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VS Code Node.js macOS debugging not working - I don't even know how to state the problem

Newbie question here, it seems... I'm losing my mind. Why is this so hard? I've been programming other languages for years, but I'm relatively new to node and JS. I've read and watched as much as I can find official and unofficial on the web about this and it's either years old or significantly different from my situation, so not very helpful.
I'd really, really appreciate anyone who can understand my (pretty simple, I would have thought!?) specific case and help me get this set up to just work. Possible?
macOS 10.15.6 Catalina.
As I understand it, node comes with the OS. It's Node.js 12.8.1
VS Code 1.48.2
I create a new file, name it abcd.js. VS Code figures out it's javascript. I add some code - read a file of JSON from the disk, make some changes, console.log some stuff (appears under the Output tab). I run it.* All good and works.
Now... Run menu > "Start Debugging". Or, There's a Run/Debug icon in the sidebar that shows a "Run and Debug" button which I click on. Both of those ask me for an environment - I choose Node.js, and the Debug console outputs this:
/usr/local/bin/node path/to/my/file.js
Debugger listening on ws://127.0.0.1:56430/30b0c2aa-278b-4540-94c4-825d30b94f57
For help see https://nodejs.org/en/docs/inspector
And that's it. I have breakpoints, but it doesn't stop on them. Something happens (too quick to see what it is). I don't think it's actually running my code because nothing new shows up under the Output tab.
There's also a note in that sidebar saying "To customize Run and Debug create a launch.json file." I've experimented with that as much as I can, but nothing I do seems to help.
I've been programming for years. I'm used to other languages and IDEs (eg. C, Java, AppleScript, Swift, others), where you open the IDE, write some code, hit run (or debug), it may or may not build a target (depending on the language and environment), but then it runs the code (opens the target app, or runs in the IDE, and allows you to step through the code, breakpoints, etc. in the IDE if debugging). Is JS/node programming radically different from this somehow?
*One theory:
I'm not doing this through any terminal or any browser. Maybe that's the problem...? At some point I installed a "Code Runner" plugin that I believe is what is running my code. It was a while ago, but if I recall correctly maybe I turned to that because I was looking for the experience I've described above, and this plugin gave me that where the "normal" node setup process didn't? Perhaps my problem is that that plugin simplifies RUNNING js scripts so much that my issues with DEBUGGING exist because that plugin allows me to bypass other usual complications with running JS/Node scripts (but doesn't have any debugging functionality of its own)?

My thanks to #ippi for his/her comment with a gif video. Not sure if the following really answers my question, but I'm posting it in case it helps anyone else.
I took some time to clean up my Mac a little, and I completely uninstall VSCode, all its extensions and supporting files and started again.
I re-installed Code from scratch, didn't add any extensions, and then tried what #ippi's video showed.
It still didn't work - I got more or less the same output as in my post, and I'm not sure if it was running the code or not.
I had an urgent deadline to meet so didn't come back to it till now - two days later - and now, it's working.
A couple of things changed in that time though I really don't know what fixed this, if it was either of those or anything else. The two changes I can remember that I've done the last two days are:
Despite my post saying my node was 12.8.1, sometime in the last couple of days it turned into 8.something. I updated it to the latest v12.8.3, and
to meet that deadline I used node inspect myfile.js in Terminal for a bit.
The inspect (mostly) worked to meet my deadline, but still a hassle compared to what's shown in #ippi's video. I definitely wanted to get it working that way.
So… updating node fixed it? Running it in the terminal for a bit fixed it? Something else? I'm at a loss to know what did it. But it's working now.
Thanks again to #ippi for that. It pointed me in a good direction at least - to clean up my install a bit, if nothing else.
Maybe this will help someone else sometime in the future.
It seems the ultimate answer is:
It should just work out of the box (possibly subject to updating node to its latest). If it doesn't then:
The issue most likely isn't that you have to do any fancy configuring or whatnot to make it work.
Instead, most likely something is wrong with your installation and/or OS and you should explore that.
#ippi's video attached in case his/her link ever breaks:

mac os x python/JavaScript IDE where I can use break points

I looking for python/JavaScript IDE where I can put breakpoints. Currently I'm using coderunner but I can not put break points. I'll really appreciate you recommendations

