WebSocket Debugging Without a Proxy — A Browser-First Workflow (opens in new tab)

WebSocket debugging is one of those things that sounds simple until you actually have to do it. The connection looks fine in DevTools, but messages are malformed, timing is off, or the server is behaving unexpectedly — and you have no easy way to inspect what's happening at the frame level without setting up a proxy or installing something heavy. Here's a practical workflow that requires nothing beyond a browser, illustrated with a real debugging scenario.