Console logs not visible in Metro bundler (Hermes debugging not working)

[SkipperQ93]

Problem Description

I'm developing a desktop app using React Native Windows (RNW) and encountering issues with viewing console logs during development.

• Console logs don't appear in Metro bundler (npm run start) when running the app
• Following the official documentation for Hermes debugging:
  • Navigating to edge://inspect
  • Selecting the Hermes target opens a blank debugger window (no console, no sources)

Steps To Reproduce

1. Create new RNW project
2. Add console.log statements
3. Run npm run start
4. Launch app (either via npx react-native run-windows or from Visual Studio)
5. Observe Metro output shows no logs
6. Attempt to debug via edge://inspect

Expected Results

• Console logs should be visible in Metro bundler output
• Hermes debugger should show console and sources when inspecting the app

CLI version

15.0.1

Environment

System:
  OS: Windows 10 10.0.19045
  CPU: (4) x64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
  Memory: 3.03 GB / 5.98 GB
Binaries:
  Node:
    version: 20.19.0
    path: C:\nvm4w\nodejs\node.EXE
  Yarn:
    version: 1.22.22
    path: C:\nvm4w\nodejs\yarn.CMD
  npm:
    version: 10.8.2
    path: C:\nvm4w\nodejs\npm.CMD
  Watchman: Not Found
SDKs:
  Android SDK: Not Found
  Windows SDK:
    AllowDevelopmentWithoutDevLicense: Enabled
    AllowAllTrustedApps: Enabled
    Versions:
      - 10.0.19041.0
      - 10.0.22621.0
IDEs:
  Android Studio: Not Found
  Visual Studio:
    - 17.13.35931.197 (Visual Studio Community 2022)
Languages:
  Java: Not Found
  Ruby: Not Found
npmPackages:
  "@react-native-community/cli":
    installed: 15.0.1
    wanted: 15.0.1
  react:
    installed: 19.0.0
    wanted: 19.0.0
  react-native:
    installed: 0.78.0
    wanted: 0.78.0
  react-native-windows:
    installed: 0.78.4
    wanted: 0.78.4
npmGlobalPackages:
  "*react-native*": Not Found
Android:
  hermesEnabled: true
  newArchEnabled: true
iOS:
  hermesEnabled: Not found
  newArchEnabled: Not found

Community Modules

"dependencies": {
"react": "19.0.0",
"react-native": "0.78.0",
"react-native-windows": "0.78.4"
},
"devDependencies": {
"@babel/core": "^7.25.2",
"@babel/preset-env": "^7.25.3",
"@babel/runtime": "^7.25.0",
"@react-native-community/cli": "15.0.1",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-android": "15.0.1",
"@react-native-community/cli-platform-ios": "15.0.1",
"@react-native/babel-preset": "0.78.0",
"@react-native/eslint-config": "0.78.0",
"@react-native/metro-config": "0.78.0",
"@react-native/typescript-config": "0.78.0",
"@types/jest": "^29.5.13",
"@types/react": "^19.0.0",
"@types/react-test-renderer": "^19.0.0",
"eslint": "^8.19.0",
"jest": "^29.6.3",
"prettier": "2.8.8",
"react-test-renderer": "19.0.0",
"typescript": "5.0.4",
"metro-config": "^0.81.4"
},
"engines": {
"node": ">=18"
},

Target Platform Version

10.0.19041

Target Device(s)

Desktop

Visual Studio Version

Visual Studio 2022

Build Configuration

Debug

Snack, code example, screenshot, or link to a repository

No response

[chrisglein]

Logs not showing up in Metro was an intentional change in 0.77 (release notes.
The story should be to get them from the Hermes debugger, but as you've noticed, that isn't working. Issues with that are tracked here: #12982
Another workaround would be to hook the native console log event: https://microsoft.github.io/react-native-windows/docs/native-api/ReactInstanceSettings#nativelogger
But you've identified the core issue here, which is Hermes debugging.

Resolving this as a duplicate of #12982.