I'm not an expert on Python, but I do work as a web developer and use JavaScript regularly. For that side of things, probably the easiest way is to use Chrome/Firefox debugger tools. You can do this manually by finding the line of code in the console and clicking (F12->Sources tab->Content scripts->desired script), or using the 'debugger' statement to toggle debug mode (F12->Console tab->type 'debugger' then return) and step through to what you need.
Additionally, if you're looking for an actual IDE, the only thing I've found online is the following. Here's the relevant part of that article. I've never used it (and probably never will), but there it is all the same.
Webstorm by IDEA supports setting breakpoints in the IDE. This requires launching the JavaScript debugger from IDEA. It must be configured in advance so it understands how to map JavaScript on the development server to JavaScript files in your environment. IDEA will automatically install a Chrome or Firefox plug-in to facilitate. This is pretty new technology and can be touchy.

I use PyCharm. It's a heavyweight IDE, so expect more features than you probably want if you're just getting started. It has a very good integrated debugger. You'll be able to break into both your Python and Javascript. Further, you'll see a pretty nice productivity jump with all the editing support like auto complete and intellisense. My advice is to stick with print() and logging as long as you can. For me getting a firm grasp of packages, python environments, virtualenv, command line tricks and git all before committing to the PyCharm IDE helped me adopt it with more confidence I was getting the value of all the integration.

Using node.js in production?

To those in the business of web development, is node.js ready for production use? How reliable is it?

Node.js is absolutely ready for production in terms of things like system stability, power, and performance. However, some features might still change before version 1, and there are a lot of mature tools on other platforms that don't quite exist yet for node (though new things are popping up on node every day).
Several businesses are already using node.js in production. For a few, check out https://github.com/joyent/node/wiki/Projects,-Applications,-and-Companies-Using-Node

outloud.fm uses it, seems to work pretty well
I don't run that site though, so I can't speak from personal experience

Does it do what you want?
Does it run like you want it to without crashing for your needs?
Then it's production use ready.

Executing JavaScript with Python without X

I want to parse a html-page that unfortunately requires JavaScript to show any content. In order to do so I use a small python-script that pulls the html-code of the page, but after that I have to execute the JavaScript in a DOM-context which seems pretty hard.
To make it even harder I want to use it in a server environment that has no X11-server.
Note: I already read about http://code.google.com/p/pywebkitgtk/ but it seems to need a X-server.

You can simulate a browser environment using EnvJS. However, in order to make use of it, you will have to embed some kind of JavaScript runtime (e.g. Rhino) in your program (or spawn one as an external process).

You could try using Xvfb to have a fake frame buffer, so you won't need to run X11 (though it may be a dependency of Xvfb on your system). Most rendering engines don't have a headless mode, so something like Xvfb is necessary to run them. I used this technique successfully using XULRunner to navigate web pages, though not from python.

I'm still trying to figure this out myself, so take my answer with a grain of salt.
So far, I found http://blog.motane.lu/2009/06/18/pywebkitgtk-execute-javascript-from-python/, which describes the use and the quirks of Pywebkitgtk by someone who has similar needs to what we do.
Later, however, the writer of that blogpost discovered that he can't get it to work with Xvbf, so he hunted some more and found a Qt webkit (possibly in Qt itself, if I understand correctly) http://blog.motane.lu/2009/07/07/downloading-a-pages-content-with-python-and-webkit/. Apparently it's a much better solution than PywebkitGTK.
Naturally, I'll be looking into the other solutions offered here--but I wanted to bring up the Qt solution, because to me, it seems the most likely candidate for what I want to do...and if not, then perhaps it will be for someone else, looking for an answer to this question! :-)

I use VNC or Xvfb for this purpose, combined with Firefox. After experimenting with the two, I settled on XTightVNC. We use it to create screenshots on demand for various test purposes. It's nice to use one of these because you're executing it in an actual browser, same as a user would be (though most users probably won't be using the same OS as your server).
The handy thing about using VNC is that you can connect remotely to set up and test the browser when needed.

