debugging

name	debugging
description	Debugging techniques and tools for IntelliJ development. Use when debugging IDE issues or investigating failures.

Debugging

Documentation

• Logger FAQ - Frequently asked questions about logging
• How to Investigate Freezes - Diagnosing IDE freezes
• Exception Analyzing FAQ - Analyzing and categorizing exceptions

Searching idea.log

When debugging IntelliJ code, search idea.log using these patterns:

Log Levels:

• FINE = debug level (from LOG.debug { })
• INFO = info level (from LOG.info())

Category Format: #<abbreviated.package.path>.<ClassName>

Example: com.intellij.openapi.wm.impl.status.IdeStatusBarImpl → #c.i.o.w.i.s.IdeStatusBarImpl

Search Examples:

# Debug logs from IdeStatusBarImpl
grep "FINE - #c.i.o.w.i.s.IdeStatusBarImpl" idea.log

# Info logs from IdeStatusBarImpl
grep "INFO - #c.i.o.w.i.s.IdeStatusBarImpl" idea.log

# All logs from a class
grep "#c.i.o.w.i.s.IdeStatusBarImpl" idea.log

End-to-End Behavior

When fixing issues where a user-facing entry point (script, command, API) doesn't behave as expected: