Use console.groupCollapsed [1]:

function trace(msg) {
    console.groupCollapsed(msg || 'trace');
    console.trace();
    console.groupEnd();
}

On the other hand, it might be nice if console.trace accepted a second boolean parameter to control the initial state: console.trace(object, showCollapsed)

  [1]: https://developers.google.com/web/tools/chrome-devtools/console/console-reference#consolegroupcollapsedobject_object

Thank you for the workaround in the meantime.

jesse@ Thanks for the issue.

Could you please provide us any sample test file or URL to triage the issue from test team end.

Thanks,

kavvaru@, open devtools and run "console.trace()" without quotes in the console: the output is expanded (there is a triangle button to toggle the state). This becomes a nuisance when each trace contains 10-50 rows (typical case for the modern javascript frameworks) and there are many traces shown.

The point of console.trace is that it spams you with the trace. You could use console.warn() that also captures the trace, but does not expand it by default. Would that work?

Why is the point of it to spam you?

warn will work though. Thank you for the suggestion.

if(window.console && console.trace) {
    var oldTrace = console.trace;
    console.trace = function(msg) {
        console.groupCollapsed(msg || 'trace');
        oldTrace.apply(this);
        console.groupEnd();
    }
}

Here's a slightly better polyfill for anyone else who wants to still use console.trace();

Marking as won't fix due to viable workaround.

Workaround above always outputs bold text and doesn't support css.
Here's a slightly better slightly better polyfil:

if(window.console && console.trace) {
    var oldTrace = console.trace;
    console.trace = function(msg, css) {
        msg = msg && String(msg) || 'trace';
        if (!msg.startsWith('%c')) {
            msg = '%c' + msg;
            css = 'font-weight: normal;';
        } else {
            css = 'font-weight: normal; ' + String(css || '');
        }
        console.groupCollapsed(msg, css);
        oldTrace.apply(this);
        console.groupEnd();
    }
}

Testing it with:

console.trace('testest');
console.trace('%ctestest', 'color: #F00');
console.trace('%ctestest', 'color: #F00; font-weight: bold;');
console.trace(new RegExp(), new RegExp());

works as expected.