🔍 @saptools/cf-inspector

Set breakpoints, capture variable snapshots, and evaluate expressions on a remote Node.js process — over the Chrome DevTools Protocol, no IDE required.

Built so an AI agent (or a CI job) can drive a debugger from a single shell command. Pairs with @saptools/cf-debugger when the target lives behind a Cloud Foundry SSH tunnel.

Install • Quick Start • CLI • How it works

Debug-session safety: only one local cf-inspector process may actively debug a given target at a time. Concurrent CDP debugger clients can receive the same pause and race Debugger.resume, disrupting the target and real application traffic. A second local invocation now fails before connecting with TARGET_ALREADY_DEBUGGED; wait for the named owner process to finish. Locks left by dead processes are reclaimed automatically. Debuggers running on another machine or outside cf-inspector cannot be detected by this local guard and must still be coordinated operationally.

✨ Features

• 🎯 One-shot snapshot — cf-inspector snapshot --bp src/handler.ts:42 sets the breakpoint, waits for it to hit, captures requested expressions, auto-resumes, prints JSON, exits
• ✅ Conditional breakpoints — --condition 'req.userId === "abc"' only pauses when the predicate is truthy
• 🔢 Hit-count breakpoints — --hit-count 5 skips the first N − 1 hits and pauses on the Nth, on every command (snapshot, log, watch)
• 🎭 Multi-breakpoint — repeat --bp to race several locations; first hit wins
• 🪜 Stack capture — --stack-depth N --stack-captures 'this, args' walks call frames and evaluates expressions per frame
• 🔁 Watch streaming — cf-inspector watch --bp file:line --capture user.id --duration 30 re-captures on every hit and emits JSON Lines (the streaming counterpart of snapshot)
• 💥 Exception breakpoints — cf-inspector exception --type uncaught --capture err.message pauses on the next thrown error and materializes the exception value
• 📡 Non-pausing logpoints — cf-inspector log --at file:line --expr 'JSON.stringify({…})' streams JSON Lines as the line executes without pausing the inspectee, with optional --condition, --hit-count, and --max-events
• 🛡️ Read-only capture guard — snapshot, watch, and exception captures use V8's side-effect analysis by default; --allow-mutation is an explicit escape hatch
• 🧵 Automatic worker fan-out — snapshot, watch, exception, and log attach to the main isolate plus every current or newly-spawned NodeWorker; explicit selectors remain available for pinning
• 🚦 Machine-readable readiness — opt into a versioned breakpoint-armed stderr event before triggering external traffic; no prose matching or guessed delay required
• 📜 Isolate-aware script listing — list-scripts aggregates the main isolate and every current worker, tagging every script with its isolate
• 🧠 Agent-friendly — JSON-by-default I/O, deterministic shapes, and explicit truncated/originalLength/omittedCount metadata for bounded values
• 🧭 Path mapping — local src/handler.ts:42 is matched against the remote URL via a urlRegex, with optional --remote-root literal or regex (same DSL as cds-debug)
• 🔁 Composes with cf-debugger — pass --app/--region/--org/--space and the tunnel is opened automatically; pass --port to attach to anything CDP-speaking
• 🪶 Tiny dependency footprint — @saptools/cf-debugger + commander + ws, with no heavy CDP framework
• 🧩 Typed API — every CLI command has a programmatic equivalent with full TypeScript definitions

📦 Install

npm install -g @saptools/cf-inspector
# or
pnpm add @saptools/cf-inspector

cf-inspector --version

[!NOTE] Requires Node.js ≥ 20. Cloud Foundry support uses @saptools/cf-debugger, which is installed automatically as a normal runtime dependency.

🚀 Quick Start

Cloud Foundry app (auto-tunnel)

export SAP_EMAIL=...
export SAP_PASSWORD=...

cf-inspector snapshot \
  --region eu10 --org my-org --space dev --app my-srv \
  --bp src/handler.ts:42 \
  --remote-root 'regex:^/(home/vcap/app|example-root-.*)$'

This command internally calls @saptools/cf-debugger to open the SSH tunnel, runs the snapshot through it, and tears the tunnel down on exit.

