diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index f20638ef9..7c00359d5 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ lazygit.exe
 !.golangci.yml
 !.circleci/
 !.github/
+!.vscode/
 
 # these are for our integration tests
 !.git_keep
diff --git a/.vscode/launch.json b/.vscode/launch.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1dfe99bce
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vscode/launch.json
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+{
+  "version": "0.2.0",
+  "configurations": [
+    {
+      "name": "debug lazygit",
+      "type": "go",
+      "request": "launch",
+      "mode": "auto",
+      "program": "main.go",
+      "args": ["--debug"],
+      // "console": "integratedTerminal" // <-- you need this to actually see the lazygit UI in a window while debugging
+      "console": "externalTerminal" // <-- you need this to actually see the lazygit UI in a window while debugging
+    }
+  ]
+}