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How Do I Use a Debugger in IntelliJ To Step Into Methods?

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Henrique Sa

OP
Admin
@riquelds.bsky.social
3 days ago

When I press “Step Into,” IntelliJ skips over third-party library calls. How do I force it to enter external source code?

java error-handling
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Gabriel Hernandez

@gabrielhs20.bsky.social
3 days ago

By default, IntelliJ won’t step into code from external libraries unless the sources or decompiled code are available. To force stepping in:

1.Enable “Step Into External Code”: Settings → Build, Execution, Deployment → Debugger → Stepping Uncheck “Do not step into library classes.”

2.Attach sources or download them automatically: IntelliJ can fetch source jars for Maven/Gradle dependencies so you can debug inside them.

3.Disable smart stepping filters if IntelliJ is skipping methods automatically.

Once those settings are updated, “Step Into” will enter third-party code just like your own.