# External Debugger and Copy Debug URL? **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [January 21, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451 "2020-01-21T02:17:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pdixon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pdixon/32/6899_2.png) [@pdixon](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pdixon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/1 "2020-01-21T02:17:29Z")
I cannot find any documentation of the Designer Tools features for External Debugger and Copy Debug URL. Can someone show me where I would find an explanation of what these are and how to use them? ![ig_extdebug](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/2X/2/2076137d5e516374487a2e4007568ffc6d9326b9.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 4:40pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/2 "2020-01-21T16:40:40Z")
External debugger attempts to open (in the default web browser) a Chromium remote debugging session attached to the web browser that’s “embedded” in the designer. If your OS’s default browser _isn’t_ Chromium based (ie, Firefox, Safari, etc) then this won’t work properly - so you can also Copy Debug Url and manually open a Chromium browser. Once you do, you’ll get a window with the same dev tools you get in a “real” web browser (the ones you get via Ctrl Shift I/F12), which allows you to open a console, view page source, manually tweak CSS, etc. It’s generally only useful for our development use, but could occasionally be useful for designers, so we left the capability there. ---
**Author:** ![pdixon](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pdixon/32/6899_2.png) [@pdixon](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pdixon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2020, 7:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/3 "2020-01-21T19:11:54Z")
When I select Copy Debug URL and then open Chrome, when I try to paste the URL nothing is there. It does not appear that the copy function works. ---
**Author:** ![mahsasalimi](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/mahsasalimi/32/68520_2.png) [@mahsasalimi](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/mahsasalimi)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2021, 9:19am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/4 "2021-08-26T09:19:31Z")
Hi , My default browser is chrome. when I try to open the external debugger I get the error that the connection was closed . I tried to copy the ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/3/d/3d2195cf7a6401103072fdc0a0b25cbd0ab16bc7.png) I tried to use “Copy Debug URL” and pasted it in the chrome but got the same issue . ---
**Author:** ![victordcq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f6c823/32.png) [@victordcq](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/victordcq)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 7:37am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/5 "2022-02-07T07:37:24Z")
i got the same, found any solution? Edit: Seems when copying the url you gotta change all mentions of “localhost” to your loopback ip (127.0.0.1) ---
**Author:** ![limwl](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/limwl/32/23882_2.png) [@limwl](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/limwl)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 1:22am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/6 "2023-03-14T01:22:53Z")
![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/f/5/f5090a5ff4175a6b0116596c21c1c572e8f4d4d3.png) Please help I only can see empty page. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2023, 5:53am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/external-debugger-and-copy-debug-url/31451/7 "2023-03-14T05:53:20Z")
Well, something is diverting you to `appspot.com`, and your site security is blocking that. I'm not that familiar with Chrome's dev tools (I use Firefox), but that diversion seems wrong to me.