Creating a Plugin Gradle Project

For the example my_plugin created with the steps describes above, the IDE Plugin generator creates the following directory content:

• The default IntelliJ Platform build.gradle.kts file (see next paragraph).

• The gradle.properties file, containing properties used by Gradle build script.

• The settings.gradle.kts file, containing a definition of the rootProject.name and required repositories.

• The Gradle Wrapper files, and in particular the gradle-wrapper.properties file, which specifies the version of Gradle to be used to build the plugin. If needed, the IntelliJ IDEA Gradle plugin downloads the version of Gradle specified in this file.

• The META-INF directory under the default main source set contains the plugin configuration file and plugin logo.

• The Run Plugin run configuration.

The generated my_plugin project build.gradle.kts file:

plugins {
  id("java")
  id("org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm") version "1.9.21"
  id("org.jetbrains.intellij") version "1.17.4"
}

group = "com.example"
version = "1.0-SNAPSHOT"

repositories {
  mavenCentral()
}

// Configure Gradle IntelliJ Plugin
// Read more: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/docs/intellij/tools-gradle-intellij-plugin.html
intellij {
  version.set("2022.2.5")
  type.set("IC") // Target IDE Platform

  plugins.set(listOf(/* Plugin Dependencies */))
}

tasks {
  // Set the JVM compatibility versions
  withType<JavaCompile> {
    sourceCompatibility = "17"
    targetCompatibility = "17"
  }
  withType<org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.tasks.KotlinCompile> {
    kotlinOptions.jvmTarget = "17"
  }

  patchPluginXml {
    sinceBuild.set("222")
    untilBuild.set("232.*")
  }

  signPlugin {
    certificateChain.set(System.getenv("CERTIFICATE_CHAIN"))
    privateKey.set(System.getenv("PRIVATE_KEY"))
    password.set(System.getenv("PRIVATE_KEY_PASSWORD"))
  }

  publishPlugin {
    token.set(System.getenv("PUBLISH_TOKEN"))
  }
}

• Three Gradle plugins are explicitly declared:

  • The Gradle Java plugin (java).

  • The Kotlin Gradle plugin (org.jetbrains.kotlin.jvm).

  • The Gradle IntelliJ Plugin (1.x) (org.jetbrains.intellij).

• The Group from the New Project wizard is the project.group value.

• The sourceCompatibility line is injected to enforce using Java 17 JDK to compile Java sources.

• The values of the intellij.version and intellij.type properties specify the version and type of the IntelliJ Platform to be used to build the plugin.

• The empty placeholder list for plugin dependencies.

• The values of the patchPluginXml.sinceBuild and patchPluginXml.untilBuild properties specifying the minimum and maximum versions of the IDE build the plugin is compatible with.

• The initial signPlugin and publishPlugin tasks configuration. See the Publishing Plugin With Gradle section for more information.

tip

Consider using the IntelliJ Platform Plugin Template which additionally provides CI setup covered with GitHub Actions.

Before running my_plugin, some code can be added to provide simple functionality. See the Creating Actions tutorial for step-by-step instructions for adding a menu action.

The IDE Plugin generator automatically creates the Run Plugin run configuration that can be executed via the Run | Run... action or can be found in the Gradle tool window under the Run Configurations node.

To execute the Gradle runIde task directly, open the Gradle tool window and search for the runIde task under the Tasks node. If it's not on the list, hit the re-import button in the toolbar at the top of the Gradle tool window. When the runIde task is visible, double-click it to execute.

To debug your plugin in a standalone IDE instance, please see How to Debug Your Own IntelliJ IDEA Instance blog post.

tip

For more information about how to work with Gradle-based projects see the Working with Gradle in IntelliJ IDEA screencast and working with Gradle tasks in the IntelliJ IDEA help.