diff --git a/docs/getting_started.md b/docs/getting_started.md
index 11daf6db7b..7354f5515b 100644
--- a/docs/getting_started.md
+++ b/docs/getting_started.md
@@ -170,6 +170,10 @@ All the logs you've seen as output to stdout related to model registration, mana
 
 High level performance data like Throughput or Percentile Precision can be generated with [Benchmark](https://github.com/pytorch/serve/tree/master/benchmarks/README.md) and visualized in a report.
 
+## Debugging Handler Code
+
+If you want to debug your handler code, you can run TorchServe with just the backend and hence use any python debugger. You can refer to an example defined [here](../examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/README.md#debug-torchserve-backend)
+
 ### Contributing
 
 If you plan to develop with TorchServe and change some source code, follow the [contributing guide](https://github.com/pytorch/serve/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).
diff --git a/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/README.md b/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/README.md
index 5611b14811..1c5bbe3639 100644
--- a/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/README.md
+++ b/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/README.md
@@ -35,8 +35,8 @@ curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/predictions/resnet-18 -T ./examples/image_classifier/
    example_input = torch.rand(1, 3, 224, 224)
    traced_script_module = torch.jit.trace(model, example_input)
    traced_script_module.save("resnet-18.pt")
-   ```  
- 
+   ```
+
 * Use following commands to register Resnet18 torchscript model on TorchServe and run image prediction
 
