Getting started with remote with the thin client

Launch JetBrains Gateway and connect to a remote server

1. Download and install the JetBrains Gateway app.

   Alternatively, you can access JetBrains Gateway from the welcome screen of your IDE through the Remote Development option.

2. In the Remote Development wizard, click New Connection under the SSH connection provider.

   

3. On the next page of the wizard, specify the SSH configuration through which you want to connect to a remote server.

   

   Alternatively, click to open the SSH Configurations dialog and configure the SSH settings.

   In the SSH Configurations dialog, add the following information:

   

   • Host: specify the address of your remote server.

   • Port: specify the SSH port, which defaults to 22.

   • Local port: specify the outgoing port.

     For example, TCP 10.101.0.1:50705->13.49.137.87:22 (ESTABLISHED).

   • User name: specify the name of a user that will be used to connect to the remote server.

   • Authentication type: select one of the following authentication methods:

     • Password: to access the host with a password. To save the password in CLion, select the Save password checkbox.

     • Key pair (OpenSSH or PuTTY): to use SSH authentication with a key pair. To apply this authentication method, you must have a private key on the client machine and a public key on the remote server. CLion supports private keys that are generated with the OpenSSH utility.

       Specify the path to the file where your private key is stored and type the passphrase (if any) in the corresponding fields. To have CLion remember the passphrase, select the Save passphrase checkbox.

     • Parse config file ~/.ssh/config: select this option if you want JetBrains Gateway to use the .ssh/config file.

   • Test Connection: click this button to see whether the connection is established.

   • Connection Parameters: use this section to configure additional parameters for the connection.

   • HTTP/SOCKS Proxy: use this section to configure proxy settings. For more information, refer to Proxy settings.

   Click OK to save the changes and return to the Welcome to JetBrains Gateway dialog.

   Click Check Connection and Continue to check whether the connection is established.

4. On the next page, specify the CLion version to download to the remote server. JetBrains Gateway displays a list of the IDEs versions that are available for downloading and the already installed ones.

   You can also use "Other options" for setting the alternative sources of IDE installers.

   The version of JetBrains Client downloaded to your local machine always matches the remote IDE version.

By default, the downloaded CLion is located in the following folder on the remote server: ~/.cache/JetBrains/RemoteDev/dist. However, you can change it and install CLion into a custom location with the following steps:

1. Click Other options and select the Customize install path option.

2. In the Install path field add the needed location for the installation.

Add the path to your project on the remote host.

Click Upload IDE and Connect.

JetBrains Gateway downloads the IDE, and opens your remote project in JetBrains Client. The connection is shown in the JetBrains Gateway window, from which you can connect to other IDEs or disable the connection. This window is hidden to tray by default.

Open recent projects

1. In the JetBrains Gateway wizard, select SSH from the options on the left.

2. In the search field enter the name of your project to quickly navigate to it.

   

   If you need to quickly access the terminal, click .

Stop the running instance

1. In the JetBrains Gateway wizard, select SSH from the options on the left.

2. When your remote session is active, the Running indicator is displayed next to the project.

   Click next to the project and select Stop Instance to stop the remote session for that project.

   

   You can also select Remove from Recent Projects to remove the project listed on the page altogether.

Uninstall the backend IDE version

1. In the JetBrains Gateway wizard, click against the name of the remote server to open the list of installed IDE versions.

   

2. In the window that opens, click against the backend IDE version you need to uninstall and click Yes to confirm the action.

1. Start a backend project in the remote IDE.

2. Select one of the connection links generated by the backend.

3. Open the link on your local machine.

Connect to remote IDE

1. Ensure you have downloaded and installed JetBrains Gateway or an IDE with this bundled plugin on your local machine.

2. Ensure you have an SSH connection to the remote machine and the CLion IDE on it.

3. In the remote server's terminal, run the following command:

   remote-dev-server.sh run /path_to_project/ --ssh-link-host host_server_address --ssh-link-user remote_side_user --ssh-link-port ssh_connection_port

   See example:

   ~/ideaIU-213.3469/bin/remote-dev-server.sh run ~/spring-boot-example/ --ssh-link-host ec2-11-50-136-85.eu-north-1.compute.amazonaws.com --ssh-link-user ubuntu

   If you don't pass the parameters, the script will use the default ones: 22 for port, system user's username, and host from the hostname command.

4. If the project starts successfully, as an output, you should receive the following 3 links inside terminal:

   • Join link: tcp://127.0.0.1:5990...[ ]: contains the local address and port where the remote IDE is listening now.

     To use it, ensure the remote machine should be accessible by this local address. For example, for inside-Docker IDE with forwarded/open ports.

   • Http link: https://code-with-me.jetbrains.com/remoteDev...[ ]: contains information about your host-port-user, the IDE and its version.

     When opening in your local browser, it displays a welcome page and tries to call the local Gateway application with pre-filled connection settings values.

     If no JetBrains Gateway application is found on the local machine, you'll be able to download it from the welcome page.

   • Gateway link: jetbrains-gateway://connect#idePath... [ ]: also contains information about your host-port-user, IDE and its version.

     When opening in your local browser, it launches the local JetBrains Gateway application directly without a welcome page.

5. Copy the generated link and paste it into your local browser and allow it to launch Open JetBrains Gateway.

6. All these links can be also opened in the already launched JetBrains Gateway.

   For this, on the JetBrains Gateway welcome screen, paste a link in the Connect to a Running IDE field, click Connect.

   CLion downloads the required version of JetBrains Client and opens the remote project inside it.

Registering previously installed remote IDE

Since version 221.5481, you can manually register an existing backend IDE on the remote server and make it visible for the Gateway.

To register the installed IDE and make it appear in the list of available builds follow these steps:

1. Enter remote server by SSH

2. Locate the folder with unpacked IDE, enter bin folder

3. In the command line, execute the following command:

   remote-dev-server.sh registerBackendLocationForGateway

   For example,

   sh WebStorm-221.5591.52/bin/remote-dev-server.sh registerBackendLocationForGateway

Connect to your workstation in Google Cloud

1. Launch JetBrains Gateway.

2. Select All Providers from the options on the left.

3. In the Install More Providers section, locate Google Cloud and click Install.

   

   The installed plugin is added and you can locate it in the Run the IDE Remotely section.

4. After the plugin installation, from the options on the left, locate Cloud Workstations and click Connect to Google Cloud.

5. In the window that opens, select a workstation with which you want to work and click Next.

   

6. On the next page, select the IDE version that you have chosen as your code provider in your configuration file and a project with which you want to work.

   

   The connection is established and the workstation with the project is opened in JetBrains Client where you can work further inside the IDE.

Connect to your Codespaces developer environment

1. Launch JetBrains Gateway.

2. Click on the bottom of the screen and select Manage Providers.

3. On the page that opens, on the Marketplace tab, locate GitHub Codespaces, install and enable the plugin.

   

   The plugin is added to the Connections list.

4. Select All Providers from the options on the left.

5. From the options on the right, locate GitHub Codespaces and click Connect to Codespaces.

   

6. On the next page, follow the GitHub Codespaces instructions to authorize your account on GitHub.

   

7. After the authorization is complete, a list of available GitHub Codespaces will displayed and you can select the desired project.

   

8. Select the IDE version that you want to run and click Connect.

   The GitHub Codespaces development environment with the selected project is opened in JetBrains Client where you can work further inside the IDE.

Connect to WSL

1. Launch JetBrains Gateway.

2. In the All Providers list select WSL.

3. From the options on the right, click New Connection.

   

4. On the next page, select the WSL instance and click Next.

   

5. On the next page, select the IDE version and the project you want open. Click Start IDE and Connect.

   

   The connection is established, the backend IDE is downloaded and the project is opened in JetBrains Client.