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OpenIDEA works with containers in two ways:
  • Dev containers: the whole project opens inside the container described by its devcontainer.json, with the IDE backend running there. This is remote development, like SSH.
  • Docker and Docker Compose run targets: the project stays local and only a run configuration runs in a container.
To list, start, stop and inspect containers, images and Compose services, use the Services tool window.

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Dev containers

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Requirements

  • Docker installed on your machine, with the daemon of the current Docker context running locally. The project folder is bind-mounted into the container, so a daemon on another machine doesn’t work.
  • The Dev Containers CLI (devcontainer). Install Dev Containers CLI from Settings › Languages & Frameworks › Language Servers (it needs Node.js), or put devcontainer on your PATH.
  • A .devcontainer/devcontainer.json or .devcontainer.json in the project folder.
  • The project must be trusted: building the container runs the project’s commands (initializeCommand, the Dockerfile build).
  • A Linux container on x86_64 or aarch64.

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Reopen a project in its container

1

Open the project locally

Open the folder that contains the devcontainer.json and trust it.
2

Reopen in the container

Choose File › Reopen in Container, then This Window or New Window if asked.
3

Wait for the container

OpenIDEA runs devcontainer up for the folder, which builds or starts the container. The first build can take a while. Then it installs and starts openidea-server in the container and opens the project folder there.
The project then opens at the container’s remoteWorkspaceFolder, as its remoteUser. The status bar shows Dev Container: <folder name>, and the project appears in the recent projects list on the Welcome screen. If something fails (no devcontainer.json, Docker not installed, the build failed), a notification Could not reopen the project in a container shows the reason, including the end of the CLI’s log.

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What applies from devcontainer.json

  • Everything devcontainer up handles: image, Dockerfile, features, mounts and the lifecycle commands. They run once, through the CLI; the server doesn’t run postStartCommand again.
  • remoteEnv: applied to terminals, runs, language servers and tools in the container. Change it and choose File › Reload Environment to apply it to new processes.
  • forwardPorts: forwarded to your machine automatically. Forward more in the Ports tool window, as in an SSH window.
Language servers and debuggers that OpenIDEA installs go into the container, under the container user’s ~/.openidea/data.

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Limits

  • Only the default configuration is used (.devcontainer/devcontainer.json, then .devcontainer.json). There is no picker for several configurations in subfolders of .devcontainer/.
  • Reopen in Container is available for local projects only, not from an SSH or WSL window.
  • There is no command to attach to an arbitrary running container; the container always comes from the project’s devcontainer.json.

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Docker and Docker Compose run targets

A run target runs a run configuration somewhere other than your machine. Container targets rewrite the configuration into a local docker run --rm (or docker compose run --rm) with the project bind-mounted, so the console, input, Stop and test results work as for a local run.
1

Add a target

Open Settings › Build, Execution, Deployment › Run Targets, click +, and set Type to Docker or Docker Compose.
2

Describe the container

For Docker, enter the Image (for example python:3.12). For Docker Compose, list the Compose files (empty uses the project’s default file) and the Service.
3

Use it

Pick the target under Run on in a run configuration, or make it the Default run target.
Container target options: See Run configurations for run targets in general, including SSH targets.