Building a WebSocket Debugging CLI with Node.js

Building a WebSocket Debugging CLI with Node.js WebSockets power the real-time web — chat apps, live dashboards, multiplayer games, collaborative editors. But when something goes wrong with a WebSocket connection, debugging it is surprisingly painful. Browser DevTools show you messages in a cramped panel with no filtering, no replay, and no way to script interactions. If you are working with a backend service that has no browser frontend at all, you are stuck reaching for generic tools like wscat that offer minimal functionality. In this tutorial, we will build a full-featured WebSocket debugging CLI from scratch. By the end, you will have a tool that connects to any WebSocket endpoint, logs messages with timestamps, filters by pattern, measures latency, records sessions for replay, and supports multiple concurrent connections — all from your terminal. Why Browser DevTools Fall Short If you have ever tried to debug WebSocket traffic in Chrome DevTools, you know the frustration. The Net