Unable to get React Native Debugger to work in Ubuntu: 'waiting for React to connect' message

Question

I've set up an app in React Native on Ubuntu 20.04 and am trying to get React Native Debugger to connect. I've installed the debugger from the .deb file then launched it from launcher before starting the Android emulator. On the debugger, I am getting a 'Waiting for React to connect...' message. If I navigate to:

http://localhost:8081/debugger-ui/

I see the 'Another debugger is already connected' message when the React Native Debugger GUI is running, it disappears when I quit the debugger. So it is doing something and there is some connection there.

Are there any steps that I missed? I got the impression that it should work out of the box.

react-native version is 0.63.2, the Debugger is 0.11.4

Blastocyst

Answer 1

I had to press CTRL + M on the emulator and click on 'Debug', this connected to the debugger.

Blastocyst

Answer 2

react native runs on 19001 port. so what you have to do is to open a new debugger window and enter the 19001 port. and make sure to enable the debugger mode in react native. reload the app and everything will work.

Trinette

I believe 19001 is for Expo which I am not using. If I try to connect to the port from Debugger, it says 'attempting connection'. It says that for every port apart from 8081 where it says 'waiting for client connection' instead, so it seems the port is correct. The port works from browser too as I can navigate to localhost:8081/debugger-ui – Blastocyst