We built Duckly to help developers to collaborate in real-time with their peers without the need to be using multiple applications for this job: talking with Zoom, sharing code via screen sharing, and texting with Slack. Duckly simplifies this by bringing all to one place. Duckly is a pair programming tool that enables developers to collaborate in real-time with people using different IDEs.

However, in previous versions, you still had to use the Duckly web app for audio and video communication while using the Duckly IDE plugin for code sharing. Our users didn't like this fragmented experience and they wanted to be able to do everything inside of the IDE. Done.

You can now do video calls directly from your IDE! This is a big change that makes the Duckly IDE plugin more powerful and independent. You don't need to be managing multiple applications in order to collaborate. All you need is your IDE and to install the Duckly plugin on your IDE.

How does it work?

When you join a call, we are starting an electron app that handles the audio and video communication. This approach allows us to port to other IDEs and keeps a consistent experience across all of them. This extended Duckly app only runs while you are on a call.

This new plugin version is available for VSCode and all JetBrains' IDEs.

What else is new? Server Sharing!

Besides being able to talk with audio and video directly from your IDE, Duckly now enables you to share your server in real-time with your team.

Duckly enables you to share your open ports using a tunnel based on what is running in your environment. A public temporary URL is created and any changes applied to that server will propagate automatically to that URL. It's a very simple way for sharing your local development servers with other remote developers.

What's next?

We are glad to be moving fast towards a fully multi-IDE collaborative experience. Our goal is to make product teams work together in a seamless and efficient way. That also means there are still other experiences we believe can be better.

We are improving the experience when you are following another developer and after that, we are going to improve how you can share your terminal. So you can share your IDE terminal with a click directly from your IDE of choice.

If you have any feedback, don't hesitate to reach out at help at duckly.com.

Thank you.

We have some exciting updates to share about Duckly that we have been cooking for a while. This was by far the biggest update with thousands of lines pushed. We know that's not a measure of anything, but we thought it was cool to share. By the way, if you don't know what is Duckly, it enables developers to collaborate and share their code in real-time directly from their IDE.

In this updated we worked on 3 main areas:

• We simplified our UI,
• we added a web IDE and
• we improved the connection stability and reliability.

New UI

Our redesign was triggered by reading this article by Molly Mielke, where she talks about how software should have personality and not be a generic SaaS tool. We then started reflecting on what is Duckly, who are our (software) heroes and how Duckly could express more its personality. Duckly is a futuristic tech-nostalgia tool. We love old software, but we are excited to build new things that don't exist yet in order to help people better collaborate.

Besides the new UI, we also tried to remove as much as we could from the interface and make the tools more obvious to identify and use. Now when you arrive on the web app is all about what room you are going to use and what tool you are going to select to start collaborating with other people. Super simple.

On the sidebar, you can easily see the rooms you have and the multiplayer tools you can use. You can collaborate with:

• Audio and Video chat
• Share screen
• Share your code from your IDE
• Share your code using the web IDE
• Share your terminal
• Chat

Another important upgrade we did is that now you are not joining a call by just going to the room URL, but you are on a lobby that shows a couple of shortcuts to start collaborating. If you wanna join a call with audio and video chat or if you also want start sharing your code, that is one click away.

New web IDE

One challenge people faced was that when inviting someone to a session, that person might not have the Duckly plugin installed on their IDE and couldn't easily collaborate. We previously implemented a simple text editor that people could use to edit the shared files, but that was quite limited and lacked important features like code  and file navigation.

This update brings VSCode to inside of Duckly, so you can participate in coding sessions without needing any IDE. The objective here is not to replace the native IDE, but to make it easier for guests to join a session and have a quick collaboration without installing anything.

The web IDE has all the features that you have on Visual Studio Code, but it runs inside of the Duckly web app so you can collaborate in real-time.

Network resilience

P2P networks are challenging and keeping everything smooth demands a lot of care and we continuously push updates that make the experience of sharing code more reliable and consistent.

Still, some users were still facing disconnection or session drops while using Duckly. We've now pushed a new set of changes focused on handling network instabilities. Now Duckly will try to stay connected if anything fails and if it loses connection, the shared code will be read-only while we are trying to reconnect in the background. We are releasing a new plugin version for VS Code and JetBrains IDEs with these features.

That's all for now

We are working on bringing more stability to the platform and solving every challenge that gets in the way of people coding together. If you are facing any issues or feedback, don't hesitate to write to us and let us know.

Thank you!

IntelliJ IDEA, the flagship IDE by JetBrains, is designed to help you stay productive during development. It provides coding assistance through features like pair programming, smart code completion, and reliable refactorings with code analysis via built-in developer tools for Java, Kotlin, Groovy, or Scala languages.

Intellij IDEA supports web and enterprise mode as well as mobile backend platforms.

During the design of IntelliJ IDEA, its developers kept in mind all kinds of users who use JVM-based programming languages such as Java, and Kotlin.

Mission-critical tools such as integrated version control systems are all included in the IDE, which means you won’t have issues with plugins.

To maximize development productivity, IntelliJ IDEA encourages collaboration and offers an ergonomic design and intelligent coding assistance for various languages, e.g., SQL and JavaScript.

CSV

Let's face it, if you're dealing with data in your application, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem is that these files are a hassle to work with and edit. So, you'll often need to use a spreadsheet application like excel to open, view, edit, and export these files.

The CSV plugin makes it easier to work with CSV files because it implements CSV as a language in IntelliJ. As a result, it associates CSV and other associated file types with IntelliJ and gives you syntax definition, syntax highlighting, inspections, and other capabilities when working with CSV files.

This means no more switching between applications to view and edit files, which, in turn, means more efficiency.

Multirun

When developing an application, you’ll often need to test different configurations. This will, generally, require you to run the application in a specific configuration, change the configuration, and then run the application again. This, in turn, takes a lot of time and effort.

To save time, the Multirun plugin allows you to run multiple configurations at once. With it, you’re able to group multiple run configurations and run them with the click of a button. This makes it easier to run batches of tests and configurations or to start multiple servers and web applications.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

JRebel and XRebel for IntelliJ

When you build Java applications, the build process can, depending on your codebase, take a lot of time. This means that every time you make changes to your code, you have to rebuild the project to see if your changes worked. Ultimately, you get caught up in a cycle of making changes and rebuilding your project.

The JRebel plugin solves this problem because it allows you to reload code changes instantly. You're then able to skip the rebuild, restart, and redeploy cycle. This, in turn, allows you to save a lot of time and makes you more productive.

The XRebel plugin takes productivity a step further by giving you real-time performance insights into your applications. This allows you to get a better understanding of potential issues in your application and helps you resolve them faster.

GitToolBox

By now you know that, as a developer, you'll not only spend a lot of time in your IDE but you’ll also spend a lot of time using git. As a result, it's vital that you have an IDE with excellent git integration get allows you to perform your git actions from within your development environment.

Fortunately, JetBrains’s range of IDEs features some of the best git integrations on the market. With the GitToolBox plugin, you’ll be able to extend the features these IDEs already offer. Its features include enhanced status display, auto fetch at fixed intervals, inline blame annotation, commit dialog completion, behind notifications, and more.

ESLint

Let's face it, bugs can be frustrating to find and solve. It's even more difficult for new developers working on a codebase for the first time. So, you’ll want to eliminate and avoid programming errors as far as possible.

The ESLint plugin helps you do this. It quickly analyzes your code to find programming errors, stylistic errors, and bugs. And when you find these errors and bugs easier, you'll be able to rectify them quickly and easily. Another bonus is that the plugin can fix many errors it finds automatically.

Also, you’re able to write your own rules that will work alongside the plugin’s built-in rules. Ultimately, you can customize the plugin based on your team's needs and you'll ensure that your code is always free of error.

String Manipulation

Whether you need to sort, increment, or decrement strings for purposes of your application or just based on your preferences, a string manipulation tool can be extremely helpful. And that’s where the String Manipulation plugin comes in.

It gives you a full suite of string manipulation tools that allow you to switch case, toggle between different cases, increment or decrement numbers, create sequences, sort lines, shuffle characters, do conversions, and more. Moreover, although these actions are available in your IntelliJ-based IDE’s Edit menu, the plugin allows you to set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Ultimately, this plugin saves you time and will make you more efficient when writing code.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

Zero Width Characters Locator

The problem with zero width characters is that they can cause havoc with your code. The bigger problem with them is that they’re invisible. So, two pieces of code might look identical, but one could contain zero width characters. This makes them extremely hard to find and debug.

Instead of spending hours to find zero width characters, rather use the Zero Width Characters Locator plugin. It adds an inspection tool to IntelliJ that makes it easier to find zero width characters. Ultimately, this plugin could end up saving you a lot of time and headaches.

Database Navigator

As a software developer, you’ll work with databases often. You’ll typically do this by using the specific database’s console or shell through the terminal or desktop application.

The Database Navigator plugin aims to make this easier. It adds extensive database management, development, and maintenance capabilities to IntelliJ and other IntelliJ-based IDEs.

As such, it provides both SQL and PL/SQL editors, advanced database connection management capabilities, script execution support, database objects browsing, advanced navigation functionality, and more. Moreover, it supports most of the databases you’ll often work with including, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and others.

MetricsReloaded

As mentioned, when we looked at the Statistic plugin, you can’t improve something when you don’t measure it. So, analyzing your code is a good idea because it gives insights into your project’s structure.

Here, the MetricsReloaded plugin gives you a wealth of information and metrics about your project. These include everything from class counts, dependencies, lines of code, unit testing, and more.

Moreover, you can get metrics for your entire project or even specific modules and files. Also, apart from the built-in metrics, you’re also able to define your own metrics. Ultimately, the plugin allows you to identify issues in your code and gives you the insights necessary to improve it.

Grep Console

As you know, grep is a powerful that allows you to search for strings in a file or groups of files. In fact, it’s considered one of the most useful commands in any Unix system. Typically, you’ll need to use the terminal to execute grep commands.

The Grep Console plugin brings this functionality to your IntelliJ-based IDE. It allows you to open a grep console directly from your workspace. From there, you’ll be able to execute grep commands, filter out unwanted text, highlight matches, change the colors of matching text and lines, output the results into a new console, and more.

CodeGlance

By this time, you've probably heard of the minimap feature in the Sublime text editor. What makes it so great is that it shows you exactly where you are in a file which, in turn, makes it easier to find sections of code that you're looking for. And, by clicking on the specific piece of code, your editor will go to it.

To have this functionality you don't need to switch to Sublime, though. The CodeGlance plugin brings this functionality to IntelliJ. It embeds a minimap like the one found in Sublime into your IntelliJ IDE’s editor pane. It also works with both light and dark themes and uses your customized colors for syntax highlighting.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

IdeaVim

Many developers prefer using Vim because it's a lightweight, fast, and powerful text editor which is also highly configurable. This means that they can set it up exactly how they want it. It also means that, once they're used to it, they won't likely switch to another IDE.

If you're facing this problem, then IdeaVim is a plugin you should definitely consider. It's an emulation plugin that gives IntelliJ Vim functionality. As such, it includes features like normal/insert/visual modes, motion keys, registers, marks, macros, access to Vim plugins, and more.

Maven Helper

Maven is a widely used tool among Java developers. And it’s easy to see why considering that it’s a powerful tool that simplifies the build process. It doesn’t come without certain challenges, though. These challenges often relate to dependency management.

If you struggle with this, Maven Helper is the must-have plugin when you’re working with Maven. It gives you an easy way to analyze and exclude dependencies and the actions to run Maven goals for the module your current file is in or on the root module. It also allows you to open the terminal at the current Maven module path and to run test files.

Docker

Nowadays, Docker is becoming increasingly popular because it allows developers to develop once and deploy everywhere. An added benefit of Docker is that it's light on resources compared to traditional virtual machines.

The Docker plugin provides IntelliJ with full integration with Docker. This means you can run containerized applications with Docker Compose and you’ll be downloading and building Docker images right from your IDE. It also enables you to create and run Docker containers from downloaded images or directly from a Dockerfile and you're able to use dedicated docker run configurations.

Simply put, this plugin gives you all the tools you need to deploy applications inside containers and test code in an environment similar to the one you'll use in production.

