Figure out how start and debug Kibana from sources

[zmoog]

I want to make a change in the Fleet plugin in Kibana.

I need to:

• Run Kibana locally from sources
• Debug the Fleet plugin

[zmoog]

Let's start with run Kibana locally on my machine.

[zmoog]

Install the dependencies

Prerequisites

• nodejs

What version of nodejs do I need?

$ cat .node-version
18.18.2

Installing nodejs18.18.2 using asdf:

$ asdf install nodejs 18.18.2
Trying to update node-build... ok
Downloading node-v18.18.2-darwin-arm64.tar.gz...
-> https://nodejs.org/dist/v18.18.2/node-v18.18.2-darwin-arm64.tar.gz

WARNING: node-v18.18.2-darwin-arm64 is in LTS Maintenance mode and nearing its end of life.
It only receives *critical* security updates, *critical* bug fixes and documentation updates.

Installing node-v18.18.2-darwin-arm64...
Installed node-v18.18.2-darwin-arm64 to /Users/zmoog/.asdf/installs/nodejs/18.18.2

Set up 18.18.2 as the local version for this project:

asdf local nodejs 18.18.2

Finally, check everything is working as expected:

$ node --version
v18.18.2

# install yarn
$ npm install -g yarn

yarn set version 1.22.19

# bootstrap Kibana and install the remaining dependencies
$ yarn kbn bootstrap
yarn run v1.22.19

$ node scripts/kbn bootstrap
info installing Bazel tools
success bazel tools installed
warn updated package map
warn updated tsconfig.json paths
[bazel] Extracting Bazel installation...
[bazel] Starting local Bazel server and connecting to it...
[bazel] INFO: Invocation ID: 29ca3f8b-c8fb-4b8e-890f-559f622f5d6c
[bazel] $ node ./preinstall_check
[bazel] [1/5] Validating package.json...
[bazel] [2/5] Resolving packages...
[bazel] warning Resolution field "@hello-pangea/dnd@16.2.0" is incompatible with requested version "@hello-pangea/dnd@^16.3.0"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "typescript@4.7.4" is incompatible with requested version "typescript@^3.3.3333"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "@types/node@18.18.5" is incompatible with requested version "@types/node@^10.1.0"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "@types/node@18.18.5" is incompatible with requested version "@types/node@^14.0.10 || ^16.0.0"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "trim@1.0.1" is incompatible with requested version "trim@0.0.1"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "@types/node@18.18.5" is incompatible with requested version "@types/node@^14.0.10 || ^16.0.0"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "@types/node@18.18.5" is incompatible with requested version "@types/node@^14.14.20 || ^16.0.0"
[bazel] warning Resolution field "typescript@4.7.4" is incompatible with requested version "typescript@^5.0.4"
[bazel] [3/5] Fetching packages...
[bazel] warning @elastic/synthetics@1.5.0: Invalid bin entry for "@elastic/synthetics" (in "@elastic/synthetics").
[bazel] [4/5] Linking dependencies...
[bazel] warning " > @elastic/apm-rum-react@2.0.1" has incorrect peer dependency "react-router-dom@>=6.0.0".
[bazel] warning " > @elastic/eui@89.1.0" has incorrect peer dependency "typescript@~4.5.3".
[bazel] warning " > @mapbox/mapbox-gl-rtl-text@0.2.3" has unmet peer dependency "mapbox-gl@>=0.32.1 <2.0.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-grpc > @opentelemetry/core@1.8.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.0.0 <1.4.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-grpc > @opentelemetry/otlp-transformer@0.34.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.3.0 <1.4.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-grpc > @opentelemetry/resources@1.8.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.0.0 <1.4.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-grpc > @opentelemetry/sdk-metrics@1.8.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.3.0 <1.4.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-metrics-otlp-grpc > @opentelemetry/otlp-transformer > @opentelemetry/sdk-trace-base@1.8.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.0.0 <1.4.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-prometheus > @opentelemetry/core@1.5.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.0.0 <1.2.0".
[bazel] warning "@opentelemetry/exporter-prometheus > @opentelemetry/sdk-metrics-base > @opentelemetry/resources@1.5.0" has incorrect peer dependency "@opentelemetry/api@>=1.0.0 <1.2.0".
[bazel] warning " > react-ace@7.0.5" has incorrect peer dependency "react@^0.13.0 || ^0.14.0 || ^15.0.1 || ^16.0.0".
[bazel] warning " > react-ace@7.0.5" has incorrect peer dependency "react-dom@^0.13.0 || ^0.14.0 || ^15.0.1 || ^16.0.0".
[bazel] warning " > react-intl@2.8.0" has incorrect peer dependency "react@^0.14.9 || ^15.0.0 || ^16.0.0".
[bazel] warning " > react-shortcuts@2.1.0" has incorrect peer dependency "react@^0.14.8 || ^15 || ^16".
[bazel] warning " > react-shortcuts@2.1.0" has incorrect peer dependency "react-dom@^0.14.8 || ^15 || ^16".
[bazel] warning " > recompose@0.30.0" has incorrect peer dependency "react@^0.14.0 || ^15.0.0 || ^16.0.0".
[bazel] warning " > @bazel/typescript@4.6.2" has incorrect peer dependency "typescript@>=3.0.0 <4.4.0".
[bazel] warning " > @elastic/eslint-plugin-eui@0.0.2" has incorrect peer dependency "eslint@>=5, <7".
[bazel] warning "@octokit/rest > @octokit/plugin-request-log@1.0.4" has unmet peer dependency "@octokit/core@>=3".
[bazel] warning "@storybook/addon-storyshots > preact-render-to-string@5.1.19" has unmet peer dependency "preact@>=10".
[bazel] warning " > @storybook/react@6.5.16" has unmet peer dependency "require-from-string@^2.0.2".
[bazel] warning Workspaces can only be enabled in private projects.
[bazel] [5/5] Building fresh packages...
[bazel] INFO: Analyzed 3 targets (775 packages loaded, 3249 targets configured).
[bazel] INFO: Found 3 targets...
[bazel] INFO: Elapsed time: 1223.412s, Critical Path: 17.10s
[bazel] INFO: 348 processes: 290 disk cache hit, 10 internal, 48 darwin-sandbox.
[bazel]
success shared bundles built
success yarn.lock analysis completed without any issues
success vscode config updated
✨  Done in 1235.68s. (20 mins)

Now Kibana is ready to run.

[zmoog]

Before kicking off Kibana, we need to start Elasticsearch.

Run Elasticsearch

The quickest way to run an Elasticsearch version that works with this version of Kibana, I can open another terminal an run:

yarn es snapshot --license trial

With --license trial we get all the features.

Run Kibana

yarn start

And the last step is open https://127.0.0.1:5601 and log in using elastic:changeme:

CleanShot.2023-10-25.at.16.17.29.mp4

[zmoog]

Now I want to debug Kibana using vs code.

[zmoog]

Open the folder with the Kibana source code in vs code.

Add a launch configuration with this content:

{
    "version": "0.2.0",
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Kibana Server",
            "port": 9230,
            "request": "attach",
            "restart": true,
            "skipFiles": [
                "<node_internals>/**"
            ],
            "type": "node"
        }
    ]
}

Start Kibana in debug mode:

yarn debug

On "Run and debug", click on "Kibana Server" to attach the vs code debugger to Kibana:

[zmoog]

I set a breakpoint in the _generateMappings() function, and here we are!