This entry describes, how to use cmake, gcc, ninja and gdb inside VSCode.  First you need two VSCode plugins:

• CMake Tools
• C/C++

In the settings.json add:

"cmake.generator": "Ninja",
"cmake.cmakePath": "C:/Tools/msys64/ucrt64/bin/cmake.exe",
"cmake.configureSettings": {
    "CMAKE_C_COMPILER": "gcc",
    "CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER": "g++"
}
"cmake.environment": {
    "PATH": "C:\\Tools\\msys64\\ucrt64\\bin;C:\\Tools\\msys64\\usr\\bin;${env:PATH}"
}

This will setup the CMake toolchain from MSys2. Running build should now call cmake from MSys2.

To setup debugging with gdb from MSys2, add a new configuration to launch.json. It should look something like this:

{
    "name": "(gdb) test_app",
    "type": "cppdbg",
    "request": "launch",
    "program": "${workspaceRoot}/build/test_app.exe",
    "args": [ "../tc123456.bin" ],
    "stopAtEntry": false,
    "cwd": "${workspaceRoot}/build",
    "environment": [],
    "externalConsole": false,
    "MIMode": "gdb",
    "miDebuggerPath": "C:/Tools/msys64/ucrt64/bin/gdb.exe",
    "setupCommands": [
        {
            "description": "Enable pretty-printing for gdb",
            "text": "-enable-pretty-printing",
            "ignoreFailures": true
        },
        {
            "description": "Set Disassembly Flavor to Intel",
            "text": "-gdb-set disassembly-flavor intel",
            "ignoreFailures": true
        }
    ]
}