diff --git a/.github/CODEOWNERS b/.github/CODEOWNERS
index 0599a4a8263..0d8a04243e0 100644
--- a/.github/CODEOWNERS
+++ b/.github/CODEOWNERS
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ OWNERS.yml @10gen/server-root-ownership @svc-auto-approve-bot
 .bazelignore @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
 .bazeliskrc @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
 .bazelversion @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
+.vscode_defaults/** @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
 .clang-format @10gen/server-programmability @svc-auto-approve-bot
 .clang-tidy.in @10gen/server-programmability @svc-auto-approve-bot
 **/.clang-tidy @10gen/server-programmability @svc-auto-approve-bot
@@ -43,6 +44,9 @@ WORKSPACE.bazel @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
 /.github/ALLOWED_UNOWNED_FILES.yml @svc-auto-approve-bot alex.neben@mongodb.com
 /.github/workflows @10gen/devprod-correctness @svc-auto-approve-bot
 
+# The following patterns are parsed from ./.vscode_defaults/OWNERS.yml
+/.vscode_defaults/**/* @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
+
 # The following patterns are parsed from ./bazel/OWNERS.yml
 /bazel/**/* @10gen/devprod-build @svc-auto-approve-bot
 /bazel/repository_rules/profiling_data.bzl @10gen/performance @svc-auto-approve-bot
diff --git a/.vscode_defaults/OWNERS.yml b/.vscode_defaults/OWNERS.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..1baf21091bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.vscode_defaults/OWNERS.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+version: 1.0.0
+filters:
+  - "*":
+    approvers:
+      - 10gen/devprod-build
diff --git a/.vscode_defaults/linux-virtual-workstation.code-workspace b/.vscode_defaults/linux-virtual-workstation.code-workspace
index f1fbe8d84d8..be57fe82a4d 100644
--- a/.vscode_defaults/linux-virtual-workstation.code-workspace
+++ b/.vscode_defaults/linux-virtual-workstation.code-workspace
@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@
 						"ignoreFailures": false
 					},
 				],
-				"miDebuggerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/bazel-${workspaceFolderBasename}/external/gdb/v5/bin/gdb",
+				"miDebuggerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/buildscripts/vscode_bazel_gdb.sh",
 			},
 			{
 				"name": "attach",
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@
 						"ignoreFailures": false
 					},
 				],
-				"miDebuggerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/bazel-${workspaceFolderBasename}/external/gdb/v5/bin/gdb",
+				"miDebuggerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/buildscripts/vscode_bazel_gdb.sh",
 			},
 			{
 				"name": "coredump",
@@ -245,7 +245,7 @@
 				"program": "${workspaceFolder}/${input:runTargets}",
 				"args": [],
 				"MIMode": "gdb",
-				"miDebuggerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/bazel-${workspaceFolderBasename}/external/gdb/v5/bin/gdb",
+				"miDebuggerPath": "${workspaceFolder}/buildscripts/vscode_bazel_gdb.sh",
 				"preLaunchTask": "_prelaunch_task",
 				"setupCommands": [
 					{
@@ -309,7 +309,7 @@
 				"id": "runTargets",
 				"command": "shellCommand.execute",
 				"args": {
-					"command": "bazel query 'attr(tags, \"mongo_binary\", //...)' union 'attr(tags, \"mongo_unittest\", //...)' | grep mongo | grep -v \"_with_debug\" | grep -v third_party | sed 's;//;bazel-bin/;g' | sed 's;:;/;g'",
+					"command": "buildscripts/vscode_launch_targets.sh 2> /dev/null",
 					"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
 					"taskId": "runTargets",
 					"rememberPrevious": true,
diff --git a/OWNERS.yml b/OWNERS.yml
index ffb176bf807..c759c51c74b 100644
--- a/OWNERS.yml
+++ b/OWNERS.yml
@@ -24,6 +24,9 @@ filters:
   - .bazelversion:
     approvers:
       - 10gen/devprod-build
+  - ".vscode_defaults/**":
+    approvers:
+      - 10gen/devprod-build
   - ".clang-format":
     approvers:
       - 10gen/server-programmability
diff --git a/buildscripts/vscode_bazel_gdb.sh b/buildscripts/vscode_bazel_gdb.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..1da5220b25d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildscripts/vscode_bazel_gdb.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# Repo root from script location
+cd "$(dirname "$0")"/..
