Run/Debug Configuration: Node.js

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.

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.

• 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.

Type the settings manually or click and specify the settings in the Edit Docker Container Settings dialog that opens, or select the Auto configure checkbox to have WebStorm do it automatically.

• 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.

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

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

• WebStorm 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.

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 Live Edit is fully supported only in Chrome.

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

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

• 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.

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, WebStorm 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 WebStorm stores run configuration settings in .idea/workspace.xml.

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 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 WebStorm 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.

• Run File Watchers: select this option to have WebStorm apply all the currently active File Watchers.

• 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 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.

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.