Rust

Did you know that, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020, Rust is the most loved programming language? In fact, it’s held this position for five years. And it’s easy to see why as it’s fast, memory-efficient, and reliable. Ultimately, it lets developers build high-performance applications while eliminating many of the challenges they face with statically typed programming languages.

Fortunately, if you’re interested in developing with Rust or are busy with it already, the Rust plugin is definitely a tool to consider. It implements full Rust language support into IntelliJ which includes a built-in package manager, auto-completion, type inspections, auto-formatting, and more.

AWS Toolkit

It’s no secret that cloud computing, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very popular, so you’ll often have to write applications built on AWS.

To make this easier, the AWS Toolkit contains all the tools you need for AWS application development. As such, it gives you the ability to create and deploy AWS serverless applications. You can also create, debug, change, or delete AWS Lambda functions and debug code in Amazon ECS clusters.

Keep in mind, though, these are just some of the functionalities it offers and there are many others available from its resource explorer to authentication, and the S3 explorer. Ultimately, if you’re developing serverless applications on AWS, the AWS Toolkit is certainly worth a look.

CPU Usage Indicator

When developing software, it's vital that you check your CPU usage because it shows you how well your applications are processed. In simple terms, it shows you how hard the CPU must work to run your applications. In turn, this allows you to identify performance issues with your applications and eliminate processing bottlenecks.

The CPU Usage Indicator plugin places a usage indicator in IntelliJ’s status bar which makes it easier for you to get performance insights at a glance by making CPU usage statistics easily visible. It also contains actions that you can use to help identify performance issues.

Mongo Plugin

MongoDB is an open-source, non-relational database and probably one of the most popular databases for modern applications, so you’ll get to deal with it at some stage. When you do, you’ll generally have to access Mongo databases and perform CRUD operations on your data.

The Mongo plugin makes this process easier as it integrates MongoDB servers with the database or collections tree, Query Runner, and the shell console. This means you’ll be able to perform all your database related actions directly from your IDE.

So, you’ll be able to access MondoDB databases, connect to servers, query and perform CRUD operations on your database. This saves you a lot of time and lets you work more efficiently.

Statistic

It's simple if you don't measure something you won't be able to improve it. So, when measuring your project's lines of code, it can give you a great idea of how productive you are.

It goes further than this. Every line of code is functionality that you build into your application. This means the more lines of code, the higher the chance of something going wrong.

Luckily, the Statistic plugin gives you extensive statistics into your project’s modules, packages or files quickly and easily. By using it, you’ll keep your file sizes and line counts in check.

And using it is really simple too. It's as simple as installing the plugin and selecting the Statistic tab at the bottom of your screen to get statistics about your application.

Eclipse Code Formatter

When it comes to writing Java code, the two most popular IDE's are probably Eclipse and IntelliJ. The problem is that some developers prefer Eclipse while others prefer IntelliJ. And once they prefer an IDE, they're used to developing in it. This makes it challenging to pick the right one because, ultimately, it could have an effect on developers’ productivity and efficiency.

With the Eclipse Code Formatter plugin, this doesn't need to be a problem. This is because it allows you to use Eclipse’s Java Code Formatter directly in IntelliJ. In this way, developers can use the tools they’re used to, and it makes it easier to manage code style when both IDEs are used.

JetBrains Rider is a .NET IDE that provides tools for reference, planning, execution, and analysis for improved teamwork. You can develop web apps or games applications using the new cross-platform .NET Core framework across Windows, MacOS, and Linux platforms.

It supports over 2200 live code inspections and hundreds of context actions brought by ReSharper and ASP-based projects and services in C# to help improve collaboration between team members through better communication.

Rider's rich editor features code completion and code templates, auto-inserting matching braces, and import directives. It provides quick info tooltips on inheritance navigation with context actions to rename types or to extract methods.

Rider has over 450 context actions available for refactorings such as Rename Class, Move Type To Another File, etc.

The IDE comes with a debugger that works for .NET Framework, Mono, and .NET Core applications. It lets you step through code, watch variables change values in real-time, and evaluate expressions without compiling or executing the whole file.

Other tools include the NuGet browser, VCS support, and SQL database connection management that supports multiple databases simultaneously. You can connect and edit schemas and data within tables while running queries using schema diagrams.

PowerShell

When writing applications, you’ll often need to execute scripts. In Linux, this is generally not a problem as you have access to the terminal through IntelliJ. The problem is, running PowerShell scripts on Windows in the IDE is challenging and you’ll often be required to copy and paste code to the PowerShell window.

That is, until now. The PowerShell plugin gives IntelliJ PowerShell language support. As a result, you’ll have features like syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code snippets, code formatting, script execution, and more.

Heap Allocations Viewer

When developing C# applications, memory management is important. And here, heap allocation is a crucial aspect to look at as it allocates memory dynamically to variables and objects. Ultimately, this can impact the amount of memory your application uses and how well it runs.

The Heap Allocations Viewer plugin for the Rider IDE allows you to do this. It statically analyzes C# code to find all the local object allocations throughout your code. You can then use it to reduce the number of heap allocations in your C# application. The plugin can also detect all boxing cases, visualize hidden allocations, detect closure creation points, and detect delegate instances allocation.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

Zero Width Characters Locator

The problem with zero width characters is that they can cause havoc with your code. The bigger problem with them is that they’re invisible. So, two pieces of code might look identical, but one could contain zero width characters. This makes them extremely hard to find and debug.

Instead of spending hours to find zero width characters, rather use the Zero Width Characters Locator plugin. It adds an inspection tool to IntelliJ that makes it easier to find zero width characters. Ultimately, this plugin could end up saving you a lot of time and headaches.

WakaTime

To keep up your productivity and efficiency it's vital that you see how you perform. That's the only way you know how you can improve. But who wants to use manual time tracking tools, right?

If you don't, the WakaTime is the ideal plugin for you. It gives you dashboards that show you metrics, insights, and time tracking. One of the main benefits of the plugin is that it generates these dashboards automatically while you code.

In this way, you’ll be able to see what you spend your time on, how efficient you are and, where you can improve.

Database Navigator

As a software developer, you’ll work with databases often. You’ll typically do this by using the specific database’s console or shell through the terminal or desktop application.

The Database Navigator plugin aims to make this easier. It adds extensive database management, development, and maintenance capabilities to IntelliJ and other IntelliJ-based IDEs.

As such, it provides both SQL and PL/SQL editors, advanced database connection management capabilities, script execution support, database objects browsing, advanced navigation functionality, and more. Moreover, it supports most of the databases you’ll often work with including, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and others.

Key Promoter X

Just think about it, it’s much faster to use a keyboard shortcut to perform an action when writing code compared to using the mouse. The problem is that there are so many keyboard shortcuts that they take time to learn and it's difficult to remember them all.

The Key Promoter X plugin aims to solve this problem and helps you learn essential keyboard shortcuts while you're working. It does this by showing you the keyboard shortcut you should have used anytime when you use the mouse on a button within your development environment.

It also provides you with a list of the mouse actions you use the most and the keyboard shortcuts that could replace them. And if there isn't a shortcut for a mouse action you use often, it gives you the opportunity to create one. Ultimately, this makes it easier for you to learn keyboard shortcuts and, by implication, to be more productive.

Grep Console

As you know, grep is a powerful that allows you to search for strings in a file or groups of files. In fact, it’s considered one of the most useful commands in any Unix system. Typically, you’ll need to use the terminal to execute grep commands.

The Grep Console plugin brings this functionality to your IntelliJ-based IDE. It allows you to open a grep console directly from your workspace. From there, you’ll be able to execute grep commands, filter out unwanted text, highlight matches, change the colors of matching text and lines, output the results into a new console, and more.

Grazie

It’s a fact, when we write, we make spelling and grammar mistakes. So, it’s understandable why productivity software and word processors come with spell and grammar checking capabilities built-in. But why can’t you have this functionality in your IDE?

In fact, you can. The Grazie plugin provides intelligent spell and grammar checking functionality. Using the LanguageTool proofreading engine, it supports over 15 languages including English, Chinese, German, and more. It also recognizes natural language constructs in programming languages, markup languages, comments, and commit messages.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

Docker

Nowadays, Docker is becoming increasingly popular because it allows developers to develop once and deploy everywhere. An added benefit of Docker is that it's light on resources compared to traditional virtual machines.

The Docker plugin provides IntelliJ with full integration with Docker. This means you can run containerized applications with Docker Compose and you’ll be downloading and building Docker images right from your IDE. It also enables you to create and run Docker containers from downloaded images or directly from a Dockerfile and you're able to use dedicated docker run configurations.

Simply put, this plugin gives you all the tools you need to deploy applications inside containers and test code in an environment similar to the one you'll use in production.

String Manipulation

Whether you need to sort, increment, or decrement strings for purposes of your application or just based on your preferences, a string manipulation tool can be extremely helpful. And that’s where the String Manipulation plugin comes in.

It gives you a full suite of string manipulation tools that allow you to switch case, toggle between different cases, increment or decrement numbers, create sequences, sort lines, shuffle characters, do conversions, and more. Moreover, although these actions are available in your IntelliJ-based IDE’s Edit menu, the plugin allows you to set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Ultimately, this plugin saves you time and will make you more efficient when writing code.

CSV

Let's face it, if you're dealing with data in your application, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem is that these files are a hassle to work with and edit. So, you'll often need to use a spreadsheet application like excel to open, view, edit, and export these files.

The CSV plugin makes it easier to work with CSV files because it implements CSV as a language in IntelliJ. As a result, it associates CSV and other associated file types with IntelliJ and gives you syntax definition, syntax highlighting, inspections, and other capabilities when working with CSV files.

This means no more switching between applications to view and edit files, which, in turn, means more efficiency.

AWS Toolkit

It’s no secret that cloud computing, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very popular, so you’ll often have to write applications built on AWS.

To make this easier, the AWS Toolkit contains all the tools you need for AWS application development. As such, it gives you the ability to create and deploy AWS serverless applications. You can also create, debug, change, or delete AWS Lambda functions and debug code in Amazon ECS clusters.

Keep in mind, though, these are just some of the functionalities it offers and there are many others available from its resource explorer to authentication, and the S3 explorer. Ultimately, if you’re developing serverless applications on AWS, the AWS Toolkit is certainly worth a look.

Protobuf Support

According to Google, their protocol buffers are a language-neutral and platform-neutral data serializing protocol much like JSON and XML. The main advantage protocol buffers has over these protocols is speed. This makes it highly suitable for modern server architectures where vast amounts of data are transferred.

The Protobuf Support plugin brings full Google Protobuf support to IntelliJ. It includes features like structure view, code formatting, rename refactoring, syntax validation, font and color configuration, and more. In simple terms, it has all the tools you need to use protocol buffers in your projects.

GitToolBox

By now you know that, as a developer, you'll not only spend a lot of time in your IDE but you’ll also spend a lot of time using git. As a result, it's vital that you have an IDE with excellent git integration get allows you to perform your git actions from within your development environment.

Fortunately, JetBrains’s range of IDEs features some of the best git integrations on the market. With the GitToolBox plugin, you’ll be able to extend the features these IDEs already offer. Its features include enhanced status display, auto fetch at fixed intervals, inline blame annotation, commit dialog completion, behind notifications, and more.

MetricsReloaded

As mentioned, when we looked at the Statistic plugin, you can’t improve something when you don’t measure it. So, analyzing your code is a good idea because it gives insights into your project’s structure.

Here, the MetricsReloaded plugin gives you a wealth of information and metrics about your project. These include everything from class counts, dependencies, lines of code, unit testing, and more.

Moreover, you can get metrics for your entire project or even specific modules and files. Also, apart from the built-in metrics, you’re also able to define your own metrics. Ultimately, the plugin allows you to identify issues in your code and gives you the insights necessary to improve it.

Presentation Assistant

Pair programming is not only an excellent way to increase the quality of code and the efficiency of your team but also a great tool when educating new developers. A problem that often occurs when pair programming is when a developer uses keyboard shortcuts the other developer doesn't know. This is especially the case when teaching someone to code.

The Presentation Assistant plugin solves this problem by showing the name and the shortcut of any action you invoke while coding. In this way, your coding partner, whether experienced or inexperienced, knows exactly what you're doing. Because of this, it's the ideal tool when live coding in front of an audience, screencasting, and when teaching.

Multirun

When developing an application, you’ll often need to test different configurations. This will, generally, require you to run the application in a specific configuration, change the configuration, and then run the application again. This, in turn, takes a lot of time and effort.

