How to debug like a PRO in Nodejs?

Debug like a PRO with the 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹.𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗴 method.

It allows you write conditional debug messages to 𝘀𝘁𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗿 based on the existence of the 𝗡𝗢𝗗𝗘_𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗚 environment variable.

When the value passed match the one defined in your code, messages will be logged. Otherwise, these log statements will have no effect.

Obviously, this is a perfect feature for collecting debug logs in order to identify problems. Library authors use it, and I'm sure a lot of you noticed it with some of the libraries in the community.

As you can see in the snap, I'm running the code like this:
𝗡𝗢𝗗𝗘_𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗚=𝗮𝗽𝗽 𝗻𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲.𝗷𝘀

The options for the 𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗹.𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗴 method include:

𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: Name of the debug function for this portion of app.
𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸: Called only once. Can be used to replace the logging function.

Notes on the 𝗡𝗢𝗗𝗘_𝗗𝗘𝗕𝗨𝗚 env var:

• It supports wildcard, so 𝗮𝗽𝗽* and * work.
• You can specify multiple sections like this: 𝗮𝗽𝗽,𝗳𝘀,𝗻𝗲𝘁,𝘁𝗹𝘀 Which helps in filtering the debug logs to what you only care about.

Did you learn something new today?

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