SharpDbg

An open source, cross platform .NET debugger implementing the VS Code Debug Adapter Protocol (DAP), completely written in C#!

SharpDbg uses the ClrDebug managed wrapper around the ICorDebug APIs.

Comparison

| | SharpDbg | netcoredbg | |--------|----------|------------| | Implementation | C# | C++ with interop to C# where necessary | | Cross Platform | ✅ | ✅ | | Expression Evaluation | ✅ | ✅ | | DebuggerBrowsable Support | ✅ | ✅ | | DebuggerDisplay Support | ✅ | ❌ | | DebuggerTypeProxy Support | ✅ | ❌ |

Current Limitations

SharpDbg is actively developed, and some features are still being worked on:

• Stepping & variables in lambdas
• Source Link support

Architecture

SharpDbg is organized into three main components:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    VS Code / DAP Client                 │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │ DAP (stdin/stdout)
┌────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────┐
│                    SharpDbg.Cli                         │
│  • Entry point and command-line argument handling       │
│  • DAP protocol client initialization                   │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────┐
│                SharpDbg.Application                     │
│  • DAP protocol implementation                          │
│  • VS Code protocol message handlers                    │
│  • Event communication (stopped, continued, etc.)       │
└────────────────────────────┬────────────────────────────┘
                             │
┌────────────────────────────▼────────────────────────────┐
│              SharpDbg.Infrastructure                    │
│  • Core debugger engine (ManagedDebugger)               │
│  • ICorDebug API wrapper (ClrDebug)                     │
│  • Breakpoint and variable management                   │
│  • Expression evaluator (compiler + interpreter)        │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Building From Source

1. Ensure .NET 10 SDK is installed
2. git clone
3. dotnet build
4. Done!

This will produce the debug adapter executable at artifacts/bin/SharpDbg.Cli/Debug/net10.0/SharpDbg.Cli.exe, equivalent to netcoredbg.exe

Screenshots

DebuggerDisplay attribute

<img width="558" height="180" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/09dee930-1dbc-495f-88ff-3646273eb98d" />

	[DebuggerDisplay("Count = {Count}")]
    public class List<T> : IList<T>, IList, IReadOnlyList<T>

DebuggerTypeProxy & DebuggerBrowsable(.RootHidden) attributes

<img width="365" height="173" alt="image" src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/037dc6f5-ed51-4b59-a4d3-ce651ceacf2a" />

	[DebuggerTypeProxy(typeof(ICollectionDebugView<>))]
    public class List<T> : IList<T>, IList, IReadOnlyList<T>

References

• ClrDebug - Managed wrappers around the ICorDebug API
• netcoredbg - .NET debugger, written in C++
• debug-adapter-protocol - Microsoft's VS Code Debug Adapter Protocol