RubyMine: Rails server launcher wasn't found in the project

Question

After importing an existing project into RubyMine, I encountered "Rails server launcher wasn't found in the project" when I Run/Edit Configuration.

I've checked this Cannot start the debugger in Rubymine. Rails server launcher wasn't found in project, but deleting the .idea directory and re-open is not helpful.

I can rails server in the Terminal successfully and the rails server runs. So I guess it's likely a RubyMine related thing.

Thanks, Allen

Solution 1

I upgraded from RubyMine to IntelliJ Ultimate IDE 2017.1.5 and I encountered the same error "Run Configuration Error: Rails server launcher wasn't found in project". I was using Ruby v2.4.0 with Rails 5.0.2.

It took me an entire day to solve the issue, so I've written a detailed explanation with screenshots to guide others.

It occurred when I tried to Run or Debug my Rails server from within IntelliJ. Other solutions also didn't fix the error. I tried deleting my .idea/ folder, trying different Ruby or Rails versions (i.e. Ruby v2.3.0 or latest Rails 5.1.2), and even starting a brand new project from scratch. But I could run the Rails server fine using Terminal (outside the IDE) with rails s.

SOLUTION approach:

First I opened Run > Edit Configurations but "Choose SDK from module" didn't have any Project Modules available to select from the drop-down, so I had to create one as follows:

I went to File > Project Structure

Then I clicked Modules, and clicked the icon "+", and selected "Import Module".

Then I navigated to my Rails project's root directory "'/Users/my_username/code/apps/_murmur/skag_server_rails" and clicked Open, which displayed the following.

I then selected "Create module from existing sources" and clicked "Next", and it showed the following, with a blue checkbox shown next to my Rails project root directory that it found, so I clicked "Next" again:

It then showed the following window, and I clicked "Finish".

I'd now finished importing the Rails project I was working on as a Module, and it showed the following, so I clicked "Ok", as I was now ready to try and run my Rails server again:

So I went back to Run > Edit Configurations window and click on "Rails > skag" where I could now use "Choose SDK from module" since there was now my "skag_server_rails" Module available in the drop-down that I just created, and no errors were apparent, as shown below:

I was then able to click Ok to save the Run/Edit Config

I was then able to run the server Run > Run, which displayed:

I was then able to successfully open the Rails app in the browser open http://localhost:3000

But then when I tried to Run > Debug so I could debug using breakpoints, it gave me the following errors:

I solved this by running the following in the Terminal (outside the IDE):

gem install debase --pre
gem install ruby-debug-ide

Then finally I could run Run > Debug and it allowed me to trigger breakpoints as shown below:

Important Note:

The initial approach that I took that DID NOT end up fixing the error involved choosing to use "Use other SDK" within the Run > Edit Configurations window to load my Ruby Gemset into the debug configuration (instead of using a Module).

UPDATE: I encountered the same error again more recently on 2nd September 2017 and followed these steps to overcome it:

• Go to Menu > File > Project Structure > Project Settings > Modules > Click "+" and select "New Module"
• Select "Ruby on Rails" from the left hand side list
• Choose for "Module SDK" label your "RVM: ruby-2.4.1 []"
• Click for "Rails Version" label the "Install Rails Gem..." drop-down
  • Select a Rails version for it to download and wait (i.e. 5.0.0)
  • Do not select a Rails version that causes the tooltip "This version is not fully supported" to appear below (i.e. selecting a Rails version >5.1.2 causes this to occur)
• Click for "Rails Version" label the version that finished downloading from the drop-down (i.e. 5.0.0)
• Enter "Working Directory" label value of "../"
• Enter a "Module Name" (i.e. videotube-5.0.0)

• Click "Apply" and "Save"

• Go to Menu > Run > Edit Configurations

  • Change any directories that do not point to root folder of app
• Go to Menu > Run > Debug

Solution 2

The easiest way to fix it:

1. Close project
2. Remove .idea folder from project folder
3. Open project

Bingo!

NOTE: this workaround seems to no longer work with 2017.2. See RUBY-20144

Solution 3

This worked for me

• Remove the .idea file
• Invalidate the cache and restart the ide

Solution 4

My variant to solve same problem.

Create new run configuration, but use "Ruby" template instead of "Redmine":

Ruby script field set to path to your redmine rails bin path and Script arguments set to "server -b 127.0.0.1 -p 3000 -e development" for ex.

Solution 5

I've came across this same problem, and a way I found to solve it was to properly defining the root folder of the project when opening it in the first time with RubyMine.

As far as I can understand, ideally you should open the project by pointing the RubyMine to the project's root folder:

my-workplace/
|-- rails-project-name/  <-- point RubyMine here when openning
|   |-- app/
|   |-- bin/
|   |-- config/
|   |-- db/
|   |-- lib/
|   |-- log/
|   |-- public/
|   |-- test/
|   ...

View more solutions

Comments

[Beartech]

I've found that since I migrated to a new computer AND upgraded to the latest Rubymine, I usually have to go into preferences -> Languages and Frameworks -> Ruby SDK and Gems, and set my preferred ruby version. Until I set that, Rubymine will use an old version of Ruby. I need to dig in and set my default in Rubymine one of these days.

[Allen Lin]

@Beartech you are right. But I've already set that configuration to the ruby version that works for me... The rails server launcher missing problem persists.... Frustrating... Maybe I should ask in the JetBrain community

[Beartech]

When you go into the folder on the command line and do a ruby -v, does the version match the version you set in Rubymine?

[Allen Lin]

@Beartech I believe so. The ruby -v shows ruby -v ruby 2.2.2p95 (2015-04-13 revision 50295) [x86_64-darwin14]. which matches the ruby version in RubyMine.

[Beartech]

If you find an answer over at the JetBrains community I hope you will come back and answer your own question for future users. I'll up-vote it.

[Allen Lin]

@Beartech Sure. Will do!

[kross]

Did this, but it unfortunately states Rails server launcher projects/acme/spec/dummy not found in the project.

[kross]

As ridiculous as it sounds, restarting OSX made it work. I resisted, but the guy next to me insisted. I did it and no problems. I hate it when "restart your computer" is the fix.

[caveman_dick]

Although this works it also blats any other run configurations that you may have, so make sure you have a backup first! :)

[kross]

Thanks, one problem with that is that a rails engine is the root folder, and the dummy app often lives in spec/dummy or test/dummy

[mmike]

This answer should be accepted as most correct. Works like a charm :)

[Florin Lei]

After half an hour of Google-ing found this ...and worked for me

[EUPHORAY]

this one should be the most acceptable answer for the question, it worked fine for me.

[Ricky Dam]

Thanks Skydan! Just worked for me on RubyMine 2019.3

[geekQ]

It is 2020, using IntelliJ 2020.1.1 and the bug still exists - a Rails project is not meaningfully imported by default and is not runable. This walk-through helps! All the gems detected, gem statements show no errors and the rails server can be started. Thanks!

[paws]

This answer helped, thanks. If when you get to the 'Import Module' step it mysteriously doesn't detect routes.rb, I'm told that removing node_modules and trying may resolve. Weird bug, not sure why it's not been fixed by now

[thewoolleyman]

Yep, this is generally a good thing to try when Jetbrains is doing strange stuff that you can't figure out.

[Malice]

While this did not solve my issue, this is the most detailed and best answer I've ever seen on this site.