How to Enable JRebel for Modules in IntelliJ

The only required configuration file is the rebel XML file.

This is used by JRebel to map the running application to the workspace.

The IDE plugin can automate the configuration for you. In this example, I will be using IntelliJ.

In the project view, you can right click on the project, hover over JRebel, and click enable JRebel.

Here, a dedicated configuration file is generated for every module in the project, which can be found right here.

It's important to note that the IntelliJ IDE does not compile classes on save by default.

And it is important to note that IntelliJ's hot swap should be disabled while using JRebel.

To check this, you can head to settings at the top right, search hot swap, and here ensure reload classes after compilation is set to never or ask.

Once you have generated the rebel XML file, you need to redeploy your application to the server for the configuration to take effect.

For IntelliJ, there's a tool window that you can see at the bottom left. This provides an overview of the JRebel configurations for the active project.

By selecting these checkboxes, you can generate the rebel XML file configuration that is placed into the source tree of the project. For Maven projects such as this one, they will be placed under source, main, resources, and they will be picked up automatically during the build.

The rebel XML file must be deployed to the application container with the application.