Meteor: Debug on server side

Does anyone know a good method to debug server side code? I tried enable Node.js debug then use node-inspector but it does not show any of my code.

I end up using console.log but this is very inefficient.

Update: I found the following procedure works on my Linux machine:

1. When you run Meteor, it will spawn two processes

   process1: /usr/lib/meteor/bin/node /usr/lib/meteor/app/meteor/meteor.js

   process2: /usr/lib/meteor/bin/node /home/paul/codes/bbtest_code/bbtest02/.meteor/local/build/main.js --keepalive

2. You need to send kill -s USR1 on process2

3. Run node-inspector and you can see your server code

On my first try, I modify the last line on meteor startup script in /usr/lib/meteor/bin/meteor to

exec "$DEV_BUNDLE/bin/node" $NODE_DEBUG "$METEOR" "$@"

and run NODE_DEBUG=--debug meteor on command prompt. This only put --debug flag on process1 so I only see meteor files on node-inspector and could not find my code.

Can someone check this on Windows and Mac machine?

In Meteor 0.5.4 this has become a lot easier:

First run the following commands from the terminal:

npm install -g node-inspector
node-inspector &
export NODE_OPTIONS='--debug-brk'
meteor

And then open http://localhost:8080 in your browser to view the node-inspector console.

Update

Since Meteor 1.0 you can just type

meteor debug

which is essentially a shortcut for the above commands, and then launch node inspector in your browser as mentioned.

Update

In Meteor 1.0.2 a console or shell has been added. It may come in handy to output variables and run commands on the server:

meteor shell

Meteor apps are Node.js apps. When running a Meteor app with the meteor [run] command, you can configure the NODE_OPTIONS environment variable to start node in debug mode.

Examples of NODE_OPTIONS environment variable values:

• --debug
• --debug=47977 - specify a port
• --debug-brk - break on the first statement
• --debug-brk=5858 - specify a port and break on the first statement

If you export NODE_OPTIONS=--debug, all meteor command run from the same shell will inherit the environment variable. Alternatively, you can enable debugging just for one run, with NODE_OPTIONS="--debug=47977" meteor.

To debug, run node-inspector in a different shell, then go to http://localhost:8080/debug?port=<the port you specified in NODE_OPTIONS>, regardless of what node-inspector tells you to run.

To start node.js in debug mode, I did it this way:

1. open /usr/lib/meteor/app/meteor/run.js

2. before

   nodeOptions.push(path.join(options.bundlePath, 'main.js')); 
   

   add

   nodeOptions.push('--debug');
   

Here are additional practical steps for your to attach debugger eclipse:

1. use '--debug-brk' instead of '--debug' here, because it's easier for me to attach node.js using eclipse as debugger.
2. add 'debugger;' in the code where you want to debug.(I prefer this way personally)
3. run meteor in console
4. attach to node.js in eclipse(V8 tools, attach to localhost:5858)
5. run, wait for debugger to be hit

when you start meteor in your meteor app folder, you'll see that "debugger listening on port 5858" in console.

On Meteor 1.0.3.1 (update to Sergey.Simonchik answer)

Start your server with meteor run --debug-port=<port-number>

Point browser to http://localhost:6222/debug?port=<port-number>

Where <port-number> is a port you specify.

In your code add a debugger; where you want to set your break point.

Depending on where debugger; is invoked, it will either break on your client or server browser window with inspector opened.

I like to set breakpoints via a GUI. This way I don't have to remember to remove any debugging code from my app.

This is how I managed to do it server side for my local meteor app:

meteor debug

start your app this way.

Open Chrome to the address it gives you. You MAY need to install https://github.com/node-inspector/node-inspector (it might come bundled with Meteor now? not sure)

You'll see some weird internal meteor code (not the app code you wrote). Press play to run the code. This code simply starts up your server to listen for connections.

Only after you press play you'll see a new directory in your debugger folder structure called "app". In there are your meteor project files. Set a breakpoint in there one the line you want.

Open the local address of your app. This will run your server side code and you you should be able to hit your breakpoint!

Note: you have to reopen the inspector and go through this process again each time your app restarts!

As of Meteor 1.0.2 probably the best way for server-side debugging is directly via the new built-in shell: with running server run meteor shell. More info here: https://www.meteor.com/blog/2014/12/19/meteor-102-meteor-shell

I am not sure why it was not working for you.
I am able to use it by following steps on console (Mac).

$ ps  
$ kill -s USR1 *meteor_node_process_id*  
$ node-inspector &

Above steps are mentioned on https://github.com/dannycoates/node-inspector. It is for attaching node-inspector to running node process.

I wrote a small meteor package called meteor-inspector which simplifies the use of node-inspector to debug meteor apps. It internally manages the lifecycle of node-inspector and hence, the user does not need to restart the debugger manually after some files have changed.

For more details and concrete usage instructions take a look at https://github.com/broth-eu/meteor-inspector.

for meteor 1.3.5.2, run > meteor debug --debug-port 5858+n n is a non-zero number, this will cause node-inspector use 8080+n as web port.

WebStorm, the powerful IDE free for open source developers, makes it much easier to debug server-side.

I've tested it on Windows, and the configuration was painless - see my answer.

A inspector that solve my issues is meteor server console. Here is the process I followed to install it:

1. In your project folder, add the smart package server-eval:

    mrt add server-eval
   

   For Meteor 1.0:

    meteor add gandev:server-eval
   

2. Restart meteor.

3. Download crx Chrome extension file from here.

4. Open extensions page in Chrome and drag crx file to extensions page.

5. Restart Chrome.

6. Check the web inspector out to eval server side code:

   

In comparison with node-inspector, I have a clearer output.

If you prefer to use nodeJS' official debugger you can call NODE_OPTIONS='--debug' meteor and then (on a different shell) node debug localhost:5858.