To save time, the Multirun plugin allows you to run multiple configurations at once. With it, you’re able to group multiple run configurations and run them with the click of a button. This makes it easier to run batches of tests and configurations or to start multiple servers and web applications.

IdeaVim

Many developers prefer using Vim because it's a lightweight, fast, and powerful text editor which is also highly configurable. This means that they can set it up exactly how they want it. It also means that, once they're used to it, they won't likely switch to another IDE.

If you're facing this problem, then IdeaVim is a plugin you should definitely consider. It's an emulation plugin that gives IntelliJ Vim functionality. As such, it includes features like normal/insert/visual modes, motion keys, registers, marks, macros, access to Vim plugins, and more.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

CognitiveComplexity

According to G. Ann Campbell, cognitive complexity, “breaks from the use of mathematical models to evaluate code in order to remedy Cyclomatic Complexity’s shortcomings and produce a measurement that more accurately reflects the relative difficulty of understanding, and therefore of maintaining methods, classes, and applications.”

So, in simple terms, cognitive complexity shows you how easy, or difficult, your code is to maintain and understand. The CognitiveComplexity plugin implements a live calculation of this metric in Rider, so you’ll be able to see the complexity of your code at a glance. And once you’re able to see and measure this metric, you’ll be able to improve your code significantly.

Android Studio is Android's official IDE, purpose-built for android development. It helps you build high-quality apps quickly with its easy-to-use interface.

This flexible tool has a feature called Apply Changes that lets you push code changes without restarting your app or activity - It increases productivity and speeds up workflows while saving time.

Android Studio helps you work faster and more efficiently by offering code completion, analysis, and refactoring.

You can test different Android devices with an emulator on various hardware configurations - you don’t have to use real mobile devices. You can also simulate hardware features like network latency and motion sensors.

The IDE also ensures that you create the best code possible by giving you code templates and sample apps.

EduTools

If you're learning to code, one of the main challenges you'll have is finding the right educational materials. This is simply because there’s so much information out there.

The EduTools plugin aims to solve this problem and it lets you learn programming languages like Kotlin, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go and C++. It does this by giving you coding tasks and verification tests in your IntelliJ IDE. In this way, you’ll get to build your knowledge and get instant feedback on the code you've written.

It goes further than this, though. It's also the perfect tool for educators who want to teach students to code. Here, they'll be able to create their own interactive courses with integrated tests.

Vector Drawable Thumbnails

When developing mobile apps for Android, you’ll typically end up using a lot of vector images across your entire project. The problem is, to preview these vector drawable files, you’ll typically need to build your app. So, every time you make changes, add or remove any vector drawable files, you’ll need to do this. This takes time, makes you less efficient, and impacts your productivity.

The Vector Drawable Thumbnails plugin solves this problem. By just selecting the option from your main menu, you’ll be able to view all the vector drawables in your entire project. This makes them easier to manage and allows you to up your productivity.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

Android Input

When developing Android apps, you often need to enter text into your Android device or emulator to test certain functionalities or capabilities of your application.

The Android Input plugin allows you to do this by giving you the ability to input text into an Android device or emulator quickly and easily. It remembers the last used device, so you don't need to select it every time you use the plugin. Also, it remembers the last entered and sent a text which makes it easier to use this text again.

CPU Usage Indicator

When developing software, it's vital that you check your CPU usage because it shows you how well your applications are processed. In simple terms, it shows you how hard the CPU must work to run your applications. In turn, this allows you to identify performance issues with your applications and eliminate processing bottlenecks.

The CPU Usage Indicator plugin places a usage indicator in IntelliJ’s status bar which makes it easier for you to get performance insights at a glance by making CPU usage statistics easily visible. It also contains actions that you can use to help identify performance issues.

QAPlug

One of the most important aspects that increase the readability of code which, in turn, makes it easier to understand and maintain, is code quality. In Java, there are several tools that allow you to improve your code’s quality. These include everything from Checkstyle that ensures you write code which complies with coding standards to Findbugs which helps you find bugs in Java code.

The QAPlug plugin adds extensive code quality functionality to IntelliJ. It does this by integrating tools like PMD, Checkstyle, Findbugs, and others into the IDE. In this way, it makes it easier for you to manage and maintain code quality when writing code.

Rainbow Brackets

Let's face it, when coding, you'll deal with brackets upon brackets and even more brackets from round ones, to square ones and squiggly ones. Obviously, this can become complicated when trying to figure out which bracket closes which block of code.

Luckily, the Rainbow Brackets plugin solves this problem. By showing bracket pairs in specific colors, it makes it easier for you to see where a code block starts and where it ends. This eliminates confusion and allows you to save time when writing code.

Android Drawable Importer

If you want to speed up your Android development, the Android Drawable Importer plugin is definitely worth a look. It consists of three features that make it easier to import, for example, vector images and icons.

First up is the AndroidIcons and Material Icons drawable import functionality. With this feature, you're able to select an asset, choose a color, select a resource name and the resolutions you want to import. You can then import these assets and all the missing folders will be connected for you.

With the batch drawable import feature you'll be able to do the same as with the AndroidIcons and Material Icons drawable import mentioned above, but you'll be able to do so in batches. Finally, the Multisource-Drawable import feature allows you to import assets from zip files.

Android Drawable Preview

As mentioned earlier, when developing an Android app, you’ll use a lot of drawable components. This makes it difficult to know what drawables you used and where you used them, especially if you’re working on a large project. With this in mind, it takes a lot of time and effort to figure this out and, without being sure, you could end up duplicating drawables.

The Android Drawable Preview plugin eliminates this problem. It does this by replacing the default file icons in your project view with previews of the drawables you’ve used. When using the plugin, it’s as simple as navigating through the folders in your project view to see exactly which drawables you’ve used.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

ADB Idea

Android Debug Bridge is an excellent tool included with the Android SDK that allows you to communicate with and debug Android devices. The utility provides you with access to a Unix shell that you can use to run a variety of commands on the device.

The ADB Idea plugin adds some of these commands to IntelliJ and Android Studio. Some of the commands added to the IDE include ADB Uninstall App, ADB Start App, ADB Kill App, ADB Start App With Debugger, and ADB Enable/Disable Wi-Fi. Keep in mind, though, that these are just some of the commands and that there are many more.

The key, however, is that this plugin can end up saving you a lot of time and speed up your development and debugging processes.

ADB Wifi

As mentioned earlier, ADB is an excellent tool you can use to communicate with an Android device to perform several different actions like installing and debugging apps or running a variety of commands.

The ADB WIFI plugin allows you to connect your Android device and development workstation through Wi-Fi. This means you'll be able to perform all the actions ADB offers and debug an Android device wirelessly. To do this you only need to ensure that both the Android device and the ADB host computer are connected to the same Wi-Fi network.

This makes this plugin a useful tool that could end up saving you a lot of time.

Android Butterknife Zelezny

Butterknife is a lightweight library that allows you to inject views into your Android components. It does this by using notation processing to generate modified Java classes based on your annotations. This process can become somewhat complicated and time-consuming, especially when you need to perform several injections.

The Android Butterknife Zelezny plugin solves this problem. It allows you to generate butterknife injections from selected layout XMLs in activities, fragments, or adapters. Simply put, it’s one of the best tools you can use to improve your productivity and efficiency when working with butterknife.

Name That Color

When you use a new color in an Android app, you often don't know what it's called. The problem is, to identify the color you’ll typically need to use an external tool like one of the many available websites that can identify a color for you.

But let's face it, when you're writing code you don't want to switch to your browser to find out what color you're adding to your application.

The Name That Color plugin makes it possible for you to have this functionality inside Android Studio. It allows you to name the color you have in your clipboard directly inside your color resource file in Android Studio.

VisualVM Launcher

VisualVM is an invaluable tool for monitoring and troubleshooting applications as it allows you to monitor process performance and memory, visualize process threads, display both local and remote Java processes, and more. In simple terms, it offers you a visual interface for viewing detailed information about your Java applications.

The VisualVM plugin provides VisualVM integration for IntelliJ and enables you to launch VisualVM alongside an executed application or from the console window of an application that is already running. This allows you to get insights into your Java applications quickly and easily.

Code Iris

As your application grows, you’ll need to deal with more modules, classes, packages, and dependencies. Understandably, this could become challenging with complex applications.

Code Iris solves this problem. It's a code analysis tool that allows you to visualize modules, classes, and packages of your projects and their dependencies. It also gives you the ability to filter and highlight classes and packages and easily navigate to these.

You can almost think of it as Google Maps for your source code which will allow you to manage your code and dependencies easier and make you more efficient.

Lombok

The Lombok plugin adds first-class support for Project Lombok into IntelliJ. Project Lombok is a Java library that automatically plugs into your IDE and builds tools that make it easier to write Java code. It does this by minimizing the amount of boilerplate code and allowing you to write code faster by using annotations. It also enables you to improve the readability of your code.

As such, the plugin has features like @Getter and @Setter which let you generate getters and setters automatically, @Data that generates boilerplate code that is normally associated with Java objects, a configuration system that lets you configure Lombok features according to your specific needs, and much more.

Add to gitignore

Typically, for any project, there are files you don’t want to track, commit, or push changes to GitHub for since pushing and pulling unnecessary changes to your repository could slow down development time and take too much space. For these files, you’ll then need to create a .gitignore file and add the files you don’t want to track to it.

This usually involves manually creating the file and editing it as needed. The Add to gitignore plugin makes this process a lot easier. You’ll be able to right-click on any file or directory and add it to your .gitignore file. Also, if no .gitignore file exists, one will be created for you.

Mario Progress Bar

Based on the Nyan Progress Bar plugin we mentioned earlier, the Mario progress bar injects some Nintendo nostalgia into your development environment. It allows you to make your IDE’s interface a little more exciting by adding a progress bar that shows Mario followed by some bricks for the basic bar or a Koopa shell for the indeterminate one.

Apart from making your development environment look nicer, it has a functional purpose too. This is because you'll know exactly how long before your project has finished compiling.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

Shifter

When working with data, you’ll often encounter it in the form of strings. Here, string manipulation gives you a variety of ways to manipulate, sort, and work with the data. When using string manipulation, you’ll, for instance, use them in conditional statements, change their case, and more.

The Shifter plugin makes string manipulation easier and allows you to perform string and code manipulations through various keyboard shortcuts. It, for instance, allows you to sort lines alphabetically, flip the order of words in camelCase strings, swap the operands in conditional statements, increment and decrement numbers, and more.

Ultimately, when you’re able to work with strings this effortlessly, you’ll be more productive.

PhpStorm is a lightweight PHP IDE designed to boost developer productivity with pair programming features, smart code completion, and on-the-fly error checking. This product works well with Symfony, Laravel, Drupal, WordPress frameworks, and front-end technologies like CSS3, JavaScript, TypeScript, VueJS, and React JS.

PhpStorm is the perfect solution for any web application development project or website you might be working on.

The IDE understands all the PHP language features for modern and legacy projects. It provides autocomplete suggestions, error prevention, and refactoring. Thanks to the Live Edit feature, you're able to see changes made in real-time.

Modern front-end technologies like HTML5 are supported too. This is good because it means you can enjoy cutting-edge functionality without worrying about breaking things by accident due to missing or incorrect syntax.

Symfony Support

Symfony is an open-source PHP framework for web development that's widely used in many websites and web applications and provides a set of reusable PHP components that speeds up development. In fact, thousands of websites rely on Symphony to form the foundation of their web services and many of the leading PHP projects use Symfony components to build applications.

If you're using Symfony for web development or are interested in doing so, the Symphony Support plugin is definitely worth a look. It provides full Symfony framework and component support for IntelliJ. As such, it contains all the tools you need for Symfony development including templates, dependency injection, forms, routing, and more.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

All the communication and the code-sharing sessions are P2P and encrypted, and only team members can join your calls. It never touches our servers.

PHP Annotations

Nowadays, it's just as important to document your code properly as it is to write clean, quality code. It's simple when you document your code properly, you or any other developer working with your code will always know what a class, method, or other structural element does. In PHP, you use DocBlocks to do this.

The PHP Annotations plugin makes this process easier as it provides PHP annotation support for IntelliJ. As such, it provides features like a Class import annotator, Class constants in DocTags, Auto alias import for annotation class, Goto for doc tags and property names, and so much more.

