IntelliJ and Tomcat.. Howto..?

NOTE: Community Edition doesn't support JEE.

First, you will need to install a local Tomcat server. It sounds like you may have already done this.

Next, on the toolbar at the top of IntelliJ, click the down arrow just to the left of the Run and Debug icons. There will be an option to Edit Configurations. In the resulting popup, click the Add icon, then click Tomcat and Local.

From that dialog, you will need to click the Configure... button next to Application Server to tell IntelliJ where Tomcat is installed.


Here is step-by-step instruction for Tomcat configuration in IntellijIdea:

1) Create IntellijIdea project via WebApplication template. Idea should be Ultimate version, not Community edition

enter image description here

2) Go to Run-Edit configutaion and set up Tomcat location folder, so Idea will know about your tomcat server enter image description here

3) Go to Deployment tab and select Artifact. Apply enter image description here

4) In src folder put your servlet (you can try my example for testing purpose) enter image description here

5) Go to web.xml file and link your's servlet like this

enter image description here

6) In web folder put your's .jsp files (for example hey.jsp)

enter image description here

7) Now you can start you app via IntellijIdea. Run(Shift+F10) and enjoy your app in browser:

- to jsp files: http://localhost:8080/hey.jsp (or index.jsp by default)

- to servlets via virtual link you set in web.xml : http://localhost:8080/st


Which version of IntelliJ are you using? Note that since last year, IntelliJ exists in two versions:

  • Ultimate Edition, which is the complete IDE
  • Community Edition, which is free but does not support JavaEE developments.

(see differences here)

In case you are using the Community Edition, you will not be able to manage a Tomcat installation.

In case you are using the Ultimate Edition, you can have a look at:

  • The FAQ for Netbeans users (see question How do I configure a web framework for my project?).
  • IntelliJ Ultimate edition "Help": Run/Debug Configuration: Tomcat Server

You can also debug tomcat using the community edition (Unlike what is said above).

Start tomcat in debug mode, for example like this: .\catalina.bat jpda run

In intellij: Run > Edit Configurations > +

Select "Remote" Name the connection: "somename" Set "Port:" 8000 (default 5005)

Select Run > Debug "somename"