From Logs to Breakpoints: Building a VS Code Debugger for Hyperledger Fabric

Debugging Hyperledger Fabric chaincode can involve a lot of setup, deployment steps, commands, configuration, and logs before you can actually understand what is happening inside your code. This creates friction for developers, especially those who are new to the Fabric ecosystem.

As part of the Hyperledger Fabric community, I worked on a VS Code extension that aims to bring a more familiar debugging workflow directly into the developer's IDE. The project explores how chaincode can be deployed, tested, and debugged through VS Code, with capabilities such as breakpoint debugging and state database initialization.

In this talk, I’ll walk through the problem we were trying to solve, how the debugger extension fits into the Fabric development workflow, and some of the engineering challenges involved in building developer tooling around an existing open-source ecosystem. I’ll also share what I learned about working with VS Code extensions, understanding an unfamiliar FOSS codebase, and designing tools that reduce friction for other developers.

• Understand the challenges involved in debugging Hyperledger Fabric chaincode.

• See how a VS Code extension can simplify the chaincode development and debugging workflow.

• Learn about the architecture and engineering considerations behind building developer tooling for an existing FOSS ecosystem.

• Gain practical insights into contributing to and working within a large open-source project.

• Understand how developer experience can be improved by reducing repetitive setup and debugging friction.