diff --git a/docs/content/manual/manual.yml b/docs/content/manual/manual.yml
index 442fc0d4f1..849692e11c 100644
--- a/docs/content/manual/manual.yml
+++ b/docs/content/manual/manual.yml
@@ -2984,6 +2984,17 @@ sections:
           `["DEBUG:", <input-value>]` and prints that and a newline on
           stderr, compactly.  This may change in the future.
 
+      - title: "`debug(msg)`"
+        body: |
+
+          Calls `debug/0` to print the debug `msg` to stderr, but this
+          version sends stdin to stdout without consuming it.
+
+        examples:
+          - program: 'debug("here1") | . + 1'
+            input: '1'
+            output: ['2']
+
       - title: "`stderr`"
         body: |
 
diff --git a/src/builtin.jq b/src/builtin.jq
index a102fd51a0..87ac6976d6 100644
--- a/src/builtin.jq
+++ b/src/builtin.jq
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 def halt_error: halt_error(5);
 def error(msg): msg|error;
+def debug(msg): . as $dot | msg | debug | $dot else . end;
 def map(f): [.[] | f];
 def select(f): if f then . else empty end;
 def sort_by(f): _sort_by_impl(map([f]));