diff --git a/Readme.md b/Readme.md
index bae742d4..3b58f5bf 100644
--- a/Readme.md
+++ b/Readme.md
@@ -147,6 +147,34 @@ error('now goes to stdout via console.info');
 log('still goes to stdout, but via console.info now');
 ```
 
+### Inspecting objects
+
+Objects can be included in the debug output using the `%o` formatting directive, which displays the object in the inspector on browsers and uses `util.inspect` on Node.  Objects which require special formatting can be output using `.inspect` on the debug instance.  It accepts the same options as `util.inspect` and can be overridden for each namespace:
+
+Example _inspect.js_:
+
+```js
+var debug = require('debug');
+
+var error = debug('app:error');
+// inspect hidden properties of a single object
+error('stdin', error.inspect(new Error('Oh snap'), {showHidden: true}));
+
+var shallow = debug('app:shallow');
+// default depth 0 for all formatted objects in this namespace
+var debugInspect = shallow.inspect;
+shallow.inspect = function(object, options) {
+  return debugInspect.call(this, object, Object.assign({depth: 0}, options));
+};
+shallow('console properties: %o', console);
+```
+
+Some advantages of using `debug.inspect` over `util.inspect` are:
+
+* It avoids unnecessary formatting work when debugging is disabled for the namespace.
+* It shares the same colorization default as the `debug`-formatted output.
+* It becomes a no-op on browsers to avoid interfering with the inspector.
+
 ### Save debug output to a file
 
 You can save all debug statements to a file by piping them.
diff --git a/browser.js b/browser.js
index 7c764522..7af7351c 100644
--- a/browser.js
+++ b/browser.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
  */
 
 exports = module.exports = require('./debug');
+exports.inspect = inspect;
 exports.log = log;
 exports.formatArgs = formatArgs;
 exports.save = save;
@@ -47,6 +48,14 @@ function useColors() {
     (navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase().match(/firefox\/(\d+)/) && parseInt(RegExp.$1, 10) >= 31);
 }
 
+/**
+ * Compatibility inspect function which returns its argument to allow
+ * unconditional debug.inspect(foo) usage without interfering with inspector.
+ */
+function inspect(o) {
+  return o;
+}
+
 /**
  * Map %j to `JSON.stringify()`, since no Web Inspectors do that by default.
  */
diff --git a/debug.js b/debug.js
index a21c0930..e0e818bb 100644
--- a/debug.js
+++ b/debug.js
@@ -120,6 +120,7 @@ function debug(namespace) {
 
   var fn = exports.enabled(namespace) ? enabled : disabled;
 
+  fn.inspect = exports.inspect;
   fn.namespace = namespace;
 
   return fn;
diff --git a/example/inspect.js b/example/inspect.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..fd1192f4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/example/inspect.js
@@ -0,0 +1,13 @@
+var debug = require('../');
+
+var error = debug('app:error');
+// inspect hidden properties of a single object
+error('stdin', error.inspect(new Error('Oh snap'), {showHidden: true}));
+
+var shallow = debug('app:shallow');
+// default depth 0 for all formatted objects in this namespace
+var debugInspect = shallow.inspect;
+shallow.inspect = function(object, options) {
+  return debugInspect.call(this, object, Object.assign({depth: 0}, options));
+};
+shallow('console: %o', console);
diff --git a/node.js b/node.js
index 1d392a81..79499d60 100644
--- a/node.js
+++ b/node.js
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ var util = require('util');
  */
 
 exports = module.exports = require('./debug');
+exports.inspect = inspect;
 exports.log = log;
 exports.formatArgs = formatArgs;
 exports.save = save;
@@ -53,25 +54,54 @@ function useColors() {
   }
 }
 
-/**
- * Map %o to `util.inspect()`, since Node doesn't do that out of the box.
- */
-
-var inspect = (4 === util.inspect.length ?
+// Compatibility wrapper for util.inspect
+var utilInspect = (4 === util.inspect.length ?
   // node <= 0.8.x
-  function (v, colors) {
-    return util.inspect(v, void 0, void 0, colors);
+  function (v, options) {
+    return util.inspect(v, options.showHidden, options.depth, options.colors);
   } :
   // node > 0.8.x
-  function (v, colors) {
-    return util.inspect(v, { colors: colors });
-  }
+  util.inspect
 );
 
-exports.formatters.o = function(v) {
-  return inspect(v, this.useColors)
-    .replace(/\s*\n\s*/g, ' ');
-};
+/**
+ * Inspects an object when debugging is enabled, producing single-line output
+ * and default colorization matching debug.
+ *
+ * @param {Object} object Object to inspect.
+ * @param {Object} options Options passed to util.inspect.
+ * @return {String} Inspection of argument object if enabled, otherwise an
+ * empty string.
+ * @api public
+ */
+
+function inspect(object, options) {
+  if (this && this.enabled === false) {
+    return '';
+  }
+
+  var optionsWithColors = options;
+  if (!optionsWithColors || typeof optionsWithColors.colors === 'undefined') {
+    // Note:  Careful of inspect being called before debug
+    var useColors =
+      this && typeof this.useColors !== 'undefined' ? this.useColors :
+      exports.useColors;
+    optionsWithColors = {
+      colors: typeof useColors === 'function' ? useColors() : useColors
+    };
+    for (var prop in options) {
+      optionsWithColors[prop] = options[prop];
+    }
+  }
+
+  return utilInspect(object, optionsWithColors).replace(/\s*\n\s*/g, ' ');
+}
+
+/**
+ * Map %o to `this.inspect()`, since Node doesn't provide %o out of the box.
+ */
+
+exports.formatters.o = function(v) { return this.inspect(v); };
 
 /**
  * Adds ANSI color escape codes if enabled.