# VSCode Debugger Extension wrt Activities and Simulating sleep(' ') method

**URL:** <https://community.temporal.io/t/vscode-debugger-extension-wrt-activities-and-simulating-sleep-method/10083>\
**Category:** Community Support\
**Tags:** general-impl, typescript-sdk, web-ui, debugging\
**Created:** [November 13, 2023, 8:44am UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/vscode-debugger-extension-wrt-activities-and-simulating-sleep-method/10083 "2023-11-13T08:44:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Ashish\_Dahiya](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.temporal.io/ashish_dahiya/32/4079_2.png) [@Ashish\_Dahiya](https://community.temporal.io/u/Ashish_Dahiya)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2023, 8:44am UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/vscode-debugger-extension-wrt-activities-and-simulating-sleep-method/10083/1 "2023-11-13T08:44:22Z")

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Hi everyone -, I saw these two videos on same examples -

1. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IjQde9HMNY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IjQde9HMNY)
2. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Xrc70zoCc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4Xrc70zoCc)

I need to know about vscode debugger extension for typescript SDK based workflows

1. why cant i step into the activities - it seems the debugger only works for going step by step inside a workflow - if i place debug points inside activity - it doesnt stop there - it kinda skips the activities
2. why doesn’t the debugger simulate the await sleep(‘30 seconds’) command - it seems the debugger simply walks over this as if nothing has happened - it doesnt actually wait for 30 seconds

Would appreciate if someone takes the time to answer this

consider the wf given below

```auto
import { condition, defineSignal, proxyActivities, setHandler, sleep } from '@temporalio/workflow';
import type * as activities from './activities';

export const verifySignal = defineSignal<[]>('verify');

const { notifyHumanForVerification, collectFeedback } = proxyActivities<typeof activities>({
  startToCloseTimeout: '1 minute',
});

export async function humanVerificationWorkflow(task: string) {
  let verified = false;

  await notifyHumanForVerification(task);
  setHandler(verifySignal, () => {
    verified = true;
  });

  await condition(() => verified);
  await sleep('30 seconds');
  await collectFeedback();
}

```

I am unable to do two things

1. go inside notifyHumanForVerification or collectFeedback method and observe - how things are working
2. simulate the 30 second wait period in the line - await sleep(‘30 second’)

Is any of this possible now, with temporal vscode debugger ?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![loren](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.temporal.io/loren/32/5099_2.png) [@loren](https://community.temporal.io/u/loren)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 4:15am UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/vscode-debugger-extension-wrt-activities-and-simulating-sleep-method/10083/2 "2023-11-14T04:15:53Z")

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The extension is only meant for debugging Workflow code. It runs a [replay Worker](https://typescript.temporal.io/api/classes/worker.Worker#runreplayhistory), which just runs the Workflow code against an Event History, which has both the results of Activities and the record of the 30-second timer firing, so both of them resolve immediately and don’t talk to the Server to start a 30-second timer or schedule the Activity to be run. I’ve added a note to the README to clarify: [Clarify README by lorensr · Pull Request #60 · temporalio/vscode-debugger-extension · GitHub](https://github.com/temporalio/vscode-debugger-extension/pull/60)

You can debug Activity code by running a normal Worker and setting a breakpoint in Activity code and starting a Workflow normally, without this extension.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ashish\_Dahiya](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.temporal.io/ashish_dahiya/32/4079_2.png) [@Ashish\_Dahiya](https://community.temporal.io/u/Ashish_Dahiya)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2023, 6:22am UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/vscode-debugger-extension-wrt-activities-and-simulating-sleep-method/10083/3 "2023-11-14T06:22:37Z")

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Thanks, thats very helpful

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Alireza\_Sedghi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/community.temporal.io/alireza_sedghi/32/7468_2.png) [@Alireza\_Sedghi](https://community.temporal.io/u/Alireza_Sedghi)\
**Post date:** [July 9, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://community.temporal.io/t/vscode-debugger-extension-wrt-activities-and-simulating-sleep-method/10083/4 "2025-07-09T22:33:31Z")

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> [@loren](#):
>
> You can debug Activity code by running a normal Worker and setting a breakpoint in Activity code and starting a Workflow normally, without this extension

Is there a tutorial on running an activity with a regular worker and debugging it? I’m encountering the same issue as the original poster (unable to step into activities).

Is implementing this as a feature not possible? Capturing events for each activity would be really useful to have the complete call stack.