Node.js console.log() not logging anything

Trying out node.js for the first time. Set up node, set up the example app from the nodejs.org site. Can start the server fine, but console.log() isn't actually logging anything. Tried the Javascript console in Chrome, Firefox, and Safari - nothing appears in the log. Also checked Console on my Mac just for kicks, nothing was there either. What am I missing?

(Here's the example code that works but doesn't log anything.)

var http = require('http');
http.createServer(function (req, res) {
  res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
  res.end('Hello World\n');
}).listen(1337, "127.0.0.1");
console.log('Server running at http://127.0.0.1:1337/');

In a node.js server console.log outputs to the terminal window, not to the browser's console window.

How are you running your server? You should see the output directly after you start it.


This can be confusing for anyone using nodejs for the first time. It is actually possible to pipe your node console output to the browser console. Take a look at connect-browser-logger on github

UPDATE: As pointed out by Yan, connect-browser-logger appears to be defunct. I would recommend NodeMonkey as detailed here : Output to Chrome console from Node.js


Using modern --inspect with node the console.log is captured and relayed to the browser.

node --inspect myApp.js

or to capture early logging --inspect-brk can be used to stop the program on the first line of the first module...

node --inspect-brk myApp.js