Installing node-inspector
Run sudo npm install -g node-inspector
to install node-inspector. If it tells you that it couldn't install some "blazing fast native extensions" don't worry: it'll still work fine.
Using node-inspector
Now you'll need two terminal windows:
1) Run the program in debug mode: node --debug-brk test.js
2) Start the debugger: node-inspector
--debug-brk causes the node program to break immediately
Node-inspector will tell you to got to http://0.0.0.0:8080/debug?port=5858 to start debugging.
If it isn't loading properly: Try just using http://localhost:8080/, it did work that way for me.
--debug-brk and --debug options for node
When you use the --debug option you can set a breakpoint using debugger;
. If your code finishes running before you can start node-inspector and go to the debugging page in the browser --debug-brk will set a breakpoint right at the beginning of the program.
Here's an example for using --debug:
setTimeout(function(){
var a = 5;
debugger;
a += 8;
}, 5000);
If you're getting 'connect ECONNREFUSED'
This probably means that you've tried to access the inspector in the browser while your node.js script isn't running. So first start your node process with --debug-brk and then run node-inspector.
That was exactly what i was looking for.