PHP Inspections

When developing PHP applications, it’s vital that you analyze your code early on in the development process to identify any issues or vulnerabilities. Sure, you can do this manually through code reviews, but you’ll typically use a static code analysis tool to make this process easier.

The PHP Inspections plugin gives you a static code analyzer for PHP in IntelliJ or PhpStorm. With the plugin, you’ll, for instance, be able to identify architecture-related issues, performance issues, security issues, and the plugin provides you with possible code construct simplifications.

In simple terms, the plugin contains all the tools you’ll need to create better code and, by implication, better applications.

PHP Toolbox

If you want to extend IntelliJ’s PHP capabilities even further, you should definitely take a look at the PHP Toolbox plugin. We'd go as far as to say that this is an essential plugin if you're working with PHP in IntelliJ. It provides the “Method References” and “Type Provider” extracted from the Symfony plugin. In addition to these, it also implements some of the core functionality of PhpStorm into IntelliJ.

It also gives you more type hint variable completion variants, better callable arrays completion and navigation, global string navigation for class, method, and function syntax, and more.

.env Files Support

.env files are extremely important to control the environment your application will be running in. In other words, they allow you to configure the environment for different stages of your application development process whether it's for staging, production, or your local environment. By configuring these files correctly, you'll ensure that your application runs as it should.

The .env Files Support plugin adds support for editing .env files to all IntelliJ-based IDEs. As such, it offers syntax highlighting, autocompletion of environment variables in .env files, Dockerfiles, and docker-compose.yml files, and the ability to go to specific declarations in your files through keyboard shortcuts.

Apache Config

.htaccess files are powerful configuration files that allow you to make configuration changes to your Apache servers without needing to make any changes to your server configuration files. They provide configuration directives which you place in a specific directory and these directives will then apply to that directory only.

So, just like writing code, you'll need the right tool to edit these configuration files. And here, the Apache Config plugin adds support for editing Apache configuration files to your IntelliJ-based IDE. As a result, you can expect the usual editing capabilities that your IDE offers when editing .htaccess files.

Docker

Nowadays, Docker is becoming increasingly popular because it allows developers to develop once and deploy everywhere. An added benefit of Docker is that it's light on resources compared to traditional virtual machines.

The Docker plugin provides IntelliJ with full integration with Docker. This means you can run containerized applications with Docker Compose and you’ll be downloading and building Docker images right from your IDE. It also enables you to create and run Docker containers from downloaded images or directly from a Dockerfile and you're able to use dedicated docker run configurations.

Simply put, this plugin gives you all the tools you need to deploy applications inside containers and test code in an environment similar to the one you'll use in production.

Database Navigator

As a software developer, you’ll work with databases often. You’ll typically do this by using the specific database’s console or shell through the terminal or desktop application.

The Database Navigator plugin aims to make this easier. It adds extensive database management, development, and maintenance capabilities to IntelliJ and other IntelliJ-based IDEs.

As such, it provides both SQL and PL/SQL editors, advanced database connection management capabilities, script execution support, database object browsing, advanced navigation functionality, and more. Moreover, it supports most of the databases you’ll often work with including, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and others.

RegexpTester

One of the things many developers struggle with is regular expressions. And it's easy to see why, when you consider that they’re hard to read and sometimes hard to understand. More significantly, though, many developers struggle with writing regular expressions.

The RegexpTester plugin aims to make this easier as it allows you to experiment with Java regular expressions in a dynamic environment. In other words, you'll be able to write regular expressions and see instantly what their results are.

The plugin offers syntax highlighting for regular expressions and tooltips when you hover your mouse over a part of a regular expression. This, ultimately, makes it easier to not only write regular expressions but to test them as well.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

PHPStan/Psalm/Generics

As mentioned earlier, when developing applications, code quality is extremely important. Now, there are several tools that you can use to ensure good code quality. One of these is a static code analyzer or analysis tool. Fortunately, there are many static code analysis tools you can use when writing PHP code. These, for instance, include tools like PHPStan and Psalm.

The PHPStan/Psalm/Generics plugin brings these tools to IntelliJ. Its features include class-string parameter inspection, class-string template return type detection, PHPStan and Psalm Code quality reports directly in your IDE, and additional features for PHPStan, Psalm, and Generics.

PHPUnit Enhancement

As a developer, you know how important testing is in software development. For effective testing, however, you need the right tools. And when it comes to PHP, PHPUnit is probably the most popular unit testing framework available for the language.

The PHPUnit Enhancement plug-in provides smart autocomplete, code navigation, refactoring, and other features for the mocked class methods of PHPUnit, Prophecy, and Mockery. It has features like method autocomplete for class, abstract class and trait mock objects, highlighting of incorrect method usages, Prophecy and Mockery support, and more.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

AWS Toolkit

It’s no secret that cloud computing, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very popular, so you’ll often have to write applications built on AWS.

To make this easier, the AWS Toolkit contains all the tools you need for AWS application development. As such, it gives you the ability to create and deploy AWS serverless applications. You can also create, debug, change, or delete AWS Lambda functions and debug code in Amazon ECS clusters.

Keep in mind, though, these are just some of the functionalities it offers and there are many others available from its resource explorer to authentication, and the S3 explorer. Ultimately, if you’re developing serverless applications on AWS, the AWS Toolkit is certainly worth a look.

String Manipulation

Whether you need to sort, increment, or decrement strings for purposes of your application or just based on your preferences, a string manipulation tool can be extremely helpful. And that’s where the String Manipulation plugin comes in.

It gives you a full suite of string manipulation tools that allow you to switch case, toggle between different cases, increment or decrement numbers, create sequences, sort lines, shuffle characters, do conversions, and more. Moreover, although these actions are available in your IntelliJ-based IDE’s Edit menu, the plugin allows you to set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Ultimately, this plugin saves you time and will make you more efficient when writing code.

Dummy Text Generator

The Dummy Text Generator adds a random text generator to the main menu of IntelliJ. It allows you to create text in different genres from fake latin to science fiction and esoteric wisdom. You can then insert the created text at the caret or replace a selection of existing text.

Why do you need it? It’s simple, you’ll often need to use placeholder text in your applications, especially when developing web applications. This tool makes this process a lot simpler and quicker.

CSV

Let's face it, if you're dealing with data in your application, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem is that these files are a hassle to work with and edit. So, you'll often need to use a spreadsheet application like excel to open, view, edit, and export these files.

The CSV plugin makes it easier to work with CSV files because it implements CSV as a language in IntelliJ. As a result, it associates CSV and other associated file types with IntelliJ and gives you syntax definition, syntax highlighting, inspections, and other capabilities when working with CSV files.

This means no more switching between applications to view and edit files, which, in turn, means more efficiency.

Rainbow CSV

When you import and export a lot of data in your applications, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem with these is that it's often difficult to figure out what data fits where. Even worse, not being able to easily see what type of data you're dealing with, it makes it more challenging to debug.

The Rainbow CSV plugin solves this problem. It does this by showing every column of data in a different color. This makes it easier to work with CSV files and visually work with the different types of data. The plugin supports different characters as delimiters and you're able to set custom column colors.

Rainbow Brackets

Let's face it, when coding, you'll deal with brackets upon brackets and even more brackets from round ones, to square ones and squiggly ones. Obviously, this can become complicated when trying to figure out which bracket closes which block of code.

Luckily, the Rainbow Brackets plugin solves this problem. By showing bracket pairs in specific colors, it makes it easier for you to see where a code block starts and where it ends. This eliminates confusion and allows you to save time when writing code.

ESLint

Let's face it, bugs can be frustrating to find and solve. It's even more difficult for new developers working on a codebase for the first time. So, you’ll want to eliminate and avoid programming errors as far as possible.

The ESLint plugin helps you do this. It quickly analyzes your code to find programming errors, stylistic errors, and bugs. And when you find these errors and bugs easier, you'll be able to rectify them quickly and easily. Another bonus is that the plugin can fix many errors it finds automatically.

Also, you’re able to write your own rules that will work alongside the plugin’s built-in rules. Ultimately, you can customize the plugin based on your team's needs and you'll ensure that your code is always free of errors.

Save Actions

It often happens, especially with larger projects or larger development teams, that you end up with a messy code base with differing styles, indentations, and the like. This not only makes it difficult for new developers to start working on the project but also makes the project more challenging to maintain.

The Save Actions plugin solves this problem. With it, you'll be able to set configurable save actions that will be applied every time files are saved. So, every time a developer saves their work, you’ll be able to reformat, rearrange, compile or optimize your code.  

This allows you to enforce a code style and code rules which makes your code cleaner, more uniform and easier to maintain.

PyCharm is an intelligent, Python-focused IDE by JetBrains that helps you create professional software. Its advanced code completion and other features such as pair programming make it one of the best tools in its class for professionals who want to do more in less time. The wide range of web frameworks supported makes this a complete toolbox for any development project you might have, while support for modern JavaScript technologies lets you explore new ways to solve problems too.

Additionally, PyCharm has some great scientific integrations - such as Anaconda, that come in handy when solving complex equations.

The PyCharm IDE is for professional Python developers from all knowledge levels, primarily software developers and data scientists. It saves time by taking care of the routine coding activities that you do. Letting you focus on critical work.

You can rely on PyChams productivity features like intelligent code completion, real-time error checking, remote development, and easy project navigation to get your work done efficiently.

Power Mode II

We know, writing code the whole day can become a bit of a drag. So, from time to time, it may be necessary to inject some excitement and entertainment into your work.

The Power Mode II plugin lets you do this and then some. With it, you'll be able to make writing code much more entertaining with features like exploding falling sparks, flames, editor shaking, fireworks, and more appearing as you type.

It also gives you the ability to choose different colors, the animation speed, and a Heatup feature that will create more fireworks the more you type.

Statistic

It's simple if you don't measure something you won't be able to improve it. So, when measuring your project's lines of code, it can give you a great idea of how productive you are.

It goes further than this. Every line of code is functionality that you build into your application. This means the more lines of code, the higher the chance of something going wrong.

Luckily, the Statistic plugin gives you extensive statistics into your project’s modules, packages or files quickly and easily. By using it, you’ll keep your file sizes and line counts in check.

And using it is really simple too. It's as simple as installing the plugin and selecting the Statistic tab at the bottom of your screen to get statistics about your application.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

All the communication and the code-sharing sessions are P2P and encrypted, and only team members can join your calls. It never touches our servers.

Save Actions

It often happens, especially with larger projects or larger development teams, that you end up with a messy code base with differing styles, indentations, and the like. This not only makes it difficult for new developers to start working on the project but also makes the project more challenging to maintain.

The Save Actions plugin solves this problem. With it, you'll be able to set configurable save actions that will be applied every time files are saved. So, every time a developer saves their work, you’ll be able to reformat, rearrange, compile or optimize your code.  

This allows you to enforce a code style and code rules which makes your code cleaner, more uniform and easier to maintain.

String Manipulation

Whether you need to sort, increment, or decrement strings for purposes of your application or just based on your preferences, a string manipulation tool can be extremely helpful. And that’s where the String Manipulation plugin comes in.

It gives you a full suite of string manipulation tools that allow you to switch case, toggle between different cases, increment or decrement numbers, create sequences, sort lines, shuffle characters, do conversions, and more. Moreover, although these actions are available in your IntelliJ-based IDE’s Edit menu, the plugin allows you to set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Ultimately, this plugin saves you time and will make you more efficient when writing code.

Quokka

When was the last time you wrote a bunch of code only to find out that it doesn't work when you're done? To solve this problem, you’ll often switch to online REPL tools to test a specific block of code. This takes time and makes you less productive.

The Quokka plugin solves this problem and makes it easier to prototype and test JavaScript code in your IntelliJ IDE. It's as simple as opening a new Quokka file and then start experimenting. Because you're able to do it in your IDE, you don't need to learn any new tools just to test an idea and you can focus on writing code.

IdeaVim

Many developers prefer using Vim because it's a lightweight, fast, and powerful text editor which is also highly configurable. This means that they can set it up exactly how they want it. It also means that, once they're used to it, they won't likely switch to another IDE.

If you're facing this problem, then IdeaVim is a plugin you should definitely consider. It's an emulation plugin that gives IntelliJ Vim functionality. As such, it includes features like normal/insert/visual modes, motion keys, registers, marks, macros, access to Vim plugins, and more.

