intellij-community

IntelliJ IDEA & IntelliJ Platform

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brackets

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An open source code editor for the web, written in JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

openvscode-server

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Run upstream VS Code on a remote machine with access through a modern web browser from any device, anywhere.

Quick Overview

IntelliJ COMMUNITY is the open-source version of JetBrains' IntelliJ IDEA, a powerful integrated development environment (IDE) for Java and other JVM languages. It provides a comprehensive set of tools for software development, including code analysis, refactoring, and debugging capabilities. The community edition serves as the foundation for many of JetBrains' other IDEs.

Pros

Robust and feature-rich IDE with excellent Java support
Large and active community contributing to its development
Extensible through plugins, allowing for customization and additional language support
Free and open-source, making it accessible to all developers

Cons

Large codebase can be challenging for new contributors to navigate
Resource-intensive, potentially requiring significant system resources
Steeper learning curve compared to simpler text editors or lightweight IDEs
Some advanced features are only available in the paid Ultimate edition

Getting Started

To get started with IntelliJ COMMUNITY:

Download the latest version from the official JetBrains website: https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/
Install the IDE following the instructions for your operating system
Launch IntelliJ IDEA and create a new project or open an existing one
Familiarize yourself with the IDE's interface and basic features
Explore available plugins to extend functionality as needed

For developers interested in contributing to the project:

Fork the repository on GitHub
Clone your fork locally
Set up the development environment following the instructions in the CONTRIBUTING.md file
Make your changes and submit a pull request for review

Competitor Comparisons

vscode

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Visual Studio Code

Pros of Visual Studio Code

Lightweight and fast, with a smaller installation footprint
Extensive marketplace with a wide variety of extensions
Cross-platform compatibility with consistent experience across operating systems

Cons of Visual Studio Code

Less robust out-of-the-box functionality for specific languages and frameworks
Limited built-in refactoring tools compared to IntelliJ IDEA
Steeper learning curve for advanced features and customizations

Code Comparison

IntelliJ IDEA (Java):

public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello, World!");
    }
}

Visual Studio Code (JavaScript):

console.log("Hello, World!");

While both IDEs support multiple languages, IntelliJ IDEA provides more comprehensive Java support out-of-the-box, whereas Visual Studio Code relies on extensions for advanced language-specific features. IntelliJ IDEA offers more sophisticated code analysis and refactoring tools, while Visual Studio Code provides a more lightweight and customizable environment.

atom

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:atom: The hackable text editor

Pros of Atom

Lightweight and faster startup compared to IntelliJ IDEA
Highly customizable with a large ecosystem of community packages
Built on web technologies, making it easier for web developers to extend

Cons of Atom

Less powerful out-of-the-box IDE features than IntelliJ IDEA
Performance can degrade with many packages installed
Limited support for complex refactoring operations

Code Comparison

Atom (CoffeeScript):

class AtomEnvironment
  constructor: (params={}) ->
    {@clipboard, @enablePersistence, @project, @config} = params
    @emitter = new Emitter
    @disposables = new CompositeDisposable

IntelliJ IDEA (Java):

public class ProjectImpl extends UserDataHolderBase implements Project {
  private final ProjectManager myManager;
  private final String myName;
  private final String myBasePath;
  private final AtomicBoolean mySavingInProgress = new AtomicBoolean(false);

Both examples show core classes responsible for managing the project environment, but IntelliJ IDEA's implementation is more complex and feature-rich, reflecting its more comprehensive IDE capabilities.

brackets

33,163

An open source code editor for the web, written in JavaScript, HTML and CSS.

Pros of Brackets

Lightweight and fast, with a smaller footprint than IntelliJ IDEA
Focused on web development, offering specialized features for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
Open-source and easily extensible with a wide range of community-developed extensions

Cons of Brackets

Limited language support compared to IntelliJ IDEA's extensive multi-language capabilities
Fewer advanced features and refactoring tools than IntelliJ IDEA
Less robust debugging capabilities and integrations with build tools

Code Comparison

Brackets (JavaScript):

define(function (require, exports, module) {
    "use strict";
    
    var CommandManager = require("command/CommandManager");
    var Commands       = require("command/Commands");
    var Menus          = require("command/Menus");
});

IntelliJ IDEA (Java):

package com.intellij.openapi.actionSystem;

import org.jetbrains.annotations.NotNull;
import org.jetbrains.annotations.Nullable;

public interface AnAction {
  void actionPerformed(@NotNull AnActionEvent e);
  void update(@NotNull AnActionEvent e);
}

The code snippets demonstrate the different focus areas of each IDE. Brackets emphasizes web development with its module system, while IntelliJ IDEA showcases its robust Java support and action system architecture.

openvscode-server

5,469

Run upstream VS Code on a remote machine with access through a modern web browser from any device, anywhere.

