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Hermes support #573
Description
Hey, I just wanted to check to see if there's any interest / work on Hermes support for the React Native Debugger. The React Native team's work on JSI is still in progress, but once that is launched the approach of running the JS thread remotely won't work anymore, since JSI relies on having shared memory access between the JS thread and the native thread, which isn't possible when the two threads are running on different hosts.
The way that the React Native team is looking to address this is with Hermes, their custom JS runtime. JSI works with both Hermes and JSC, but the Hermes team has implemented the Chrome inspector protocol for Hermes, which allows the Chrome debugger running on a laptop to communicate with the Hermes runtime running on a device.
It's also possible to debug Apple's JSC through Safari, which IIRC relies on a similar "remote inspection" approach. It probably won't be easy to integrate with RND though, since RND is based on the Chrome toolset.
Given that context, it seems like the best way forward for RND to work with JSI is through Hermes. The link above explains how to get the Chrome debugger working with Hermes – I'm guessing that something similar can be done to get RND working with Hermes.
Activity
madandrija commentedon Mar 2, 2021
If this isn't done, I'm not sure there will be any use for RND since apps crash when they touch code that uses TurboModules
rusakovic commentedon Aug 23, 2021
It's the most important feature for implementing.
All of us will be glad to see your best react native debugger with Hermes.
Flipper - is a bull shit in comparison with your debugger!!
pavermakov commentedon Nov 3, 2021
@rusakovic I'm glad I'm not the only one who can't stand flipper. Too bad flipper is now shipped and installed by default.
minhchienwikipedia commentedon Nov 16, 2021
Same to me, I hope we can use RN Debugger for it, I don't want to use Flipper, it's too bad, it's hard to use, too much setup...! I hope you guys can do it ASAP, thank you guys for what you did!
minhchienwikipedia commentedon Nov 18, 2021
I found it, we can use Reanimated 2 with React Native Debugger until version
2.3.0-alpha.2(suggest using version 2.3.0-beta.2 for now) or you can wait for official version, this is only a beta versionhttps://github.com/software-mansion/react-native-reanimated/releases/tag/2.3.0-alpha.2 - Added chrome debugger support
msageryd commentedon Dec 30, 2021
This would be awesome!
I have had a couple of weeks with Flipper. I thought Flipper was the new way to go. I even uninstalled RND, since I couldn't run it with Hermes anyway. Flipper has some nice features, but it's soo slow. Debugging Redux actions with Flipper is a PITA.
I have now reinstalled RND and will go back to V8 until RND supports Hermes. My thumbs up for this feature.
mikeduminy commentedon Jan 27, 2022
How would this be accomplished in theory?
imisshtml commentedon Feb 3, 2022
Yes, this would be helpful. Flipper is really horrible and on my machine it takes up too much processing power.
vmechiev commentedon Apr 19, 2022
I hope u will implement hermes support, guys, because I don't want to use Flipper, bcs it is difficult to configurate and not so convinient as your tool.
Ashoat commentedon Apr 19, 2022
If somebody is interested in adding a Flipper plugin with support for the Redux debugger, let me know. I don't currently have the cycles to work on it, but I have pretty good context on the problem and what it would take to solve it.
Nantris commentedon Aug 23, 2022
This just shot to the top of my wishlist when Flipper decided it wasn't going to work on any of my machines or projects one day...
klitko13 commentedon Sep 22, 2022
Up
alex-mironov commentedon Oct 21, 2022
Are there any plans to make it working with Hermes? Starting from RN 0.70 it's a default option so this feature is critical.
Reactor-Labs commentedon Nov 2, 2022
I'm using Reactotron and Flipper and both seem to be good options
https://github.com/infinitered/reactotron
https://fbflipper.com/
9 remaining items
jalvarson commentedon Apr 5, 2023
+1 Really need this.
Nantris commentedon Apr 5, 2023
To everyone saying they really need this - you probably don't. Why do you need it?
I am not a maintainer, but I want to reiterate how exceedingly unlikely it is that this will happen. This package is currently based on a version of Electron that is 10 behind the oldest still-supported version, and integrating Hermes is a big ask when there are other comparable tools now that did not exist when this project began.
davidtiede commentedon Apr 6, 2023
The main reason for me is that Flipper is not compatible with
@react-native-firebase/app, so right out of the box I'm without a debugger.Chrome://inspectseems nothing more than a familiar console andreact-devtoolsworks fine for inspecting react components / state, but both of these tools lack a network inspector (as far as I can tell). Ifreact-native-debuggersupported Hermes, debugging network requests would be possible.If
react-native-debuggeris not needed.. how is everyone else inspecting network requests? 🧐Nantris commentedon Apr 6, 2023
@davidtiede that's fair - but I wouldn't get your hopes up that this will ever happen.
If somebody needs it, it's likely they're going to have to be the one to figure it out and submit a PR. This issue has been open for years as releases of the project become more infrequent and the maintainers have never replied to this issue.
davidtiede commentedon Apr 6, 2023
@slapbox no I'm sure you're right.. It's a bit frustrating coming from the web world where DevTools are the standard, but mobile debugging seems like an after thought. I'll just
console.logeverything for now.Nantris commentedon Apr 6, 2023
I've waited for over 3 years thinking mobile development would stop sucking any day now - but it just hasn't materialized sadly.
Ashoat commentedon Apr 7, 2023
At Comm we've set up
react-devtools,redux-devtools, and JS debugging viaexpo-dev-clientwithout Flipper. It all works with Hermes, and we're able to fully replace all of the functionality inreact-native-debuggerwith this stack.Unfortunately it does require a lot of project configuration, and we don't have the cycles right now to package it into a standalone project like
react-native-debugger. That said, our codebase is open source: https://github.com/CommE2E/commgusgard commentedon May 3, 2023
I'm using
react-native-debuggerwith Hermes and Firebase, could you try https://www.npmjs.com/package/react-native-devsettings?activeTab=readme?Related to: #755
jaexplorer commentedon May 4, 2023
@gusgard trying now
jaexplorer commentedon May 4, 2023
@gusgard Omg I love you this works.
youwasborntodo commentedon May 4, 2023
I hope that 100 years later, my great-grandson will tell me during the Qingming Festival: RND can supported hermes
jncampbell commentedon May 21, 2023
We could really use some communication regarding if this is on the table or not. This tool no longer works with any react native versions that use the default hermes engine. It's totally fine if support is not on the horizon but I think that should be communicated so folks can look for (or build) more future-proof solutions.
Ashoat commentedon May 22, 2023
At App.js earlier this month, a Meta engineer presented an upcoming version of Metro that supports the Chrome DevTools Protocol. No guarantees on
react-native-debuggersupport working naturally with that, but it's at least a positive development, and should unblockreact-native-debuggercompatibility.At Comm we're still using
expo-dev-clientfor debugger support andreact-devtools/redux-devtoolsdirectly. It works fine, and you can check out our repo here.jhen0409 commentedon Jul 19, 2023
Sorry for being late, I'll close this first. I created a new discussion about this, if you want to know any news about Hermes debugger support (related JSI / Fabric / New Architecture) in RNDebugger, you can follow #774. Also, any help or advice would be appreciated.