Install the vscode extension as described in the README Create a file with the name repro.js under the path jstests/noPassthroughWithMongod with the following contents: try { throw Error( "testing" ); } catch (e) { jsTestLog.info( "got it" ); } Run the vscode debugger extension as described in the README Start the test with the debugger enabled: ./buildscripts/resmoke.py run --suites=no_passthrough_with_mongod --shellJSDebugMode jstests/noPassthroughWithMongod/repro.js The debugger breaks at the throw statement, even though the exception would be caught.