Debugging

Intellij SFCC integrates with the SFCC Script Debugger to provide a full debugging experience inside your JetBrains IDE.

Setting Up the Debugger

Configure Connection

Ensure your sandbox connection is configured in Settings → Tools → Intellij SFCC → Connections.

Enable Script Debugger

In Business Manager, go to Administration → Site Development → Development Setup and enable the script debugger.

Start Debug Session

Click Run → Debug or press Shift+F9 to start a debug session. The plugin connects to your sandbox debugger.

Set Breakpoints

Click in the gutter next to any line in a .js controller or script file to set a breakpoint.

The script debugger must be enabled in Business Manager for each sandbox. It's disabled by default for security and performance reasons.

Debugger Features

Breakpoints

Type	Description
Line breakpoints	Pause execution at a specific line
Conditional breakpoints	Pause only when a condition is true
Log breakpoints	Log a message without pausing
Exception breakpoints	Pause on thrown exceptions

Variable Inspection

When paused at a breakpoint, inspect:

Local variables - all variables in the current scope
Closure variables - variables captured from outer scopes
Global objects - session, request, response, customer
DW API objects - full property expansion for API objects

Call Stack

View the full call stack with:

Navigation to any frame in the stack
Variable values at each stack frame
Controller → Pipeline → Script chain visualization

Debugging Controllers

Debug SFRA controllers by setting breakpoints in route handlers:

server.get('Show', function (req, res, next) {
    // Set a breakpoint here ← 🔴
    var accountModel = getModel(req);
    res.render('account/accountDashboard', {
        account: accountModel
    });
    next();
});

Trigger the breakpoint by navigating to the corresponding route in your browser (e.g., https://your-sandbox.demandware.net/on/demandware.store/Sites-Site/default/Account-Show).