How do you debug a Node.js server running with Chrome/WebKit as the remote debugger?

Question

If you have your Node running

node --debug server.js

This gives me a port number xxxx, should I use this port number when starting Chrome?

Answer 1

Recent versions of Node (> v6.3.0) and Chrome now allow you to use the Chrome Developer Tools to debug a Node.JS process without having to install anything else. Just pass --inspect to node:

$ node --inspect script.js

Debugger listening on port 9229.
Warning: This is an experimental feature and could change at any time.
To start debugging, open the following URL in Chrome:
    chrome-devtools://SOME-URL-HERE

Just open that URL in Chrome, and you're good to go.

If you need to pause your script immediately after Node starts, you can also pass --debug-brk in the same command.