diff --git a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package-manager.ts b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package-manager.ts
index 66a3d6ded5bc4..f23632e1c70d8 100644
--- a/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package-manager.ts
+++ b/dev-packages/application-package/src/application-package-manager.ts
@@ -83,16 +83,14 @@ export class ApplicationPackageManager {
                 THEIA_PARENT_PID: String(process.pid)
             }
         };
-        const debug = Number(process.env['THEIA_DEBUG']);
-        if (typeof debug === 'number' && !isNaN(debug)) {
-            options.execArgv = ['--nolazy', '--inspect=' + debug];
-        }
-        const debugBrk = Number(process.env['THEIA_DEBUG_BRK']);
-        if (typeof debugBrk === 'number' && !isNaN(debugBrk)) {
-            options.execArgv = ['--nolazy', '--inspect-brk=' + debugBrk];
+        const mainArgs = [...args];
+        const inspectIndex = mainArgs.findIndex(v => v.startsWith('--inspect'));
+        if (inspectIndex !== -1) {
+            const inspectArg = mainArgs.splice(inspectIndex, 1)[0];
+            options.execArgv = ['--nolazy', inspectArg];
         }
         return this.__process.bunyan(
-            this.__process.fork(this.pck.backend('main.js'), args, options)
+            this.__process.fork(this.pck.backend('main.js'), mainArgs, options)
         );
     }
 
diff --git a/packages/core/src/node/messaging/ipc-connection-provider.ts b/packages/core/src/node/messaging/ipc-connection-provider.ts
index 38a8e1f801695..51318e59e3959 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/node/messaging/ipc-connection-provider.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/node/messaging/ipc-connection-provider.ts
@@ -17,8 +17,6 @@ export interface ResolvedIPCConnectionOptions {
     readonly entryPoint: string
     readonly logger: ILogger
     readonly args: string[]
-    readonly debug?: number
-    readonly debugBrk?: number
     readonly errorHandler?: ConnectionErrorHandler
 }
 export type IPCConnectionOptions = Partial<ResolvedIPCConnectionOptions> & {
@@ -84,18 +82,15 @@ export class IPCConnectionProvider {
     protected fork(options: ResolvedIPCConnectionOptions): cp.ChildProcess {
         const forkOptions: cp.ForkOptions = {
             silent: true,
-            env: createIpcEnv({
-                env: process.env,
-                entryPoint: options.entryPoint
-            }),
+            env: createIpcEnv(options),
             execArgv: []
         };
-        if (typeof options.debug === 'number' && !isNaN(options.debug)) {
-            forkOptions.execArgv = ['--nolazy', '--inspect=' + options.debug];
-        }
-        if (typeof options.debugBrk === 'number' && !isNaN(options.debugBrk)) {
-            forkOptions.execArgv = ['--nolazy', '--inspect-brk=' + options.debugBrk];
+        const inspectArgPrefix = `--${options.serverName}-inspect`;
+        const inspectArg = process.argv.find(v => v.startsWith(inspectArgPrefix));
+        if (inspectArg !== undefined) {
+            forkOptions.execArgv = ['--nolazy', `--inspect${inspectArg.substr(inspectArgPrefix.length)}`];
         }
+
         const childProcess = cp.fork(path.resolve(__dirname, 'ipc-bootstrap.js'), options.args, forkOptions);
         childProcess.stdout.on('data', data => this.logger.info(`[${options.serverName}: ${childProcess.pid}] ${data.toString()}`));
         childProcess.stderr.on('data', data => this.logger.error(`[${options.serverName}: ${childProcess.pid}] ${data.toString()}`));
diff --git a/packages/filesystem/src/node/filesystem-watcher-client.ts b/packages/filesystem/src/node/filesystem-watcher-client.ts
index d0b995b2564a1..aa0b072d4f363 100644
--- a/packages/filesystem/src/node/filesystem-watcher-client.ts
+++ b/packages/filesystem/src/node/filesystem-watcher-client.ts
@@ -57,8 +57,6 @@ export class FileSystemWatcherServerClient implements FileSystemWatcherServer {
         return this.ipcConnectionProvider.listen({
             serverName: NSFW_WATCHER,
             entryPoint: path.resolve(__dirname, NSFW_WATCHER),
-            debug: Number(process.env['FS_WATCH_DEBUG']),
-            debugBrk: Number(process.env['FS_WATCH_DEBUG_BRK']),
             errorHandler: new ConnectionErrorHandler({
                 serverName: NSFW_WATCHER,
                 logger: this.logger
diff --git a/packages/git/src/node/git-locator/git-locator-client.ts b/packages/git/src/node/git-locator/git-locator-client.ts
index 3b9400edea416..15fee4fb26c3c 100644
--- a/packages/git/src/node/git-locator/git-locator-client.ts
+++ b/packages/git/src/node/git-locator/git-locator-client.ts
@@ -27,9 +27,7 @@ export class GitLocatorClient implements GitLocator {
         return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
             const toStop = this.ipcConnectionProvider.listen({
                 serverName: 'git-locator',
-                entryPoint: paths.resolve(__dirname, 'git-locator-host'),
-                debug: Number(process.env['GIT_LOCATE_DEBUG']),
-                debugBrk: Number(process.env['GIT_LOCATE_DEBUG_BRK'])
+                entryPoint: paths.resolve(__dirname, 'git-locator-host')
             }, async connection => {
                 const proxyFactory = new JsonRpcProxyFactory<GitLocator>();
                 const remote = proxyFactory.createProxy();