Pros of openvscode-server

Lightweight and optimized for cloud-based development environments
Easier to set up and deploy in containerized environments
More flexible for web-based and remote development scenarios

Cons of openvscode-server

Less comprehensive feature set compared to IntelliJ IDEA
Smaller ecosystem of plugins and extensions
May lack some advanced debugging and profiling capabilities

Code Comparison

openvscode-server:

export async function startServer(options: ServerOptions): Promise<void> {
    const app = express();
    app.use(express.json());
    app.use(cors());
    // ... (server setup continues)
}

intellij-community:

public class IntelliJApplication {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        ApplicationManager.getApplication().runWriteAction(() -> {
            // ... (application initialization)
        });
    }
}

The code snippets highlight the different approaches: openvscode-server focuses on a web-based server setup, while intellij-community initializes a desktop application. This reflects their distinct use cases and architectures.

code-server

73,222

VS Code in the browser

Pros of code-server

Browser-based IDE, accessible from any device without local installation
Lightweight and faster to set up compared to IntelliJ IDEA
Supports remote development out of the box

Cons of code-server

Limited language support and features compared to IntelliJ IDEA
Less robust refactoring and code analysis tools
Smaller ecosystem of plugins and extensions

Code Comparison

code-server (JavaScript)

const express = require('express');
const app = express();
app.get('/', (req, res) => res.send('Hello World!'));
app.listen(3000, () => console.log('Server running on port 3000'));

intellij-community (Java)

public class HelloWorld {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println("Hello World!");
    }
}

Summary

code-server offers a lightweight, browser-based IDE solution ideal for remote development and quick setup. However, it lacks the extensive features and language support found in IntelliJ IDEA. intellij-community provides a more robust development environment with advanced refactoring tools and a larger ecosystem, but requires local installation and more system resources. The choice between the two depends on specific project requirements and development preferences.

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README

IntelliJ Open Source Repository

This repository is the open-source part of the JetBrains IDEs codebase. It also serves as the basis forÂ IntelliJ Platform development.

These instructions will help you build and run open source parts of IntelliJ Platform / IntelliJ IDEA / PyCharm.

If you are new to the community and would like to contribute code or help others learn, seeÂ CONTRIBUTING.mdÂ to get started.

The following conventions will be used to refer to directories on your machine:

<USER_HOME> is your OS user's home directory.
<IDEA_HOME> is the root directory for the IntelliJ source code.

Getting the Source Code

This section will guide you through getting the project sources and help avoid common issues in git config and other steps before opening it in the IDE.

Prerequisites

Git installed
~2GB free disk space
Install IntelliJ IDEA 2023.2 or higher.

For Windows set these git config to avoid common issues during cloning:

git config --global core.longpaths true
git config --global core.autocrlf input

Clone Main Repository

IntelliJ open source repository is available from the GitHub repository, which can be cloned or downloaded as a zip file (based on a branch) into <IDEA_HOME>. The master (default) branch contains the source code which will be used to create the next major version of all JetBrains IDEs. The branch names and build numbers for older releases of JetBrains IDEs can be found on the Build Number Ranges page.

You can clone this project directly using IntelliJ IDEA.

Alternatively, follow the steps below in a terminal:

git clone https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-community.git
cd intellij-community

[!TIP]

For faster download: If the complete repository history isn't needed, create shallow clone To download only the latest revision of the repository, add --depth 1 option after clone.

Cloning in IntelliJ IDEA also supports creating shallow clone.

Get Android Modules

IntelliJ IDEA requires additional Android modules from separate Git repositories.

Run the following script from project root <IDEA_HOME> to get the required modules:

Linux/macOS: ./getPlugins.sh
Windows: getPlugins.bat

[!IMPORTANT]

Always git checkout the intellij-community and android Git repositories to the same branches/tags.

