diff --git a/templates/common/Gruntfile.js b/templates/common/Gruntfile.js
index c07675551..3e0260b18 100644
--- a/templates/common/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/templates/common/Gruntfile.js
@@ -170,6 +170,40 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
       }
     },
 
+    // Debugging with node inspector
+    'node-inspector': {
+      custom: {
+        options: {
+          'web-host': 'localhost'
+        }
+      }
+    },
+
+    // Use nodemon to run server in debug mode with an initial breakpoint
+    nodemon: {
+      debug: {
+        script: 'server.js',
+        options: {
+          nodeArgs: ['--debug-brk'],
+          env: {
+            PORT: process.env.PORT || 9000
+          },
+          callback: function (nodemon) {
+            nodemon.on('log', function (event) {
+              console.log(event.colour);
+            });
+
+            // opens browser on initial server start
+            nodemon.on('config:update', function () {
+              setTimeout(function () {
+                require('open')('http://localhost:8080/debug?port=5858');
+              }, 500);              
+            });
+          }
+        }
+      }
+    },
+
     // Automatically inject Bower components into the app
     'bower-install': {
       app: {<% if (jade) { %>
@@ -386,6 +420,15 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
         'compass'<% } else { %>
         'copy:styles'<% } %>
       ],
+      debug: {
+        tasks: [
+          'nodemon',
+          'node-inspector'
+        ],
+        options: {
+          logConcurrentOutput: true
+        }
+      },
       dist: [<% if (coffee) { %>
         'coffee',<% } %><% if (compass) { %>
         'compass:dist',<% } else { %>
@@ -465,6 +508,16 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
       return grunt.task.run(['build', 'express:prod', 'open', 'express-keepalive']);
     }
 
+    if (target === 'debug') {
+      return grunt.task.run([
+        'clean:server',
+        'bower-install',
+        'concurrent:server',
+        'autoprefixer',
+        'concurrent:debug'
+      ]);
+    }
+
     grunt.task.run([
       'clean:server',
       'bower-install',
diff --git a/templates/common/_package.json b/templates/common/_package.json
index a6ffe9e29..491435c22 100644
--- a/templates/common/_package.json
+++ b/templates/common/_package.json
@@ -57,7 +57,10 @@
     "grunt-mocha-test": "~0.8.1",
     "supertest": "~0.8.2",
     "should": "~2.1.0",
-    "grunt-env": "~0.4.1"
+    "grunt-env": "~0.4.1",
+    "grunt-node-inspector": "~0.1.3",
+    "grunt-nodemon": "~0.2.0",
+    "open": "~0.0.4"
   },
   "engines": {
     "node": ">=0.10.0"