To debug a Prefect flow in VSCode, you can follow the general steps for debugging Python code within the VSCode environment. Here are the steps to get started with the debugging process:
1. Set up Prefect and write your flow.
2. Open the file containing the Prefect flow in VSCode.
3. Place breakpoints at the desired locations in your flow code by clicking on the left margin next to the line numbers where you want the debugger to pause execution.
4. Use the built-in debugging features of VSCode. To start debugging, click on the Debug icon in the Activity Bar on the side of the VSCode window.
5. In the debug view, you can select "Python: Current File" from the configurations dropdown to use the default debug configuration. If your project requires a more specific configuration, click on "Add Configuration" and follow the prompts to configure the debugger for your specific case.
6. Start the debugger by clicking the green play button or pressing F5. The debugger will start and your execution will pause at the breakpoints you've set.
7. Use the debug controls to step over lines, step into functions, continue execution, and inspect variables. The debug console can be used to evaluate expressions at runtime and view output from print statements or logging.
If you run into any errors with Prefect itself, the
Prefect documentation provides troubleshooting guides that can help identify and resolve the issues.
Make sure your Prefect environment and necessary services like the webserver are running if you need to interact with Prefect's API or backend.
Remember to update Prefect to the latest version to ensure that you're not facing an issue that has already been resolved in a newer version of the software.
The information provided is quite general, as the documents did not include specific guidance for debugging Prefect flows in VSCode. Debugging in VSCode is similar for most Python projects; Prefect flows included, provided they are written in Python and follow regular Python execution patterns.