DocumentationAEMAEM TutorialsAEM as a Cloud Service Tutorials

Set up development tools

Last update: Thu Apr 24 2025 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
  • Applies to:
  • Experience Manager as a Cloud Service
  • Topics:
  • Developer Tools

CREATED FOR:

  • Beginner
  • Developer

Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) development requires a minimal set of development tooling to be installed and set up on the developer machine. These tools support the development and building of AEM Projects.

Note that ~ is used as shorthand for the User’s Directory. In Windows, this is the equivalent of %HOMEPATH%.

Install Java

Experience Manager is a Java application, and thus requires the Java SDK to support the development and the AEM as a Cloud Service SDK.

  1. Download and install the latest release Java 11 SDK
  2. Verify Oracle Java 11 SDK is installed by running the command:
macOS
$ java --version
Windows
$ java -version
Linux
$ java --version

Java

Install Homebrew

The use of Homebrew is optional, but recommended.

Homebrew is a open-source package manager for macOS, Windows and Linux. All the supporting tools can be installed separately, Homebrew provides a convenient way to install and update a variety of development tools required for Experience Manager development.

  1. Open your Terminal
  2. Check if Homebrew is already installed by running the command: brew --version.
  3. If Homebrew is not installed, install Homebrew
macOS

Homebrew on macOS requires Xcode or Command Line Tools, install-able via the command:

$ xcode-select --install
Windows
Install Homebrew on Windows 10
Linux
Install Homebrew on Linux
  1. Verify Homebrew is installed by running the command: brew --version

Homebrew

If you are using Homebrew, follow the Install using Homebrew instructions in the sections below. If you are not using Homebrew, install the tools using the OS-specific links.

Install Git

Git is the source control management system used by Adobe Cloud Manager, and thus is required for development.

Install Git using Homebrew

  1. Open your Terminal/Command Prompt

  2. Execute the command: $ brew install git

  3. Verify Git is installed, using the command: $ git --version

Download and install Git

  1. Download and install Git

  2. Open your Terminal/Command Prompt

  3. Verify Git is installed, using the command: $ git --version

Git

Install Node.js (and npm)

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment used to work with the front-end assets of an AEM project’s ui.frontend sub-project. Node.js is distributed with npm, is the defacto Node.js package manager, used to manage JavaScript dependencies.

Install Node.js using Homebrew

  1. Open your Terminal/Command Prompt

  2. Execute the command: $ brew install node

  3. Verify Node.js is installed, using the command: $ node -v

  4. Verify npm is installed, using the command: $ npm -v

Download and install Node.js

  1. Download and install Node.js

  2. Open your Terminal/Command Prompt

  3. Verify Node.js is installed, using the command: $ node -v

  4. Verify npm is installed, using the command: $ npm -v

Node.js and npm

TIP
AEM Project Archetype-based AEM Projects install an isolated version of Node.js at build time. It is good to keep the local development system’s version in sync (or close to) the Node.js and npm versions specified in your AEM Maven project’s Reactor pom.xml.
See this example AEM Project Reactor pom.xml for where to locate the Node.js and npm build versions.

Install Maven

Apache Maven is the open-source Java command-line tool used to build AEM Projects generated from the AEM Project Maven Archetype. All major IDE’s (IntelliJ IDEA, Visual Studio Code, Eclipse, etc.) have integrated Maven support.

Install Maven using Homebrew

  1. Open your Terminal/Command Prompt

  2. Execute the command: $ brew install maven

  3. Verify Maven is installed, using the command: $ mvn -v

Download and install Maven

  1. Download Maven

  2. Install Maven

  3. Open your Terminal/Command Prompt

  4. Verify Maven is installed, using the command: $ mvn -v

Maven

Set up Adobe I/O CLI

The Adobe I/O CLI, or aio, provides command line access to a variety of Adobe services, including Cloud Manager and Asset Compute. The Adobe I/O CLI plays an integral role in development on AEM as a Cloud Service as it provides developers the ability to:

  • Tail logs from AEM as a Cloud Services services
  • Manage Cloud Manager pipelines form the CLI
  • Deploy to AEM Rapid Development Environments

Install the Adobe I/O CLI

  1. Ensure Node.js is installed as the Adobe I/O CLI is an npm module
    • Run node --version to confirm
  2. Execute npm install -g @adobe/aio-cli to install the aio npm module globally

Set up the Adobe I/O CLI Cloud Manager plugin

The Adobe I/O Cloud Manager plugin allows the aio CLI to interact with Adobe Cloud Manager via the aio cloudmanager command.

