Debugging Node.js Like a Pro

Start with the Built-in Inspector Before reaching for external tools, remember Node.js has a built-in debugger. Run your script with --inspect and open chrome://inspect in Chrome to get a full DevTools experience: breakpoints, step-through, console, and even memory profiling. node --inspect app.js For a quick breakpoint without touching the browser, use --inspect-brk to pause on the first line. This is great for debugging startup issues. Use debugger Statements and Conditional Breakpoints Sometimes you need a breakpoint only when a condition is true. Instead of littering your code with if blocks, set a conditional breakpoint in DevTools. Right-click the line number, choose "Add conditional breakpoint," and enter an expression like user.id === 42 . For quick inline debugging, debugger; works but remember to remove it before committing. I often use it temporarily when I'm too lazy to open the DevTools UI. Log Like a Pro with util.inspect console.log of an object prints [object Object] which is useless. Use util.inspect with depth and colors to see nested structures clearly. const util = require ( ' util ' ); console . log ( util . inspect ( myObject , { showHidden : false , depth : null , colors : true })); Or in modern Node, you can use console.dir with { depth: null } for the same effect. Async Stack Traces: Don't Lose the Context Async errors are painful because stack traces often end at the event loop. Node 12+ gives you better async stack traces by default, but you can improve them further by using Error.captureStackTrace in your own error classes. class MyError extends Error { constructor ( message ) { super ( message ); Error . captureStackTrace ( this , MyError ); } } This makes the stack trace point to the caller, not the constructor. Handle Unhandled Rejections and Exceptions Silent failures are the worst. Set up global handlers to log errors properly and exit gracefully. process . on ( ' unhandledRejection ' , ( reason , promise ) => { console . error ( ' U