Debug Adapter Protocol

Besides LLDB and GDB, CLion can work with third-party debuggers that support the Debug Adapter Protocol (DAP). The DAP technology enables CLion to interact with various debugger implementations through a standardized interface. Ultimately, CLion’s DAP support provides a consistent debugging experience when using a new, non-LLDB/GDB debugger that supports this protocol.

Configure a DAP debugger

Go to Settings | Build, Execution, Deployment | Debugger | DAP Debuggers and then click + to add a new DAP debugger.
Specify your DAP debugger’s name, path to the executable, arguments, and the launch and attach parameters. Then, click Apply.
The Launch parameters and Attach parameters are debugger-specific. CLion prefills them with sensible defaults that work for both GDB and LLDB. However, we recommend consulting the documentation for your specific debugger to determine which JSON parameters to use.
CLion currently supports the $Executable$ , $WorkingDir$ , $Arguments$ , $Environment$ , and $EnvironmentArray$ macros in Launch parameters and the $Pid$ macro in Attach parameters. Code completion works for available macros and shows their meanings.
Go to Settings | Build, Execution, Deployment | Toolchains and select your toolchain.
Select your DAP debugger from the Debugger drop-down list and click OK.

You can now perform standard debugger actions.

Current limitations

CLion connects to DAP servers only via stdin/stdout, not via a TCP port (CPP-46675).
DAP debuggers only work with local toolchains.

24 November 2025