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<p>The <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/debugger-protocol">Chrome debugging protocol</a> allows for tools to instrument, inspect, debug and profile Chromium, Chrome and other Blink-based browsers. Many existing projects <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/debugging-clients">currently use</a> the protocol. The <a href="https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/">Chrome DevTools</a> uses this protocol and the team maintains its API.

<p>Instrumentation is divided into a number of domains (DOM, Debugger, Network
etc.). Each domain defines a number of commands it supports and events it
generates. Both commands and events are serialized JSON objects of a fixed
structure. You can either <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/debugger-protocol">debug
over the wire</a> using the raw messages as they are described in the corresponding domain
documentation, or use <a href="https://developer.chrome.com/devtools/docs/debugger-protocol#extension">extension
JavaScript API.</a></p>

<p>Consider subscribing to the <a href="https://groups.google.com/d/forum/chrome-debugging-protocol">chrome-debugging-protocol</a> mailing list.

<p><b><a href="tot/">tot</a>:</b> The <b>latest (tip-of-tree) protocol</b> <a href="https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+log/master/third_party/WebKit/Source/core/inspector/browser_protocol.json">changes</a> <a href="https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/src/+log/master/third_party/WebKit/Source/platform/v8_inspector/js_protocol.json"></a>frequently</a> and may break at any time. However it captures the full capabilities of the Protocol, whereas the stable release is a subset. There is no backwards compatibility support guaranteed for the capabilities it introduces.</p>

<p><b><a href="v8/">v8</a>:</b>
  The <b>v8-inspector protocol</b> is available in <a href="https://nodejs.org/en/blog/release/v6.3.0/">node 6.3+</a> and enables <a href="https://medium.com/@paul_irish/debugging-node-js-nightlies-with-chrome-devtools-7c4a1b95ae27">debugging & profiling</a> of Node.js apps.
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<p><b><a href="1-2/">1-2</a>:</b> The <b>1.2 version of the protocol</b> is the latest stable release of the protocol, tagged at Chrome 54. It includes a smaller subset of the complete protocol compatibilities.