WDIO freezes VS Code debugger upon use of WDIO commands

I’m able to use VS Code debugger but with no ability to use WDIO commands. Any use of WDIO apis such as browser.$()… freezes VS Code debugger.

Here is my launch.json

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "type": "node",
            "request": "launch",
            "name": "WDIO",
            "program": "${workspaceFolder}/node_modules/.bin/wdio",
            "port": 5859,
            "autoAttachChildProcesses": true,
            "protocol": "inspector",
            "args": [
                "wdio.conf.js",
                "--spec",
                "spec/login/login-spec.js" // File which you would like to debug
            ],
            "internalConsoleOptions": "openOnSessionStart",
            "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}",
            "env": {
                "DEBUG": "1" 
                // use an environment variable to be able
                // to toggle debug mode on and off
            }
        }
    ]
}

wdio.conf.js inludes following:

debug: true,
execArgv: ['--inspect-brk=127.0.0.1:5859'],

Is there a way to set up VS Code to be able to use all WDIO apis? Just like we would use browser.debug()

Environment:

• WebdriverIO version: 5.16.6
• Node.js version: v12.12.0
• NPM version: 6.13.0
• Browser name and version: Chrome
• Platform name and version: UNIX

[johnnymo87]

Since @christian-bromann closed that PR without merging it, should we open this issue back up @mgrybyk ?

[christian-bromann]

Any help on this would be highly appreciated!