How to debug a Gruntfile with breakpoints using node-inspector, Windows 7?
debugging, gruntjs, javascript, node.js, windows-7-x64
Solution
This can be accomplished by starting up `node-inspector` and starting `grunt` in debug mode. Once that's done, you can step through your `Gruntfile.js` within Chrome as you normally would.
start node-inspector
If you don't already have `node-inspector`, install it using `npm install -g node-inspector`. Then start it up in one terminal/command prompt:
$ node-inspector
Node Inspector v0.7.3
Visit http://127.0.0.1:8080/debug?port=5858 to start debugging.
run grunt in debug mode
Next, locate your `grunt` script. This is the JavaScript file that is executed when you run the `grunt` command from the command line. If you installed grunt globally (using `npm install -g grunt-cli`) then it will most likely be in `/usr/bin` or `/usr/local/bin` for *nix or Mac machines. For Windows machines, the `grunt.cmd` file points to where the `grunt` script is located. Most likely the `grunt` script is located in `C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\grunt-cli\bin`.
Once you've found the location of the script, use `node --debug-brk` to execute this script, thus starting grunt in debug mode breaking on the first line of code in the file. So for instance, imagine the grunt script is located at `/usr/bin/grunt`:
$ node --debug-brk /usr/bin/grunt
debugger listening on port 5858
You'll know you're successful when you see `debugger listening on port 5858` as the output, which means that the grunt script has halted execution and is waiting to be stepped through with the debugger.
debug with Chrome
Now bring up Chrome and point it to `http://127.0.0.1:8080/debug?port=5858`. Within Chrome, open and add break points in your `Gruntfile.js`, and step through as you normally would.
Problem
So I have spent the past couple days trying to get this to work with no luck. Most of the solutions I have found seem to work "okay" for debugging node applications. But I haven't had much luck debugging grunt stand alone. I would like to be able to set breakpoints in my gruntfile and either step through the code with either the browser or an IDE. I have tried the following: - Debugging using intelliJ IDE Using Grunt Console (Process finished with exit code 6) - Debugging with Nodeeclipse (This sort of works okay but doesn't hit the breakpoints set in eclipse, not very intuitive) - Debugging using node-inspector (This one also sort of works. I can step through a little ways using F11 and F10 in chrome. But eventually it just crashes. Using F8 to skip to break point never works.) ERROR MESSAGE USING NODE-INSPECTOR So currently node-inspector feels like it has gotten me the closest to what I want. To get here I did the following: From my grunt directory I ran the following commands: ``` grunt node-inspector node --debug-brk Gruntfile.js ``` And then from there I went to `localhost:8080/debug?port=5858` to debug my Gruntfile.js. But like I mentioned above, as soon as I hit F8 to skip to breakpoint it crashes with the above error. Has anybody had any success using this method to try to debug a Gruntfile? So far from my search efforts I have not found a very well documented way of doing this. So hopefully this will be useful or beneficial information for future users. Also I am using Windows 7 by the way. Thanks in advance. UPDATE: I have tried the following suggested by @dylants with no luck so far. Found the grunt.cmd file on windows machine located in `C:\Users\khollenbeck\AppData\Roaming\npm`. Opened up `grunt.cmd` file and found the following.... This lead me to `C:\Users\khollenbeck\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\grunt-cli\bin` which contained a file called `grunt`. And from there at the top of the file. I changed this code `#!/usr/bin/env node` to `#!/usr/bin/env node --debug-brk` After doing this command `node-inspector C:\path\to\gruntfile grunt` I got the following. `Node Inspector v0.7.3 Visit http://localhost:8080/debug?port=5858 to start debugging` Next I ran the `grunt` command from grunt dir. (leaving the server running in original command prompt) From here I expected Gruntfile.js to show up in the source of chrome dev tools. I also expected to be able to set breakpoints from there. This did not happen. Instead it just ran all the way through the Gruntfile without breaking or loading in the browser. Edit: Ah, I see what I did wrong. For some reason I did node --debug-brk with out adding the path C:\Users\khollenbeck\AppData\Roaming\npm\node_modules\grunt-cli\bin\grunt. Its working now, thanks so much. I apologize for dragging this on for so long. But hopefully this will be useful for other windows users in the future.