Markdown

In recent years, markdown has become increasingly popular among developers due to its versatility that allows them to format plain text to generate different outputs. Another benefit of markdown is that, because it’s only plain text, it’s reasonably future-proof.  

The Markdown plugin provides full markdown language support in IntelliJ-based IDEs and allows you to edit markdown files in your IDE’s editor window and see the rendered HTML in a live preview window.

It includes features like document structure view, folding headers, syntax highlighting, code completion, and the ability to use custom stylesheets for the live preview.

Docker

Nowadays, Docker is becoming increasingly popular because it allows developers to develop once and deploy everywhere. An added benefit of Docker is that it's light on resources compared to traditional virtual machines.

The Docker plugin provides IntelliJ with full integration with Docker. This means you can run containerized applications with Docker Compose and you’ll be downloading and building Docker images right from your IDE. It also enables you to create and run Docker containers from downloaded images or directly from a Dockerfile and you're able to use dedicated docker run configurations.

Simply put, this plugin gives you all the tools you need to deploy applications inside containers and test code in an environment similar to the one you'll use in production.

PowerShell

When writing applications, you’ll often need to execute scripts. In Linux, this is generally not a problem as you have access to the terminal through IntelliJ. The problem is, running PowerShell scripts on Windows in the IDE is challenging and you’ll often be required to copy and paste code to the PowerShell window.

That is, until now. The PowerShell plugin gives IntelliJ PowerShell language support. As a result, you’ll have features like syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code snippets, code formatting, script execution, and more.

Mongo Plugin

MongoDB is an open-source, non-relational database and probably one of the most popular databases for modern applications, so you’ll get to deal with it at some stage. When you do, you’ll generally have to access Mongo databases and perform CRUD operations on your data.

The Mongo plugin makes this process easier as it integrates MongoDB servers with the database or collections tree, Query Runner, and the shell console. This means you’ll be able to perform all your database related actions directly from your IDE.

So, you’ll be able to access MondoDB databases, connect to servers, query and perform CRUD operations on your database. This saves you a lot of time and lets you work more efficiently.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

Lightrun

As applications are becoming more complex, observability is becoming increasingly important. It allows you to understand the inner workings of your application better, which, in turn, allows you to identify and solve issues easier, and improve your application’s performance.

The Lightrun plugin gives you the ability to do this by providing you with a range of tools for adding real-time information to your running applications and getting logs, snapshots, and metrics relating to your application’s performance at runtime.

When using it, you’ll be able to measure the size of data structures, see exactly how many times a line of code is executed, add log lines and real-time metrics, evaluate expressions in your code, and more all while the application is running. This ability increases your productivity significantly.

Protobuf Support

According to Google, their protocol buffers are a language-neutral and platform-neutral data serializing protocol much like JSON and XML. The main advantage protocol buffers has over these protocols is speed. This makes it highly suitable for modern server architectures where vast amounts of data are transferred.

The Protobuf Support plugin brings full Google Protobuf support to IntelliJ. It includes features like structure view, code formatting, rename refactoring, syntax validation, font and color configuration, and more. In simple terms, it has all the tools you need to use protocol buffers in your projects.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

Python

With the popularity of data science, machine learning, and artificial intelligence increasing, it's easy to see why Python is one of the most popular programming languages available today. In simple terms, it’s one of the, if not the most popular programming languages for these use cases.

Fortunately, if you want to develop Python applications but don't want to use another IDE, you can use the Python plugin in IntelliJ. It gives the IDE full Python capabilities which include intelligent code editing, refactoring, debugging, testing, profiling, and a range of web development and data science tools.

Rust

Did you know that, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020, Rust is the most loved programming language? In fact, it’s held this position for five years. And it’s easy to see why as it’s fast, memory-efficient, and reliable. Ultimately, it lets developers build high-performance applications while eliminating many of the challenges they face with statically typed programming languages.

Fortunately, if you’re interested in developing with Rust or are busy with it already, the Rust plugin is definitely a tool to consider. It implements full Rust language support into IntelliJ which includes a built-in package manager, auto-completion, type inspections, auto-formatting, and more.

ESLint

Let's face it, bugs can be frustrating to find and solve. It's even more difficult for new developers working on a codebase for the first time. So, you’ll want to eliminate and avoid programming errors as far as possible.

The ESLint plugin helps you do this. It quickly analyzes your code to find programming errors, stylistic errors, and bugs. And when you find these errors and bugs easier, you'll be able to rectify them quickly and easily. Another bonus is that the plugin can fix many errors it finds automatically.

Also, you’re able to write your own rules that will work alongside the plugin’s built-in rules. Ultimately, you can customize the plugin based on your team's needs and you'll ensure that your code is always free of error.

.ignore

.ignore files are an excellent way to ignore files when performing certain actions. For example, .eslintignore file allows you to exclude certain files from linting. Likewise, a .gcloudignore file lets you exclude certain files or directories when deploying to Google Cloud. By using these files to exclude files and directories from certain processes, you’ll be able to speed up your workflow.

The .ignore plugin makes it easier for you to work with .ignore files in your IntelliJ-based IDE. As such, it allows you to easily create, edit, and add files to your .ignore files. It also offers syntax highlighting for these files and templates you’ll be able to use.

EduTools

If you're learning to code, one of the main challenges you'll have is finding the right educational materials. This is simply because there’s so much information out there.

The EduTools plugin aims to solve this problem and it lets you learn programming languages like Kotlin, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go and C++. It does this by giving you coding tasks and verification tests in your IntelliJ IDE. In this way, you’ll get to build your knowledge and get instant feedback on the code you've written.

It goes further than this, though. It's also the perfect tool for educators who want to teach students to code. Here, they'll be able to create their own interactive courses with integrated tests.

You can use Ruby on Rails IDE (RubyMine) to increase productivity and improve your code quality by taking advantage of first-class support for languages like CoffeeScript, Sass/Less, ERB, and HAML. Using the Smart Search feature, you can quickly jump between classes or symbols in a Rails project with only one click.

To write code that follows community best practices and ensures the highest quality, use code inspections to identify errors. Automated but safe refactoring helps you improve your project's maintainability by cleaning up your existing source files with quick-fix options.

The debugger provides powerful graphical interfaces so developers can step through their program or JavaScript file one line at a time while making full use of all available information in real-time.

With RubyMines IDE, you can customize color schemes and keyboard shortcuts to create a seamless development experience. You can also save time with Git integration.

RubyMine IDE makes you feel at home due to its customizable color and keyboard schemes. You also get to enjoy seamless integrations like Rake Task Runner, Rails Generators Bundler, or even Zeus for fast server preps for productive development.

PowerShell

When writing applications, you’ll often need to execute scripts. In Linux, this is generally not a problem as you have access to the terminal through IntelliJ. The problem is, running PowerShell scripts on Windows in the IDE is challenging and you’ll often be required to copy and paste code to the PowerShell window.

That is, until now. The PowerShell plugin gives IntelliJ PowerShell language support. As a result, you’ll have features like syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code snippets, code formatting, script execution, and more.

Docker

Nowadays, Docker is becoming increasingly popular because it allows developers to develop once and deploy everywhere. An added benefit of Docker is that it's light on resources compared to traditional virtual machines.

The Docker plugin provides IntelliJ with full integration with Docker. This means you can run containerized applications with Docker Compose and you’ll be downloading and building Docker images right from your IDE. It also enables you to create and run Docker containers from downloaded images or directly from a Dockerfile and you're able to use dedicated docker run configurations.

Simply put, this plugin gives you all the tools you need to deploy applications inside containers and test code in an environment similar to the one you'll use in production.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

AWS Toolkit

It’s no secret that cloud computing, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very popular, so you’ll often have to write applications built on AWS.

To make this easier, the AWS Toolkit contains all the tools you need for AWS application development. As such, it gives you the ability to create and deploy AWS serverless applications. You can also create, debug, change, or delete AWS Lambda functions and debug code in Amazon ECS clusters.

Keep in mind, though, these are just some of the functionalities it offers and there are many others available from its resource explorer to authentication, and the S3 explorer. Ultimately, if you’re developing serverless applications on AWS, the AWS Toolkit is certainly worth a look.

CSV

Let's face it, if you're dealing with data in your application, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem is that these files are a hassle to work with and edit. So, you'll often need to use a spreadsheet application like excel to open, view, edit, and export these files.

The CSV plugin makes it easier to work with CSV files because it implements CSV as a language in IntelliJ. As a result, it associates CSV and other associated file types with IntelliJ and gives you syntax definition, syntax highlighting, inspections, and other capabilities when working with CSV files.

This means no more switching between applications to view and edit files, which, in turn, means more efficiency.

QAPlug

One of the most important aspects that increases the readability of code which, in turn, makes it easier to understand and maintain, is code quality. In Java, there are several tools that allow you to improve your code’s quality. These include everything from Checkstyle that ensures you write code which complies with coding standards to Findbugs which helps you find bugs in Java code.

The QAPlug plugin adds extensive code quality functionality to IntelliJ. It does this by integrating tools like PMD, Checkstyle, Findbugs, and others into the IDE. In this way, it makes it easier for you to manage and maintain code quality when writing code.

QuickJump

Have you ever considered how inefficient a mouse is, especially when writing code? Just think about it, you have to take your hand off the keyboard, grab the mouse, find the cursor on the screen and then move it to where you want to be. If you count all the times you do this throughout the day, it adds up to quite a lot of time wasted.

Fortunately, there is an easier way. The QuickJump plugin lets you navigate to any visible position in your IDE quickly and effortlessly. It’s as simple as pressing “ctrl+” and then starting to type. As you type, you’ll get the options matching what you’ve typed. You can then just press Enter or the number corresponding with the option you want, and you’ll be taken there instantly.

The plugin also offers several other options like jump and select, jump and autocomplete, or inserting new lines which all make navigating your code easier.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

.ignore

.ignore files are an excellent way to ignore files when performing certain actions. For example, an .eslintignore file allows you to exclude certain files from linting. Likewise, a .gcloudignore file lets you exclude certain files or directories when deploying to Google Cloud. By using these files to exclude files and directories from certain processes, you’ll be able to speed up your workflow.

The .ignore plugin makes it easier for you to work with .ignore files in your IntelliJ-based IDE. As such, it allows you to easily create, edit, and add files to your .ignore files. It also offers syntax highlighting for these files and templates you’ll be able to use.

Indent Rainbow

Much like the Rainbow Brackets plugin, the indent rainbow plugin shows the indentations in your code in different colors. This, in turn, makes your indentations much easier to read and could make coding in languages where indentations are important like Python much easier.

The plugin also gives you the ability to change the colors based on your preferences and what’s more readable to you. And when your code is more readable, you’ll be more efficient, and you’ll write better code.

CodeGlance

By this time, you've probably heard of the minimap feature in the Sublime text editor. What makes it so great is that it shows you exactly where you are in a file which, in turn, makes it easier to find sections of code that you're looking for. And, by clicking on the specific piece of code, your editor will go to it.

To have this functionality you don't need to switch to Sublime, though. The CodeGlance plugin brings this functionality to IntelliJ. It embeds a minimap like the one found in Sublime into your IntelliJ IDE’s editor pane. It also works with both light and dark themes and uses your customized colors for syntax highlighting.

GitToolBox

By now you know that, as a developer, you'll not only spend a lot of time in your IDE but you’ll also spend a lot of time using git. As a result, it's vital that you have an IDE with excellent git integration get allows you to perform your git actions from within your development environment.

Fortunately, JetBrains’s range of IDEs features some of the best git integrations on the market. With the GitToolBox plugin, you’ll be able to extend the features these IDEs already offer. Its features include enhanced status display, auto fetch at fixed intervals, inline blame annotation, commit dialog completion, behind notifications, and more.

Presentation Assistant

Pair programming is not only an excellent way to increase the quality of code and the efficiency of your team but also a great tool when educating new developers. A problem that often occurs when pair programming is when a developer uses keyboard shortcuts the other developer doesn't know. This is especially the case when teaching someone to code.

