Reproduce reliably

You cannot debug what you cannot trigger.

Checklist

Minimal path — smallest UI flow or API sequence that grows memory
Fixed workload — same payload size, same loop count
Disable noise — extensions off, other tabs closed (browser)
Soak duration — leaks may need 10–30 min to separate from noise
Record environment — Chrome version, Node version, build flags

Browser reproduction script

async function soak(iterations = 100) {
  for (let i = 0; i < iterations; i++) {
    await openAndCloseModal(); // your suspect flow
    if (i % 10 === 0 && performance.memory) {
      console.log(i, performance.memory.usedJSHeapSize);
    }
  }
}

Node reproduction

Use the examples/node/*-leak.js scripts — they loop forever with logging.

node --expose-gc examples/node/01-global-array-leak.js 2>&1 | tee leak.log

Document the hypothesis

Field	Example
Action	Navigate Dashboard → Settings 50×
Expected	Heap returns to ~baseline
Actual	+3 MB per cycle
Suspect	Router listener not removed