How do I debug a Node.js application?

By default, the error page displayed in your web browser is fairly basic. You can enable a more advanced debugging mode in Phusion Passenger to display more detailed errors by adding the following lines to the .htaccess file at the root of the domain (and, if applicable, the subdomain):

PassengerAppEnv development
PassengerFriendlyErrorPages on

You can also easily create a "Hello World" application to check whether the problem comes from your code or from the server.

Updated on: 17/07/2026