Command line version of IntelliJ IDEA run configuration

Question

I have a working IntelliJ IDEA run configuration. It uses Spring Boot.

I'd like to execute the same run from the MacOS command line. How can I get IntelliJ IDEA to show the command (or commands) that I need execute the run configuration.

This is the gradle build.gradle file:

plugins {
    id 'org.springframework.boot' version '2.6.4'
    id 'io.spring.dependency-management' version '1.0.11.RELEASE'
    id 'java'
}

group = 'org.mountsinai'
version = '0.0.1-SNAPSHOT'
sourceCompatibility = "15"

repositories {
    mavenCentral()
}

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-data-jdbc'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-thymeleaf'
    implementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-web'
    testImplementation 'org.springframework.boot:spring-boot-starter-test'
    testImplementation 'org.junit.jupiter:junit-jupiter-api:5.8.2'
    runtimeOnly 'com.microsoft.sqlserver:mssql-jdbc'
    implementation group: 'org.springframework', name: 'spring-aspects', version: '5.3.15'
    implementation group: 'nz.net.ultraq.thymeleaf', name: 'thymeleaf-layout-dialect', version: '3.0.0'
    implementation group: 'com.jayway.jsonpath', name: 'json-path', version: '2.7.0'
    implementation group: 'com.github.pcj', name: 'google-options', version: '1.0.0'
    implementation 'com.google.code.gson:gson:2.9.0'
}

tasks.named('test') {
    useJUnitPlatform()
    minHeapSize = "1024m" // initial heap size
    maxHeapSize = "2048m" // maximum heap size
}
targetCompatibility = JavaVersion.VERSION_15

And this is the configuration element in the ./.idea/workspace.xml corresponding to the run I'd like to automate on the command line:

    <configuration name="IrwMetadataIntegrationApplication" type="SpringBootApplicationConfigurationType" factoryName="Spring Boot">
      <module name="org.mountsinai.IRWMetadataIntegration.main" />
      <option name="SPRING_BOOT_MAIN_CLASS" value="org.mountsinai.IRWMetadataIntegration.IrwMetadataIntegrationApplication" />
      <option name="PROGRAM_PARAMETERS" value="--algorithm=batch --numOfStudiesToRetrieve=600" />
      <option name="ALTERNATIVE_JRE_PATH_ENABLED" value="true" />
      <option name="ALTERNATIVE_JRE_PATH" value="15" />
      <method v="2">
        <option name="Make" enabled="true" />
      </method>
    </configuration>

My original question can now be asked more concretely How can one convert an IDEA configuration and workspace.xml file into a command (or script) that can be executed outside IntelliJ IDEA?

Using

IntelliJ IDEA 2021.3.2 (Ultimate Edition) Build #IU-213.6777.52, built on January 27, 2022

Thanks, Arthur

No IDE builds/executes source code on its own. It uses a combination of build tools like `maven` `gradle` etc., in combination with `compiler` `interpreter` etc., You didn't specify these in your question. Your answer lies in those. — Rohit Babu, Sep 29 '22 at 16:52
you might be using mvn or mvnw & in that case executing `mvnw clean spring-boot:run` via mac terminal against your project will run your spring boot code — Ashish Patil, Sep 29 '22 at 17:04
Fair point @RohitBabu. I've added `gradle` information to my question. — Arthur, Sep 29 '22 at 20:44
Your run configuration is more of a GUI version of `gradle` command. As far as I know, you have to run the equivalent `gradle` command to achieve the job of run configuration. You may inspect your run configuration file in any editor (like notepad) to know more. — Rohit Babu, Sep 29 '22 at 20:49
Thank you for that hint @RohitBabu. I found the run configuration file in `./.idea/workspace.xml`. It's a fairly large (337 lines) and complex file. I'll put the configuration for the run I care about in the question above. — Arthur, Sep 29 '22 at 23:11

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Oct 02 '22 at 17:34

At the top of your console Notice there's a command something something... java, normally it collapses into such short form, but if you click on that:

Notice it will expand and show you the full command:

In this case, for example, ultimately, the command is something like this:

