Analyze how browsers fetch source maps in real-time.
The SourceMap or X-SourceMap HTTP header is an integral response header that is primarily utilized in JavaScript (JS) files. Its main function is to create a linkage between the original source code and the resulting compiled code. Within a JS file, this connection is facilitated by the inclusion of a reference tag, such as //# sourceMappingURL, which points to the source map's location.
As discussed in the Chromium bug tracker https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=362913, sourcemaps are not considered standard page resources.
The intention behind the Network tab is to display resources that are a part of an ordinary page load, reflecting the actual network activity. Sourcemaps, while useful for debugging, do not fall under the category of typical resource loads as they're utilized primarily for development purposes.
In essence, this means there is no option within Chrome to force sourcemaps to appear in the Network tab due to their categorization outside the scope of normal web page resource loading events.