"For example, if your Node.js application depends on npm native modules like sqllite3, bufferutil, etc., in order to successfully install these npm packages on Windows, you will need to use Visual ...

The tools also feature the ability to easily deploy applications to Windows Azure and remotely debug node.js instances running on other machines.

But it is increasingly only the purists who are saying this. After a year of development, the firm this week announced the release of Node.js Tools 1.0 for Visual Studio (NTVS 1.0).

Microsoft has launched a new Node.js tool in Visual Studio (NTVS), currently in alpha, which now enables developers to edit and debug Node.js in the popular Microsoft IDE.