This might help: http://code.google.com/p/pyv8/

Best ways to develop painlessly in Javascript on a local machine

I'm pretty new to workign with Javascript.
In most languages you can run the code quickly locally on your machine. From what I've seen, in JS you generally only use it via the browser, and so I've been uploading my code an viewing its effects in the browser. This has proven very tiresome. Also, if I mak one error, it seems like my JS/JQuery will just do NOTHING, instead of giving me a useful error, message, which is making it painfully slow to code in.
IS there some way to run JS locally to see that it is working as I go? And then only upload it to the web when I'm mostly done? What ways are there for me to do this? What ways aer there for me to unit test the Javascript locally? Say I have some JAML that should render as <p>HI</p>, how do I run this locally in a unit test?
Thanks for the help,
Alex
EDIT:
Thanks for all the great suggestions. I'll have to take a bit of time and go through them to see which ones best help me in my situation.

Since you're using jQuery, I assume that you actually want to manipulate the various elements on your page. So depending on your specific development enviroment, uploading it each time is probably the way to go anyway. If you can set up a dev enviroment on your local machine (not always possible) then go with that.
As an actual answer to your question, I suggest using Chrome's developer tools, it doesn't just have the console, but an element inspector, and a resource tracker (resource tracker is invaluable when working with JSON and AJAX, since invalid json will fail silently)
As far as I know, the firebug plugin for firefox (dont use it myself) has a similar feature set, so if you're more comfortable with that go with it.
Just remember, as a developer, your development (and debuggin) enviroment is just as important as the code that you are writing.
EDIT: Noticed that you mentioned unit testing. There are several unit testing frameworks out there for JS including one that integrates with firebug called FireUnit. Do a quick google search to find more if you want.

You don't need to upload the JS file to a server to test it. Just write an html and declare the js binding
<script
src="js/yourJSFile.js"
type="text/javascript"></script>
Edit the JS file in your favorite editor and then refresh the page to test it.
For unit testing the best option is Selenium. It allows you to record an interaction with the browser and then play it back.

You can use Firebug with Firefox to debug JS, and Google Chrome has a debugger built-in (use the Tools -> Developer Tools menu).

You can run Javascript from the local file on your machine in your browser, so you can skip the uploading step.
Also, I'd recommend using Firefox/Firebug combo for developing Javascript as it will be very handy, especially for the part you mentioned about not seeing what's going wrong with your code.

Even if you upload your javascript it gets downloaded back to you as soon as you visit the webpage that invoques it. Its run client side always. So stick to local and use firebug as the others have said. Google`s developer tool is quite nice too.

In the browser if you open the developer tools, follow the following steps:
1) Navigate to sources
2) Under sources, click snippet and open run.js
3) You can use run.js to write as much code as you want and run it locally only to see if your code is working or not (it will give you output on the console)
4) Also you can get used to some keyboard shortcuts to make it faster for you.
5) For small javascript codes, you can navigate to console and run your code there

If you want to do unit testing with Javascript there are extension of Firebug that can help you with that. I haven't try any of them, so I can't really tell you which one are worth considering, but you can easily find them if you search for the keyword "Firebug unit testing" on Google.
What seems to be comming on top is FireUnit. You can find some information about how it works here.

Consider Spider Monkey, which is a javascript engine separate from a browser. If what you are developing does not involve rendering to a webpage or can be separated from the rendering code (good practice!), then this could be useful.

I prefer Chrome to Firefox and I just found Web Server for Chrome.
It's just a Google App that quickly sets up a web server for you and will be set up anywhere you are logged into Chrome. It only allows file access to your current devices, or if you specify, other devices only on the current LAN.
You just point it to the directory with your index.html file and type http://127.0.0.1:8887 in your browser.

Additionally to the answers given you can use Jasmine for automated testing.
A tutorial that seems to help get started with automated testing on Jasmine is provided by Evan Hahn.
I used it and for me it works like a charm. Especially if test driven development is what you are going for!