Capture node creation stack traces

Have you ever wanted to know what caused a specific DOM node or element to be created in the page? When working on a site that uses a lot of JavaScript and especially when you don't know the codebase, this can be a life saver.

It turns out there is a way to do this automatically without having to set breakpoints in the code at all. It is a hidden experiment for now so you will need to first enable it in Chrome or Edge.

• Go through the following steps once to enable the experiment:

  • Go to the DevTools settings (press F1, or use the gear icon in the toolbar)
  • Go to the Experiments tab
  • Check the Capture node creation stacks box
  • Reload DevTools

• Make sure DevTools is opened when using the website so that stack traces get captured. When you want to know what created a node:

  • Select the node in the Elements panel
  • In the sidebar, select the Stack Trace panel (you might have to first click on the More tabs chevron >> to see the tab)
  • The stack of JavaScript calls that led to the node creation (if any) should be displayed.