How do I debug Node.js applications?

Question

How do I debug a Node.js server application?

Right now I\'m mostly using alert debugging with print statements like this:

sys.puts(sys.inspe         


        

Answer 1

A quick-and-dirty way to debug small Node.js scripts with your favorite browser debugger would be to use browserify. Note that this approach doesn't work with any applications which require native I/O libraries, but it is good enough for most small scripts.

$ npm install -g browserify

Now move all your var x = requires('x') calls into a requires.js file and run:

$ browserify requires.js -s window -o bundle.js

(The downside here is that you either have to move or comment the requires in all your files.)

Include the bundle.js in an HTML file like so:

Now load the file in your browser and press F12 and viola: debug in browser.