The Presentation Assistant plugin solves this problem by showing the name and the shortcut of any action you invoke while coding. In this way, your coding partner, whether experienced or inexperienced, knows exactly what you're doing. Because of this, it's the ideal tool when live coding in front of an audience, screencasting, and when teaching.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

Multirun

When developing an application, you’ll often need to test different configurations. This will, generally, require you to run the application in a specific configuration, change the configuration, and then run the application again. This, in turn, takes a lot of time and effort.

To save time, the Multirun plugin allows you to run multiple configurations at once. With it, you’re able to group multiple run configurations and run them with the click of a button. This makes it easier to run batches of tests and configurations or to start multiple servers and web applications.

ESLint

Let's face it, bugs can be frustrating to find and solve. It's even more difficult for new developers working on a codebase for the first time. So, you’ll want to eliminate and avoid programming errors as far as possible.

The ESLint plugin helps you do this. It quickly analyzes your code to find programming errors, stylistic errors, and bugs. And when you find these errors and bugs easier, you'll be able to rectify them quickly and easily. Another bonus is that the plugin can fix many errors it finds automatically.

Also, you’re able to write your own rules that will work alongside the plugin’s built-in rules. Ultimately, you can customize the plugin based on your team's needs and you'll ensure that your code is always free of error.

Quokka

When was the last time you wrote a bunch of code only to find out that it doesn't work when you're done? To solve this problem, you’ll often switch to online REPL tools to test a specific block of code. This takes time and makes you less productive.

The Quokka plugin solves this problem and makes it easier to prototype and test JavaScript code in your IntelliJ IDEA. It's as simple as opening a new Quokka file and then start experimenting. Because you're able to do it in your IDE, you don't need to learn any new tools just to test an idea and you can focus on writing code.

Mongo Plugin

MongoDB is an open-source, non-relational database and probably one of the most popular databases for modern applications, so you’ll get to deal with it at some stage. When you do, you’ll generally have to access Mongo databases and perform CRUD operations on your data.

The Mongo plugin makes this process easier as it integrates MongoDB servers with the database or collections tree, Query Runner, and the shell console. This means you’ll be able to perform all your database related actions directly from your IDE.

So, you’ll be able to access MondoDB databases, connect to servers, query and perform CRUD operations on your database. This saves you a lot of time and lets you work more efficiently.

Dummy Text Generator

The Dummy Text Generator adds a random text generator to the main menu of IntelliJ. It allows you to create text in different genres from fake latin to science fiction and esoteric wisdom. You can then insert the created text at the caret or replace a selection of existing text.

Why do you need it? It’s simple, you’ll often need to use placeholder text in your applications, especially when developing web applications. This tool makes this process a lot simpler and quicker.

MetricsReloaded

As mentioned, when we looked at the Statistic plugin, you can’t improve something when you don’t measure it. So, analyzing your code is a good idea because it gives insights into your project’s structure.

Here, the MetricsReloaded plugin gives you a wealth of information and metrics about your project. These include everything from class counts, dependencies, lines of code, unit testing, and more.

Moreover, you can get metrics for your entire project or even specific modules and files. Also, apart from the built-in metrics, you’re also able to define your own metrics. Ultimately, the plugin allows you to identify issues in your code and gives you the insights necessary to improve it.

JSON Viewer

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is probably one of the most common ways for transmitting data between services in web applications. To work with JSON, you’ll usually need an appropriate JSON viewing tool that will allow you to view, edit, and debug JSON documents. These include typical text editors or dedicated JSON viewing applications, either online or locally on your desktop.

The JSON Viewer plugin makes it easier to work with JSON files by making a viewer available in your development environment. It’s as easy as just selecting the JSON tab in your editor window. This means you don’t have to switch applications or workspaces to view the JSON files you’re working with. In turn, this saves you time and makes your workflow more streamlined.

Database Navigator

As a software developer, you’ll work with databases often. You’ll typically do this by using the specific database’s console or shell through the terminal or desktop application.

The Database Navigator plugin aims to make this easier. It adds extensive database management, development, and maintenance capabilities to IntelliJ and other IntelliJ-based IDEs.

As such, it provides both SQL and PL/SQL editors, advanced database connection management capabilities, script execution support, database objects browsing, advanced navigation functionality, and more. Moreover, it supports most of the databases you’ll often work with including, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and others.

CLion boosts your productivity by taking care of routine tasks while you focus on the critical aspects of code development. With CLion's Vim-emulation plugin, full coding assistance, smart and relevant code completion, fast project navigation, and reliable refactoring, you will be more productive.

CLion makes it easy for you to read code effectively since the IDE understands C and C++ languages deeply.

Using CLion IDE, you can create tons of boilerplate code instantly; Override and implement functions with simple shortcuts, create constructors and destructors, getters/setters for variables, equality operators - relational or stream output options.

The IDE makes it easy to Investigate and solve problems via its friendly debugger. You can also debug remotely and attach to local processes.

Finally, you can create custom live templates which can be reused throughout your projects, keeping consistency on coding styles applied over all documents being written at once.

IdeaVim

Many developers prefer using Vim because it's a lightweight, fast, and powerful text editor which is also highly configurable. This means that they can set it up exactly how they want it. It also means that, once they're used to it, they won't likely switch to another IDE.

If you're facing this problem, then IdeaVim is a plugin you should definitely consider. It's an emulation plugin that gives IntelliJ Vim functionality. As such, it includes features like normal/insert/visual modes, motion keys, registers, marks, macros, access to Vim plugins, and more.

Bazel

Bazel is an excellent tool to speed up your development and testing process. This is simply because it allows you to rebuild only the part of your application that's necessary. This means the tool allows you to perform fast and incremental builds that end up saving you time and making your development and testing process is more efficient.

The Bazel plugin for CLion makes this process easier by providing Bazel support for the IDE. It allows you to import BUILD files and offers custom language support for these files. It also provides support for Bazel run configurations for certain rule classes.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

All the communication and the code-sharing sessions are P2P and encrypted, and only team members can join your calls. It never touches our servers.

Rainbow Brackets

Let's face it, when coding, you'll deal with brackets upon brackets and even more brackets from round ones, to square ones and squiggly ones. Obviously, this can become complicated when trying to figure out which bracket closes which block of code.

Luckily, the Rainbow Brackets plugin solves this problem. By showing bracket pairs in specific colors, it makes it easier for you to see where a code block starts and where it ends. This eliminates confusion and allows you to save time when writing code.

EduTools

If you're learning to code, one of the main challenges you'll have is finding the right educational materials. This is simply because there’s so much information out there.

The EduTools plugin aims to solve this problem and it lets you learn programming languages like Kotlin, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go and C++. It does this by giving you coding tasks and verification tests in your IntelliJ IDE. In this way, you’ll get to build your knowledge and get instant feedback on the code you've written.

It goes further than this, though. It's also the perfect tool for educators who want to teach students to code. Here, they'll be able to create their own interactive courses with integrated tests.

Run Configuration as Action

When developing applications, you'll often run your applications in different configurations to assess their performance and identify any issues. Unfortunately, this takes a lot of time and effort because you'll often need to build and run the application based on one configuration, make changes to your configuration, and then build and run the application again.

Obviously, this can impact your productivity. The Run Configuration as Action solves this problem. It allows you to register all your run configurations as actions which you’ll then be able to execute through buttons on your IDE's toolbar. You'll also be able to assign shortcuts to these actions and run different configurations right from your keyboard.

Conan

Conan is a popular dependency and package manager for C and C++ developers. It aims to solve the problem many other package managers have in managing complexity as more dependencies are introduced in an application. In addition, it also simplifies and improves the deployment process of packages. In simple terms, it provides you with the full capabilities to manage your packages and dependencies.

The Conan plugin integrates the package manager with CLion. As a result, you’ll be able to install dependencies for your project from your development environment. You’ll also be able to match Conan profiles with CMake ones and set the package manager to run before CMake generation.

Focus on Active Task

When you're working on large projects, it's often difficult to find a specific file in your project tree view. This is simply because there are so many of them. In turn, it impacts your productivity.

The Focus on Active Task plugin aims to solve this problem by focusing the project tree view on the active task and displaying only the relevant files and paths. It does this by adding a “Focus on Active Task” toggle action to your View menu and a clickable button in your project view.

This makes it easier to find the files you're looking for when you need them, which ultimately lets you save time and be more efficient.

CodeGlance

By this time, you've probably heard of the minimap feature in the Sublime text editor. What makes it so great is that it shows you exactly where you are in a file which, in turn, makes it easier to find sections of code that you're looking for. And, by clicking on the specific piece of code, your editor will go to it.

To have this functionality you don't need to switch to Sublime, though. The CodeGlance plugin brings this functionality to IntelliJ. It embeds a minimap like the one found in Sublime into your IntelliJ IDE’s editor pane. It also works with both light and dark themes and uses your customized colors for syntax highlighting.

Keymap Exporter

One of the most important things when it comes to productivity and efficiency is the ability to configure your own keymaps in your IDE. The problem is, there are so many key combinations that is often difficult to remember what these keymaps are, unless, of course if you use all of them fairly regularly.

If you struggle to remember a specific key combination, you will then need to go to the specific IDE's settings to find the keymap you’re looking for. This breaks your momentum and impacts your productivity.

The Keymap Exporter plugin solves this problem by allowing you to export your keymap to a printable PDF document. You can then print the PDF and use it as a quick reference when you get stuck.

Time Travel Debug for C/C++

When trying to fix issues in an application, reverse debugging can be extremely helpful as it allows you to record all the activities in your application and then rewind and inspect all these activities to identify the problem.

In other words, it gives you the ability to time-travel through your application’s code execution flow which, in turn, gives you observability into your application’s state at every stage before an error occurs.

The Time Travel Debug for C/C++ plugin for CLion adds this functionality in CLion. It allows you to inspect and analyze actual code execution behavior, go back to any point in the execution history, step through the execution process step by step, and move forward, backward, and stop at breakpoints.

Ultimately, the plugin gives you all the tools you need to effectively debug applications and improve their performance. Keep in mind, though, to run this plugin, you’ll need to use CLion running on a Linux distribution.

CLion Help

As any developer will tell you, the first thing you need to do when you run into issues or problems when writing code is to look at the language’s specification and documentation. The problem is that you often need to look up the documentation online to find a solution to your problem. This takes time and makes you less productive.

When you're writing C or C++ code in CLion, this shouldn't be a problem when you use the CLion Help plugin. It makes the documentation available in your development environment and, as a bonus, you'll also be able to use it offline.

Multirun

When developing an application, you’ll often need to test different configurations. This will, generally, require you to run the application in a specific configuration, change the configuration, and then run the application again. This, in turn, takes a lot of time and effort.

To save time, the Multirun plugin allows you to run multiple configurations at once. With it, you’re able to group multiple run configurations and run them with the click of a button. This makes it easier to run batches of tests and configurations or to start multiple servers and web applications.

CMake Simple Highlighter

When developing C++ applications, you’ll more than likely use CMake to generate build tool files specifically to your compiler and platform. As a result, you'll typically need to edit CMake files and scripts.

Fortunately, the CMake Simple Highlighter plugin makes this easier as it adds additional CMake syntax highlighting support to IntelliJ-based IDEs. With the plugin, you're also able to customize the highlighting styles to suit your specific preferences. Ultimately, this makes your CMake files easier to read, and simplifies the process of identifying bugs and other issues.

CMake Plus

Although the CMake Simple Highlighter mentioned above is a helpful tool when you want to extend the CMake syntax highlighting capabilities of your IntelliJ-based IDE, it could happen that you need extended capabilities. And this is where the CMake Plus plugin comes in.

It extends the CMake language support you’ll get in your IDE’s editor window. As such, it includes features like variables navigation, variables renaming, folding sections for functions, structure view, comments, quick documentation, and syntax inspections. Simply put, it boosts the syntax highlighting and language support your IDE already has.

PowerShell

When writing applications, you’ll often need to execute scripts. In Linux, this is generally not a problem as you have access to the terminal through IntelliJ. The problem is, running PowerShell scripts on Windows in the IDE is challenging and you’ll often be required to copy and paste code to the PowerShell window.

That is, until now. The PowerShell plugin gives IntelliJ PowerShell language support. As a result, you’ll have features like syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code snippets, code formatting, script execution, and more.

Rust

Did you know that, according to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2020, Rust is the most loved programming language. In fact, it’s held this position for five years. And it’s easy to see why as it’s fast, memory-efficient, and reliable. Ultimately, it lets developers build high-performance applications while eliminating many of the challenges they face with statically typed programming languages.

