How to run adk-js in debug mode so that it stops on breakpoints?

[dnlrbz]

I have tried running these commands in the debug mode:

1. npx @google/adk-devtools web
2. npx @google/adk-devtools run agent.ts

But it doesn't stop on breakpoints in FunctionTool of ADK, which makes it very hard to debug.

My IDE is Webstorm.

The debug view in the Web-Mode is not enough to get the full context.

How to make it stop on breakpoints?

[dnlrbz]

@kalenkevich any advice would be very appreciated 🙏

[kalenkevich]

Hello,

Running the agent via npx @google/adk-devtools run agent.ts command do not support debug mode. This is a wrapper that starts node process with adk-devtools cli entry point which loads agent from given file and run it with the ADK runner instance.

To be able to debug your agent file you might need to do pretty much the same but manually:

1. Define your agent class in agent.ts, for example:

const myTool = new FunctionTool({
  name: 'my_tool',
  description: 'Tool desc',
  execute: () => {},
});

const rootAgent = new LlmAgent({
  name: 'root_agent',
  model: 'gemini-2.5-flash',
  instruction: '...instructions',
  tools: [myTool],
});

2. Run agent with agent runner (InMemory for debug). For example:

import {FunctionTool, InMemoryRunner, LlmAgent} from '@google/adk';

const myTool = new FunctionTool({
  name: 'my_tool',
  description: 'Tool desc',
  execute: () => {},
});

const rootAgent = new LlmAgent({
  name: 'root_agent',
  model: 'gemini-2.5-flash',
  instruction: '...instructions',
  tools: [myTool],
});

async function main() {
  const userId = 'test_user';
  const appName = rootAgent.name;
  const runner = new InMemoryRunner({agent: rootAgent, appName});
  const session = await runner.sessionService.createSession({
    appName,
    userId,
  });

  for await (const e of runner.runAsync({
    userId,
    sessionId: session.id,
    newMessage: createUserContent('My message'),
  })) {
    if (e.content?.parts?.[0]?.text) {
      console.log(`${e.author}: ${JSON.stringify(e.content, null, 2)}`);
    }
  }
}

main().catch(console.error);

3. Now you simply can run this file with node ./agent.js command or with Webstorm debug tool or any other tool that allows to debug js/ts files.

[kalenkevich]

@dnlrbz FYI we just release v0.4.0 where added support to debug agent files with adk cli run command: #113

[dnlrbz]

Nice, thanks!

[dnlrbz]

I have started the debug mode with 0.4.0 with npx @google/adk-devtools run agent.ts --compile=false --bundle=false, but it does not stop on breakpoints. I am using Webstorm IDE. Is the command different or should it work only in VS Code?