Get Started with Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ

This topic guides you through getting started with Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ.

Prerequisite

Install Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ.

Set up Tanzu Developer Tools

The extension makes use of the following files within your project:

• workload.yaml
• catalog-info.yaml
• Tiltfile
• .tanzuignore

You can create these files by using the instructions in this topic, or use the files in the View an example project section.

There are two ways to create these files:

• Using the code snippets that Tanzu Developer Tools provide, which create templates in empty files that you then fill in with the required information.
• Writing the files manually.

Create the workload.yaml file

In your project, you must include a file named workload.yaml, for example, my-project/config/workload.yaml.

The workload.yaml file provides instructions to the Supply Chain Choreographer about how to build and manage a workload. For more information, see the Supply Chain Choreographer documentation.

The Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ extension requires only one workload.yaml file per project. The workload.yaml must be a single-document YAML file, not a multi-document YAML file.

The following is an example workload.yaml:

apiVersion: carto.run/v1alpa1
kind: Workload
metadata:
 name: APP-NAME
 labels:
   apps.tanzu.vmware.com/workload-type: WORKLOAD-TYPE
   app.kubernetes.io/part-of: APP-NAME
spec:
 source:
   git:
     url: GIT-SOURCE-URL
     ref:
       branch: GIT-BRANCH-NAME

Where:

• APP-NAME is the name of your application. For example, my app.
• WORKLOAD-TYPE is the type of workload for your app. For example, web. For more information, see Workload types.
• GIT-SOURCE-URL is the Git source code URL for your app. For example, github.com/mycompany/myapp.
• GIT-BRANCH-NAME is the branch of the Git source code you want to use. For example, main.

Alternatively you can use the Tanzu CLI to create a workload.yaml file. For more information about the Tanzu CLI command, see Tanzu apps workload create in the Tanzu CLI documentation.

Create the catalog-info.yaml file

In your project, you must include a file named catalog-info.yaml, for example, my-project/catalog/catalog-info.yaml.

catalog-info.yaml enables the workloads created with Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ to be visible in Tanzu Application Platform GUI. For more information, see Overview of Tanzu Application Platform GUI.

Example catalog-info.yaml

The following is an example catalog-info.yaml:

apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1
kind: Component
metadata:
 name: APP-NAME
 description: APP-DESCRIPTION
 tags:
   - tanzu
 annotations:
   'backstage.io/kubernetes-label-selector': 'app.kubernetes.io/part-of=APP-NAME'
spec:
 type: service
 lifecycle: experimental
 owner: default-team

Where:

• APP-NAME is the name of your application.
• APP-DESCRIPTION is a description of your application.

Create the Tiltfile file

In your project you must include a file named Tiltfile with no extension (no filetype), such as my-project/Tiltfile.

The Tiltfile provides the configuration for Tilt to enable your project to Live Update on the Tanzu Application Platform-enabled Kubernetes cluster. For more information, see the Tilt documentation.

The Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ extension requires only one Tiltfile per project.

The following is an example Tiltfile:

SOURCE_IMAGE = os.getenv("SOURCE_IMAGE", default='SOURCE-IMAGE-VALUE')
LOCAL_PATH = os.getenv("LOCAL_PATH", default='.')
NAMESPACE = os.getenv("NAMESPACE", default='default')

k8s_custom_deploy(
   'APP-NAME',
   apply_cmd="tanzu apps workload apply -f PATH-TO-WORKLOAD-YAMl --live-update" +
       " --local-path " + LOCAL_PATH +
       " --source-image " + SOURCE_IMAGE +
       " --namespace " + NAMESPACE +
       " --yes >/dev/null" +
       " && kubectl get workload APP-NAME --namespace " + NAMESPACE + " -o yaml",
   delete_cmd="tanzu apps workload delete -f PATH-TO-WORKLOAD-YAML --namespace " + NAMESPACE + " --yes" ,
   deps=['pom.xml', './target/classes'],
   container_selector='workload',
   live_update=[
       sync('./target/classes', '/workspace/BOOT-INF/classes')
   ]
)

k8s_resource('APP-NAME', port_forwards=["8080:8080"],
   extra_pod_selectors=[{'carto.run/workload-name': 'APP-NAME', 'app.kubernetes.io/component': 'run'}])
allow_k8s_contexts('CONTEXT-NAME')

Where:

• SOURCE-IMAGE-VALUE is your source image.
• APP-NAME is the name of your application.
• PATH-TO-WORKLOAD-YAML is the local file system path to your workload.yaml file. For example, config/workload.yaml.
• CONTEXT-NAME is the name of your current Kubernetes context. If your Tanzu Application Platform-enabled Kubernetes cluster is running on your local machine, you can remove the entire allow_k8s_contexts line. For more information about this line, see the Tilt documentation.

If you want to compile the source image from a local directory other than the project directory, change the value of local path. For more information, see local path in the glossary.

Create the .tanzuignore file

In your project, you can include a file named .tanzuignore with no file extension. For example, my-project/.tanzuignore.

When working with local source code, .tanzuignore excludes files from the source code that are uploaded within the image. It has syntax similar to the .gitignore file.

For an example, see the .tanzuignore file in GitHub that is used for the sample Tanzu Java web app. You can use the file as it is or edit it for your needs.

View an example project

Before you begin, you need a container image registry to use the sample application. There are two ways to view a sample application that demonstrates the necessary configuration files.

Use Application Accelerator

If your company has configured Application Accelerator, you can obtain the sample application there if it was not removed. To view the example using Application Accelerator:

1. Open Application Accelerator. The Application Accelerator location varies based on where your company placed it. Contact the appropriate team to learn its location.
2. Search for Tanzu Java Web App in the Application Accelerator.
3. Add the required configuration information and generate the application.
4. Unzip the application and open the directory in IntelliJ.

Clone from GitHub

To clone the example from GitHub:

1. Use git clone to clone the application-accelerator-samples repository from GitHub.
2. Go to the tanzu-java-web-app directory.
3. Open the Tiltfile and replace your-registry.io/project with your registry.

Next steps

Using Tanzu Developer Tools for IntelliJ.