_debugger-user-interface), which you can open by clicking on the Run and Debug icon in the left menu bar.
+
+1. You can now start debugging. Set [Breakpoints](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/debugtest/debugging#_breakpoints) by clicking in the gutter (the space to the left of the line numbers) or pressing F9 on the line where you want the debugger to pause execution.
+
+1. For more detailed information about debugging in VS Code, refer to the [Debug code with Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/debugtest/debugging) or the [Python debugging in VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python /debugging) documentation pages.