Tracking issue: Stabilizing network inspection in Node.js

Related issue: https://github.com/nodejs/diagnostics/issues/75
Initial implementation: https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/53593

This issue is for tracking the remaining work to make network inspection in Node.js stable and to provide a comprehensive debugging experience.

Network inspection features

• ✅ - Implemented
• 🚫 - No plan to implement at the moment
• 🔍 - Need further investigation or discussion

Basic information

Feature	http	https	http2	fetch	WebSocket
type	✅ #54156	✅ #54156	✅ #59611	✅ #56488	✅ #59404
timestamp	✅ #53593	✅ #53593	✅ #59611	✅ #56488	✅ #59404
error	✅ #54246	✅ #54246	✅ #59611	✅ #56488

Related protocols:

• Network.requestWillBeSent
• Network.responseReceived
• Network.loadingFinished
• Network.loadingFailed
• Network.webSocketCreated
• Network.webSocketClosed
• Network.webSocketFrameError

Request details

The details of the request, such as the request body, cookies, and query parameters. The Network.Request object is used to represent the request. Some features such as referrerPolicy are only available in browser contexts.

Feature	http	https	http2	fetch	WebSocket
url	✅ #53593	✅ #53593	✅ #59611	✅ #56488
method	✅ #53593	✅ #53593	✅ #59611	✅ #56488
headers	✅ #54156	✅ #54156	✅ #59611	✅ #56488
postData	🔍	🔍	✅ #60483

Related protocols:

• Network.requestWillBeSent
• Network.websocketFrameSent
• Network.webSocketWillSendHandshakeRequest

🔍 Response details

The details of the response, such as the response body, and headers. The Network.Response object is used to represent the response. Some features such as early hits are only available for browser contexts.

Feature	http	https	http2	fetch	WebSocket
url	✅ #54156	✅ #54156	✅ #59611	✅ #56488
status	✅ #54156	✅ #54156	✅ #59611	✅ #56488
headers	✅ #54156	✅ #54156	✅ #59611	✅ #56488
mimeType	✅ #58192	✅ #58192	✅ #59611
body	#60572	#60572	✅ #60483	✅ #58001

[!CAUTION]
We can't consume the response body within the diagnostics_channel hook. We need to investigate how to handle the response body. (ref. https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/53593#discussion_r1658039637)

Related protocols:

• Network.responseReceived
• Network.websocketFrameReceived
• Network.webSocketHandshakeResponseReceived

🔍 Request initiator

The initiator of the request, such as the script URL, the line number, and the stack trace. The Network.Initiator object is used to represent the initiator.

Feature	http	https	http2	fetch	WebSocket
initiator	✅ #56805	✅ #56805	✅ #59611	✅ #56805

Related protocols:

• Network.requestWillBeSent
• Network.webSocketCreated

🚫 Network conditions and throttling

The network conditions and throttling information of the request and response. The Network.emulateNetworkConditions command is used to emulate network conditions.

🚫 Security and authentication information

The security and authentication information of the request and response. The SecurityDetails object is used to represent the security details.

Others

If there are any other features that are not covered by the above categories, please let us know and we will add them to the list.

Node.js specific features

These are network inspection features specific to Node.js applications, including:

• Monitoring incoming requests: Track and inspect incoming HTTP/HTTPS requests to the Node.js server, including headers, body, and timing information.
• Monitoring outgoing responses: Track and inspect outgoing HTTP/HTTPS responses from the Node.js server, including headers, body, and timing information.

These features are not available in the browser context. We plan to support these features in collaboration with the ChromeDevTools team. To move forward with the implementation, we will create a design doc for these features and discuss the specs with the ChromeDevTools team.

Next steps

• Implement the remaining features ready for implementation in the table above
• Investigate the support for WebSocket inspection in Node.js
• Investigate the support for fetch inspection in Node.js
• Investigate the support for HTTP/2 inspection in Node.js
• Document the design doc for Node.js specific features to collaborate with the ChromeDevTools team.

Start with the related diagnostics issue and the initial implementation pull request, then review the unchecked and investigation-marked entries in the feature tables. The issue does not name a specific file or test; completion would require selecting and implementing a remaining feature ready for work, or completing the stated investigation and design coordination.