First, some details...

This is my personal clone of "vscode-template" from https://github.com/bitburner-official/vscode-template.

It includes some changes in the configuration files to make the debugging work.

The official instructions are good if a bit unclear so I'll try to add some details.

Where to start

You need to install some things first:

• Visual Studio Code
• Node.js
• Git

Needed vsCode Extensions

• Bitburner VSCode Integration
• Node NPM

Nice-to-have vsCode Extensions

• vscode-eslint
• auto-snippet

Setup remote-debugging in Steam:

• Right-click on Bitburner->Properties
• On the general tab find the "LAUNCH OPTIONS" section
• Add this: "--remote-debugging-port=9222"

Project installation

There is a couple options.

You can go on gitHub directly, make a clone of the project and open it up. This was my prefered method and I HIGHLY suggest that you take the time to learn how to create and use a github repository if you don't already. It's a basic programming task/skill and while it sounds complex for such a simple project it's actually really easy once you've got it going and it will absolutely save your ass at some point.

OR you can start vsCode, go to the terminal and type:

git clone https://github.com/bitburner-official/vscode-template

Linking the game with vsCode

Once you have the project open and hopefully linked to your own cloned repository for version control and safety.

Start the game

• Make sure both "Enable server" and "Enable Autostart" are checked in APIServer menu
• Click on "copy auth token" in APIServer menu

In vsCode:

• Find the Bitburner VSCode extension and open the settings.
• Paste your token in the first field (replace mine!)

Starting things up

• In vsCode with the project opened: Go to the terminal and type these:

npm install
npm run defs
npm run watch

• Press F1 and Select Bitburner: Enable File Watcher to enable auto uploading to the game
• In the game: you should have a script called "watcher.js" now. Run it. You can add this to your startup script for future simplicity.

Debugging

• Press F5 to start running vsCode compiling. Keep this going as you edit your files, they will get auto-compiled and converted to javascript as you go.
• You can add breakpoints to your code that will get triggered later when you run the script.

How to use this

• Forget about the *.script files from the tutorial... and even about the *.js files. With this you need to work with Typescript files (.ts).
• src/ folder: Your *.ts scripts go in there. This is where you code. These files get auto-transpiled (converted) into javascript when you save. This creates a *.js version in the dist/ folder that then gets sent to the game automatically.
• dist/ folder: If you have some old *.script files you can put them here to auto-upload to game. It won't support the debugging though, it's really just to let you edit and upload the scripts to game. You should step up to typescript asap.
• In the game, "watcher.js" should catch the change and notify you in the game terminal. It should also kill/update/restart the script.
• You should find my super basic mk1 scripts in-game. Run "mk1_start_script" to get everything going. Scripts are in mk1/ . Very crude but workable for early-mid game. Super unefficient, but it will brute force it's way and make some money.
• mk2 scripts coming soon

What to do next time you want to play

All the settings should stay so:

• Start the game. Make sure "watcher.js" is running.
• Start vsCode. Run in terminal: "npm run watch"
• Press F5 to start the compiling/debugging.
• Create/edit some Typescritp scripts in /src ... Saving a .ts should transpile a .js and upload to game

Notes

Well that's it. Look at my *.ts files for inspiration on how to make yours. Only got "Z_test.ts" for now but I'll be building my mid-game routine with this real soon).

It is very similar to javascript but with some quirks. Find a good Typescript reference and go from there. Check out DarkMio's *.ts scripts

There are some details about import and such that I'm not sure about yet so I included the original readme below. Hope this helps.

-- ORIGINAL README BELOW --

Extension Recommendations

vscode-bitburner-connector (vscode extension marketplace) to upload your files into the game

vscode-eslint to use live linting in editor

auto-snippet to automate inserting the file template in .vscode/snippets.code-snippets

There is a workspace file in .vscode which contains the recommended settings for all of these

Dependencies

Node.js required for compiling typescript and installing dependencies

Installation

git clone https://github.com/bitburner-official/vscode-template
npm install
npm run defs

How to use this template

Write all your typescript source code in the /src directory

To autocompile as you save, run npm run watch in a terminal

To update your Netscript Definitions, run npm run defs in a terminal

Press F1 and Select Bitburner: Enable File Watcher to enable auto uploading to the game

If you run watcher.js in game, the game will automatically detect file changes and restart the associated scripts

Imports

To ensure both the game and typescript have no issues with import paths, your import statements should follow a few formatting rules:

• Paths must be absolute from the root of src/, which will be equivalent to the root directory of your home drive
• Paths must contain no leading slash
• Paths must end with no file extension

Examples:

To import helperFunction from the file helpers.ts located in the directory src/lib/:

import { helperFunction } from 'lib/helpers'

To import all functions from the file helpers.ts located in the src/lib/ directory as the namespace helpers:

import * as helpers from 'lib/helpers'

To import someFunction from the file main.ts located in the src/ directory:

import { someFunction } from 'main'

Deugging

For debugging bitburner on Steam you will need to enable a remote debugging port. This can be done by rightclicking bitburner in your Steam library and selecting properties. There you need to add --remote-debugging-port=9222 [Thanks @DarkMio]

When debugging you see errors like the following:

Could not read source map for file:///path/to/Steam/steamapps/common/Bitburner/resources/app/dist/ext/monaco-editor/min/vs/editor/editor.main.js: ENOENT: no such file or directory, open '/path/to/Steam/steamapps/common/Bitburner/resources/app/dist/ext/monaco-editor/min/vs/editor/editor.main.js.map'

These errors are to be expected, they are referring to the game's files and the game does not come packaged with sourcemaps.