Cloud Foundry targeting is deliberately deterministic: --app requires --region, --org, and --space. The CLI never inherits missing selectors from ambient cf target state. Use --api-endpoint only when the selected region needs an explicit endpoint override.

Worker behavior

When no isolate selector is passed, snapshot, watch, exception, log, and check-breakpoint attach to the main isolate and every NodeWorker under the selected raw target. Breakpoints are mirrored to workers that attach later, the first matching pause wins, and JSON/human output identifies the winning isolate as either {"kind":"main"} or {"kind":"worker","workerId":"…"}. Losing isolates that also paused are resumed before the command continues or exits.

Use --worker-id <id> to pin a stable live worker ID from list-targets, --worker <index> for the legacy positional selector, --target <index> to pin a raw inspector target, or --main-only to deliberately ignore workers. Explicit selectors preserve single-isolate behavior.

Automation readiness contract

Commands that arm debugger behavior before waiting (snapshot, watch, exception, and log) accept --ready-event. The flag writes exactly one compact JSON object to stderr after every session present during initial arming has completed its CDP setup and immediately before the command waits or streams:

{"event":"breakpoint-armed","schemaVersion":1,"command":"snapshot","sessions":3,"resolvedLocations":2,"timeoutMs":30000}

This is the supported synchronization contract for callers that must start the CLI before firing an HTTP request, queue job, or other external trigger. Parse the JSON line and require event === "breakpoint-armed" plus schemaVersion === 1, then confirm command matches the invocation; do not poll prose such as Waiting up to.

| Field | Contract | | --- | --- | | event | Always "breakpoint-armed" | | schemaVersion | Event schema version; currently 1 | | command | snapshot, watch, exception, or log | | sessions | Number of main/worker sessions whose initial arming completed before emission | | resolvedLocations | Total locations V8 had already resolved, or null for exception; 0 can still represent an accepted URL breakpoint that may resolve when a script loads | | timeoutMs | Snapshot/exception wait or watch per-hit timeout; null for log |

Workers attaching after this one-time event are still armed dynamically, but are not included in its sessions or resolvedLocations totals. If initial arming fails or the command is cancelled first, no readiness event is emitted. With log --ready-event, matching events received while the remaining initial sessions are still arming are neither emitted nor counted, so the log stream cannot precede its readiness marker. Without --ready-event, stderr/stdout behavior is unchanged. An explicitly requested event is still emitted with snapshot --quiet.

🧰 CLI

📸 cf-inspector snapshot

Set one or more breakpoints, wait for any of them to hit, capture frame metadata and requested expressions, auto-resume, exit.

# Conditional snapshot — only pauses for the user we care about
cf-inspector snapshot --port 9229 \
  --bp src/handler.ts:42 \
  --condition 'req.userId === "abc"' \
  --capture 'req.body'

# Multi-breakpoint — first hit wins (useful when you don't know which path is taken)
cf-inspector snapshot --port 9229 \
  --bp src/auth.ts:120 \
  --bp src/auth.ts:155 \
  --bp src/auth.ts:180 \
  --capture 'req.url, this.user'

| Flag | Description | | --- | --- | | --port <number> | Local port the inspector or tunnel listens on. Required unless --app/--region/--org/--space are all set | | --region/--org/--space/--app | Explicit Cloud Foundry target. All four are required when --port is omitted; ambient cf target is never consulted | | --api-endpoint <url> | Override the API endpoint resolved from --region | | --target <index> | Raw /json/list target index (default: 0) | | --worker <index> | Nested NodeWorker index reported under the selected raw target by list-targets | | --worker-id <id> | Stable live NodeWorker ID reported by list-targets | | --main-only | Attach only to the main isolate and ignore NodeWorkers | | --bp <file:line> | Required. Source location to break at. Pass multiple times to race several locations — the first one to hit wins | | --condition <expr> | Native breakpoint condition. It is compile-checked before arming; mutation-shaped conditions require --allow-mutation because CDP provides no side-effect guard for native conditions | | --hit-count <n> | Skip the first N − 1 hits and only pause on the Nth (combines with --condition via logical AND) | | --capture <expr,…> | Top-level comma-separated expressions evaluated in the paused frame under V8's side-effect guard. Nested commas inside objects, arrays, calls, or strings are preserved. Objects are materialized to JSON strings when serializable | | --setup-eval <expr> | Repeatable, order-preserving global expression evaluated before breakpoint setup. It is mutation-capable and only receives an advisory warning | | --stack-depth <n> | Walk this many call frames per hit (default: 1, top frame only). When > 1, the result includes a stack array | | --stack-captures <expr,…> | Expressions evaluated on each captured call frame under the same side-effect guard as --capture | | --allow-mutation | Disable V8's capture side-effect guard and explicitly allow mutation-shaped native conditions. Heuristic matches are annotated with mutationRisk: true | | --timeout <seconds> | How long to wait for the breakpoint to hit (default: 30) | | --max-value-length <chars> | Maximum characters per captured value before truncation (one-shot default: 131072). Explicit values are honored exactly | | --remote-root <value> | Optional path-mapping anchor: literal path or regex:<pattern> / /pattern/flags | | --include-scopes | Include expanded paused-frame scopes under topFrame.scopes. Omitted by default to keep targeted captures concise | | --no-json | Print a human-readable summary instead of JSON | | --quiet | Suppress snapshot progress messages on stderr | | --ready-event | Emit the versioned breakpoint-armed JSON event on stderr after every current isolate is armed | | --keep-paused | Skip Debugger.resume after capture | | --fail-on-unmatched-pause | Fail immediately if the target pauses somewhere else instead of waiting cooperatively |

Snapshot progress is printed to stderr by default, including Cloud Foundry login/tunnel setup, inspector connection, breakpoint binding, the breakpoint wait, capture, resume, and cleanup phases. The final JSON document remains the only content written to stdout, so piping it to jq or another parser stays safe. Pass --quiet to suppress these progress lines; warnings and errors still use stderr.

Snapshot JSON includes frame metadata and captures by default. topFrame.scopes is only present with --include-scopes because scope objects can be large and drown out targeted captures. Values are raw debugger values, so be careful when sharing logs.

Capture expressions are read-only by default. cf-inspector sends throwOnSideEffect: true to V8 for both --capture and --stack-captures. Assignments, mutating methods such as push, and calls V8 cannot prove pure are returned as a blocked capture with blocked: true, mutationRisk: true, and a MUTATION_NOT_ALLOWED error. Pass --allow-mutation only when changing the live inspectee is intentional. The opt-in disables the V8 guard and adds mutationRisk: true when the advisory syntax scan recognizes a likely mutation; arbitrary function calls can still mutate without being recognized.

--condition is different: V8 executes it internally as a native breakpoint condition, where CDP has no throwOnSideEffect option. Mutation-shaped native conditions are rejected unless --allow-mutation is present. --setup-eval and the standalone eval command remain mutation-capable by design and emit advisory warnings for recognizable mutation syntax.

A blocked capture remains a normal additive CapturedExpression, so one unsafe expression does not corrupt the rest of the snapshot:

{"expression":"items.push(1)","error":"MUTATION_NOT_ALLOWED: V8 blocked the capture expression ...","mutationRisk":true,"blocked":true}

With --allow-mutation, recognized mutation syntax runs and the result carries "mutationRisk": true; ordinary reads do not gain the field.

Truncation contract

JSON truncation is always out-of-band. A text value longer than the effective limit is cut to exactly that many JavaScript characters and gains "truncated": true plus its full "originalLength"; no ellipsis is appended to the JSON value. These fields are absent when no cut occurs. Human output may add a visual ellipsis.

Expanded objects and scopes also report bounded structural capture. The VariableSnapshot, ScopeSnapshot, or FrameSnapshot whose properties, variables, or scopes were cut gains truncated: true and the exact direct omittedCount. A serialized object capture propagates the aggregate known omission count to its CapturedExpression. ExceptionSnapshot additionally uses valueOriginalLength and descriptionOriginalLength so consumers can identify which field was cut; its compatibility originalLength is the larger reported field length.

One-shot snapshot and exception commands default to 131072 characters. Repeated watch and log events default to 4096. All four accept --max-value-length, and an explicit limit is applied exactly.

{"expression":"largeText","value":"exactly-N-characters","type":"string","truncated":true,"originalLength":250000}

pausedDurationMs measures the client-observed time from receiving the matching pause event until Debugger.resume completes. With --keep-paused, it is null because resume is intentionally skipped.

If the target pauses somewhere else first, for example another debugger's breakpoint or a debugger; statement, snapshot does not resume it by default. It warns once, waits for Debugger.resumed, then continues waiting for its own breakpoint within the remaining timeout. Use --fail-on-unmatched-pause when a strict immediate error is preferred.

For Cloud Foundry targets, replace --port with --region/--org/--space/--app. Cloud Foundry commands and tunnel readiness allow up to 180 seconds by default. For commands without their own wait semantics, --timeout <seconds> controls CF tunnel readiness. For breakpoint and exception commands, --timeout is reserved for the command wait and tunnel readiness keeps the 180-second default.

📡 cf-inspector log

Set a non-pausing logpoint and stream the evaluated expression each time the line executes. The inspectee does not pause, but the expression and condition still execute against live state and can mutate it.

# Stream user IDs hitting handler.ts:42 for 30 seconds
cf-inspector log \
  --port 9229 \
  --at src/handler.ts:42 \
  --expr 'JSON.stringify({ user: req.user, body: req.body })' \
  --duration 30

Output is JSON Lines on stdout (one event per line) plus a summary trailer on stderr:

{"ts":"2026-04-29T...","at":"src/handler.ts:42","value":"{\"user\":\"alice\",\"body\":{}}"}
{"ts":"2026-04-29T...","at":"src/handler.ts:42","value":"{\"user\":\"bob\",\"body\":{}}"}
// stderr:
{"stopped":"duration","emitted":2}

When the user expression throws, the event is emitted with error instead of value so the stream never silently gaps:

{"ts":"…","at":"src/handler.ts:42","error":"Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'user')"}

| Flag | Description | | --- | --- | | --port <number> | Local port the inspector or tunnel listens on. Required unless --app/--region/--org/--space are all set | | --target <index> / --worker <index> / --worker-id <id> | Pin one raw target or worker instead of automatic fan-out | | --main-only | Ignore workers and attach only to the main isolate | | --at <file:line> | Required. Source location to log at | | --expr <expression> | Required. JavaScript expression evaluated at each hit, wrapped in try/catch on the inspectee side. It is mutation-capable; recognizable risks produce a warning | | --duration <seconds> | Stop streaming after N seconds (default: run until SIGINT) | | --max-events <n> | Stop streaming after emitting N log events. The trailer reports stopped: "max-events" | | --hit-count <n> | Start emitting once the line has been hit N or more times | | --condition <expr> | Mutation-capable native condition evaluated on the inspectee. Recognizable risks produce a warning. Composes with --hit-count via logical AND | | --max-value-length <chars> | Maximum characters per log value (streaming default: 4096). Truncated events include truncated and originalLength | | --remote-root <value> | Optional path-mapping anchor (same DSL as snapshot) | | --no-json | Print human-readable lines instead of JSON Lines | | --ready-event | Emit the versioned breakpoint-armed JSON event on stderr after every current isolate is armed |

Native logpoint expressions and conditions have no V8 side-effect gate. The CLI warns when its best-effort syntax scan recognizes assignments or common mutating calls, but that scan cannot prove an arbitrary function is pure. Treat logpoint expressions as executable live code.

🔁 cf-inspector watch

Stream a snapshot per breakpoint hit. The inspectee is paused briefly while captures are evaluated, then resumed automatically; output is JSON Lines on stdout with a trailer on stderr (same shape as log).

cf-inspector watch --port 9229 \
  --bp src/handler.ts:42 \
  --capture 'user.id, payload' \
  --condition 'user.id !== "system"' \
  --duration 30 \
  --max-events 50

Each event is a WatchEvent:

