How to select the specific IDE backend version for dev containers

Problem

By default, the dev container is built with the latest available backend. In some cases, it could be necessary to use the older version.

Solution

To be able to select the IDE backend version, disable the Always use the latest backend (Choose the backend version automatically since 2025.1) option in Settings | Advanced Settings:

After disabling the option, a selection from two-three latest backends becomes available after the dev container is built:

Check this video for the full process:

Screen Recording 2024-09-18 at 5.55.02 PM.mov

If selection from more IDE backend versions is necessary, perform the following steps in IntelliJ IDEs:

• open Search Everywhere (double-Shift) or Ctrl/Cmd + Shift +A in JetBrains Gateway;
• search for registry;
• in the Registry window, disable the gateway.download.showOnlyLatestVersion key.

After performing these actions, the full list of available backends will look the following way: