Getting access to variables and functions from Node.js debugger console

Question

Is it entirely impossible to access the variables defined in my Node.js index file from the debugger console and interact with them the same way you interact with the variables in the browser without breaking the execution? When I run my script with --inspect or --inspect-brk flag attached and connect via Dev Tools I can see the console output but none of the variables are accessible as if the console was running in a different context. The console also does not recognize the keywords repl and exec.