WebStorm Debugger Not Attaching or Breakpoints Not Hit

How to fix it

Try these in order — the most common fix is first.

1. 1. Attach to a running Node.js app

   Copy steps
   1. Enable the Node.js and JavaScript Debugger plugins in Settings | Plugins
   2. Run node --inspect-brk <entry file>
   3. Ctrl+Shift+click the Debugger listening link, or create an Attach to Node.js/Chrome configuration with the host and port
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. 2. Fix path mappings

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   1. Open Run | Edit Configurations
   2. Add entries under Remote URLs of local files so the debugger can match local sources to running code
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. 3. Handle nodemon

   1. Use the Attach configuration with Reconnect automatically enabled
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. 4. Check source maps

   1. Press the Disable Source Maps toggle in the Debug tool window to step through the code that actually runs
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Debug session never connects, breakpoints stay hollow or are never hit.

Why it happens

• App not started with --inspect
• Port in the configuration does not match the Debugger listening port
• Debugger port equals the app's serving port
• Remote folder name differs from the project root so paths are not mapped
• Source maps point at code that is not what runs

This guide also covers

• webstorm debugger not attaching
• webstorm breakpoints not working
• webstorm attach to node.js

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• WebStorm ESLint Not Working
• WebStorm Prettier Not Working
• WebStorm TypeScript Language Service Errors and Slowness
• WebStorm Indexing Takes Forever
• WebStorm High Memory Usage: Increase Heap Size
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