How to Develop AEM Projects using IntelliJ IDEA how-to-develop-aem-projects-using-intellij-idea

Overview overview

To get started with AEM development on IntelliJ, the following steps are required.

Each of them is explained in more detail in the remainder of this How-To.

Install IntelliJ IDEA install-intellij-idea

Download IntelliJ IDEA from the Downloads page at JetBrains.

Then, follow the installation instructions on that page.

Set up your AEM project based on Maven set-up-your-aem-project-based-on-maven

Next, set up your project using Maven as described in How-To Build AEM Projects using Apache Maven.

To start working with AEM projects in IntelliJ IDEA, the basic setup in Getting Started in 5 Minutes is sufficient.

Prepare JSP Support for IntelliJ IDEA prepare-jsp-support-for-intellij-idea

IntelliJ IDEA can also provide support in working with JSP, e.g.

For that to work, follow the instructions on How-To Work with JSPs in How-To Build AEM Projects using Apache Maven.

Import the Maven Project import-the-maven-project

Debugging JSPs with IntelliJ IDEA debugging-jsps-with-intellij-idea

The following steps are necessary for debugging JSPs with IntelliJ IDEA

Set up a Web Facet in the Project set-up-a-web-facet-in-the-project

IntelliJ IDEA needs to understand where to find the JSPs for debugging. As IDEA cannot interpret the content-package-maven-plugin settings, this needs to be configured manually.

Install the JSR45 support plugin install-the-jsr-support-plugin

Configure a Debug Profile configure-a-debug-profile

Configure AEM for Debug Mode configure-aem-for-debug-mode

The last step required is to start AEM with the JVM options proposed by IntelliJ IDEA.

You can do this by starting the AEM jar file directly and adding these options, for example with the following command line:

java -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=58242,suspend=n,server=y -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=256M -jar cq-quickstart-5.6.1.jar

You can also add these options to your start script in crx-quickstart/bin/start as shown below.

# ...

>[!CAUTION]
>
>AEM 6.4 has reached the end of extended support and this documentation is no longer updated. For further details, see our [technical support periods](https://helpx.adobe.com/support/programs/eol-matrix.html). Find the supported versions [here](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/?lang=en).

# default JVM options

>[!CAUTION]
>
>AEM 6.4 has reached the end of extended support and this documentation is no longer updated. For further details, see our [technical support periods](https://helpx.adobe.com/support/programs/eol-matrix.html). Find the supported versions [here](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/?lang=en).
if [ -z "$CQ_JVM_OPTS" ]; then
 CQ_JVM_OPTS='-server -Xmx1024m -XX:MaxPermSize=256M -Djava.awt.headless=true'
fi

CQ_JVM_OPTS="$CQ_JVM_OPTS -Xdebug -Xrunjdwp:transport=dt_socket,address=58242,suspend=n,server=y"

# ...

>[!CAUTION]
>
>AEM 6.4 has reached the end of extended support and this documentation is no longer updated. For further details, see our [technical support periods](https://helpx.adobe.com/support/programs/eol-matrix.html). Find the supported versions [here](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/?lang=en).

Start Debugging start-debugging

You are now all set up for debugging your JSPs in AEM.

Debugging Bundles with IntelliJ IDEA debugging-bundles-with-intellij-idea

Code in bundles can be debugged using a standard generic remote debug connection. You can follow the Jetbrain documentation on remote debugging.