See the Full URL Path in Safari, Not Just the Domain

If you build or debug for the web, Safari's default address bar is actively unhelpful: it collapses every page to a bare domain, so /checkout?step=2&utm=email and the homepage look identical. Turn on the full website address and the bar shows the whole thing — path, query string, and fragment — which is what you actually need when you're chasing a routing bug or verifying a redirect landed where it should.

Expose the full path

The setting is inside Safari and takes effect instantly:

1. In Safari, choose Safari → Settings (Cmd+,).
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Tick Show full website address.

Now every page shows its complete URL. It's the same option in macOS 13 Ventura, 14 Sonoma, and 15 Sequoia, and there's nothing to relaunch. This is the route to use — the Terminal equivalent is fussier on modern macOS, covered at the end.

What the full path lets you catch

Once the bar shows everything, the address becomes a debugging surface you glance at constantly:

• Query parameters. Confirm the utm_source, feature flag, or ?ref= you expected is actually present — and spot the one that's malformed.
• Redirect chains. After a login or a short link resolves, the final URL in the bar tells you where you truly landed, not where you started.
• Environment mix-ups. staging. versus www., or a stray port like :3000, is obvious when the full host is shown — no more debugging production while thinking you're on staging.
• Deep-link routing. For single-page apps, watch the path and hash update as you navigate to verify the router is doing what you think.

Because you can now select and edit the whole address, tweaking a query value and hitting Return becomes a quick way to test a state without digging through the UI.

The Terminal key, with a caveat

The preference is ShowFullURLInSmartSearchField, but Safari's settings are sandbox-protected now — a defaults write won't take unless Terminal has Full Disk Access (System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access) and Safari is fully quit, or Safari may rewrite the value on exit. If you script your dev machine and already have that access, with Safari closed:

# Quit Safari first; Terminal needs Full Disk Access
defaults write com.apple.Safari ShowFullURLInSmartSearchField -bool true

# Undo
defaults write com.apple.Safari ShowFullURLInSmartSearchField -bool false

For a single machine, the Advanced checkbox is the reliable choice and doesn't require handing Terminal that level of access.

Turn on the rest of Safari's dev tools

The full URL bar pairs with the Web Inspector and more. See how to enable the Develop menu in Safari on Mac to unlock the console, responsive design mode, and cache controls.