{"ts":"2026-04-29T...","at":"file:///app/src/handler.ts:42","hit":1,"reason":"other","hitBreakpoints":["..."],"captures":[{"expression":"user.id","value":"\"alice\""}]}
{"ts":"2026-04-29T...","at":"file:///app/src/handler.ts:42","hit":2,"reason":"other","hitBreakpoints":["..."],"captures":[{"expression":"user.id","value":"\"bob\""}]}
// stderr trailer:
{"stopped":"max-events","emitted":50}

| Flag | Description | | --- | --- | | --port <number> | Local port the inspector or tunnel listens on. Otherwise pass all explicit Cloud Foundry selectors | | --target <index> / --worker <index> / --worker-id <id> | Pin one raw target or worker instead of automatic fan-out | | --main-only | Ignore workers and attach only to the main isolate | | --bp <file:line> | Required. Source location to capture on (repeatable) | | --capture <expr,…> | Top-level comma-separated expressions evaluated per hit under V8's side-effect guard | | --setup-eval <expr> | Repeatable mutation-capable global expression evaluated before breakpoint setup; recognizable risks produce a warning | | --condition <expr> | Native condition; mutation-shaped conditions require --allow-mutation | | --hit-count <n> | Start emitting once the line has been hit N or more times | | --remote-root <value> | Path-mapping anchor (same DSL as snapshot) | | --duration <seconds> | Stop streaming after N seconds (default: until SIGINT) | | --max-events <n> | Stop streaming after emitting N events | | --timeout <seconds> | How long to wait for the next hit before giving up (default: 30) | | --max-value-length <chars> | Maximum characters per captured value (streaming default: 4096) | | --stack-depth <n> | Walk this many call frames per hit (default: 1) | | --stack-captures <expr,…> | Expressions evaluated on each call frame under the capture side-effect guard | | --allow-mutation | Disable the capture side-effect guard and explicitly allow mutation-shaped native conditions | | --include-scopes | Include expanded paused-frame scopes per hit | | --no-json | Print human-readable lines instead of JSON Lines | | --ready-event | Emit the versioned breakpoint-armed JSON event on stderr after every current isolate is armed |

💥 cf-inspector exception

Pause on a thrown exception, capture the exception value plus the paused frame, then resume.

cf-inspector exception --port 9229 \
  --type uncaught \
  --capture 'this' \
  --stack-depth 4 \
  --stack-captures 'arguments[0]' \
  --timeout 30

Result is a SnapshotResult with an extra exception field:

{
  "reason": "exception",
  "hitBreakpoints": [],
  "capturedAt": "2026-04-29T...",
  "pausedDurationMs": 0.5,
  "topFrame": {"functionName": "validate", "url": "...", "line": 42, "column": 5},
  "exception": {"value": "{\"message\":\"missing field\",\"name\":\"Error\"}", "type": "object", "description": "missing field"},
  "captures": [],
  "stack": [...]
}

| Flag | Description | | --- | --- | | --port or explicit --region/--org/--space/--app | Select the local inspector or deterministic Cloud Foundry target | | --target <index> / --worker <index> / --worker-id <id> | Pin one raw target or worker instead of automatic fan-out | | --main-only | Ignore workers and attach only to the main isolate | | --type <state> | Pause on which exceptions: uncaught (default), caught, or all | | --capture <expr,…> | Top-level expressions evaluated in the paused frame under V8's side-effect guard | | --stack-depth <n> | Walk this many call frames (default: 1) | | --stack-captures <expr,…> | Expressions evaluated on each frame under V8's side-effect guard | | --allow-mutation | Disable the capture side-effect guard; heuristic matches gain mutationRisk: true | | --include-scopes | Include paused-frame scopes | | --remote-root <value> | Path-mapping anchor (only used if you also wire snapshot helpers) | | --timeout <seconds> | How long to wait for an exception (default: 30) | | --max-value-length <chars> | Maximum characters per captured value (one-shot default: 131072) | | --keep-paused | Skip Debugger.resume after capture | | --no-json | Print a human-readable summary instead of JSON | | --ready-event | Emit the versioned breakpoint-armed JSON event on stderr after pause-on-exception is active in every current isolate |

🧮 cf-inspector eval

Evaluate one expression with Runtime.evaluate in the selected isolate's global scope and print the result. eval is intentionally mutation-capable and has no side-effect gate; recognizable mutation syntax emits an advisory warning to stderr. For read-only paused-frame values, use snapshot --capture or call the programmatic evaluateOnFrame(..., { throwOnSideEffect: true }) API. Plain evaluateOnFrame(...) remains unrestricted by default for backward compatibility.

cf-inspector eval --port 9229 --expr 'process.uptime()'

