Adding custom debug chat mode for GitHub Copilot Agent mode development

[pamelafox]

Purpose

This pull request introduces a new debug chat mode (for GitHub Copilot Chat) and improves the local development workflow by adding compound tasks and readiness checks.

Debugging workflow improvements:

• Added .github/chatmodes/debug.chatmode.md to define a new debug chat mode, including a step-by-step debugging process, instructions for gathering context, root cause analysis, targeted fixes, verification, and documentation. This also details local server readiness checks and hot reload behaviors for both frontend and backend.

Development environment enhancements:

• Updated .vscode/tasks.json to add a new "Development" compound task that starts both the frontend and backend, and sets it as the default build task for easier project startup.
• Added dedicated background tasks for Frontend: npm run dev and Backend: quart run, each with custom readiness detection patterns to ensure the services are ready before debugging or testing.
• Improved hot reload and output monitoring instructions for both frontend and backend development tasks, as documented in the new debug chat mode.

Does this introduce a breaking change?

When developers merge from main and run the server, azd up, or azd deploy, will this produce an error?
If you're not sure, try it out on an old environment.

[ ] Yes
[X] No

Does this require changes to learn.microsoft.com docs?

This repository is referenced by this tutorial
which includes deployment, settings and usage instructions. If text or screenshot need to change in the tutorial,
check the box below and notify the tutorial author. A Microsoft employee can do this for you if you're an external contributor.

[ ] Yes
[X] No

Type of change

[ ] Bugfix
[X] Feature
[ ] Code style update (formatting, local variables)
[ ] Refactoring (no functional changes, no api changes)
[X] Documentation content changes
[ ] Other... Please describe:

Code quality checklist

See CONTRIBUTING.md for more details.

N/A

[Copilot]

Pull Request Overview

This pull request introduces a custom debug chat mode for GitHub Copilot Agent development and enhances the local development workflow with compound VS Code tasks. The changes aim to streamline debugging and development processes by providing structured debugging guidance and simplified task execution.

• Added a debug chat mode with systematic debugging instructions and local server setup guidance
• Created a compound "Development" task that simultaneously starts frontend and backend servers with readiness detection
• Enhanced documentation with instructions for using the new VS Code tasks and debug chat mode

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

File	Description
.github/chatmodes/debug.chatmode.md	Defines the new debug chat mode with debugging process, local server setup instructions, and tool configurations
.vscode/tasks.json	Adds compound "Development" task and individual background tasks for frontend/backend with readiness detection patterns
docs/localdev.md	Documents the new VS Code Development task and Copilot Chat debug mode usage instructions

[Copilot]

[nitpick] The tools array contains inconsistent naming patterns. Some tools use camelCase ('vscodeAPI', 'testFailure'), some use snake_case ('get_issue', 'get_issue_comments'), and some use kebab-case ('get-library-docs'). Consider standardizing the naming convention for better maintainability.

Suggested change

	tools: ['extensions', 'codebase', 'usages', 'vscodeAPI', 'problems', 'changes', 'testFailure', 'terminalSelection', 'terminalLastCommand', 'fetch', 'findTestFiles', 'searchResults', 'githubRepo', 'todos', 'runTests', 'runCommands', 'runTasks', 'editFiles', 'runNotebooks', 'search', 'new', 'Microsoft Docs', 'get_issue', 'get_issue_comments', 'get-library-docs', 'playwright', 'pylance mcp server']
	tools: ['extensions', 'codebase', 'usages', 'vscodeApi', 'problems', 'changes', 'testFailure', 'terminalSelection', 'terminalLastCommand', 'fetch', 'findTestFiles', 'searchResults', 'githubRepo', 'todos', 'runTests', 'runCommands', 'runTasks', 'editFiles', 'runNotebooks', 'search', 'new', 'microsoftDocs', 'getIssue', 'getIssueComments', 'getLibraryDocs', 'playwright', 'pylanceMcpServer']

[Copilot]

[nitpick] Empty regex pattern in problemMatcher could be confusing. Consider adding a comment explaining why the pattern is empty or use a more explicit placeholder like ".*" to indicate it matches anything.

Suggested change

	"regexp": ""
	"regexp": ".*"

[Copilot]

[nitpick] Empty regex pattern in problemMatcher could be confusing. Consider adding a comment explaining why the pattern is empty or use a more explicit placeholder like ".*" to indicate it matches anything.

Suggested change

	"pattern": { "regexp": "" },
	"pattern": { "regexp": ".*" },