Debugging can feel like solving a mystery, except the clues are buried in code, hardware, or network logs. Before you start, it’s important to take inventory of all your tools. The tools might look a little different depending on the domain you’re working in, but having the right ones at your disposal can make the difference between a fast fix or hours of frustration.
Here are some of the tools of the trade you’ll want for debugging different types of software.
| EMBEDDED SYSTEMS | WEB DEVELOPMENT | SYSTEM-LEVEL DEBUGGING | CROSS-DOMAIN VERSION CONTROL |
| External debugger or on-board chip | Browser dev tools (Inspector, Console, Network tabs) | Terminal commands (top, ps, strace, dmesg) | Git tools (bisect, blame, stash, log -p) |
| Console logging (printf()) | Console logging (console.log()) | Wireshark | Logs (app, server, system) |
| Externally facing components (LEDs, wireless interfaces) | API tools (Insomnia, Fiddler, Curl) | Performance profilers (Valgrind, perf, IDE tools) | Real-time monitoring and version control tools (Git, Mercurial, Subversion, Perforce) |
| Logic analyzer / oscilloscope | Monitoring tools (Sentry, LogRocket) |
Embedded Tools
When dealing with embedded systems, debugging isn’t just about watching variables. You need to understand hardware interactions, communication protocols, and real-world signal behavior. Here are some tools that can help you do so.
External Debugger (or On-board Debugging Chip)
This is hands-down the most powerful tool in your debugging arsenal. If I could only choose one, this would be it. A debugger lets you pause execution at breakpoints, inspect variables, examine low-level registers, and step through code line by line.
Think of it as the Swiss Army knife of embedded development—you don’t want to be caught without it.
Console Logging
Virtually every integrated development environment (IDE) comes with a console that lets you print custom messages—typically via printf(). While debuggers capture snapshots in time, console logs can track changes over time, helping you pinpoint exactly where things start going wrong.
Logic Analyzers & Oscilloscopes
Debuggers are great, but sometimes you need to peer into electrical signals directly. A digital logic analyzer, or oscilloscope, lets you observe communication lines, analyze waveforms, or check if a pin’s high/low state aligns with your expectations.
For example, I once inherited a project where the debugger failed once the bootloader launched the application. I was able to pipe variable data to an unused pin and inspect the system with an oscilloscope. Without it, I would’ve been completely in the dark.
Diagnostics via Externally Facing Components
Debugging a deployed system can be frustrating, especially when opening the casing is impractical or technicians don’t have easy access to probes. That’s where externally facing diagnostic components come to the rescue.
A simple but effective option is status LEDs placed outside the enclosure. With predefined blinking or flashing patterns, they can quickly convey error codes without requiring direct access to the hardware. Taking it a step further, you can map LED behavior to button press sequences, allowing technicians to cycle through different diagnostics on demand.
If budget and design constraints allow, wireless interfaces like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi can aid immensely with remote debugging. With a connected device, you can pull real-time logs, push software updates, or even trigger system reboots—all without ever touching the hardware physically.
Planning ahead and integrating these external diagnostics can drastically cut down troubleshooting time, making it easier to pinpoint issues even when direct access isn’t possible.
View our full-stack development capabilities >>
Web Tools
When debugging web apps, you’ll want to dive into browser behavior, server logic, and everything in between. Visibility is key.
Built-in Browser Development Tools
Every major browser—Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari—comes with built-in developer tools that allow you to inspect HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and network traffic. The JavaScript console is invaluable for catching runtime errors, while network tabs can track API requests and response payloads. Other tabs give you the ability to inspect HTML/CSS, track performance, and keep track of memory/storage usage.
Logs & Monitoring Tools
Server logs, error tracking services, and real-time monitoring tools (like Sentry or LogRocket) help shine a light on backend issues and client-side errors. These can help catch problems that might not surface during development.
API Debuggers
Sometimes you will run into issues between services that talk to one another. For debugging web services, API testing tools like Insomnia, Fiddler or Curl commands can help you send requests and analyze responses. They are really helpful in pinpointing issues like incorrect request formatting, unexpected response payloads or authentication failures.
System Tools
If you’re digging into operating system issues, your tools need to go deeper. These utilities expose the raw behavior of your system so you can spot misbehaving processes, network problems, or memory leaks.
Terminal Commands
If you’re debugging system-level issues, you’ll want to master the terminal. Commands like top, ps, strace, lsof, and dmesg let you see process activity running under the hood. These can help resolve issues with memory usage and file locks or help you dive into system logs to understand what’s happening.
Wireshark
Wireshark is a powerful tool for capturing and analyzing network traffic, helping diagnose issues like dropped packets, malformed requests, and unexpected data flows. You can use filtering to isolate specific protocols or messages you want to inspect by themselves. Wireshark helps you debug simple API calls or solve larger security issues.
Performance Profilers
Tools like perf, Valgrind, and built-in performance profilers in IDEs can help analyze bottlenecks in CPU usage, potential memory misallocation, and overall system performance. They can help you quickly spot inefficiencies, locate memory leaks, and optimize resource consumption before they turn into bigger issues.
Version Control Tools
If you’re a software developer, you should be using version control—full stop!
Version control lets you check back on code through time, which is particularly helpful if you’re trying to isolate when a bug was introduced. Most customer projects I’ve worked on rely on Git, though occasionally projects will use alternatives like Mercurial, Subversion, or Perforce. Each has its own strengths and drawbacks.
Since Git is widely used, I’d like to list some particularly helpful tools it has built in:
- git bisect helps track down when a bug was introduced by performing a binary search between commits.
- git blame pinpoints when and who last changed a specific line of code.
- git stash lets you temporarily set changes aside without committing them, which is useful for quick debugging without losing your current progress.
- git log patch can show the evolution of specific sections of code to understand when changes occurred.
So, What’s in Your Tookit?
Debugging is a reality any engineer encounters, and having the right tools makes all the difference. Software debugging is no exception. Whether you’re analyzing network packets, inspecting embedded hardware, or tracking down elusive JavaScript errors, the right toolkit helps turn debugging from a guessing game into a systematic process.
Everyone has their go-to methods. The key is knowing when to reach for what and being curious enough to dig deeper when you encounter the unexpected.
What about you? What tools do you keep close when things go sideways? Let’s trade tips! There’s always a trick or tool worth adding to the kit. Message us here.