DevLogBus

Browser Tap

Browser Tap is the Chrome extension that publishes browser-side debugging events into DevLogBus.

It is intended for local development. It does not publish until the user clicks Attach for the active tab.

Install Locally

Until the Chrome Web Store listing is public:

1. Start devlogbusd.
2. Open chrome://extensions.
3. Enable Developer mode.
4. Click Load unpacked.
5. Select extensions/chrome-devlogbus.
6. Open a normal web page.
7. Click the DevLogBus Browser Tap toolbar icon.
8. Click Attach.

The default daemon HTTP endpoint is:

http://127.0.0.1:7423

Permissions

Browser Tap requests:

• debugger: attaches to the active tab after the user clicks Attach so Chrome can deliver console, runtime, browser log, and network events.
• activeTab: scopes the attach flow to the tab the user acts on.
• tabs: reads the active tab title and URL for source grouping and labels.
• storage: saves endpoint, source override, capture toggles, filters, and redaction settings.
• host_permissions: local daemon HTTP endpoints.

The Chrome Web Store package grants host access only to:

http://127.0.0.1/*
http://localhost/*

Private unpacked builds can add a specific trusted remote daemon host if needed for development.

Capture Surface

Browser Tap can capture:

• console calls
• runtime exceptions
• browser log entries
• network requests
• network responses
• network failures

Each capture category has a popup toggle.

Scope Filters

Allow and deny patterns limit what Browser Tap publishes. Deny patterns always win. Empty allow patterns mean any page is allowed.

Examples:

localhost:5173
*.example.com
https://api.example.com/*

Use filters before attaching if the tab may load noisy or sensitive third-party URLs.

Redaction

Redaction is enabled by default for:

• authorization tokens
• sensitive URL parameters
• cookies

Redaction applies to messages, attributes, tab URLs, stack-frame URLs, and network URLs before records are sent to DevLogBus.

Sources And Groups

Without an override, Browser Tap source names use:

chrome:<host>

Network events use the request target host as the record source while also setting attrs.sourceGroup for the owning browser tab.

Example:

{
  "source": "chrome:api.localhost:8080",
  "message": "GET /api/orders -> 500",
  "attrs": {
    "sourceGroup": "chrome:localhost:5173",
    "tabTitle": "Local Checkout"
  }
}

The UI and TUI can show the parent tab as one merged timeline or split it into child sources.

Detach Warnings

Any debugger detach publishes a WARN record:

*** DEVLOGBUS BROWSER TAP DETACHED ***

This includes popup detaches, tab close events, Chrome debugger detach events, and DevTools taking over the debugger session.

Chrome Web Store Package

Create an upload zip with:

dev/browser-tap-store-package.sh dist/browser-tap-store

See Browser Tap Chrome Web Store Prep.

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