Building IntelliJ IDEA

These instructions will help you build IntelliJ IDEA from source code, which is the basis for IntelliJ Platform development. IntelliJ IDEA '2023.2' or newer is required.

Opening the IntelliJ IDEA Source Code in the IDE

Using the latest IntelliJ IDEA, click 'File | Open', select the <IDEA_HOME> directory. If IntelliJ IDEA displays a message about a missing or out-of-date required plugin (e.g. Kotlin), enable, upgrade, or install that plugin and restart IntelliJ IDEA.

Build Configuration Steps

JDK Setup

Use JetBrains Runtime 21 (without JCEF) to compile
- IDE will prompt to download it on the first build

[!IMPORTANT]

JetBrains Runtime without JCEF is required. If jbr-21 SDK points to JCEF version, change it to the non-JCEF version:

Add idea.is.internal=true to idea.properties and restart the IDE.

Go to 'Project Structure | SDKs'

Click 'Browse' â 'Download...'

Select version 21 and vendor 'JetBrains Runtime'

To confirm if the JDK is correct, navigate to the SDK page with jbr-21 selected. Search for jcef, it should NOT yield a result.

Maven Configuration : If theÂ MavenÂ plugin is disabled,Â add the path variableÂ "MAVEN_REPOSITORY" pointing toÂ <USER_HOME>/.m2/repositoryÂ directory.
Memory Settings

Ensure a minimum 8GB RAM on your computer.
With the minimum RAM, disable "Compile independent modules in parallel" in 'Settings | Build, Execution, Deployment | Compiler'.
With notably higher available RAM, Increase "User-local heap size" to 3000.

Building the IntelliJ IDEA Application from Source

To build IntelliJ IDEA from source, choose 'Build | Build Project' from the main menu.

To build installation packages, run the installers.cmd script in <IDEA_HOME> directory. installers.cmd will work on both Windows and Unix systems. Options to build installers are passed as system properties to installers.cmd command. You may find the list of available properties in BuildOptions.kt

Installer build examples:

# Build installers only for current operating system:
./installers.cmd -Dintellij.build.target.os=current

# Build source code _incrementally_ (do not build what was already built before):
./installers.cmd -Dintellij.build.incremental.compilation=true

[!TIP]

The installers.cmd is used to run OpenSourceCommunityInstallersBuildTarget from the command line. You can also call it directly from IDEA, using run configuration Build IDEA Community Installers (current OS).

Dockerized Build Environment

To build installation packages inside a Docker container with preinstalled dependencies and tools, run the following command in <IDEA_HOME> directory (on Windows, use PowerShell):

docker run --rm -it --user "$(id -u)" --volume "${PWD}:/community" "$(docker build --quiet . --target intellij_idea)"

[!NOTE]

Please remember to specify the --user "$(id -u)" argument for the container's user to match the host's user. This prevents issues with permissions for the checked-out repository, the build output, and the mounted Maven cache, if any.

To reuse the existing Maven cache from the host system, add the following option to docker run command: --volume "$HOME/.m2:/home/ide_builder/.m2"

Running IntelliJ IDEA

To run the IntelliJ IDEA that was built from source, choose 'Run | Run' from the main menu. This will use the preconfigured run configuration IDEA.

To run tests on the build, apply these settings to the 'Run | Edit Configurations... | Templates | JUnit' configuration tab:

Working dir: <IDEA_HOME>/bin
VM options: -ea

Running IntelliJ IDEA in CI/CD environment

To run tests outside of IntelliJ IDEA, run the tests.cmd command in <IDEA_HOME> directory.tests.cmd can be used in both Windows and Unix systems. Options to run tests are passed as system properties to tests.cmd command. You may find the list of available properties in TestingOptions.kt

# Build source code _incrementally_ (do not build what was already built before): `
./tests.cmd -Dintellij.build.incremental.compilation=true

#Run a specific test: 
./tests.cmd -Dintellij.build.test.patterns=com.intellij.util.ArrayUtilTest

tests.cmd is used just to run CommunityRunTestsBuildTarget from the command line. You can also call it directly from IDEA, see run configuration tests in community for an example.

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