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Bug: debugpy command titles show as placeholders in Run/Debug UI #903
Description
With ms-python.debugpy 2025.18.0 the Run button dropdown / Run and Debug UI shows entries like:
- %debugpy.command.debugInTerminal.title%
- %debugpy.command.debugUsingLaunchConfig.title%
instead of proper labels.
Regression:
- ✅ Works as expected with ms-python.debugpy 2025.16.0
- ❌ Broken with ms-python.debugpy 2025.18.0
Notes:
- Debugging still works (F5 launches current Python file); only the UI labels are broken.
- Tried “Developer: Reload Window” (no change).
- Downgrading debugpy to 2025.16.0 fixes immediately.
Environment:
- OS: Windows
- VS Code: 1.88.1 x64
- ms-python.python: 2025.20.0
- ms-python.debugpy: 2025.18.0 (broken), 2025.16.0 (ok)
Steps to reproduce:
- Install/upgrade ms-python.debugpy to 2025.18.0
- Open any Python file
- Click the Run dropdown (top-right) or open Run and Debug
- Observe placeholder labels instead of localized strings
Activity
jennirinker commentedon Dec 17, 2025
I see this as well. Bit of a surprise this morning.
singularitti commentedon Dec 17, 2025
Same problem:
Extension version: 2025.18.0
HasbunWoodEngineering commentedon Dec 18, 2025
Same problem, tried deleting user/cache data and reinstalling, without success
wubzbz commentedon Dec 19, 2025
This issue appears to be due to an accidental deletion of the
package.nls.jsonfile in a recent Commit 2601662, which is responsible for translating those UI placeholders.You can manually restore the missing file to get proper text back:
Get the file: Go to the project's repository, switch to the previous 2025.16.0 release branch, and download the package.nls.json file.
Place it in your extension folder: Copy the downloaded
package.nls.jsonfile into your local extension installation folder. The path is typically similar to.vscode\extensions\ms-python.debugpy-2025.18.0-win32-x64\. You can also reach the directory by:This should restore the translated command titles in your UI. Hopefully, the maintainers will revert this change or provide a proper fix soon.
soumeshkhuntia commentedon Dec 28, 2025
It seems there's a problem with the recent update. Just a UI bug.
Temporary Fix: You can try downgrading to version 2025.14.1
Thank You
puc9 commentedon Jan 19, 2026
Was introduced by #894
(credit to #903 (comment) but also linking the problematic PR to improve visibility)
pulism commentedon Feb 13, 2026
The fix proposed did not work for me unfortunately.
In my case, I access VS Code using RemoteSSH, since it's running on a remote machine. Placing that file in the location you mentioned and restarting my instance of VS Code on my local machine did not fix that label. Maybe I need to restart the VS Code server on the remote machine for this to work, but I cannot do that at the moment.
In my case the solution was to downgrade and turn of Auto Update.
rchiodo commentedon Feb 13, 2026
This is fixed in the latest prerelease (not the stable version).