/Users/hoaphan/.sdkman/candidates/java/17.0.4-amzn/bin/java -XX:TieredStopAtLevel=1 
-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always 
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote 
-Dspring.jmx.enabled=true 
-Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain 
-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true 
...blahblahblahblahblah...
com.example.bootgradlej17.Bootgradlej17Application

So you can mimic intelliJ by running such long command. But I would suggest if this is springboot, and build by gradle, what you actually want to do is at project root, in the dir where your build.gradle is do:

./gradlew bootRun

Now if you want to mimic the JVM option IntelliJ did, you can just capture such info from an IntelliJ run using tool like VisualVM:

Then you can configure your bootRun to start with such config for JVM like:

bootRun {
   jvmArgs = "-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true", "-Dnannana=nenenene" (etc)....
}

Thank you, @HoaPhan, your response is quite helpful. Given their ridiculous size limit, I need to write multiple comments. 1. The gradle wrapper `gradlew` is an excellent idea. — Arthur, Oct 04 '22 at 14:55
visualvm is just an example way of capturing what your final JVM state looks like. You should be able to use utility that comes with your JVM like `$JAVA_HOME/bin/jconsole` to do the same thing or ps command looking for java process, should jvisualvm is not reliable for your env for some reason. bootRun { ... } is the config for `./gradlew bootRun` you put into build.gradle and it persists and versioning/tracked. For example uses, looks at these on GitHub: https://github.com/search?l=Gradle&o=desc&q=bootRun&s=indexed&type=Code — HoaPhan, Oct 04 '22 at 23:35
Thanks @HoaPhan. Please see another comment in an answer below. — Arthur, Oct 10 '22 at 15:22

knittl · Answer 2 · 2022-10-03T08:27:16.733

Execute your program through the run configuration and check the first line of the output. It should contain the call that is executed by the IDE, often something like java -jar ….

e.g. when running a Scratch file, I get the following in the output window as first line:

/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.11.0-openjdk-amd64/bin/java -javaagent:/home/user/bin/idea-IU-222.3345.47/lib/idea_rt.jar=37117:/home/user/bin/idea-IU-222.3345.47/bin -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 -classpath /home/user/.cache/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea2022.3/compile-server/backend_dd2372d5/scratches/out:... Scratch

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 04 '22 at 15:06

Continuing my comment above ...

On my computer (running macOS Big Sur 11.6) VisualVM cannot find the JVM arguments:

Instead, they can be found in the java command that you explain how to reveal. E.g., mine are:

-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always
-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote
-Dspring.jmx.enabled=true
-Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain
-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true
...

Please explain your

bootRun {
   jvmArgs = "-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true", "-Dnannana=nenenene" (etc)....
}

example. Where and how should this text be used?

One also needs to provide any command-line arguments that are in the IDEA configuration. These can be passed via the gradlew --args option, like this:

--args='--algorithm=batch --numOfStudiesToRetrieve=600'

Overall, however, this approach is more ad hoc than I'd like. It requires that one hack a) IDEA's java command to obtain the JVM arguments, b) the command-line arguments in via gradlew's --args. But I assume that the silence of IntelliJ IDEA's developers indicates that they do not support this important functionality.

Arthur · Answer 4 · 2022-10-10T15:42:02.967

Another comment in an answer because the formatting limitations of comments are so limiting:

Thanks, @HoaPhan. However, when I insert a bootRun section like this in build.gradle,

bootRun {
  jvmArgs = "-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always"
}

IntelliJ IDEA raises

Could not compile build file '<path>/build.gradle'.
> startup failed:
  build file '<path>/build.gradle': 1: Unexpected input: '{' @ line 1, column 9.
     bootRun {
             ^

This appears to occur wherever the section is placed in the file.

However, this does work:

bootRun {
    jvmArgs = [ "-Dspring.output.ansi.enabled=always",
                "-Dcom.sun.management.jmxremote",
                "-Dspring.jmx.enabled=true",
                "-Dspring.liveBeansView.mbeanDomain",
                "-Dspring.application.admin.enabled=true",
                "-Dfile.encoding=UTF-8"
    ]
}

It's unclear why the first bootRun { appears to generate a syntax error and this does not.

Command line version of IntelliJ IDEA run configuration

4 Answers4