IDE and Debugger for node.js

I am going to start building project in node.js (was working in PHP before), What is the IDE, Debugger and Helping Tools for node.js, to help improvement while coding ?

There are several IDEs which support Node.js natively:

Desktop-based IDEs

• WebStorm - popular and extremely powerful IDE for coding web applications. $100 for commercial license, $50 personal, $25 academic, free for open source developers upon application approval. Can also debug Meteor.JS applications.

• Komodo IDE

• Cloud9 Local - You can install a local copy of cloud9 on desktop as well and work on a local directory as workspace, follow the instructions on github page. Be sure to disable incompatible plug-ins from config. It provides proper debugging as well.

Cloud-based IDEs

• Cloud9 IDE - cloud-based IDE with native support for development of Node.js applications including debugging and other features.
• Koding Koding offers you a free rootable VM with Node. Also you can work on the same code with your friends.

Other than these two you can use almost any code editor/IDE which simplifies JavaScript based development in general (for example with syntax highlighting, autocompletion or similar stuff) and use node with its built-in V8 debugger.

Microsoft just launch a cross platform IDE "Visual Studio Code" in Windows, Ubuntu and MacOSX. It could debug node.js. Check detail here.

Koding is another good choice. It comes preinstalled with Node.js, Vim and Emacs, has a great community of developers, among many other things. Another few notable features are:

1. Free virtual machine (VM) with Ubuntu, root access, apt-get, and many commonly used tools
2. Built-in Terminal with 256-color support
3. All languages, databases, and command-line tools are supported
4. Various file upload options such as Drag & Drop, Dropbox, Clone from Github, FTP and the ability to access them using SSH
5. Real-time code and terminal collaboration with integrated chat abilities

Visual Studio now supports full dev lifecycle for Node.js if you install the Node.js tools, linked below.

Allows for full debugging, intellisense, color coding, and more.

https://nodejstools.codeplex.com/

vim and unix are your IDE.

If you want debugging then there is node debug foo.js or ndb or node-inspector or use the V8 Debugger.

Another option could be Netbeans with the NodeJS tools (even though I'm not using it anymore these days since I've been using JetBrains products now to be honest).

What it gives you:

• A Node project type
• Clickable stack traces in the output window
• A run with node action on Javascript files (and of course, the project)
• Integration with Node Package Manager (npm) and a slick little UI for adding libraries
• GUI for editing package.json files, and generating their standard contents
• Ability to store machine-specific command-line arguments (excluded from version control if you use NetBeans' version control).
• Ability to download Node's sources so the highlighted stack traces point somewhere

http://timboudreau.com/blog/read/NetBeans_Tools_for_Node_js

Also NetBeans 8.1 and 8.2 seem to have brought some features for Node.js developers (see here and here).

Eclipse is a good IDE for JavaScript.

This page https://portawiki.abnoctus.com/view/NodeIDE.html

details mixing eclipseJS with the google v8 debugger and a few node specific plugins

http://code.abnoctus.com/publish/binaries/node-launcher/

To build an IDE with support for editing JS with syntax highlights and some degree of code completion, executing node from the IDE, debugging in the IDE, unit testing with nodeunit and fetching dependencies via NPM.

I've tested several IDE's to develop and run node apps. But I'm feeling very confortable with Microsoft WebMatrix 2.0. It's a nice lightweight and free IDE that you can run Node. There's some templates for Express framework to get started. And you can run nodejs processes through IIS Express.

Nodeclipse has chromedevtools fixed for Node.js debugging.

Enide Studio 2014 comes with Nodeclipse, JSHint-eclipse, AngularJS and more plugins

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http://www.nodeclipse.org/enide/studio/2014/

Personally, I'm partial to Cloud9's IDE though they've had a few issues lately with various upgrades, and the growing pains of online systems can be an issue.

http://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm/">WebStorm 4 is another option, though I haven't tried it, I did try the plugin in WS3, which wasn't too bad.

From Microsoft (of all places) there's http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/">WebMatrix 2 from Microsoft that seems to support Node.JS pretty well. I have discovered that you can actually edit node based js files within the Visual Studio 2012 beta and get intellisense/autocomplete for node scripts probably from webmatrix's developments. I've been using node as a build step for CSS/JS processing, and it's been working well for me.

Aptana Studio and others seem to be scrambling to add proper node support. Right now options are relatively limited, but getting better.

What framework are you using for the frontend? If you're already familiar with Node, you might as well try the open-source and increasingly popular Meteor.JS framework. Check out MeteorPad for literally a one-click IDE for Meteor apps.

You get a virtual machine with MongoDB on it and the Meteor server. A sample project is already loaded, and you can edit the server and client HTML, JS and CSS files. The resulting app runs in the right pane. Makes playing with Meteor super, super easy.

Node is a relatively new project so there is not widespread IDE support yet. However there actually is an online IDE called Cloud9 IDE that you might want to check out. Otherwise I suggest you use a local editor such as vim or emacs.

See how-to-debug-node-js-applications for more information on debugging.

GitHub's programmable text editor Atom has node.js integration.

Try Microsoft's https://code.visualstudio.com. Its awesome.

Facebook's Nuclide has a number of IDE-esque features including dynamic typechecking (via flow), in-code linking, auto complete, etc. It's based on GitHub's Atom so you can pick and choose Nuclide packages as you see fit.

WebStorm 3.0 does all this stuff. It auto completes in a smart way, includes nice debugging and unit testing. It also include number of inspection for javascript, which is also pleasant. Now RC version is available, but JetBrains assure that it'll be released soon.

I use IntelliJ's Webstorm: http://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm for it's advance auto-complete features and Node.js/NodeUnit templates.