jetbrains/intellij-community

📈 Trending★ 20,120JavaAudience · developerComplexity · 5/5ActiveLicenseSetup · hard

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((repo))
    What it does
      IntelliJ IDEA source
      Shared IDE platform
      Plugin foundation
    Tech stack
      Java
      Kotlin
      JetBrains Runtime
    Use cases
      Build IDE plugins
      Study IDE architecture
      Contribute bug fixes
      Custom IDE variants
    Build requirements
      8GB RAM minimum
      IntelliJ IDEA IDE
      Docker support
    Audience
      Plugin developers
      IDE contributors
      Architecture learners

mindmap root((repo)) What it does IntelliJ IDEA source Shared IDE platform Plugin foundation Tech stack Java Kotlin JetBrains Runtime Use cases Build IDE plugins Study IDE architecture Contribute bug fixes Custom IDE variants Build requirements 8GB RAM minimum IntelliJ IDEA IDE Docker support Audience Plugin developers IDE contributors Architecture learners

Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Develop plugins and extensions for IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, or other JetBrains IDEs.

USE CASE 2

Study how a large-scale Java IDE handles code analysis, autocomplete, refactoring, and language support.

USE CASE 3

Contribute bug fixes and features directly to IntelliJ IDEA and the IntelliJ Platform.

USE CASE 4

Build a custom IDE variant on top of the IntelliJ Platform for a specific language or workflow.

Tech stack

JavaKotlinJetBrains RuntimeGradle

Getting it running

Difficulty · hard Time to first run · 1day+

Requires JetBrains Runtime, Gradle build system, and compiling a massive multi-module Java/Kotlin codebase from source.

Open-source codebase available under JetBrains' Community License; permits use, modification, and distribution for non-commercial purposes and open-source projects.

In plain English

This is the open-source portion of the codebase behind IntelliJ IDEA, JetBrains' popular Java IDE (Integrated Development Environment), and the IntelliJ Platform on which most other JetBrains IDEs are built, including PyCharm for Python, WebStorm for JavaScript, and others. The repository contains the actual source code that JetBrains develops in the open. The IntelliJ Platform is the shared foundation that powers all JetBrains IDEs. Plugin developers use this codebase as a reference and dependency when building extensions for any JetBrains IDE. If you've used IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, or a similar tool, the code in this repository is much of what runs when you type code, see autocomplete suggestions, or click a refactor menu. Building from source requires cloning this repository, running a script to pull additional Android-specific modules from separate repositories, opening the project in IntelliJ IDEA itself (you need the IDE to build the IDE), configuring a JetBrains Runtime JDK, and having at least 8GB of RAM. Docker-based builds are also supported. The build system produces installable packages for the current OS. You would interact with this repository if you are developing a plugin for a JetBrains IDE, studying how a large-scale Java IDE is architected, contributing bug fixes to IntelliJ IDEA directly, or building a custom IDE variant on top of the IntelliJ Platform. It is primarily written in Java, with significant Kotlin code.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

How do I set up the IntelliJ IDEA source code locally and build it from scratch?

Prompt 2

Show me how to create a simple plugin for IntelliJ IDEA using the IntelliJ Platform SDK.

Prompt 3

Where in this codebase would I find the code that handles autocomplete suggestions and code inspection?

Prompt 4

What's the architecture of the IntelliJ Platform and how do plugins hook into it?

Prompt 5

How do I contribute a bug fix to IntelliJ IDEA and submit a pull request to this repository?

Open on GitHub → Explain another repo

Generated 2026-05-18 · Model: sonnet-4-6 · Verify against the repo before relying on details.