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Connect to a remote server from IntelliJ IDEA

Last modified: 11 February 2025

Make sure the Prerequisites are met.

Since working remotely became a necessity, IntelliJ IDEA offers the Remote Development functionality to help you code, run, debug, and deploy your projects remotely.

Connection via SSH

The connection to a remote server is done via SSH and can be started right from the welcome screen of IntelliJ IDEA.

IntelliJ IDEA welcome screen

Connect to a remote server and open the remote project

  1. Ensure you have the Remote Development Gateway plugin enabled.

  2. On the IntelliJ IDEA welcome screen, select Remote Development. Alternatively, go to File | Remote Development in the main menu.

  3. Under SSH Connection, click New Connection.

    If you have the IDE already running on the remote server, and you have a connection link, you can use the Connect to Running IDE section.

  4. Configure the remote server connection parameters and click Check Connection and Continue to make sure the connection to the remote server is successful.

    IntelliJ IDEA welcome screen

  5. On the next page of the wizard, in the IDE version field, select the source of the remote IDE that you want to use.

    Use one of the following ways to get an IDE installer:

    • Automatically fetch from JetBrains installers storage - default variant.

      Your remote server must have a network connection to JetBrains URLs:

      https://code-with-me.jetbrains.com
https://download.jetbrains.com
https://download-cf.jetbrains.com
https://cache-redirector.jetbrains.com

    • Fetch from your company's internal storage. In this case, you need to click Other options and select Use download link. It is helpful if remote machines do not have an Internet connection to JetBrains' websites or your organization uses some custom builds.

    • Upload from your local machine. In this case, click Other options and select Upload installer file. You need to get the IDE .tar.gz archive from the JetBrains website by yourself in advance.

    note

    Since IntelliJ IDEA versions 2022.1+, you can also select a custom path on the remote side for the unpacked backend installer. Use this option if a default directory does not have enough space.

    IntelliJ IDEA welcome screen

  6. Click Start IDE and Connect.

    IntelliJ IDEA starts JetBrains Gateway, which downloads the IDE backend, launches, and opens JetBrains Client with your remote project.

For more information about starting to work with a separate JetBrains Gateway installer, refer to JetBrains Gateway.

For more information about adding plugins or SDK, refer to the appropriate Getting Started section.

Connect to a project running on WSL2

You can configure your IDE backend to launch directly in WSL2.

Before you start connecting to WSL, check the existing prerequisites and make sure the additional ones are met:

  • You have the Windows 10 or 11 version installed on your machine with the Ubuntu 20.04 version installed under WSL2.

  • You have WSL2 configured on your Windows machine. For more information, refer to the WSL2 configuration section.

Connect to WSL

  1. Ensure you have the Remote Development Gateway plugin enabled.

  2. On the IntelliJ IDEA welcome screen, select Remote Development.

  3. Under Remote Development, select WSL.

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

    New Connection

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

    Choose WSL instance

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

    Choose the IDE version and a project

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