"Break on Unhandled Exception" not available when debugging Aspire in Visual Studio Code

[sander1095]

Is there an existing issue for this?

• I have searched the existing issues

Describe the bug

I installed the Aspire VSCode extension and chose to "Run and debug" my C# Aspire project with it.

When I use C# Dev Kit and debug a C# project, I can select that the debugger should break on any exception:

This is not available when debugging with Aspire:

This is critical for any non-trivial development setup; if exceptions happen I want to break and debug them. Now this isn't possible.

Expected Behavior

When debugging my C# aspire project in VSCode with the Aspire extension, it should be able to break on any exception.

Steps To Reproduce

• Create an aspire project with C#.
• Install VSCode extension
• Debug the project
• Try to configure that debugger breaks on any exception, which isn't possible. If you execute a code path that throws, it won't break on that exception.

Then:

• Debug the csproj with C# Dev kit
• See that breaking on unhandled exceptions IS available

Exceptions (if any)

No response

Aspire doctor output

Aspire Environment Check

.NET SDK
✅ .NET 10.0.300 installed (arm64)

Container Runtime
✅ Docker v29.4.3: running (auto-detected (default)) ← active

Environment
✅ HTTPS development certificate is trusted

Summary: 3 passed, 0 warnings, 0 failed

Anything else?

VSCode insiders 1.122.0-insider
Aspire extension: 1.0.9

[joperezr]

🤖 Aspire triage pass — 2026-05-27 12:30 UTC

Area: area-extension (already labeled area-tooling)
Kind: bug / feature-gap
Repro: yes-minimal — see steps in the issue body (create Aspire C# project, debug via Aspire VS Code extension, observe missing "Break on Unhandled Exception" option vs. C# Dev Kit)
Affected version(s): Aspire VS Code extension 1.0.9, VS Code Insiders 1.122.0-insider, .NET 10.0.300
Severity: S3 — debug UX gap in the VS Code extension; workaround exists (debug the csproj directly via C# Dev Kit).

Urgency: 🟡 vNext — recommend milestone 13.4
Reason: clean repro, important debugger UX gap in the Aspire VS Code extension, but a workaround exists (C# Dev Kit direct debug) and no regression baseline was cited.

Suggested owner(s): @adamint (primary), backup @JamesNK
Evidence:

• CODEOWNERS: /extension is owned by @adamint
• @adamint authored the bulk of merged area-extension PRs in the last 90 days (e.g. Add Simple Browser option for dashboard launch #15896, Use deny list for non-linkable endpoint URLs in extension #15894, Use PR-specific version for dogfood VS Code extension #15892, VS Code extension: Improve gutter, code lens, and tree view resource state indicators #15688, VS Code extension: Auto-restore on workspace open and config change #15546, make non-http panel links non-clickable #15514, Add 'Open Aspire Dashboard' to Command Palette #15499, Add AppHost CodeLens and gutter decoration support #15397, Clean up Aspire panel: context menus, loading state, welcome messages #15375, Aspire panel improvements, rename building apphost -> connecting to apphost in extension run, add off setting to enableAspireDashboardAutoLaunch  #15172, vs code extension file-based app fixes #15170, Print apphost exit message in debug console and add TypeScript Azure Functions playground sample #15155, Add Getting Started walkthrough to VS Code extension #14872)
• @adamint resolved many area-extension issues as completed in the last 180 days (e.g. after upgrading to 13.3, browser does not launch [SSH Remote] #17176, Azure Functions project fails to start when IDE cannot handle "azure-functions" launch type — DCP fallback runs bare dotnet with no arguments #16997, Extension doesn't show running apphosts #16922, create new project in vs code when project outside of current workspace should add folder into the workspace and create a directory for that new project #16850, Aspire debug inconsistency- current working directory #16575, JavaScript/Vite resource logs are missing in Aspire Dashboard when running AppHost from VS Code #16468, VS Code extension walkthrough biases toward C# despite polyglot support #16256, Disambiguate duplicate paths in VS Code extension shortenPath #16200)
• @JamesNK merged recent area-extension PRs (Use emoji instead of codicons for health status in resource tooltips #17489, Display UI to view app host logs in extension #17465) and is listed as a /src/Aspire.Dashboard co-owner alongside @adamint

Confidence: medium
Needs human?: no — but please confirm vNext (13.4) vs. backlog and whether this is a VS Code extension launch-config gap vs. a debugger-host limitation surfaced by the extension.

Dry-run mode — no labels or milestone applied. Reply /triage apply to promote, or edit and reapply.

[davidfowl]

Are you debugging with the aspire debugger or just devkit?

cc @adamint