     ```bash
@@ -46,3 +46,63 @@ curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/predictions/resnet-18 -T ./examples/image_classifier/
     torchserve --start --model-store model_store --models resnet-18=resnet-18.mar
     curl http://127.0.0.1:8080/predictions/resnet-18 -T ./serve/examples/image_classifier/kitten.jpg
     ```
+
+### Debug TorchServe Backend
+
+If you want to test your handler code, you can use the example in `debugging_backend/test_handler.py`
+
+```
+python debugging_backend/test_handler.py --batch_size 2
+```
+
+results in
+
+```
+Torch TensorRT not enabled
+DEBUG:ts.torch_handler.base_handler:Model file /home/ubuntu/serve/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/resnet-18.pt loaded successfully
+INFO:__main__:Result is [{'tabby': 0.4096629023551941, 'tiger_cat': 0.34670525789260864, 'Egyptian_cat': 0.13002872467041016, 'lynx': 0.02391958236694336, 'bucket': 0.011532173492014408}, {'tabby': 0.4096629023551941, 'tiger_cat': 0.34670525789260864, 'Egyptian_cat': 0.13002872467041016, 'lynx': 0.02391958236694336, 'bucket': 0.011532173492014408}]
+```
+
+If this doesn't work, you can use a debugger to find the problem in your backend handler code.
+Once you are confident this works, you can use your handler to deploy the model using TorchServe
+
+Below is a screenshot of debugger running with this handler
+
+![image info](./debugging_backend/debugger_screenshot.png)
+
+You can also use this with pytest
+
+```
+pytest debugging_backend/test_handler.py
+```
+
+results in
+
+```
+================================================================================== test session starts ===================================================================================
+platform linux -- Python 3.8.18, pytest-7.3.1, pluggy-1.0.0
+rootdir: /home/ubuntu/serve
+plugins: mock-3.10.0, anyio-3.6.1, cov-4.1.0, hypothesis-6.54.3
+collected 1 item
+
+debugging_backend/test_handler.py .                                                                                                                                                [100%]
+
+==================================================================================== warnings summary ====================================================================================
+../../../../anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ts/torch_handler/base_handler.py:13
+  /home/ubuntu/anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/ts/torch_handler/base_handler.py:13: DeprecationWarning: pkg_resources is deprecated as an API. See https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/pkg_resources.html
+    from pkg_resources import packaging
+
+../../../../anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py:2871
+  /home/ubuntu/anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py:2871: DeprecationWarning: Deprecated call to `pkg_resources.declare_namespace('mpl_toolkits')`.
+  Implementing implicit namespace packages (as specified in PEP 420) is preferred to `pkg_resources.declare_namespace`. See https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/references/keywords.html#keyword-namespace-packages
+    declare_namespace(pkg)
+
+../../../../anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py:2871
+../../../../anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py:2871
+  /home/ubuntu/anaconda3/envs/torchserve/lib/python3.8/site-packages/pkg_resources/__init__.py:2871: DeprecationWarning: Deprecated call to `pkg_resources.declare_namespace('ruamel')`.
+  Implementing implicit namespace packages (as specified in PEP 420) is preferred to `pkg_resources.declare_namespace`. See https://setuptools.pypa.io/en/latest/references/keywords.html#keyword-namespace-packages
+    declare_namespace(pkg)
+
+-- Docs: https://docs.pytest.org/en/stable/how-to/capture-warnings.html
+============================================================================= 1 passed, 4 warnings in 2.29s ==============================================================================
+```
diff --git a/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/debugging_backend/debugger_screenshot.png b/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/debugging_backend/debugger_screenshot.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e7f3eb7f11
Binary files /dev/null and b/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/debugging_backend/debugger_screenshot.png differ
diff --git a/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/debugging_backend/test_handler.py b/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/debugging_backend/test_handler.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f777e748fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/examples/image_classifier/resnet_18/debugging_backend/test_handler.py
@@ -0,0 +1,70 @@
+import argparse
+import io
+import logging
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import torch
+
+from ts.torch_handler.image_classifier import ImageClassifier
+from ts.torch_handler.unit_tests.test_utils.mock_context import MockContext
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+logging.basicConfig(level=logging.DEBUG)
+
+CURR_FILE_PATH = Path(__file__).parent.absolute()
+REPO_ROOT_DIR = CURR_FILE_PATH.parents[3]
+EXAMPLE_ROOT_DIR = REPO_ROOT_DIR.joinpath("examples", "image_classifier", "resnet_18")
+TEST_DATA = REPO_ROOT_DIR.joinpath("examples", "image_classifier", "kitten.jpg")
+MODEL_PT_FILE = "resnet-18.pt"
+
+
+def prepare_data(batch_size):
+    """
+    Function to prepare data based on the desired batch size
+    """
+    f = io.open(TEST_DATA, "rb", buffering=0)
+    read_data = f.read()
+    data = []
+    for i in range(batch_size):
+        tmp = {}
+        tmp["data"] = read_data
+        data.append(tmp)
+    return data
+
+
+def test_resnet18(batch_size=1):
+    # Define your handler
+    handler = ImageClassifier()
+
+    # Context definition
+    ctx = MockContext(
+        model_pt_file=MODEL_PT_FILE,
+        model_dir=EXAMPLE_ROOT_DIR.as_posix(),
+        model_file=None,
+    )
+
+    torch.manual_seed(42 * 42)
+    handler.initialize(ctx)
+    handler.context = ctx
+
+    data = prepare_data(batch_size)
+
+    # Here we are using the BaseHandler's handle method. You can define your own
+    result = handler.handle(data, ctx)
+    logger.info(f"Result is {result}")
+
+    # Can be used with pytest
+    value = max(result[0], key=result[0].get)
+    assert value == "tabby"
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()
+    parser.add_argument(
+        "--batch_size",
+        default=1,
+        type=int,
+        help="Batch size for testing inference",
+    )
+    args = parser.parse_args()
+    test_resnet18(args.batch_size)
diff --git a/ts/torch_handler/unit_tests/test_utils/mock_context.py b/ts/torch_handler/unit_tests/test_utils/mock_context.py
index 287074c6eb..b9bd7ededa 100644
--- a/ts/torch_handler/unit_tests/test_utils/mock_context.py
+++ b/ts/torch_handler/unit_tests/test_utils/mock_context.py
@@ -2,11 +2,13 @@
 Mocks for adding model context without loading all of Torchserve
 """
 
+import os
 import uuid
 
 import torch
 
 from ts.metrics.metrics_store import MetricsStore
+from ts.utils.util import get_yaml_config
 
 
 class MockContext: