Run/Debug Configuration: Node.js

Node interpreter

In this field, specify the Node.js interpreter to use. This can be a local or remote Node.js interpreter or a Node.js on Windows Subsystem for Linux. Select an interpreter from the list or click and configure a new one in the dialog that opens.

Node parameters

In this field, type the Node.js-specific command-line options to be passed to the Node.js executable file. The most common options are:

• Use --require coffeescript/register to have CoffeeScript files compiled into JavaScript on the fly during run.

  This mode requires that the register.js file, which is a part of the coffeescript package, is located inside your project. Therefore make sure you have the coffeescript package installed locally as described in Install the CoffeeScript compiler.

• Use --inspect or --inspect-brk parameter when you are using Node.js v7 for Chrome Debugging Protocol support. Otherwise, by default the debug process will use V8 Debugging Protocol.

For a full list, see Node.js command-line options.

Working directory

In this field, specify the working directory of the application. By default, the field shows the project root folder.

JavaScript file

In this field, specify the path to the main file of the application that starts it (for example, bin/www for Express applications).

If you are going to debug CoffeeScript, specify the path to the generated JavaScript file with source maps. The file can be generated externally or through compilation using File Watchers. For more details, see Debugging CoffeeScript.

Application parameters

In this field, type the Node.js-specific arguments to be passed to the application on start through the process.argv array.

Environment variables

In this field, specify the environment variables for the Node.js executable file, if applicable. Click Browse to the right of the field and configure a list of variables in the Environment Variables dialog, that opens:

• To define a new variable, click and specify the variable name and value.

• To discard a variable definition, select it in the list and click .

• Click OK, when ready

The definitions of variables are displayed in the Environment variables read-only field with semicolons as separators, for example:

• NODE_PATH: A :-separated list of directories prefixed to the module search path.

• NODE_MODULE_CONTEXTS: Set to 1 to load modules in their own global contexts.

• NODE_DISABLE_COLORS: Set to 1 to disable colors in the REPL.

Docker container settings

Click to open the dialog and specify the following settings:

Options

• Disable networking: select this checkbox to have the networking disabled. This corresponds to --net="none", which means that inside a container the external network resources are not available.

• Network mode: corresponds to the other values of the option --net.

  • bridge is the default value. An IP address will be allocated for container on the bridge’s network and traffic will be routed through this bridge to the container.

    Containers can communicate via their IP addresses by default. To communicate by name, they must be linked.

  • host: use the host's network stack inside the container.

  • container:<name|id>: use the network stack of another container, specified via its name or id.

  Refer to the Network settings documentation for details.

• Links: Use this section to link the container to be created with the other containers. This is applicable to Network mode = bridge and corresponds to the --link option.

• Publish all ports: Expose all container ports to the host. This corresponds to the option --publish-all.

• Port bindings: Specify the list of port bindings. Similar to using the -p option with docker run.

• Extra hosts: This corresponds to the --add-host option. Refer to the page Managing /etc/hosts for details.

• Volume bindings: Use this field to specify the bindings between the special folders-volumes and the folders of the computer, where the Docker daemon runs. This corresponds to the -v option. See Managing data in containers for details.

• Environment variables: Use this field to specify the list of environment variables and their values. This corresponds to the -e option. Refer to the page ENV (environment variables) for details.

Click to expand the tables. Click , , or to make up the lists.

Auto configuration

Select this checkbox to have IntelliJ IDEA configure the container settings. In the Automatic configuration mode:

• IntelliJ IDEA creates a new image and installs the npm modules in it.

• IntelliJ IDEA runs the container with the new image, binds your project folder to /opt/project folder in the container to ensure synchronization on update, and maps /opt/project/node_modules to the OS temporary directory.

Even with automatic configuration, you still need to bind the port on which your application is running with the port of the container. Those exposed ports are available on the Docker host’s IP address (by default 192.168.99.100). Such binding is required when you debug the client side of a Express application. In this case, you need to open the browser from your computer and access the application at the container host through the port specified in the application.

Open browser

In the field in this area, specify a project HTML file to create a correct URL to this file according to the project root to be started on the built-in web server. For example, if you choose project_root/inner_folder/index.html the resulting URL will be http://localhost:63342/project_root/inner_folder/index.html. If you select the After Launch checkbox, the browser will open this page automatically after the application starts. Alternatively you can view the same result by opening the page with this URL address in the browser of your choice manually.

After launch

Select this checkbox to automatically open the browser. From the list, select the browser to use:

• To use the system default browser, select Default.

• To use a custom browser, select it from the list. Note that debugging of JavaScript client-side code is only supported in Google Chrome and in other Chromium-based browsers.

• To configure browsers, click and adjust the settings in the Web Browsers and Preview dialog that opens. For more information, see Web browsers.

with JavaScript debugger

Select this checkbox to enable debugging the client-side code in the selected browser.

Record CPU profiling info

Select this checkbox to start logging the CPU profiling data when the application is launched. The controls in the area below become enabled. Specify the following:

• Log folder: in this field, specify the folder to store recorded logs in. Profiling data are stored in log files isolate-<session number>.

• One log file for all isolates (V8 instances): select this checkbox to create only one log file (and accordingly one profiling results view) for all V8 instances. Clear the checkbox to create a separate file for each instance. Node.js can create an additional V8 instance, e.g. for a debugging process.

Allow taking heap snapshots

Select this checkbox if you are going to run memory profiling.

Name

Specify a name for the run/debug configuration to quickly identify it when editing or running the configuration, for example, from the Run popup Alt+Shift+F10.

Allow parallel run

Select to allow running multiple instances of this run configuration in parallel.

By default, it is disabled, and when you start this configuration while another instance is still running, IntelliJ IDEA suggests to stop the running instance and start another one. This is helpful when a run/debug configuration consumes a lot of resources and there is no good reason to run multiple instances.

Store as project file

Save the file with the run configuration settings to share it with other team members. The default location is .idea/runConfigurations. However, if you do not want to share the .idea directory, you can save the configuration to any other directory within the project.

By default, it is disabled, and IntelliJ IDEA stores run configuration settings in .idea/workspace.xml.

Alt+Insert

Create a run/debug configuration.

Alt+Delete

Delete the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you cannot delete default configurations.

Ctrl+D

Create a copy of the selected run/debug configuration. Note that you create copies of default configurations.

The button is displayed only when you select a temporary configuration. Click this button to save a temporary configuration as permanent.

Move into new folder / Create new folder. You can group run/debug configurations by placing them into folders.

To create a folder, select the configurations within a category, click , and specify the folder name. If only a category is in focus, an empty folder is created.

Then, to move a configuration into a folder, between the folders or out of a folder, use drag or and buttons.

To remove grouping, select a folder and click .

Click this button to sort configurations in the alphabetical order.

Alt+Insert

Click this icon to add one of the following available tasks:

• Run External tool: select to run an external application. In the dialog that opens, select one or multiple applications you want to run. If it is not defined in IntelliJ IDEA yet, add its definition. For more information, see External tools and External Tools.

• Run Another Configuration: select to execute another run/debug configuration. In the dialog that opens, select the configuration to be run.

• Build: select to compile the specified module. The Build Module command will be executed.

  If an error occurs during compilation, IntelliJ IDEA won't attempt to start the run/debug configuration.

• Build Project: select to compile the entire project. The Build Project command will be executed.

  If an error occurs during compilation, IntelliJ IDEA won't attempt to start the run/debug configuration.

• Build, no error check: the same as the Build option, but IntelliJ IDEA will try to start the run/debug configuration irrespective of the compilation results.

• Build Artifacts: select this option to build an artifact or artifacts. In the dialog that opens, select the artifact or artifacts that should be built.

• Launch Web Browser: select this option to have a browser started. In the dialog that opens, select the type of the browser and provide the start URL. Also, specify if you want the browser be launched with JavaScript debugger.

• Run Ant target: select this option to run an Ant target. In the dialog that opens, select the target to be run.

• Run Grunt task: select this option to run a Grunt task.

  In the Grunt task dialog that opens, specify the Gruntfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Grunt tool.

  Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the grunt-cli package.

• Run gulp task: select this option to run a Gulp task.

  In the Gulp task dialog that opens, specify the Gulpfile.js where the required task is defined, select the task to execute, and specify the arguments to pass to the Gulp tool.

  Specify the location of the Node.js interpreter, the parameters to pass to it, and the path to the gulp package.

• Run Maven Goal: select this option to run a Maven goal. In the dialog that opens, select the goal to be run.

• Run npm script: select this option to execute an npm script.

  In the NPM Script dialog that opens, specify the npm run/debug configuration settings.

• Start React Native Bundler: select this option to run the bundler automatically, as part of a running or debugging session. by default, this is done through react-native start. If your application uses Expo, you need to run the development server via the start npm task. To do that, click , then in the Configure React Native dialog, choose npm script and select start from the list.

• Compile TypeScript: select to run the built-in TypeScript compiler and thus make sure that all the changes you made to your TypeScript code are reflected in the generated JavaScript files. In the TypeScript Compile Settings dialog that opens, select or clear the Check errors checkbox to configure the behaviour of the compiler in case any errors are detected:

  • If the Check errors checkbox is selected, the compiler will show all the errors and the run configuration will not start.

  • If the Check errors checkbox is cleared, the compiler will show all the detected errors but the run configuration still will be launched.

• Generate CoffeeScript Source Maps: select this option to generate the source maps for your CoffeeScript sources. In the dialog that opens, specify where your CoffeeScript source files are located.

• Upload files to Remote Host: select this option to have the application files automatically uploaded to the server according to the default server access configuration.

• Run Remote External Tool: adds a remote SSH external tool.

• Run Rake task: add a Rake task to be executed prior to running or debugging. To choose a Rake task, click the browse button , and select the desired task from the list of available tasks.

  Note that code completion is available here.

  

• Run JRuby compiler: choose this option to execute JRuby compiler with the specified target path, compiler process heap size, and command line parameters (if any).

Alt+Delete

Click this icon to remove the selected task from the list.

Enter

Click this icon to edit the selected task. Make the necessary changes in the dialog that opens.

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Alt+Up/Alt+Down

Click these icons to move the selected task one line up or down in the list. The tasks are performed in the order that they appear in the list.

Show this page

Select this checkbox to show the run/debug configuration settings prior to actually starting the run/debug configuration.

Activate tool window

By default this checkbox is selected and the Run or the Debug tool window opens when you start the run/debug configuration.

Otherwise, if the checkbox is cleared, the tool window is hidden. However, when the configuration is running, you can open the corresponding tool window for it yourself by pressing Alt+4 or Alt+5.