Debugging Node.js applications with console.log statements becomes inefficient for complex issues—you need breakpoints, variable inspection, and step-through execution. With over 12 years of Node.js experience since 2014 and as the creator of CoreUI, I’ve debugged countless backend systems in production environments. Node.js includes a built-in inspector that integrates with Chrome DevTools, providing a full debugging experience with breakpoints, call stacks, and performance profiling. This approach requires no additional tools and works with any Node.js application.