Minimally disruptive debugging in a production environment

A method comprising:

• setting a breakpoint in an application;
• beginning, responsive to the setting, recording information about a processing of a request in the application;
• detecting that the breakpoint is reached in the application during the processing of the request;
• creating, a replica of the application, the replica including the breakpoint, the application becoming a secondary application and the replica becoming a primary application in a production environment;
• and
• performing, in the secondary application, a debugging operation during a processing of a copy of the request after the breakpoint in the secondary application.

A computer program product comprising one or more computer-readable storage devices, and program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more storage devices, the stored program instructions comprising:

• program instructions to set a breakpoint in an application;
• program instructions to begin, responsive to the setting, recording information about a processing of a request in the application;
• program instructions to detect that the breakpoint is reached in the application during the processing of the request;
• program instructions to create a replica of the application, the replica including the breakpoint, the application becoming a primary application and the replica becoming a secondary application in the production environment;
• and
• program instructions to perform, in the secondary application, a debugging operation during a processing of a copy of the request after the breakpoint in the secondary application.