JetBrains Rider 2026.2 Help

Run/Debug Configuration: CMake Application

Use this configuration template to run or debug CMake targets.

CMake Application configuration

Create: Run | Edit Configurations | Add New Configuration | CMake Application

Common settings

When you edit a run configuration (but not a run configuration template), you can specify the following options:

Item

Description

Name

Specify a name for the run configuration to quickly identify it among others when editing or running.

Allow multiple instances

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, JetBrains Rider suggests stopping the running instance and starting another one. This is helpful when a run 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 JetBrains Rider stores run configuration settings in .idea/workspace.xml.

Configuration tab

Item

Description

Executable

Specify the executable for your configuration.

Target

Choose the desired target from the list.

Target types are marked with the following icons:

All targets - All targets

Executable - Executable

Target library - Library

Program arguments

Type a list of arguments to be passed to the program in the format you would use on the command line. Use the same rules as for specifying the VM options.

Working directory

Specify the working directory to be used for running the application. This directory is the starting point for all relative input and output paths. By default, the field contains the directory where the project file resides. To specify another directory, click the Browse button and select the directory.

Expand the list to view available path variables that you can use as a path to your working directory.

Environment variables

Create environment variables and specify their values. For more information, refer to Adding environment variables.

Redirect input from

Specify a file to read the input from. Relative paths are prepended with the Working directory path.

You can use macros and path variables in this field.

Run with Administrator privileges / Run with root privileges

Set this checkbox to launch the configuration with root privileges.

Run in external console (Windows)

Set this checkbox to launch the process in the external cmd.exe console.

This option affects only the cases of MSVC with LLDB and MinGW with GDB. Note that on Cygwin with GDB, executables always run in the external console regardless of this checkbox's status.

Emulate terminal in the output console

Enable terminal emulation in the output console.

Before launch

In this area, you can specify the tasks to be performed before launching the configuration.

Build is the default pre-launch step for CMake applications. If you add other tasks, they will performed in the order they appear in the list.

19 May 2026