JRebel Quick Start

Installing the JRebel Plugin

1. Access Settings (Preferences on Mac OS). Select Plugins.
2. Press Browse Repositories.
3. Find JRebel and XRebel. Press Install plugin.

Didn't Work?

The plugin can also be downloaded as a ZIP archive from https://plugins.jetbrains.com/idea/plugin/4441-jrebel-for-intellij. Once downloaded, open Plugins and press Install plugin from disk. Browse to the downloaded file and follow the prompts.

Did This Work?

If the installation was a success, your IDE will restart. After the restart, JRebel will alert you via a notification.

Getting a License

1. Open Help > JRebel > Activation.
2. Fill out the form.
3. Press Activate JRebel.

Have a license?

Press I already have a license in the activation window.

• Activation code. Paste your activation code if you have one already.
• License file from the hard drive. Point to your jrebel.lic file. You get this file via email when you purchase JRebel.
• Connect to ZeroTurnaround License Management or an on-premises License Server. Enter your team URL and email. You get the team URL from your network administrator.

Did This Work?

JRebel will let you know that your license is activated via a notification.

You can also see your license status from Help > JRebel > Activation.

Mapping Your Workspace to the Deployed Application

1. Open View > Tool Windows > JRebel. The JRebel Panel window opens.
2. For local setup: Enable JRebel for the desired modules by selecting the column checkboxes. This will generate rebel.xml.
3. For remote setup: Now select the check-box next to your project. This will generate rebel-remote.xml.
4. Redeploy your application (or restart your standalone application)!

Didn't Work?

• Using Maven to manage your projects? Use the JRebel Maven plugin to generate rebel.xml  automatically. JRebel Maven instructions.
• Running Gradle? Use the JRebel Gradle plugin to generate rebel.xml automatically. JRebel Gradle instructions.
• Need to tweak your rebel.xml? JRebel rebel.xml reference manual has the answers.

Did This Work?

When building your application rebel.xml should be included within the application archive.

• In case of JAR files, rebel.xml should be included in the root folder.
• When working with WAR files, the rebel.xml should be located within the WEB-INF/classes folder.
• EAR files require a rebel.xml for each internal EAR module (that means JARs and WARs).

Adding JRebel Agent to Your Server or Standalone Application

Run Via IDE

1. Press the Run with JRebel button on the toolbar to run your application with JRebel enabled.

Good to Know

To debug your application with JRebel, press the Debug with JRebel button instead. Not running your server from the IDE? Follow another application server startup method.

Did This Work?

When successful, you will see the JRebel banner in the console right at server startup. This is what the JRebel banner should look like:

2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:  #############################################################
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:  JRebel Agent 2024.1.0 (202001051049)
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:  (c) Copyright 2007-2024 Perforce Software, Inc.
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:  JRebel started in remote server mode.
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:
2024-04-02 14:23:55 JRebel:  #############################################################

Reload Your Code to See JRebel in Action 

1. Restart your application server or Java application using Run with JRebel (or from the command line).
2. Change something in the application code.
3. Use Build > Build Project command to compile classes and update your application.
4. Refresh the application in the browser to see the changes!

Why do this?

JRebel relies upon your IDE to do the compiling. Enabling Build Automatically ensures that your .java files are compiled to .class files.

Tip: you can also try enabling automatic compilation to further improve your JRebel experience.