Understanding Shadow DOM Elements in Chrome DevTools: A Closer Look at Shadow-Root

Exploring Chrome DevTools can sometimes lead to unexpected discoveries—especially when working with complex web components. Recently, I encountered a peculiar situation while trying to identify an icon within Chrome’s Developer Tools itself, which involves the mysterious Shadow DOM structure.

While inspecting the Elements Panel, I aimed to find a specific icon hidden within nested elements. I knew that the icon was embedded within a <span> tag, which looked like this:

html
<span style="--icon-url: ..."></span>

Using the usual method, I selected the parent element with my mouse, right-clicked, and chose “Copy” > “Copy OuterHTML.” However, the code snippet I received did not include the <span> element I was searching for. This was perplexing since “Copy OuterHTML” is supposed to capture the entire selected element and its contents.

My initial curiosity was piqued further when I noticed that the icon was nested inside a shadow-root—specifically, an element labeled #shadow-root (open). This raised an important question:

What does #shadow-root (open) mean, and why is the <span> inside it not included in my copied HTML?

Demystifying Shadow DOM in Chrome DevTools

Shadow DOM is a web standard that encapsulates parts of a webpage, allowing developers to isolate styles and markup for reusable components. In Chrome DevTools, Elements nested inside #shadow-root (open) are part of this encapsulated DOM, which is hidden by default but can be inspected and manipulated.

When you inspect such elements, direct copying from the outer context often excludes the shadow DOM’s internal elements. That’s because Shadow DOM creates a boundary—a “shadow root”—that prevents standard DOM traversal and copying methods from accessing nested content unless explicitly inspected.

Why Does This Matter?

This behavior explains why copying the outer HTML from a shadow-rooted element won’t include inner elements like the <span> you are searching for. To access or manipulate these shadow DOM elements, you need to interact with the shadow root explicitly.

Practical Tips for Inspecting Shadow DOM Elements

• Expand the Shadow Root: In Chrome DevTools, you can expand the #shadow-root (open) node to view its contents directly.
• Access via Scripts: Use JavaScript commands in the Console to access shadow roots, e.g.,
  “`js