I built APILens to show where a slow Node.js request spends its time

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Hey Product Hunt,

I'm building APILens, a Node.js API observability tool.

Here's the debugging problem I'm focused on: an API endpoint is slow, but its total response time doesn't tell you why. You still need to determine whether the time was spent in your application code, a database query, or waiting for an external API.

APILens combines request instrumentation with a dashboard where you can inspect request timing, database activity, and outbound HTTP calls in a single trace.

The instrumentation package is `auto-api-observe`, and the goal is to make that visibility available without setting up a full observability stack.

I'm now looking for feedback from developers who work with Node.js APIs.

I'd particularly value your thoughts on two things:

1. When looking at a request trace, what information do you need to decide what to investigate next?

2. What would concern you most before trying a new instrumentation package in a staging environment: overhead, sensitive data, framework compatibility, or something else?

Explore APILens:

npm package:

APILens is currently in beta, and I'm looking for honest technical feedback to help improve the debugging workflow. I'll respond to questions and suggestions here.

Thanks!

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