100 Best IntelliJ Plugins for Productive Development

Ardelia Team · September 27, 2026 · 4 min read

How to use this IntelliJ plugin list

“Best” is necessarily contextual. A solo founder building a Spring service has different needs from a team maintaining a TypeScript frontend, a data pipeline, or an Android app. Rather than treating this as a fixed ranking, use it as a shortlist of 100 IntelliJ plugins and bundled extensions to investigate in the JetBrains Marketplace.

Start with a small set that addresses a real bottleneck: code review, navigation, formatting, framework support, or deployment work. Check compatibility with your IntelliJ version and edition before installing, and be especially deliberate about plugins that can access source code, repositories, or cloud credentials.

Core productivity and editor improvements

1. IdeaVim — Vim-style editing inside the IDE.
2. Key Promoter X — surfaces keyboard shortcuts for actions.
3. Presentation Assistant — displays shortcuts during demonstrations.
4. String Manipulation — transforms text selections in many ways.
5. Rainbow Brackets — visually differentiates nested brackets.
6. Indent Rainbow — highlights indentation levels.
7. CodeGlance Pro — adds a code minimap.
8. Grep Console — highlights and filters console output.
9. Statistic — summarizes project code statistics.
10. .ignore — helps edit ignore-file formats.

Code quality, conventions, and review

1. SonarLint — identifies selected quality and security issues.
2. CheckStyle-IDEA — runs Checkstyle rules in the IDE.
3. PMDPlugin — integrates PMD analysis.
4. SpotBugs — supports SpotBugs inspections for Java projects.
5. Save Actions — can automate configured actions on save.
6. EditorConfig — applies EditorConfig formatting settings.
7. SonarQube for IDE — connects local analysis with SonarQube workflows.
8. Qodana — supports JetBrains static-analysis workflows.
9. JRebel and XRebel — supports selected Java development workflows.
10. Lombok — improves support for Lombok-based projects.

Git, collaboration, and AI-assisted work

1. GitToolBox — adds Git status and history conveniences.
2. GitHub Copilot — provides AI coding assistance where available.
3. JetBrains AI Assistant — adds JetBrains’ AI features where available.
4. Tabnine — offers AI code-completion tooling.
5. Continue — provides an open-source AI coding assistant.
6. Code With Me — enables collaborative development sessions.
7. Atlassian Connector — connects supported Atlassian work items.
8. Jira Integration — supports Jira-oriented issue workflows.
9. TeamCity — integrates with JetBrains CI workflows.
10. GitHub Pull Requests and Issues — supports GitHub review and issue work.

Java, JVM, and persistence tools

1. Kotlin — language support for Kotlin projects.
2. Scala — language support for Scala.
3. Groovy — language support for Groovy.
4. Clojure — language support for Clojure.
5. MapStruct Support — assists projects using MapStruct.
6. JPA Buddy — provides tooling for JPA-focused development.
7. MyBatisX — supports MyBatis mapper development.
8. Database Navigator — adds database navigation and tools.
9. Mongo Plugin — supports MongoDB-oriented workflows.
10. Big Data Tools — adds tools for selected big-data technologies.

Web and frontend development

1. Node.js — supports Node.js projects and tooling.
2. JavaScript and TypeScript — core web-language support.
3. React — supports React development.
4. Vue.js — supports Vue development.
5. Angular and AngularJS — supports Angular projects.
6. Svelte — adds Svelte language support.
7. Astro — supports Astro project files.
8. Tailwind CSS — improves Tailwind authoring support.
9. Prisma ORM — supports Prisma schema files.
10. GraphQL — provides GraphQL editing and navigation.

Formats, documentation, and APIs

1. YAML — editing support for YAML files.
2. TOML — editing support for TOML files.
3. CSV Editor — table-oriented CSV editing.
4. Env Files Support — helps work with environment files.
5. JSONPath — assists with JSONPath expressions.
6. OpenAPI Specifications — supports OpenAPI documents.
7. Swagger — assists Swagger-related API work.
8. Protocol Buffers — supports protobuf definitions.
9. gRPC — supports gRPC-oriented development.
10. Apache Avro — works with Avro schemas.

Documentation and language tooling

1. Markdown — editing and preview support for Markdown.
2. Mermaid — renders Mermaid diagrams where supported.
3. PlantUML — supports PlantUML diagrams.
4. AsciiDoc — provides AsciiDoc authoring support.
5. TeXiFy IDEA — adds LaTeX editing features.
6. ANTLR v4 — supports ANTLR grammar development.
7. Grammar-Kit — helps build custom language tooling.
8. Thrift Support — supports Apache Thrift files.
9. Docker — supports Dockerfiles and Docker workflows.
10. Kubernetes — supports Kubernetes resource files.

Cloud, infrastructure, and additional languages

1. Terraform and HCL — supports Terraform and HCL files.
2. Helm — supports Helm chart development.
3. AWS Toolkit — connects supported AWS development workflows.
4. Azure Toolkit for IntelliJ — supports selected Azure workflows.
5. Cloud Code — supports Google Cloud development workflows.
6. Python — adds Python language support.
7. Django — supports Django projects.
8. Go — adds Go language support.
9. Rust — adds Rust language support.
10. PHP — adds PHP language support.

More language and ecosystem options

1. Ruby — adds Ruby language support.
2. Dart — supports Dart development.
3. Flutter — supports Flutter project workflows.
4. R Language Support — adds R editing support.
5. Julia — supports Julia development.
6. Haskell — adds Haskell tooling.
7. Elixir — supports Elixir projects.
8. Erlang — supports Erlang development.
9. Lua — adds Lua language support.
10. Solidity — supports Solidity smart-contract files.

Specialized development and visual polish

1. Android — Android tooling in compatible JetBrains IDE setups.
2. Flutter Inspector — assists Flutter UI inspection.
3. Material Theme UI — changes IDE colors and interface styling.
4. Atom Material Icons — adds file-type icons.
5. Nyan Progress Bar — replaces the progress indicator with a playful alternative.
6. IdeaVim-EasyMotion — extends IdeaVim navigation patterns.
7. File Watchers — runs configured external tools on file changes.
8. Prettier — supports Prettier formatting workflows.
9. ESLint — supports ESLint integration.
10. JSDoc — assists JavaScript documentation comments.

Build a deliberate plugin stack

Plugins are most valuable when they reduce context switching without turning the IDE into a slower, noisier workspace. A sensible baseline might combine one navigation tool, one quality tool, the language or framework support your product requires, and only the collaboration integrations your team actually uses.

Review installed plugins periodically. Removing tools that overlap, are no longer maintained, or are not used can be as useful as adding a new one.

For founders, the useful question is not which plugin is universally number one. It is which small set makes the next release easier to build, review, test, and operate.