title: FE Development Environment Setup - Visual Studio Code (VSCode) language: en description: Set up an Apache Doris FE development environment with VSCode, covering Java extension configuration, JDK switching, and remote debugging. keywords: - VSCode - Apache Doris FE - FE development environment - Java extension - remote debugging - JDWP

Set Up an FE Development Environment with VSCode

This document describes how to use VSCode to set up a Doris FE development environment on a development machine, in WSL, or in Docker. Developers who prefer VSCode can use the Remote extensions for remote development and debugging.

1. Prerequisites

Component	Version Requirement	Purpose
JDK	11+ (required by the Java extension); JDK 8 can be used for compilation	Install both and switch via configuration
VSCode	Latest stable release	Editor
Extension Pack for Java	Latest version	Java language support
Remote extensions	Remote - SSH / Remote - WSL / Remote - Containers	Remote development

It is recommended to install JDK 11 and JDK 8 separately under an isolated directory such as ~/lib, used for the IDE extensions and source compilation respectively.

2. Clone and Open the Source Code

Download the source code from GitHub:

git clone https://github.com/apache/doris.git

Open the fe directory under the source tree in VSCode (not the entire repository root).

3. Configure VSCode

Create settings.json under fe/.vscode/ and configure the Java runtime and Maven path.

Configuration item	Description
`java.configuration.runtimes`	Registers the list of available JDKs, used by the Java extension per project
`java.jdt.ls.java.home`	Points to the JDK 11+ directory used by the `vscode-java` extension itself
`maven.executable.path`	Points to the local Maven executable, used by the `maven-language-server` extension

Example:

{
    "java.configuration.runtimes": [
        {
            "name": "JavaSE-1.8",
            "path": "/!!!path!!!/jdk-1.8.0_191"
        },
        {
            "name": "JavaSE-11",
            "path": "/!!!path!!!/jdk-11.0.14.1+1",
            "default": true
        }
    ],
    "java.jdt.ls.java.home": "/!!!path!!!/jdk-11.0.14.1+1",
    "maven.executable.path": "/!!!path!!!/maven/bin/mvn"
}

4. Compile FE

For the full compilation procedure, refer to:

5. Configure Remote Debugging

To debug FE remotely from VSCode, attach the JDWP parameters when FE starts:

-agentlib:jdwp=transport=dt_socket,server=y,suspend=n,address=5005

To do this, edit doris/output/fe/bin/start_fe.sh and append the parameters above after $JAVA $final_java_opt.

JDWP parameter	Value	Description
`transport`	`dt_socket`	Use Socket transport
`server`	`y`	Start as the debug server and wait for a debugger to attach
`suspend`	`n`	Do not suspend at startup; run normally
`address`	`5005`	Listening port; customizable

After starting FE, use the Java Debug extension in VSCode to Attach to host:5005 for breakpoint debugging.

6. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1: The Java extension reports that the JDK version is too low

java.jdt.ls.java.home must point to JDK 11+. Even when JDK 8 is used for compilation, the extension itself still requires JDK 11+ to run.

Q2: Maven tasks fail / `mvn` is not found

Confirm that maven.executable.path points to a valid mvn executable, or add it to the system PATH.

Q3: Remote debugging cannot connect

Confirm that the FE process has actually loaded the JDWP parameters (check the command line with ps -ef | grep java).
Confirm that the address port is not blocked by a firewall.
If suspend=y is used, FE will block waiting for the debugger to attach. Change it to suspend=n, or attach the debugger proactively.