  1. Execute aio plugins:install @adobe/aio-cli-plugin-cloudmanager to install the aio Cloud Manager plug-in.

Set up the Adobe I/O CLI authentication

In order for the Adobe I/O CLI to communicate with Cloud Manager, a Cloud Manager integration must be created in Adobe I/O Console, and credentials must be obtained to successfully authenticate.

  1. Log in to console.adobe.io

  2. Ensure your Organization that includes the Cloud Manager product to connect to is active in the Adobe Organization switcher

  3. Create a new or open an existing Adobe I/O program

    • Adobe I/O Console projects are simply organizational groupings of integrations, create or use and existing project based on how you want to manage your integrations.
    • If creating a new project, select “Empty Project” if prompted (vs. “Create from Template”)
    • Adobe I/O Console programs are different concepts to Cloud Manager programs

  4. Create a new Cloud Manager API integration

    • Select “Oauth Server-to-server” credential type.
    • Select the “Deployment Manager - Cloud Service” product profile.
    • Save configured API

  5. Obtain the credentials needs to populate Adobe I/O CLI’s config.json by opening the newly created “OAuth Server-to-server” credentials, and selecting “Download JSON” from the top right action bar.

  6. Open the downloaded JSON file, and renamed all keys to lowecase. For example, CLIENT_ID becomes client_id.

  7. Load the config.json file into the Adobe I/O CLI

    • $ aio config:set ims.contexts.aio-cli-plugin-cloudmanager /path/to/downloaded/json --file --json

Begin executing commands for Cloud Manager via the Adobe I/O CLI.

Set up the AEM Rapid Development Environment plugin

The AEM Rapid Development Environment plugin allows the aio CLI to interact with AEM as a Cloud Service Rapid Development Environments via the aio aem:rde command.

  1. Execute aio plugins:install @adobe/aio-cli-plugin-aem-rde to install the AEM Rapid Development Environments plugin.

Set up the Adobe I/O CLI Asset Compute plugin

The Adobe I/O Cloud Manager plugin allows the aio CLI to generate and run Asset Compute workers via the aio asset-compute command.

  1. Execute aio plugins:install @adobe/aio-cli-plugin-asset-compute to install the aio Asset Compute plug-in.

Set up the development IDE

AEM development primarily consists of Java and Front-end (JavaScript, CSS, etc) development and XML management. The following are the most popular IDEs for AEM development.

IntelliJ IDEA

IntelliJ IDEA is a powerful IDE for Java development. IntelliJ IDEA comes in two flavors, a free Community edition and a commercial (paid) Ultimate version. The free Community version is sufficient for AEM development, however the Ultimate expands its capability set.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/26089?quality=12&learn=on

  • Download IntelliJ IDEA
  • Download the Repo tool

Microsoft Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (VS Code) is a free, open-source tool for front-end developers. Visual Studio Code can be set up to integrate content sync with AEM with the help of an Adobe tool, repo.

Visual Studio Code is the ideal choice for front-end developers primarily creating front-end code; JavaScript, CSS and HTML. While VS Code has Java support via extensions, it may lack some of the advanced features provided by more Java-specific.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/25907?quality=12&learn=on

  • Download Visual Studio Code
  • Download the Repo tool
  • Download AEM Sync VS Code extension

Eclipse

Eclipse IDE is a popular IDEs for Java development, and supports the AEM Developer Tools plug-in provided by Adobe, providing an in-IDE GUI for authoring and to synchronize JCR content with a local AEM instance.

video poster

https://video.tv.adobe.com/v/25906?quality=12&learn=on

  • Download Eclipse
  • Download Eclipse Dev Tools
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