📜 cf-inspector list-scripts

Print every script known by the main isolate and each currently attached NodeWorker (useful for debugging path-mapping issues). Each JSON entry carries isolate: {"kind":"main"} or isolate: {"kind":"worker","workerId":"…"}, so duplicate per-isolate scriptId values remain unambiguous. Add --filter <pattern> to narrow noisy script lists with a literal/wildcard pattern; | separates alternatives and .* / .+ match variable text.

cf-inspector list-scripts --port 9229 --filter 'dist/.+\.js'

With --no-json, rows are scriptId<TAB>url<TAB>isolate, where isolate is main or worker:<workerId>. --main-only, --worker-id, --worker, and --target retain their normal narrowing behavior.

🎯 cf-inspector list-targets

Print raw /json/list inspector targets with stable index values, likely worker labels, and the total target/worker counts on stderr. For each raw target, the command also probes Node's NodeWorker CDP domain and lists live nested workers with their own indexes.

cf-inspector list-targets --port 9229
cf-inspector snapshot --port 9229 --bp dist/worker.js:42
cf-inspector snapshot --port 9229 --worker-id 1 --bp dist/worker.js:42
# If a runtime publishes a worker as another raw /json/list target instead:
cf-inspector snapshot --port 9229 --target 1 --bp dist/worker.js:42

JSON output nests workers beneath their raw target:

[
  {
    "index": 0,
    "description": "node.js instance",
    "id": "target-id",
    "type": "node",
    "title": "app.mjs",
    "url": "file:///app/app.mjs",
    "webSocketDebuggerUrl": "ws://127.0.0.1:9229/target-id",
    "likelyWorker": false,
    "workerDiscoverySupported": true,
    "workers": [
      {"index": 0, "workerId": "1", "type": "worker", "title": "jobs", "url": "file:///app/worker.mjs"}
    ]
  }
]

--target selects a complete raw inspector endpoint. --worker-id selects a live nested worker by its stable ID, while --worker retains positional-index selection for compatibility. Modern Node.js 20–25 verification found workers on the NodeWorker path, including workers already alive before post-hoc SIGUSR1 inspector activation; the raw-target selector remains supported for runtimes that publish that shape.

When no selector is passed, breakpoint-oriented commands attach to raw target 0 and automatically fan out across its main isolate and nested workers. If only one raw target and no workers are visible, list-targets explains that the worker may have exited, the runtime may not expose NodeWorker discovery, or a separate worker port may be unreachable through the single Cloud Foundry tunnel. Rerun the command while the worker is alive before pinning its workerId.

If list-targets, attach, or another command reports ECONNREFUSED, the local inspector or tunnel on that port is usually stale/closed. Restart the local Node inspector or tunnel and retry; for Cloud Foundry targets, pass the complete --region/--org/--space/--app selector so cf-inspector can open a fresh tunnel.

✅ cf-inspector check-breakpoint

Check whether a file:line can accept a breakpoint before arming one. The command uses the same path mapping as --bp and checks every currently attached isolate by default.

cf-inspector check-breakpoint --port 9229 --bp dist/handler.js:42

status: "script-not-loaded" means no loaded script matched the file/path mapping; use list-scripts, adjust --remote-root, or trigger lazy loading. status: "unbreakable" means the script is loaded but that exact line has no V8 break location; choose a neighboring executable line. status: "breakable" includes the concrete script IDs, isolate identities, lines, and columns.

🔗 cf-inspector attach

Connect, fetch the runtime version, print it, disconnect. Useful as a smoke-test that the tunnel is healthy.

cf-inspector attach --port 9229

attach checks the port-level /json/version endpoint, so raw-target and worker selectors do not apply to this smoke test.