Fortunately, if you’re interested in developing with Rust or are busy with it already, the Rust plugin is definitely a tool to consider. It implements full Rust language support into IntelliJ which includes a built-in package manager, auto-completion, type inspections, auto-formatting, and more.

Save Actions

It often happens, especially with larger projects or larger development teams, that you end up with a messy code base with differing styles, indentations, and the like. This not only makes it difficult for new developers to start working on the project but also makes the project more challenging to maintain.

The Save Actions plugin solves this problem. With it, you'll be able to set configurable save actions that will be applied every time files are saved. So, every time a developer saves their work, you’ll be able to reformat, rearrange, compile or optimize your code.  

This allows you to enforce a code style and code rules which makes your code cleaner, more uniform and easier to maintain.

Docker

Nowadays, Docker is becoming increasingly popular because it allows developers to develop once and deploy everywhere. An added benefit of Docker is that it's light on resources compared to traditional virtual machines.

The Docker plugin provides IntelliJ with full integration with Docker. This means you can run containerized applications with Docker Compose and you’ll be downloading and building Docker images right from your IDE. It also enables you to create and run Docker containers from downloaded images or directly from a Dockerfile and you're able to use dedicated docker run configurations.

Simply put, this plugin gives you all the tools you need to deploy applications inside containers and test code in an environment similar to the one you'll use in production.

Swift

When it comes to developing applications for iOS or MacOS, your options for IDEs are fairly limited. Sure, you can use a text editor like Atom or Sublime but for the full-featured experience, you would want an IDE. And here, the most popular ones are probably XCode and JetBrains’s AppCode.

Fortunately, with the Swift plugin, you have another option. It provides full swift language support in CLion. The plugin is based on AppCode, so you get basically the same core functionality which allows you to make CLion a fully-featured swift IDE for cross-platform development.

Frame Switcher

As you know, you can switch between open applications by using alt + tab. Although it makes it easier to switch between open applications it becomes complicated especially when there's many application windows open. Before you know it, you're switching through applications and you're not getting to the one you want opened.

The Frame Switcher plugin makes it easier to switch between and manage open applications. It gives you various options for switching and reopening projects, closing projects, and removing recent projects from your history. Ultimately, it allows you to switch between open applications effortlessly and improves your window management and, by implication, your productivity.

Main Menu Toggler

Based on your specific preferences, you might want to have the main menu displayed in your development environment or not. This often entails that you need to go into your IDE's settings to turn the main menu on or off.

The Main Menu Toggler plugin allows you to do this effortlessly. With it, you can go to the View menu and execute the Toggle Main Menu action which will toggle the visibility of the main menu between on or off. In addition, the plugin gives you the ability to set a shortcut for this action which means you'll be able to toggle the main menu on or off by using your keyboard.

Compiler Explorer

When compiling software, it’s vital to look at the compilation results to see exactly what’s going on under the hood. In other words, it gives you deeper insights into the compilation process and allows you to identify issues or problems.

The Compiler Explorer plugin for CLion allows you to see the compilation results from a remote Compiler Explorer instance. A benefit of the plugin is that its default settings allow you to use it on a wide variety of applications.

One of its main features, though, is local preprocessing. This allows you to first run a local compiler and then send the preprocessed source code for remote compilation.

Grep Console

As you know, grep is a powerful that allows you to search for strings in a file or groups of files. In fact, it’s considered one of the most useful commands in any Unix system. Typically, you’ll need to use the terminal to execute grep commands.

The Grep Console plugin brings this functionality to your IntelliJ-based IDE. It allows you to open a grep console directly from your workspace. From there, you’ll be able to execute grep commands, filter out unwanted text, highlight matches, change the colors of matching text and lines, output the results into a new console, and more.

AWS Toolkit

It’s no secret that cloud computing, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very popular, so you’ll often have to write applications built on AWS.

To make this easier, the AWS Toolkit contain all the tools you need for AWS application development. As such, it gives you the ability to create and deploy AWS serverless applications. You can also create, debug, change, or delete AWS Lambda functions and debug code in Amazon ECS clusters.

Keep in mind, though, these are just some of the functionalities it offers and there are many others available from its resource explorer to authentication, and the S3 explorer. Ultimately, if you’re developing serverless applications on AWS, the AWS Toolkit is certainly worth a look.

WebStorm is an integrated development environment for JavaScript and related technologies made by JetBrains. Like other JetBrains IDEs, it makes your development experience more enjoyable, automating routine work and helping you handle complex tasks with ease. It combines the intelligence of IntelliJ with the effectiveness of VS Code.

WebStorm also allows users to create and install different plugins for a more personalized experience. JetBrain offers a platform for users to search for their preferred plugins, and as of July 2021, there are more than 2000 plugins for WebStorm alone.

Without further ado, let's take a look at some of the best WebStorm plugins for 2021.

AceJump

There's nothing more infuriating to stop your trail of thought to navigate your caret to the exact character you want. It's even worse when sometimes you bring your caret to the wrong place by accident. With AceJump, those moments will vanish.

AceJump allows you to quickly navigate your caret to your desired position visible in the editor.

Click "Ctrl +;", type a character, then type the matching character to AceJump. This plugin saves you from taking your hands from the keyboard to go somewhere in your code.

If you want to go to a specific variable in your code, just activate the AceJump shortcuts and type the name of your variable. The plugin will detect all instances of that variable present in your screen, and you just have to choose which line you would like your caret to go. With the right shortcuts, you can also easily go to the beginning, end, and first character of every line.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

CodeGlance

By this time, you've probably heard of the minimap feature in the Sublime text editor. What makes it so great is that it shows you exactly where you are in a file which, in turn, makes it easier to find sections of code that you're looking for. And, by clicking on the specific piece of code, your editor will go to it.

To have this functionality you don't need to switch to Sublime, though. The CodeGlance plugin brings this functionality to IntelliJ. It embeds a minimap like the one found in Sublime into your IntelliJ IDE’s editor pane. It also works with both light and dark themes and uses your customized colors for syntax highlighting.

GitToolBox

By now you know that, as a developer, you'll not only spend a lot of time in your IDE but you’ll also spend a lot of time using git. As a result, it's vital that you have an IDE with excellent git integration get allows you to perform your git actions from within your development environment.

Fortunately, JetBrains’s range of IDEs features some of the best git integrations on the market. With the GitToolBox plugin, you’ll be able to extend the features these IDEs already offer. Its features include enhanced status display, auto fetch at fixed intervals, inline blame annotation, commit dialog completion, behind notifications, and more.

JSON Parser

JSON files are typical in a coding world. Whether you're creating or parsing a JSON file, formatting and validating JSON can be time-consuming. This plugin takes care of this tedious operation for you.

JSON Parser is a lightweight plugin for validating and formatting JSON strings. With this plugin, you can easily read and format JSON files in the proper way. You will also have the possibility to see your JSON file in different ways - Pretty, Raw, and Tree.

IDEA Mind Map

Before you code, you sometimes have to sit down with your team and hash out the best solution for your problem. With remote work becoming more popular within companies, the old idea of using the whiteboard might not work anymore.

With this in mind, IDEA Mind Map created an easy way to create mind maps easily accessible within WebStorm. You now can create and share intricate mind maps with your team. IDEA Mind Map saves the files as plain-text files in a Markdown compatible format for you to easily see and share the file. It also can be password protected with AES-256 encryption. Now you can easily create mind maps and solve problems or challenges your team faces.

Grep Console

As you know, grep is a powerful that allows you to search for strings in a file or groups of files. In fact, it’s considered one of the most useful commands in any Unix system. Typically, you’ll need to use the terminal to execute grep commands.

The Grep Console plugin brings this functionality to your IntelliJ-based IDE. It allows you to open a grep console directly from your workspace. From there, you’ll be able to execute grep commands, filter out unwanted text, highlight matches, change the colors of matching text and lines, output the results into a new console, and more.

React Snippets

React has become a very popular choice for front-end developers. Maintained by Facebook, React is an open-source front-end JavaScript library for building user interfaces or UI components in your application. It supports both functional and class-based components.  

This plugin makes the life of a React developer easier. You can now construct a skeleton for a React file with a few steps: instead of writing every line out, you can simply choose a set template from this plugin and start working on it. You will have a list of different triggers that can do various things for you. From composing a class component skeleton to auto-filling props functions, this plugin will help you quickly create a stable React environment for your project.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

Rainbow Brackets

Sometimes it's the tiny details that matter the most. While it's easy to understand which bracket is paired with which on a small file, things tend to get more complicated when you have larger and more complex functions. There isn't a developer who hasn't spent a few minutes trying to track which closing bracket matches with a specific opening bracket.

Let's face it, when coding, you'll deal with brackets upon brackets and even more brackets from round ones, to square ones and squiggly ones. Obviously, this can become complicated when trying to figure out which bracket closes which block of code.

Luckily, the Rainbow Brackets plugin solves this problem. By showing bracket pairs in specific colors, it makes it easier for you to see where a code block starts and where it ends. This eliminates confusion and allows you to save time when writing code.

This plugin is effective for reading code, working with spaghetti code, or just for your sake of mind to always know where every bracket opens and closes.

Prettier

Formatting code is that one action that everybody desires, but no one wants to actually do it. It's hard to manually format an entire file, but it's even harder to try to read that same file a while later. Formatting, then, is a crucial part of code that is often overlooked.

Prettier makes it so formatting is never an issue anymore. This plugin is a formatting extension that automatically formats your code for you every time you save it, so you don't have to worry about setting the right amount of spaces for indentation every time you create a file.

It is an amazing plugin for newer developers who aren't as familiar with the best practices of formatting code. It is also a good plugin for more advanced developers, who can spend their time on actual development instead of figuring out the correct indentation for multiple closing brackets.

String Manipulation

Whether you need to sort, increment, or decrement strings for purposes of your application or just based on your preferences, a string manipulation tool can be extremely helpful. And that’s where the String Manipulation plugin comes in.

It gives you a full suite of string manipulation tools that allow you to switch case, toggle between different cases, increment or decrement numbers, create sequences, sort lines, shuffle characters, do conversions, and more. Moreover, although these actions are available in your IntelliJ-based IDE’s Edit menu, the plugin allows you to set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Ultimately, this plugin saves you time and will make you more efficient when writing code.

Kubernetes

Development is not always coding. It can also mean building and maintaining your project. If you don't have an experienced DevOps person by your side, you might feel lost in the world of Kubernetes.

Kubernetes is an open-source system for automating your application's deployment, scaling, and management. Designed by Google and maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, Kubernetes gives you the ability to make sure your project is behaving as it should. For more detailed documentation on what Kubernetes can provide, visit their page.

This plugin is here to help developers see and interact with their clusters and pods without having to ever leave their IDE. You can do multiple things through this plugin, including:

• Browsing cluster objects
• Applying YAML configurations from the editor
• Running shells in pods
• Switching contexts and namespaces
• Editing resource configuration.

Dart

Dart is an open-source, object-oriented language developed by Google. It is made for web and mobile applications and supports functional and reactive programming. If you want to know more about the language, click here to see their website.  

This plugin provides you assistance for coding in Dart. It includes code completion, formatting, navigation, and more. However, the main feature of this plugin is that it can detect problems with your code before you compile it, and it suggests ways to fix them.

Dart is an excellent plugin to use, especially for those who aren't used to the language. It is a good way to experiment with the language, utilizing the plugin as crutches to properly compile the application. The plugin also provides a built-in debugger, providing another type of assistance for developers in their journey with the language.

DataGrip is a database IDE that provides you with extended insight into how your queries work and the insights of the engine behavior, so you can make them more efficient.

DataGrip is an IDE that helps you write SQL code faster by providing sensitive code completion. This feature is aware of everything created in your coding (even objects). It detects problematic code and gives you options to fix them. Unresolved problems are tagged using keywords, giving you the ability to fix them all up at once.

It’s a convenient tool for database management and development. It allows you to refactor tables, views, stored procedures, and other objects with ease: rename them in your code or schema files. They will be updated throughout the entire file automatically.

You can even preview references inside of functions/stored procedures before making changes. DataGrip makes it easy to manage multiple versions using version control systems such as Git, SVN, or Mercurial.

