Node.js debugging with Theseus and Brackets

Brackets is an open source Web development editor from Adobe. It is built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript with features designed to make Web app development enjoyable rather than pain:

- live edit and preview: changes are reflected in the browser immediately without reload, currently only supporting Chrome)

- inline view and edit referenced resources: you can open the CSS definition for a tag without leaving the HTML code you are working on

- smart code hint: for JavaScript, it is using the Tern engine, one of the most advanced code analysis engines for JavaScript

- quick docs from webplatform.org: inline documentation for various elements such as tag, values, etc.

- extensible architecture: has a fast growing set of extensions already and you can use the same languages you write Web app to write extensions

- best of all, starting sprint 21 release, it has a built-in Node.js process, which opens up a whole new world of features for JavaScript development

So, if you are currently using TextMate, Sublime Text 2/3, Vim, you should really give Brackets a try, it is so pleasant to work with it on Web apps.

Here is a quick demo video from nettuts+ article "A Peeak At Brackets":



There is a nice extension "Theseus" which makes debugging JavaScript Web app and Node.js app so much easier. You can watch a demo for debugging JavaScript Web app first:


Follow installation guide from the project github README:

• Install Brackets
• Use Brackets Extension Manager (File->Extension Manager or the lego-like icon on the right hand toolbar) to install Theseus, Click "Install from URL", then enter the Amazon S3 zip file URL, currently https://s3.amazonaws.com/theseus-downloads/theseus-0.2.13.zip
• Install Node.js if you haven't got that yet, then use npm to install node-theseus: npm install -g node-theseus

Now, write your app.js file, then run it using node-theseus app.js, then open that file in Brackets and you should be able to see the debug info in a very nice visual way.

To see it in action, view author's screencast here.

Enjoy!