Experimental features in Microsoft Edge DevTools

Microsoft Edge DevTools provide access to experimental features that are still in development. This article lists and describes the experimental features that are in either:

• The latest version of the Canary preview channel of Microsoft Edge.
• The latest version of the Stable release of Microsoft Edge.

All channels of Microsoft Edge have experimental features. You can get the latest experimental features by using the Microsoft Edge Canary channel. To view the full list of experiments that are available in your version of Microsoft Edge, see the Settings > Experiments page in DevTools.

These experiments could be unstable or unreliable and may require you to restart DevTools.

Turning an experiment on or off

Experimental features are constantly being updated and might cause performance issues. This is one reason you might want to turn off an experiment.

To turn an experiment on or off in Microsoft Edge:

1. To open DevTools, right-click the webpage, and then select Inspect. Or, press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows, Linux) or Command+Option+I (macOS). DevTools opens.

2. In DevTools, on the main toolbar, click the Customize and control DevTools () button, and then click the Settings () button. Or, press Shift+?.

3. On the left side of the Settings panel, select the Experiments page:

   

4. Select or clear the checkbox for an experiment. Some experiments are selected by default.

5. Click Close () in the upper right of DevTools Settings.

6. Click the Reload DevTools button.

Restoring defaults for which experiments are selected

To restore the default settings for which experimental features are turned on:

1. To open DevTools, right-click the webpage, and then select Inspect. Or, press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows, Linux) or Command+Option+I (macOS). DevTools opens.

2. In DevTools, on the main toolbar, click the Settings () button. Or, press Shift+?. The Settings panel opens, with the Preferences page selected.

3. At the bottom of the Preferences page, click the Restore defaults and refresh button, and then click Close ().

Filtering the experiments

You can filter the experimental features by text included in the title.

1. To open DevTools, right-click the webpage, and then select Inspect. Or, press Ctrl+Shift+I (Windows, Linux) or Command+Option+I (macOS). DevTools opens.

2. In DevTools, on the main toolbar, click the Settings () button. Or, press Shift+?. The Settings panel opens, with the Preferences page selected.

3. On the left side of the Settings panel, select the Experiments page.

4. Click in the Filter text box and enter text, such as timeline. As you type, only the matching checkboxes are shown in the Experiments page.

5. To end filtering, clear the Filter text box.

Providing feedback about the experiments

We're eager to hear your feedback about experimental features. To share feedback with us, Contact the Microsoft Edge DevTools team.

List of experiments

The experiments checkboxes that appear in the latest version of the Canary preview channel of Microsoft Edge are listed below. The Stable release is also noted, following behind the addition or removal of checkboxes in Canary.

AI Explain Console Error

Controls whether the Explain console feature is on or off. When the Explain console feature is on, clicking the Copilot icon opens the sidebar chat and explains the error.

See also:

• Explain Console errors and warnings using Copilot in Edge

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Durable Messages

The Durable Messages experiment is an enhancement to the Network tool's Preserve log feature.

When the Durable Messages checkbox is selected, DevTools tells the browser to buffer network response bodies outside of the renderer process, so that requests and response bodies survive cross-process navigations. This feature only takes effect when the Preserve log setting is enabled in the Network tool.

When the Durable Messages checkbox is cleared, the default behavior results: response bodies live in the renderer process, and are lost after cross-process navigation.

See also:

• Save requests across page loads in Network features reference.

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Enable CSS Copilot

Enables using Copilot in the Microsoft Edge Sidebar to explain HTML elements and CSS styles to help you better understand a particular element or style rule that's displayed in the Elements tool. To ask Copilot about an element or style rule, click the Copilot button next to it, and then ask follow-up questions.

This experiment is not available when the Sidebar is turned off.

See also:

• Inspect, edit, and debug HTML and CSS with the Elements tool

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Enable symbol server extension support

If this checkbox is selected, the Edge DevTools Symbol Server Extension Test extension is supported, giving the new experience for Symbol Server in an extension. This extension is still in beta/test.

If this checkbox is cleared, use DevTools > Settings > Symbol Server page.

See also:

• Securely debug original code by publishing source maps to the Azure Artifacts symbol server
• Securely debug original code by using Azure Artifacts symbol server source maps

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is not present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Instrumentation breakpoints

Whether to halt at test breakpoints. This experiment makes breakpoints more reliable.

See also:

• Enable synchronization on instrumentation breakpoints
• The first time source files are loaded, breakpoints might not trigger

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

JPEG XL support

When this checkbox is selected, the Rendering tool has a Disable JPEG XL image format checkbox.

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Log DevTools uncaught exceptions to Console

Controls whether to log DevTools uncaught exceptions in the Console tool.

See also:

• Console overview

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Open source files in Visual Studio Code

The Open source files in Visual Studio Code experiment replaces the code editor of the Sources tool with Visual Studio Code, for editing local files. When you turn on this experiment, Developer Tools detects when you edit a local file, and prompts you to select a folder to use as your Workspace.

When you select a folder to use as your Workspace, selecting any link to a file in DevTools opens the file in Visual Studio Code. In previous versions of Microsoft Edge, this action opened the file in the code editor of the Sources tool in DevTools.

Any edits that you make in DevTools now change the file on the hard drive and sync live with Visual Studio Code.

See also:

• Opening source files in Visual Studio Code - setting up your workspace.

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

Protocol Monitor

Makes the Protocol monitor tool available in DevTools:

The Protocol monitor tool displays the messages that are sent and received by DevTools, to debug the inspected page. DevTools communicates with the inspected page by using the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP).

To select this checkbox and then open the Protocol monitor tool:

1. Select this Protocol Monitor checkbox as described in Turning an experiment on or off, above.

2. In Quick View at the bottom of DevTools, click the More tools (+) button, and then select Protocol monitor.

   Or, open the Command Menu, such as by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Command+Shift+P (macOS), and then type protocol in the text box. Then select Show Protocol monitor.

   The Protocol monitor tool is displayed in the Quick View panel at the bottom of DevTools.

See also:

• Use the Chrome DevTools Protocol (CDP) in WebView2 apps
• [Experimental] Protocol monitor in What's New In DevTools (Chrome 92).

Status:

• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Canary 153.
• This checkbox is present in Microsoft Edge Stable 151.

See also

• Release notes for Microsoft Edge web platform