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Remote development over SSH with VS Code and Java and Kotlin by IntelliJ IDEA

Jacky Liu
Updated

Connect VS Code to a Linux VM running in VirtualBox or VMware or a cloud VM, via the Remote - SSH extension, then run and debug spring-petclinic remotely.

Prerequisites

Create the VM in case run locally

Install VirtualBox or VMware Workstation / Fusion. Create a VM with a supported Linux distro (e.g. Ubuntu Server 22.04 LTS). See supported SSH servers.

Inside the VM with the SSH server and JDK 17:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y openssh-server openjdk-17-jdk git
sudo systemctl enable --now ssh

Networking

Confirm the host firewall allows the ports if needed.

One-time prepare the JAVA_HOME shell variable

Use gedit or vim, edit the file ~/.bashrc , and insert one new line at the end of the file:

export JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/java-1.17.0-openjdk-amd64.

Connect

  1. Status bar remote indicator → Remote-SSH: Connect to Host... image.pngconnect_host.png
  2. Enter user@<vm-ip>.
  3. Verify first from a terminal: ssh -p 22 user@vm-ip.
    • If Connection refused, check sudo systemctl status ssh inside the VM.
  4. VS Code opens a new window, installs the VS Code Server on the host, then shows the hostname in the status bar.

Manage saved hosts from the Remote Explorer → SSH Targets. Integrated terminal (Ctrl+`) runs a bash shell on the VM. Use File → Open Folder to browse remote directories.

Clone and run spring-petclinic

On the remote terminal:

git clone https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-petclinic.git
cd spring-petclinic
./gradlew build -x test
./gradlew bootRun

App runs at http://localhost:8080 on the VM. First build downloads dependencies; give it a few minutes.

Port forwarding

Local browser can't hit the VM's localhost:8080 directly through the SSH tunnel unless VS Code forwards it. In SSH Explorer → Forwarded Ports → Forward a Port → enter 8080, name it petclinic. Then open http://localhost:8080 locally. See port forwarding docs.

(With NAT port forwarding above already exposing 8080, VS Code forwarding is optional but works alongside.)

Edit & debug

  • Open spring-petclinic/ as the workspace folder.

  • The Java and Kotlin by IntelliJ IDEA extension imports the Gradle or Maven project; Inspections, hovers, and completions work as if local.

  • Open src/main/java/org/springframework/samples/petclinic/system/WelcomeController.java. Click the gutter next to a handler (e.g. return "welcome";) to set a breakpoint.

  • Stop the running gradlew bootRun. Then open the file PetClinicApplication.java, from the editor, there are links Run | Debug above the main method, click Debug to start debugging the app.

    run_debug

  • Trigger the breakpoint: browse http://localhost:8080/. Inspect variables, watches, call stack. F10 step, F5 continue. image2.png

For more info, please check Run and debug.

End session

File → Close Remote Connection returns to local VS Code. Shut the VM down from the hypervisor UI when done.

Related extensions

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