Exact CDP tracing APIs

The library also exports lower-level, validated primitives for tools that need to plan and step an exact loaded function instead of using a URL-regex breakpoint:

const scripts = listScripts(session);
const source = await getScriptSource(session, scripts[0].scriptId);
const locations = await getPossibleBreakpoints(session, {
  start: { scriptId: scripts[0].scriptId, lineNumber: 10 },
  restrictToFunction: true,
});
const breakpoint = await setBreakpointAtLocation(session, { location: locations[0] });
const pause = await waitForPause(session, {
  timeoutMs: 30_000,
  breakpointIds: [breakpoint.breakpointId],
  signal: abortController.signal,
});
await stepOver(session);
await releaseObject(session, objectId);

ScriptLocation and BreakLocation use CDP-native zero-based line and column numbers. Exact breakpoint setup returns both the requested and actual location, then fails closed and removes the breakpoint if V8 resolves a different script, line, or column. An omitted column means CDP column zero. RemoteObjectInfo.completeness is truncated for logical values stored in internal slots (including maps, sets, promises, and dates) and unavailable for proxies; it is omitted for ordinary objects. waitForPause accepts an AbortSignal and cleans its event listener and timer on success, timeout, abort, or session close. The same layer exports stepInto, stepOver, stepOut, releaseObject, and releaseObjectGroup for bounded controllers.

Programmatic Cloud Foundry tunnels can select the same process instance and Node PID used for both the remote signal and SSH forwarding:

const tunnel = await openCfTunnel({
  region: "eu10",
  org: "my-org",
  space: "dev",
  app: "orders-srv",
  process: "worker",
  instance: 2,
  nodePid: 4312,
});

openCfTunnel retains backward-compatible reuse when cf-debugger reports a healthy local port for an existing session. Controllers that must prove they own and can dispose the tunnel should use openOwnedCfTunnel; it propagates SESSION_ALREADY_RUNNING instead of parsing or borrowing a pre-existing session.

🔭 How it works

┌──────────────────────┐   1. GET http://127.0.0.1:<port>/json/list
│ cf-inspector         │   2. Open the selected raw WebSocket target
│  snapshot --bp X:Y   │ ─►3. Auto-attach to current and future NodeWorker sub-sessions
└──────────────────────┘   4. Debugger.enable + Runtime.enable
            │              5. Debugger.setBreakpointByUrl({ urlRegex, lineNumber: Y - 1 })
            ▼              6. Wait for `Debugger.paused`
   JSON snapshot           7. Debugger.evaluateOnCallFrame({ throwOnSideEffect: true, ... })
                           8. Runtime.getProperties(...) when object/scopes are expanded
                           9. Debugger.resume   (unless --keep-paused)

Path mapping uses CDP's first-class urlRegex:

| --remote-root | Resulting urlRegex (line 42 of src/handler.ts) | | --- | --- | | omitted | (?:^|/)src/handler\.(?:ts\|js\|mts\|mjs\|cts\|cjs)$ | | /home/vcap/app (literal) | ^file:///home/vcap/app/src/handler\.(?:ts\|js\|mts\|mjs\|cts\|cjs)$ | | regex:^/example-root-.*$ | ^file:///example-root-.*/src/handler\.(?:ts\|js\|mts\|mjs\|cts\|cjs)$ | | regex:^/(home/vcap/app\|example-root-.*)$ | ^file:///(home/vcap/app\|example-root-.*)/src/handler\.(?:ts\|js\|mts\|mjs\|cts\|cjs)$ |

.ts ↔ .js is folded into the regex automatically because Node's V8 inspector normally serves both the source-mapped TypeScript URL and the runtime JavaScript URL — matching either is correct.

⚙️ Composing with cf-debugger

If --port is omitted, all of --region/--org/--space/--app are required. The CLI does not read ambient cf target state. It calls startDebugger(...) from @saptools/cf-debugger, attaches over the SSH tunnel, and disposes the tunnel on exit. You get the same one-shot UX whether the target is local or in CF.

The tunnel forwards one inspector port. Nested NodeWorker sessions carried by that inspector connection are auto-attached by breakpoint-oriented commands and can be pinned with --worker-id; a worker exposing only an unrelated separate port is outside that tunnel's reach.

cf-inspector snapshot \
  --region eu10 --org my-org --space dev --app my-srv \
  --bp src/handler.ts:42 \
  --capture 'req.url, this.user'

🌐 Related

• 🐛 @saptools/cf-debugger — opens the SSH inspector tunnel
• ☁️ @saptools/cf-sync — snapshot CF topology + DB bindings into JSON
• 🗂️ saptools monorepo — the full toolbox

👨‍💻 Author

dongtran ✨

📄 License

MIT

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