bash helper function to make debugging node cli programs easier.

.profile

node-debug () {
    PROGRAM="$(which $1)"     # make sure we get an absolute path for programs in PATH
    shift                     # remove the original program argument
    set -- "$PROGRAM" "$@"    # prepend the program path

    node --debug-brk $@ &     # start node in paused debug mode, send to background
    node-inspector            # start node inspector
    kill %%                   # kill the background task (if still running)
}

usage.sh

# if you run your program like this ...
node path/to/program -some parameters --go here

# ... just add '-debug'
node-debug path/to/program -some parameters --go here


# if your program is in PATH ...
program -some parameters --go here

# just prefix with 'node-debug'
node-debug program -some parameters --go here