Google cloud app engine - How to edit code using SSH and debug-mode

Question

I am trying to debug an application I have deployed to google cloud app engine. Reading the docs, I figured out that in order to do so I have to enter the debug mode using

gcloud app --project [Project ID] instances enable-debug

afterwards I am able to SSH into my instance and access root. Now I would like to edit some of the files. However, trying to use vim or nano does not seem to work.

Is there a way to edit those files without re-deploying the entire app?

Answer 1

Once you SSH into the App Engine instance and open a shell into the Docker container, you'll need to download the package list before installing nano or vim:

apt-get update && apt-get install nano

Then you can edit your app's files (which are in /app):

nano composer.json