The only requirement to use CIDER is to have an nREPL server to which it may connect. Many Clojurians favour the use of tools like Leiningen, Boot or Gradle to start an nREPL server, but the use of one of them is not a prerequisite to use CIDER (however, it is required if you want to use the cider-jack-in command).

Setting up a Leiningen or Boot project (optional)

Leiningen is the de-facto standard build/project management tool for Clojure. Boot is a newer build tool offering abstractions and libraries to construct more complex build scenarios. Both have a similar scope to the Maven build tool favoured by Java developers (and they actually reuse many things from the Maven ecosystem).

CIDER features a command called cider-jack-in that will start an nREPL server for a particular Leiningen or Boot project and connect to it automatically. This functionality depends on Leiningen 2.5.2+ or Boot 2.0.0+. Older versions are not supported. For Leiningen, follow the installation instructions on its web site to get it up and running and afterwards create a project like this:

$ lein new demo

The two main ways to obtain an nREPL connection are discussed in the following sections of the manual.

Launch an nREPL server and client from Emacs

Simply open in Emacs a file belonging to your lein or boot project (like foo.clj) and type M-x cider-jack-in RET. This will start an nREPL server with all the project dependencies loaded in and CIDER will automatically connect to it.

Alternatively you can use C-u M-x cider-jack-in RET to specify the name of a lein or boot project, without having to visit any file in it.

In Clojure(Script) buffers the command cider-jack-in is bound to C-c M-j.

Connect to a running nREPL server

You can go to your project's directory in a terminal and type there (assuming you're using Leiningen that is):

$ lein repl

Or with Boot:

$ boot repl wait

Alternatively you can start nREPL either manually or by the facilities provided by your project's build tool (Maven, etc).

After you get your nREPL server running go back to Emacs. Typing there M-x cider-connect RET will allow you to connect to the running nREPL server.

In Clojure(Script) buffers the command cider-connect is bound to C-c M-c.

You can configure known endpoints used by the cider-connect command offered via a completing read. This is useful if you have a list of common host/ports you want to establish remote nREPL connections to. Using an optional label is helpful for identifying each host.

(setq cider-known-endpoints '(("host-a" "10.10.10.1" "7888") ("host-b" "7888")))

ClojureScript usage

ClojureScript support relies on the piggieback nREPL middleware being present in your REPL session.

Add the following dependencies to your project (project.clj in Leiningen based project or built.boot in Boot project):

[com.cemerick/piggieback "0.2.1"]
[org.clojure/clojure "1.7.0"]

as well as piggieback nREPL middleware:

in project.clj:

:repl-options {:nrepl-middleware [cemerick.piggieback/wrap-cljs-repl]}

or in built.boot:

(task-options!
  repl {:middleware '[cemerick.piggieback/wrap-cljs-repl]})

Issue M-x customize-variable RET cider-cljs-lein-repl if you'd like to change the REPL used (the default is rhino).

Open a file in your project and issue M-x cider-jack-in-clojurescript RET. This will start up the nREPL server, and then create two REPL buffers for you, one in Clojure and one in ClojureScript. All usual CIDER commands will be automatically directed to the appropriate REPL, depending on whether you're visiting a .clj or a .cljs file.

Browser-connected ClojureScript REPL

Using Weasel, you can also have a browser-connected REPL.

  1. Add [weasel "0.7.0"] to your project's :dependencies.

  2. Issue M-x customize-variable RET cider-cljs-lein-repl and choose the Weasel option.

  3. Add this to your ClojureScript code:

(ns my.cljs.core
  (:require [weasel.repl :as repl]))
(repl/connect "ws://localhost:9001")
  1. Open a file in your project and issue M-x cider-jack-in-clojurescript.

Provided that a Piggieback-enabled ClojureScript environment is active in your REPL session, code loading and evaluation will work seamlessly regardless of the presence of the cider-nrepl middleware. If the middleware is present then most other features of CIDER will also be enabled (including code completion, documentation lookup, the namespace browser, and macroexpansion).

Browser-connected ClojureScript REPL in Boot project

  1. Add this to your dependencies in build.boot:
[adzerk/boot-cljs     "1.7.228-1" :scope "test"]
[adzerk/boot-cljs-repl   "0.3.0"  :scope "test"]
[pandeiro/boot-http      "0.7.2"  :scope "test"]
[weasel                  "0.7.0"  :scope "test"]
[com.cemerick/piggieback "0.2.1"  :scope "test"]

and this at the end of build.boot:

(require
 '[adzerk.boot-cljs :refer [cljs]]
 '[adzerk.boot-cljs-repl :refer [cljs-repl start-repl]]
 '[pandeiro.boot-http :refer [serve]])

(deftask dev []
  (comp (serve)
        (watch)
        (cljs-repl) ; order is important!!
        (cljs)))
  1. Start boot dev in a terminal.

  2. M-x cider-connect to localhost and select the repl process.

  3. Execute (start-repl) at the prompt: boot.user> (start-repl).

  4. Connect to the running server with your browser. The address is printed on the terminal, but it's probably http://localhost:3000.

For more information visit boot-cljs-repl.

Using the Figwheel REPL (Leiningen-only)

You can also use Figwheel with CIDER.

  1. Set up Figwheel as normal, but make sure :cljsbuild and :figwheel settings are in the root of your Leiningen project definition.

  2. Add these to your dev :dependencies:

[com.cemerick/piggieback "0.2.1"]
[figwheel-sidecar "0.5.0-2"]
  1. Add this to your dev :repl-options:
:nrepl-middleware [cemerick.piggieback/wrap-cljs-repl]
  1. Instruct CIDER to use Figwheel in your Emacs config:
(setq cider-cljs-lein-repl "(do (use 'figwheel-sidecar.repl-api) (start-figwheel!) (cljs-repl))")
  1. Start the REPL with cider-jack-in-clojurescript (C-c M-J)

  2. Open a browser to the Figwheel URL so that it can connect to your application.

You now have two nREPL connections, one for Clojure and one for ClojureScript. CIDER will determine which to use based on the type of file you're editing.

You should also check out Figwheel's wiki.