Junie in Remote Development (Gateway): “Failed to fetch license. Please try again later.”

Problem

After installing Junie in a Remote Development setup, Junie appears in the IDE UI, but it doesn’t work and shows:

• “Failed to fetch license. Please try again later.”

Cause

In Remote Development there are effectively two environments:

• Client (your local JetBrains Client UI)
• Host (the remote IDE backend running on the remote machine)

Some plugins need to be installed on the Host to function correctly in Remote Development. If Junie is only installed on the Client, you may still see parts of the UI, but the agent/backend capabilities won’t be available.

Separately, Junie/JetBrains AI may fail to activate if required Terms of Service haven’t been accepted for your account (or need to be re-accepted after updates).

Resolution

1) Install Junie on the Host (remote backend), not only the Client

1. Open the remote project via JetBrains Gateway.
2. In the remote session, open Settings/Preferences → Plugins.
3. Make sure you install Junie in the correct destination:
   • If you see separate sections such as Plugins (Host) vs Plugins (Client), install Junie on the Host.
4. Restart the IDE session if prompted.

Important: If you had multiple JetBrains Client / IDE windows open, close them all (including any lingering remote sessions), then reopen the project to ensure the host plugin loads cleanly.

2) If you still see “Failed to fetch license…”, accept the required Terms of Service

This error is commonly resolved by accepting updated AI/Junie terms, then retrying activation:

1. Open your JetBrains Account → Licenses page in a browser and confirm any pending agreements.
2. Return to the IDE and retry Junie.
3. If the IDE prompts you to accept terms inside IntelliJ/Client, accept them there as well.