[FEATURE] a way to specify the nodejs executable

[DetachHead]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. i have a python project managed with pyprojectx and uv, which contains an npm package. the version of node/npm used in this project is managed as a pypi dependency using nodejs-wheel.

this means that node/npm is never installed globally, so by default jest fails with the following error:

/usr/bin/env: ‘node’: No such file or directory

to fix this, i can set jest.jestCommandLine to "./pw uv run npm run jest --" in settings.json, but that only works on linux. on windows, it fails with the following error:

'.' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Describe the solution you'd like a way to specify a platform-specific value for jest.jestCommandLine, something like this:

{
    "jest.jestCommandLine.linux": "./pw uv run npm run jest --",
    "jest.jestCommandLine.windows": "pw uv run npm run jest --"
}

Describe alternatives you've considered

• jest could be updated to respect vscode's terminal.integrated.env.* settings, which would allow me to add the correct node/npm binary to the PATH variable
• a way to customize the path to the node/npm binaries in vscode itself so that i don't need to configure this setting in jest at all, but i don't think such an option exists.

Additional context

• i specifically want to commit .vscode/settings.json which is why the config must work on all platforms, since other contributors to my project may be using a different OS
• vscode already has some settings like this, for example terminal.integrated.env.windows, terminal.integrated.env.linux, terminal.integrated.env.osx which allows you to specify environment variables in the terminal for each OS
• more info about why my project is set up this way

[DetachHead]

i found a workaround that kind of works:

{
    "jest.jestCommandLine": "\"./pw\" uv run npm run jest --"
}

but it crashes on both windows and linux when running a test in debug mode.

windows:

>  ${env:NODE_OPTIONS}=' --require c:/Users/user/AppData/Local/Programs/VSCodium/resources/app/extensions/ms-vscode.js-debug/src/bootloader.js  --inspect-publish-uid=http'; ${env:VSCODE_INSPECTOR_OPTIONS}=':::{"inspectorIpc":"\\\\.\\pipe\\node-cdp.21284-4552a54d-86.sock","deferredMode":false,"waitForDebugger":"","execPath":"C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe","onlyEntrypoint":false,"autoAttachMode":"always","fileCallback":"C:\\Users\\user\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\node-debug-callback-869cfb94dffdeaa4"}'; & 'C:\Program Files\nodejs\node.exe' '.\pw' 'uv' 'run' 'npm' 'run' 'jest' '--' '--runInBand' '--watchAll=false' '--testNamePattern' 'fourslash tests C:\\Users\\user\\basedpyright\\packages\\pyright-internal\\src\\tests\\fourslash\\rename\.args\.fourslash\.ts fourslash test rename\.args\.fourslash\.ts run$' '--runTestsByPath' 'C:\Users\user\basedpyright\packages\pyright-internal\src\tests\fourSlashRunner.test.ts'
cuser\x5cbasedpyright\x5cpackages\x5cpyright-internal\x5csrc\x5ctests\x5cfourSlashRunner.test.ts' ;386b7119-a2a6-4bfe-8e1a-b9f356c65e87Debugger attached.
Waiting for the debugger to disconnect...
C:\Users\user\basedpyright\pw:3
##################################################################################
^

SyntaxError: Invalid or unexpected token
    at internalCompileFunction (node:internal/vm:77:18)
    at wrapSafe (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1290:20)
    at Module._compile (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1342:27)
    at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1437:10)
    at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1212:32)
    at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1028:12)
    at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:142:12)
    at node:internal/main/run_main_module:28:49

Node.js v21.6.1

linux:

(nothing shows up in the output log or terminal, just that popup)

[DetachHead]

actually i can't seem to get this to work on linux at all. i think instead i need an option to specify the node executable

[connectdotz]

Hi @DetachHead,

Thanks for the detailed feedback! There are a couple of things you raised here:

1. Platform-specific jest.jestCommandLine

   • Yes, that’s a known limitation and has been requested before. I’ve added it as a feature proposal — hopefully we can support it in a future update.

2. Workaround using jest.jestCommandLine works for tests but not for debugging

   • That makes sense. While jest.jestCommandLine can run tests fine, it doesn't control how the debugger launches. It is not unusual for a complicated command-line to require a custom debug config.
   • The good news is that launch.json does support platform-specific configuration. You can define different node or command-line setups like this:

{
  "type": "node",
  "request": "launch",
  "name": "vscode-jest-tests.v2",
  "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
  "program": "${workspaceFolder}/index.js",
  "runtimeExecutable": "/home/user/.nvm/versions/node/v18/bin/node",
  "windows": {
    "runtimeExecutable": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node18.exe"
  },
  "args": [
    "jest",
    "--runInBand",
    "--watchAll=false",
    "--testNamePattern",
    "${jest.testNamePattern}",
    "--runTestsByPath",
    "${jest.testFile}"
  ],
  "console": "integratedTerminal",
  "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen"
}

You’ll just need to set up a custom debug config in launch.json instead of relying on jest.jestCommandLine.

Let me know if you run into any issues setting it up!

[DetachHead]

thanks, i was eventually able to get it working using a debug config like that, a .bat script for windows and a bash script for linux:

.vscode/jest.bat:

@echo off
set PATH=%cd%/.venv/Scripts;%PATH%
npm run jest -- %*

.vscode/jest:

#!/bin/bash
PATH=$(pwd)/.venv/bin:$PATH
npm run jest -- "$@"

.vscode/settings.json:

{
    // quotes needed so that it works in both cmd and bash
    "jest.jestCommandLine": "\"./.vscode/jest\""
}

.vscode/launch.json:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "type": "node",
            "name": "vscode-jest-tests.v2",
            "request": "launch",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/.bin/jest",
            "args": [
                "--runInBand",
                "--watchAll=false",
                "--testNamePattern",
                "${jest.testNamePattern}",
                "--runTestsByPath",
                "${jest.testFile}"
            ],
            "cwd": "${workspaceFolder}/packages/pyright-internal",
            "console": "integratedTerminal",
            "internalConsoleOptions": "neverOpen",
            "runtimeExecutable": "${workspaceFolder}/.venv/bin/node",
            "windows": {
                "runtimeExecutable": "${workspaceFolder}/.venv/Scripts/node.exe",
                "program": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/jest/bin/jest"
            }
        }
    ]
}