WPEWebKit – 2.0: Remote Web Inspector
Description: Reference for WPEWebKit-2.0: Remote Web Inspector

#### Remote Web Inspector

The remote Web Inspector enables debugging of web pages from a different device. This may be particularly useful in environments where it may not be feasible to use the Web Inspector in the same screen, or when input devices (keyboard, mouse) are not available.

Note WPE WebKit only supports using the Web Inspector remotely, as embedded devices often lack input devices, have smaller screens, use custom windowing systems, or may even be headless (no screen at all).

## Server

To run an application with the remote inspector server enabled:

- When running the application, set the environment variable `WEBKIT_INSPECTOR_SERVER` or `WEBKIT_INSPECTOR_HTTP_SERVER` to configure on which address and port the server will open its listening socket.
- The application must enable `WebKitSettings:enable-developer-extras`. This determines whether the Web Inspector may be used at all.

As an example, the `MiniBrowser` program included in the WebKit source code distribution may be used as a server for remote inspection:

    export WEBKIT_INSPECTOR_SERVER=192.168.0.50:5000
    MiniBrowser --enable-developer-extras=true https://wpewebkit.org

## Client

Important

The Web Inspector uses current Web APIs as supported by WebKit; browser support varies. For the best experience it is recommended to use a WebKit-based browser with a version matching (or newer than) the one running the server.

Chromium and derivatives tend to work well when using the HTTP inspector server, too.

Browsers based on WebKitGTK may be used as clients for the remote Web Inspector service. The client is started by opening an URI with the `inspector://` scheme, plus the address and port where the server is listening, e.g.:

    MiniBrowser inspector://192.168.0.50:5000

The Web Inspector is an application written using Web technologies itself, and it may be loaded on non-WebKit browsers. If enabled, the inspector server will listen for HTTP incoming requests, and `inspector://` may be replaced by the `http://` scheme.