---
category: framework-guides
order: 40
---

# Development tools

In this guide you will learn about developer tools that will help you develop and debug CKEditor 5 plugins and features.

## CKEditor 5 inspector

The official [CKEditor 5 inspector](https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector) provides rich debugging tools for editor internals like {@link framework/guides/architecture/editing-engine#model model}, {@link framework/guides/architecture/editing-engine#view view}, and {@link framework/guides/architecture/core-editor-architecture#commands commands}.

It allows you to observe changes to the data structures and the selection live in the editor, which is particularly helpful when developing new rich-text editor features or getting to understand the existing ones.

{@img assets/img/framework-development-tools-inspector.jpg Screenshot of the CKEditor 5 inspector attached to a WYSIWYG editor instance.}

### Importing the inspector

You can import the inspector as an [`@ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector`](https://www.npmjs.com/package/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector) package into your project:

```bash
npm install --save-dev @ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector
```

and then either import it as a module:

```js
import CKEditorInspector from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector';
```

or as a plain `<script>` tag in the HTML of your application:

```html
<script src="../node_modules/@ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector/build/inspector.js"></script>
```

### Enabling the inspector

Attach the inspector to the editor instance when {@link builds/guides/integration/basic-api#creating-an-editor created} using the `CKEditorInspector.attach()` method:

```js
ClassicEditor
	.create( ... )
	.then( editor => {
		CKEditorInspector.attach( editor );
	} )
	.catch( error => {
		console.error( error );
	} );
```

The inspector will show up at the bottom of the screen.

### Inspecting multiple editors

You can inspect multiple CKEditor 5 instances at a time by calling `CKEditorInspector.attach()` for each one of them. Then you can switch the inspector context to inspect different editor instances.

You can specify the name of the editor when attaching to make working with multiple instances easier:

```js
// Inspecting two editor instances at the same time.
CKEditorInspector.attach( 'header-editor', editor );
CKEditorInspector.attach( 'body-editor', editor );
```

The editor switcher is in the upper–right corner of the inspector panel.

### Demo

Click the <b>"Inspect editor"</b> button below to attach the inspector to the editor:

{@snippet framework/development-tools/inspector}

## Compatibility

The inspector works with CKEditor 5 [v12.0.0](https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5/releases/tag/v12.0.0)+.

### Contributing to the inspector

The source code of CKEditor 5 inspector and its issue tracker is available on GitHub in https://github.com/ckeditor/ckeditor5-inspector.

## Testing helpers

The `getData()` and `setData()` functions exposed by {@link module:engine/dev-utils/model model developer utilities} and {@link module:engine/dev-utils/view view developer utilities} are useful development helpers.

They allow for "stringifying" the {@link framework/guides/architecture/editing-engine#model model} and {@link framework/guides/architecture/editing-engine#view view} structures, selections, ranges, and positions as well as for loading them from a string. They are often used when writing tests.

<info-box>
	Both tools are designed for prototyping, debugging, and testing purposes. Do not use them in production-grade code.
</info-box>

For instance, to take a peek at the editor model, you could use the {@link module:engine/dev-utils/model#static-function-getData `getData()`} helper:

```js
import { getData } from '@ckeditor/ckeditor5-engine/src/dev-utils/model';

// ...

ClassicEditor
	.create( '<p>Hello <b>world</b>!</p>' )
	.then( editor => {
		console.log( getData( editor.model ) );

		// -> '<paragraph>[]Hello <$text bold="true">world</$text>!</paragraph>'
	} );
```

See the helper documentation to learn more about useful options.
