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izhangzhihao/intellij-rainbow-brackets

★ 4,657KotlinAudience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

Rainbow Brackets colors matching bracket pairs in distinct hues inside JetBrains IDEs, making nested code much easier to read at a glance. Also adds colored indent guides, scope dimming, and per-variable coloring.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((Rainbow Brackets))
    Visual Features
      Bracket pair colors
      Indent guidelines
      Scope highlighting
      Variable coloring
    Supported IDEs
      IntelliJ IDEA
      Android Studio
      PyCharm
      WebStorm
    Languages
      Java Kotlin Python
      JS TypeScript Go
      Rust Ruby HTML
      C++ XML YAML
    Installation
      Plugin marketplace
      Search in IDE settings
      Lite version available
    Pricing
      Free core features
      Premium tier extras
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Code map

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Make deeply nested code easier to read by coloring each bracket pair a different color in your JetBrains IDE

USE CASE 2

Quickly spot which block your cursor is in by dimming everything outside the current scope

USE CASE 3

Track a variable across a function by letting the plugin assign it a unique color

USE CASE 4

Add colored indent lines to better visualize the structure of your code at a glance

Tech stack

KotlinJetBrains SDKIntelliJ PlatformPlugin Marketplace

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

Install via JetBrains plugin marketplace, search 'Rainbow Brackets' inside IDE Settings > Plugins. Works immediately after install with no extra configuration needed.

No license terms are mentioned in the explanation. Some features require a paid Premium tier.

In plain English

Rainbow Brackets is a plugin for IntelliJ-based code editors, including IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, PyCharm, WebStorm, and other IDEs in the JetBrains family. Its core feature is coloring brackets, parentheses, and curly braces in matching pairs using a sequence of distinct colors. When code has several layers of nested brackets, each pair gets its own color, making it easier to see which opening bracket corresponds to which closing one. Beyond the bracket coloring, the plugin adds several other visual aids. Indent guidelines can be highlighted with colors that correspond to the nesting level of the surrounding code. Scope highlighting dims everything outside the code block your cursor is currently inside, drawing attention to the active section. A variable coloring feature assigns each variable a unique color so you can visually track the same name across a block of code. The plugin supports a wide range of programming languages. Free features cover Java, Kotlin, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, HTML, XML, YAML, C++, Go, Ruby, Rust, and others. Some languages and some specific features, such as scope highlighting in Python or bracket coloring in C#, are gated behind a paid Premium tier. Installation is done through the JetBrains plugin marketplace, either by searching for Rainbow Brackets inside the IDE settings or by visiting the plugin page directly. A lighter version called Rainbow Brackets Lite is also available for users who want a smaller footprint. The plugin also supports JetBrains Fleet, the newer editor from JetBrains, via a separate plugin listed on the marketplace.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
I installed Rainbow Brackets in IntelliJ IDEA. How do I customize the colors it uses for bracket pairs?
Prompt 2
Rainbow Brackets has a scope highlighting feature, how do I enable it and what does it do exactly?
Prompt 3
Which Rainbow Brackets features are free and which ones need the Premium tier? Give me a clear comparison.
Prompt 4
How do I install Rainbow Brackets Lite instead of the full plugin, and what does the Lite version leave out?
Prompt 5
I use PyCharm for Python development. Which Rainbow Brackets features work for Python on the free tier?
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