Every each time I place a new Debug node to a flow, I have to double click and change from "payload" only -> to Whole msg Click Done I thing even a beginner should rather see the whole msg, instead of just the "payload". Even more since "topic" was introduced. I think it's time to change that p…

I believe this was originally set to payload, as each debug adds overheads and each complete message adds greater overload. I agree there is a need to inform new users that there could be more msg properties other than payload and topic. One possible suggestion, a flag on the debug node (default p…

This PR was already merged into v5 - Allow a nodes defaults to be overridden by settings.js file by dceejay · Pull Request #5591 · node-red/node-red · GitHub that allows you to set the defaults for that and many more nodes if required.

What is the reason this cannot be controlled via the editor instead ? It may be a bit of a stretch but has it been considered to do an overhaul of 'hiding' everything in settings.js, it has become an obscure and messy file to deal with, plus it is not exactly a 'modern' way. I understand that certa…

[image] bakman2: What is the reason this cannot be controlled via the editor instead ? Because of time and effort needed to design the UX and implement it. I had a full plate with other work and Dave stepped up to implement the basis of a solution via the settings file.

Please may I add my two pence worth here? I opened up User Settings today (after upgrading to 5.0) and was so impressed by how FEW settings there were. [image] bakman2: plus it is not exactly a 'modern' way User Settings page is clean, purposeful, and doesn't look like those old Windows app…

[image] hazymat: May I ask how exactly you find it messy and obscure? To be fair, there is some truth in this I believe. I've spent quite a bit of time over the years trying to make sense of the file and some time back made some suggestions for improvements to the comments that are built in, …

One of the issues re automation is that it is a .js file. JSON would be a lot easier to automate and keep syntactically correct, but doesn’t support comments, which are kind of essential unless it is fully automated, at which point it may as well be in the editor. Also .js does allow extra capabilit…

[image] dceejay: a .js file. JSON would be a lot easier to automate Well, most of the file IS a JavaScript object. :smiley: So it wouldn't be hard to move the core of it to a JSON file. The trick would be to retain a js file as an entry-point to Node-RED. Right now, it is perfectly possible …

User settings vs settings.js. I am referring to the settings.js file. The interface itself is fine and i was actually promoting to use it. Certain settings you should be able to control via the interface, especially when it controls interface outputs

[req.] Add to User-Settings: `[ ]` Debug `"payload"` only

Core Development

gregorius 8 June 2026 06:49 5

I created the concept of "alias nodes" as a method of setting alternative default values but that got no traction. That's a editor-only solution to having nodes with different default values. It's a non-standard and liable to break solution but it does the job now for v4.x (and 3.x also).

A debug node that uses complete message as default is included in this flow.

Vote for change. Debug "payload" only || or || the whole `msg`?

Topic		Replies	Views
Vote for change. Debug "payload" only \|\| or \|\| the whole `msg`? General	15	199	11 June 2026
Debug show full message as default / configurable Feature Requests debugging , debug	7	255	12 September 2024
Debug node: option to have "complete msg object" as default Feature Requests	6	1058	19 November 2020
Keep showing msg.payload in debug node status even in object mode Feature Requests	23	1311	14 May 2020
Allow overriding debug node defaults (e.g. "Also send to console") via settings.js Feature Requests	26	153	27 March 2026

[req.] Add to User-Settings: `[ ]` Debug `"payload"` only

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