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Clean Debug Node ​

Purpose & Use Cases ​

The clean-debug node is a drop-in replacement for the core Debug node that keeps the editor sidebar responsive by sanitizing heavy payloads (buffers, images, base64 strings) before display.

Typical scenarios:

  • Inspecting image or binary flows without freezing the sidebar
  • Logging large messages safely during development
  • Keeping debug output readable in production flows

Input/Output Specification ​

Inputs ​

  • Incoming Message: Any Node-RED message.

Outputs ​

  • No message output: The node publishes to the debug sidebar and/or console only.

Configuration Options ​

Output ​

  • Type: Typed input (msg/flow/global/env/jsonata/etc.)
  • Default: msg.payload
  • Purpose: Selects the value to display. Choose the full message object if needed.

Send to debug sidebar ​

  • Type: Boolean
  • Default: Enabled
  • Purpose: Shows the sanitized value in the editor sidebar.

Also log to console ​

  • Type: Boolean
  • Default: Disabled
  • Purpose: Logs the value to the Node-RED runtime log.

Clean heavy payloads ​

  • Type: Boolean
  • Default: Enabled
  • Purpose: Replaces large buffers, typed arrays, data URLs, and long base64 strings with short placeholders.

Enabled ​

  • Type: Boolean (button toggle)
  • Purpose: Temporarily disable the node without removing it from the flow.

Behavior Notes ​

  • Cleaning only affects what is displayed; the original message is not modified.
  • When cleaning is disabled, the node behaves like the standard Debug node.
  • Large arrays/objects are truncated for safety; circular references are handled gracefully.

Example ​

[Image-In] -> [clean-debug: Output=msg.payload, Clean=on]

Use clean mode to inspect image payloads without dumping full binary data.