Chrome javascript debugger breakpoints don't do anything?

I'm not sure why your breakpoints aren't hitting, but one sure-fire way to step into your code is to type

debugger;

where you want the code to halt, and then run again with the chrome developer tools window open.


Just one small thing to be aware of, be sure to clean up after you done and remove the debugger lines. If you ever run JavaScript files through YUI compressor, the existence of a debugger; line will cause it to error out.


This is a late answer, but I had the same problem, but the answer was different.

In my case, there was a sourceURL reference in my code:

//@ sourceURL=/Scripts/test.js

When this Javascript file is minified and loaded by the browser, it normally tells Chrome Dev Tools where the unminified version is.

However, if you are debugging the unminified version and this line exists, Chrome Dev Tools maps to that sourceURL path instead of the "normal" path.

For example, if you work locally on a web server, then in the Sources tab in Chrome Dev Tools, the path to a given JS file will be http://localhost/Scripts/test.js

If test.js has this at the bottom

//@ sourceURL=/Scripts/test.js

then breakpoints will only work if the file path is /Scripts/test.js, not the fully-qualified URL of http://localhost/Scripts/test.js

In Chrome 38, staying with my example above, if you look at the Sources tab, every file runs off http://localhost/, so when you click on test.js, Chrome loads up http://localhost/Scripts/test.js

You can put all the breakpoints you want in this file, and Chrome never hits any of them. If you put a breakpoint in your JS before it calls any function in test.js and then step into that function, you will see that Chrome opens a new tab whose path is /Scripts/test.js. Putting breakpoints in this file will stop the program flow.

When I got rid of the @ sourceURL line from the JS file, everything works normally again (i.e. the way you would expect).


I got a similar problem. Breakpoints where not working unless I used debugger;. I fixed my breakpoints problem with "Restore defaults and reload". It's located in the Chrome Developer Tools, Settings, Restore defaults and reload.