1. API and Compatibility
  2. Verifying Plugin Compatibility

Verifying Plugin Compatibility

Edit pageLast modified: 10 March 2025

See Incompatible Changes in IntelliJ Platform and Plugins API for known breaking changes.

For API annotated with @ApiStatus.Internal, see Internal API Migration for more details and replacements.

See also Targeting Multiple IDE Versions.

Plugin Verifier

Current Release: 1.383

GitHub: Releases & Changelog, Issue Tracker

JetBrains Platform Forum: Plugin Verifier category

Using with Gradle

Integration in Gradle build is available out-of-the box via dedicated Gradle tasks.

Use verifyPlugin task.

Integration with Continuous Integration (CI) environments is as simple as running the corresponding Gradle task as another quality check step. See the IntelliJ Platform Plugin Template GitHub workflow configuration file as reference.

Reported places are highlighted and linked to the plugin's source code in the Gradle tool window output (2023.3+).

JetBrains Marketplace

Compatibility with newer IDEs can easily be verified for plugins hosted on the JetBrains Marketplace using the built-in Plugin Verifier.

Other Usages

If a plugin is hosted on GitHub and the project is not using Gradle, consider using third-party GitHub Actions IntelliJ Platform Plugin Verifier or IntelliJ Plugin Verifier.

In all other cases, intellij-plugin-verifier can be used standalone as well.

IDE Support

The status of an API is marked using various annotations defined in ApiStatus, please see their doc for more details. Use highlighting available via dedicated IDE inspections as noted below to prevent problems as early as possible.

Unstable API

  • @ApiStatus.Experimental is considered unstable and may break or be removed.

  • @ApiStatus.Internal must not be used by plugins, see Internal API Migration for more details and replacements.

  • @ApiStatus.ScheduledForRemoval denotes API that will be removed in a future version.

Inspection: JVM languages | Unstable API Usage and JVM languages | Unstable type is used in signature

Obsolete API

API annotated with @ApiStatus.Obsolete has been replaced with a better alternative and must not be used for new code.

Inspection: Plugin DevKit | Code | Usages of ApiStatus.@Obsolete (2023.1)

Non-Extendable API

API annotated with @ApiStatus.NonExtendable must not be extended, implemented or overridden.

Inspection: JVM languages | Class, interface, or method should not be extended

Override-Only API

API annotated with @ApiStatus.OverrideOnly must not be called directly by the client.

Inspection: JVM languages | Method can only be overridden

plugin.xml

Usage of Extension Points which are deprecated or annotated with @ApiStatus.Experimental or @ApiStatus.Internal is also highlighted in plugin.xml files.

Inspection: Plugin DevKit | Plugin descriptor | Plugin.xml validity

API Compatibility

A plugin might specify a compatibility range including releases where some API is not available. Under the hood, it uses an artifact containing generated data via @ApiStatus.AvailableSince, which is automatically attached to the project.

tip

If values are not specified directly in plugin.xml (e.g., when providing values via patchPluginXml Gradle task (Reference: 2.x, 1.x)), they must be set explicitly in the inspection's settings.

Inspection: Plugin DevKit | Code | Usage of IntelliJ API not available in older IDEs