IntelliJ IDEA 2018.2 Help

Working with Run/Debug Configurations

To run or debug your code in IntelliJ IDEA, you can use numerous run/debug configurations. Each run/debug configuration represents a named set of run/debug startup properties. When you perform run, debug, or test operations with IntelliJ IDEA, you always start a process based on one of the existing configurations using its parameters.

IntelliJ IDEA comes with a number of run/debug configuration types for the various running, debugging and testing issues. You can create your own run/debug configurations of specific types.

Each run/debug configuration type has its own default settings. Whenever a new run/debug configuration of the respective type is created, it is based on these default settings.

Temporary configuration

A temporary run/debug configuration is automatically created every time you choose Run <item_name> or Debug <item_name> for an item without a permanent configuration. Temporary configurations can be saved as permanent.

Temporary configurations are marked with semi-transparent icons and are managed same way as the permanent configurations.
By default, 5 temporary configurations are allowed per project. You can change this limit via the Edit Configurations dialog.

Permanent configuration

A permanent run/debug configuration is explicitly created for a particular class or method. If there is no permanent configuration for an item, IntelliJ IDEA automatically creates a temporary configuration for it, when you choose Run <item_name> or Debug <item_name> on the context menu of this class or method.

Default run/debug configuration settings

The templates with default run/debug configuration settings are listed in the Run/Debug Configurations dialog under the Templates node. They denote the settings that are used when new run/debug configurations are created.

You can set the default settings for a specific configuration type that will become applicable to any run/debug configuration of this type created later. Changing defaults does not affect the existing run/debug configurations.

The process of editing per-type default configuration settings is described in Changing Run/Debug Configuration Templates. The process of creating or editing custom run/debug configurations is described in Creating and Editing Run/Debug Configurations.

Last modified: 20 November 2018

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