diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/NEXTSTEPS.md b/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/NEXTSTEPS.md
index 816110d..b711d56 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/NEXTSTEPS.md	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/NEXTSTEPS.md	
@@ -40,6 +40,11 @@ replaced or removed.
      new functions) and **integration tests** (e.g., write the new data types to file, read
      the file, and confirm the read data types are equal to the written data types) is
      highly encouraged.
+     - By default, the project is configured NOT to run code coverage as part of the tests.
+     Code coverage reporting is useful to help with creation of tests and report test coverage.
+     However, with this option enabled, breakpoints for debugging with pdb are being ignored.
+     To enable this option for code coverage reporting, uncomment out the following line in
+     your `pyproject.toml`: [line]()
 
 8. You may need to modify `pyproject.toml` and re-run `python -m pip install -e .` if you
 use any dependencies.
diff --git a/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/pyproject.toml b/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/pyproject.toml
index 15f9215..1725d7d 100644
--- a/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/pyproject.toml	
+++ b/{{ cookiecutter.namespace }}/pyproject.toml	
@@ -79,7 +79,8 @@ include = [
 exclude = []
 
 [tool.pytest.ini_options]
-addopts = "--cov --cov-report html"
+# uncomment below to run pytest with code coverage reporting. NOTE: breakpoints may not work
+# addopts = "--cov --cov-report html"
 
 [tool.codespell]
 skip = "htmlcov,.git,.mypy_cache,.pytest_cache,.coverage,*.pdf,*.svg,venvs,.tox,hdmf-common-schema,./docs/_build/*,*.ipynb"