+
+# Exec real gdb with all original args
+exec bazel run gdb -- "$@"
diff --git a/buildscripts/vscode_launch_targets.sh b/buildscripts/vscode_launch_targets.sh
new file mode 100755
index 00000000000..3e24a1ad99b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildscripts/vscode_launch_targets.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,98 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+# 1) what we want to query
+QUERY=${1:-"attr(tags, \"mongo_binary\", //...) union attr(tags, \"mongo_unittest\", //...)"}
+
+# 2) assume VSCode runs this from the repo root
+WORKSPACE=$(pwd)
+BAZELOUT="${WORKSPACE}/bazel-out/"
+
+# 3) run bazel query in background and give it, say, 2 seconds to finish
+OUT_FILE=$(mktemp)
+ERR_FILE=$(mktemp)
+
+(bazel query "$QUERY" >"$OUT_FILE" 2>"$ERR_FILE") &
+BAZEL_PID=$!
+
+# how long we let it run (in seconds)
+TIME_BUDGET=5
+SLEEP_SLICE=0.1
+
+elapsed=0
+busy=0
+while kill -0 "$BAZEL_PID" 2>/dev/null; do
+    # still running
+    if (($(echo "$elapsed >= $TIME_BUDGET" | bc))); then
+        busy=1
+        break
+    fi
+    sleep "$SLEEP_SLICE"
+    elapsed=$(echo "$elapsed + $SLEEP_SLICE" | bc)
+done
+
+if ((busy)); then
+    # kill the stuck query
+    kill "$BAZEL_PID" >/dev/null 2>&1 || true
+    echo "# bazel query did not finish in $TIME_BUDGET seconds (maybe a build is running?)."
+    rm -f "$OUT_FILE" "$ERR_FILE"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+# wait for query to exit and get status
+wait "$BAZEL_PID"
+Q_STATUS=$?
+
+if ((Q_STATUS != 0)); then
+    echo "# bazel query failed: $(cat "$ERR_FILE")"
+    rm -f "$OUT_FILE" "$ERR_FILE"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+# 4) now we have labels in $OUT_FILE
+mapfile -t RAW_LABELS <"$OUT_FILE"
+rm -f "$OUT_FILE" "$ERR_FILE"
+
+FOUND=()
+
+for label in "${RAW_LABELS[@]}"; do
+    [[ -z "$label" ]] && continue
+    [[ "$label" == *"_with_debug"* ]] && continue
+    [[ "$label" == *"_ci_wrapper"* ]] && continue
+    [[ "$label" == *"third_party"* ]] && continue
+    [[ "$label" != //* ]] && continue
+
+    rest=${label#//}
+    if [[ "$rest" == *:* ]]; then
+        pkg=${rest%%:*}
+        name=${rest##*:}
+    else
+        pkg=$rest
+        name=${rest##*/}
+    fi
+
+    # ONLY look in real bazel-out
+    if [[ -d "$BAZELOUT" ]]; then
+        while IFS= read -r -d '' cfg; do
+            [[ -d "$cfg/bin" ]] || continue
+
+            cand="$cfg/bin/$pkg/$name"
+            cand_exe="$cand.exe"
+
+            if [[ -f "$cand" ]]; then
+                rel=${cand#"$WORKSPACE/"}
+                FOUND+=("$rel")
+            elif [[ -f "$cand_exe" ]]; then
+                rel=${cand_exe#"$WORKSPACE/"}
+                FOUND+=("$rel")
+            fi
+        done < <(find "$BAZELOUT" -mindepth 1 -maxdepth 1 -type d -print0)
+    fi
+done
+
+if ((${#FOUND[@]} == 0)); then
+    echo "# no bazel-out artifacts found for query: $QUERY"
+    exit 0
+fi
+
+printf '%s\n' "${FOUND[@]}" | sort -u