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Inlay Hints

Edit pageLast modified: 03 December 2024

Inlay hints render small pieces of information directly into the editor and give developers additional code insight without disturbing the workflow. A well-known example is parameter hints that usually display the name of the function parameters as given in its declaration. They are closely related to Parameter Info which shows parameter types for all possible overloads of a function but opens as a popup overlaying the code.

Inlay hints are flexible and have a wide range of applications in the IntelliJ Platform. For instance, the following are well-known examples where inlay hints are used:

  • Java uses inlays to display type annotations in Java chained method calls.

  • Kotlin uses inlays in range expressions to show, e.g. less-than, or less-than-or-equal signs to let developers know if intervals are inclusive or exclusive.

  • In version-controlled projects, the author of the code is shown using inlay hints.