NetCoreDbg Debug Adapter Extension for Zed

A Zed extension that provides debugging support for .NET applications using netcoredbg.

Currently only support Mac arm64 due to an upstream issue with netcoredbg.

Installation

Development Installation

1. Clone this repository
2. Open Zed
3. Go to Extensions (Cmd+Shift+X on macOS)
4. Click "Install Dev Extension"
5. Select the cloned directory

Configuration

You can use the Debugger UI to add a new debug configuration or edit .zed/debug.json directly.

Example .zed/debug.json to add a new launch debug configuration:

[
  {
    "label": "Debug .NET Core App",
    "adapter": "netcoredbg",
    "request": "launch",
    "program": "${ZED_WORKTREE_ROOT}/apps/backend/Example/bin/Debug/net8.0/Example.dll",
    "cwd": "${ZED_WORKTREE_ROOT}/apps/backend/Example",
    "env": {
      "ASPNETCORE_ENVIRONMENT": "Development",
      "ASPNETCORE_URLS": "http://localhost:5243"
    },
    "build": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": [
        "build",
        "${ZED_WORKTREE_ROOT}/apps/backend/Example/Example.csproj",
        "-p:Configuration=Debug",
        "-p:TargetFramework=net8.0"
      ]
    }
  }
]

Attach to a running process:

{
  "label": "Attach .NET Core App",
  "adapter": "netcoredbg",
  "request": "attach",
  "processId": 62177
}

The extension automatically tries to download netcoredbg's executable. Or you can configure the path in your Zed settings:

{
  "dap": {
    "netcoredbg": {
      "binary": "/path/to/netcoredbg",
      "args": []
    }
  }
}

Note: Make sure the binary is executable.

Why netcoredbg?

While Microsoft provides official debugging libraries for .NET Core (Microsoft.VisualStudio.clrdbg), these come with restrictive licensing terms that limit their use to specific IDEs like Visual Studio Code. This licensing restriction has prevented many third-party editors and IDEs from offering .NET debugging support.

netcoredbg solves this problem by providing an open-source alternative:

• Truly Open Source: Developed by Samsung under a permissive license
• Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux
• IDE Agnostic: Can be integrated into any editor or IDE that supports the Debug Adapter Protocol (DAP)
• Full-Featured: Provides comprehensive debugging capabilities for .NET Core applications

This makes netcoredbg the ideal choice for Zed.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.