Finally, Data Grip corrects all references within SQL statements allowing users to easily make updates if needed without having errors every time someone else updates their work on shared documents. Users also have access to an instant live preview that shows possible reference values.

Shifter

When working with data, you’ll often encounter it in the form of strings. Here, string manipulation gives you a variety of ways to manipulate, sort, and work with the data. When using string manipulation, you’ll, for instance, use them in conditional statements, change their case, and more.

The Shifter plugin makes string manipulation easier and allows you to perform string and code manipulations through various keyboard shortcuts. It, for instance, allows you to sort lines alphabetically, flip the order of words is camelCase strings, swap the operands in conditional statements, increment and decrement numbers, and more.

Ultimately, when you’re able to work with strings this effortlessly, you’ll be more productive.

Power Mode II

We know, writing code the whole day can become a bit of a drag. So, from time to time, it may be necessary to inject some excitement and entertainment into your work.

The Power Mode II plugin lets you do this and then some. With it, you'll be able to make writing code much more entertaining with features like exploding falling sparks, flames, editor shaking, fireworks, and more appearing as you type.

It also gives you the ability to choose different colors, the animation speed, and a Heatup feature that will create more fireworks the more you type.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

CSV

Let's face it, if you're dealing with data in your application, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem is that these files are a hassle to work with and edit. So, you'll often need to use a spreadsheet application like excel to open, view, edit, and export these files.

The CSV plugin makes it easier to work with CSV files because it implements CSV as a language in IntelliJ. As a result, it associates CSV and other associated file types with IntelliJ and gives you syntax definition, syntax highlighting, inspections, and other capabilities when working with CSV files.

This means no more switching between applications to view and edit files, which, in turn, means more efficiency.

CPU Usage Indicator

When developing software, it's vital that you check your CPU usage because it shows you how well your applications are processed. In simple terms, it shows you how hard the CPU must work to run your applications. In turn, this allows you to identify performance issues with your applications and eliminate processing bottlenecks.

The CPU Usage Indicator plugin places a usage indicator in IntelliJ’s status bar which makes it easier for you to get performance insights at a glance by making CPU usage statistics easily visible. It also contains actions that you can use to help identify performance issues.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

CodeGlance

By this time, you've probably heard of the minimap feature in the Sublime text editor. What makes it so great is that it shows you exactly where you are in a file which, in turn, makes it easier to find sections of code that you're looking for. And, by clicking on the specific piece of code, your editor will go to it.

To have this functionality you don't need to switch to Sublime, though. The CodeGlance plugin brings this functionality to IntelliJ. It embeds a minimap like the one found in Sublime into your IntelliJ IDE’s editor pane. It also works with both light and dark themes and uses your customized colors for syntax highlighting.

Statistic

It's simple if you don't measure something you won't be able to improve it. So, when measuring your project's lines of code, it can give you a great idea of how productive you are.

It goes further than this. Every line of code is functionality that you build into your application. This means the more lines of code, the higher the chance of something going wrong.

Luckily, the Statistic plugin gives you extensive statistics into your project’s modules, packages or files quickly and easily. By using it, you’ll keep your file sizes and line counts in check.

And using it is really simple too. It's as simple as installing the plugin and selecting the Statistic tab at the bottom of your screen to get statistics about your application.

Quokka

When was the last time you wrote a bunch of code only to find out that it doesn't work when you're done? To solve this problem, you’ll often switch to online REPL tools to test a specific block of code. This takes time and makes you less productive.

The Quokka plugin solves this problem and makes it easier to prototype and test JavaScript code in your IntelliJ IDE. It's as simple as opening a new Quokka file and then start experimenting. Because you're able to do it in your IDE, you don't need to learn any new tools just to test an idea and you can focus on writing code.

Indent Rainbow

Much like the Rainbow Brackets plugin, the indent rainbow plugin shows the indentations in your code in different colors. This, in turn, makes your indentations much easier to read and could make coding in languages where indentations are important like Python much easier.

The plugin also gives you the ability to change the colors based on your preferences and what’s more readable to you. And when your code is more readable, you’ll be more efficient, and you’ll write better code.

Zero Width Characters Locator

The problem with zero width characters is that they can cause havoc with your code. The bigger problem with them is that they’re invisible. So, two pieces of code might look identical, but one could contain zero width characters. This makes them extremely hard to find and debug.

Instead of spending hours to find zero width characters, rather use the Zero Width Characters Locator plugin. It adds an inspection tool to IntelliJ that makes it easier to find zero width characters. Ultimately, this plugin could end up saving you a lot of time and headaches.

Grep Console

As you know, grep is a powerful that allows you to search for strings in a file or groups of files. In fact, it’s considered one of the most useful commands in any Unix system. Typically, you’ll need to use the terminal to execute grep commands.

The Grep Console plugin brings this functionality to your IntelliJ-based IDE. It allows you to open a grep console directly from your workspace. From there, you’ll be able to execute grep commands, filter out unwanted text, highlight matches, change the colors of matching text and lines, output the results into a new console, and more.

AWS Toolkit

It’s no secret that cloud computing, and especially Amazon Web Services (AWS), is very popular, so you’ll often have to write applications built on AWS.

To make this easier, the AWS Toolkit contains all the tools you need for AWS application development. As such, it gives you the ability to create and deploy AWS serverless applications. You can also create, debug, change, or delete AWS Lambda functions and debug code in Amazon ECS clusters.

Keep in mind, though, these are just some of the functionalities it offers and there are many others available from its resource explorer to authentication, and the S3 explorer. Ultimately, if you’re developing serverless applications on AWS, the AWS Toolkit is certainly worth a look.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

Big Data Tools

It’s no secret that Big Data has become increasingly popular in recent years. In fact, its popularity is still growing and it’s showing no signs of slowing down any time soon as an increased number of organizations are using it to gain insights into their business processes which, in turn, allows them to be more efficient and generate more revenue.

If you’re working with Big Data, the Big Data Tools plugin is the plugin for you. It allows you to conveniently work with Zeppelin notebooks, monitor Apache Spark and Hadoop applications, and preview storage files from AWS S3, Google Cloud Storage, Linode, Microsoft Azure, Digital Ocean Spaces, and more right from your IntelliJ-based IDE.

GitToolBox

By now you know that, as a developer, you'll not only spend a lot of time in your IDE but you’ll also spend a lot of time using git. As a result, it's vital that you have an IDE with excellent git integration get allows you to perform your git actions from within your development environment.

Fortunately, JetBrains’s range of IDEs features some of the best git integrations on the market. With the GitToolBox plugin, you’ll be able to extend the features these IDEs already offer. Its features include enhanced status display, auto fetch at fixed intervals, inline blame annotation, commit dialog completion, behind notifications, and more.

Mongo Plugin

MongoDB is an open-source, non-relational database and probably one of the most popular databases for modern applications, so you’ll get to deal with it at some stage. When you do, you’ll generally have to access Mongo databases and perform CRUD operations on your data.

The Mongo plugin makes this process easier as it integrates MongoDB servers with the database or collections tree, Query Runner, and the shell console. This means you’ll be able to perform all your database related actions directly from your IDE.

So, you’ll be able to access MondoDB databases, connect to servers, query and perform CRUD operations on your database. This saves you a lot of time and lets you work more efficiently.

AppCodes is an IDE that takes care of your routine tasks, e.g., typing; increasing your productivity, and making it easier for you to improve your code. This is due to its knowledge of code structure and navigation tools for files.

AppCode is an excellent IDE for refactoring and improving your code. It provides many different types of inspections that can identify errors and provide suggestions for improving the quality of your code.

AppCode natively supports many languages including Objective-C, Swift, C and C++ (including modern C++ standards), as well as JavaScript, XML, HTML, CSS and XPath. It supports frameworks such as XCTest, Quick, Kiwi, and Catch Boost.

When you rename variables, constants, or functions, AppCode updates all the usages across the entire code base for you.

CPU Usage Indicator

When developing software, it's vital that you check your CPU usage because it shows you how well your applications are processed. In simple terms, it shows you how hard the CPU must work to run your applications. In turn, this allows you to identify performance issues with your applications and eliminate processing bottlenecks.

The CPU Usage Indicator plugin places a usage indicator in IntelliJ’s status bar which makes it easier for you to get performance insights at a glance by making CPU usage statistics easily visible. It also contains actions that you can use to help identify performance issues.

Shifter

When working with data, you’ll often encounter it in the form of strings. Here, string manipulation gives you a variety of ways to manipulate, sort, and work with the data. When using string manipulation, you’ll, for instance, use them in conditional statements, change their case, and more.

The Shifter plugin makes string manipulation easier and allows you to perform string and code manipulations through various keyboard shortcuts. It, for instance, allows you to sort lines alphabetically, flip the order of words in camelCase strings, swap the operands in conditional statements, increment and decrement numbers, and more.

Ultimately, when you’re able to work with strings this effortlessly, you’ll be more productive.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

Quokka

When was the last time you wrote a bunch of code only to find out that it doesn't work when you're done? To solve this problem, you’ll often switch to online REPL tools to test a specific block of code. This takes time and makes you less productive.

The Quokka plugin solves this problem and makes it easier to prototype and test JavaScript code in your IntelliJ IDEA. It's as simple as opening a new Quokka file and then start experimenting. Because you're able to do it in your IDE, you don't need to learn any new tools just to test an idea and you can focus on writing code.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

Dummy Text Generator

The Dummy Text Generator adds a random text generator to the main menu of IntelliJ. It allows you to create text in different genres from fake latin to science fiction and esoteric wisdom. You can then insert the created text at the caret or replace a selection of existing text.

Why do you need it? It’s simple, you’ll often need to use placeholder text in your applications, especially when developing web applications. This tool makes this process a lot simpler and quicker.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

String Manipulation

Whether you need to sort, increment, or decrement strings for purposes of your application or just based on your preferences, a string manipulation tool can be extremely helpful. And that’s where the String Manipulation plugin comes in.

It gives you a full suite of string manipulation tools that allow you to switch case, toggle between different cases, increment or decrement numbers, create sequences, sort lines, shuffle characters, do conversions, and more. Moreover, although these actions are available in your IntelliJ-based IDE’s Edit menu, the plugin allows you to set up your own keyboard shortcuts.

Ultimately, this plugin saves you time and will make you more efficient when writing code.

Rainbow Brackets

Let's face it, when coding, you'll deal with brackets upon brackets and even more brackets from round ones, to square ones and squiggly ones. Obviously, this can become complicated when trying to figure out which bracket closes which block of code.

Luckily, the Rainbow Brackets plugin solves this problem. By showing bracket pairs in specific colors, it makes it easier for you to see where a code block starts and where it ends. This eliminates confusion and allows you to save time when writing code.

CodeGlance

By this time, you've probably heard of the minimap feature in the Sublime text editor. What makes it so great is that it shows you exactly where you are in a file which, in turn, makes it easier to find sections of code that you're looking for. And, by clicking on the specific piece of code, your editor will go to it.

To have this functionality you don't need to switch to Sublime, though. The CodeGlance plugin brings this functionality to IntelliJ. It embeds a minimap like the one found in Sublime into your IntelliJ IDE’s editor pane. It also works with both light and dark themes and uses your customized colors for syntax highlighting.

Multirun

When developing an application, you’ll often need to test different configurations. This will, generally, require you to run the application in a specific configuration, change the configuration, and then run the application again. This, in turn, takes a lot of time and effort.

To save time, the Multirun plugin allows you to run multiple configurations at once. With it, you’re able to group multiple run configurations and run them with the click of a button. This makes it easier to run batches of tests and configurations or to start multiple servers and web applications.

Nyan Progress Bar

One of the ways to keep up your productivity and efficiency when you code is to make sure you like the environment you're coding in. So, you should customize your IDE ensure with a font and colors you like.

The Nyan Progress Bar gives you another way to customize your IDE. With it, you can make your IDE’s interface a little more exciting by making your progress bar look nicer. The plugin gives you different progress bar options which all make your IDE, well, a little less boring.

Apart from this, it will keep your productivity up because you'll exactly know how long it will be until your project has finished compiling.

Mario Progress Bar

Based on the Nyan Progress Bar plugin we mentioned earlier, the Mario progress bar injects some Nintendo nostalgia into your development environment. It allows you to make your IDE’s interface a little more exciting by adding a progress bar that shows Mario followed by some bricks for the basic bar or a Koopa shell for the indeterminate one.

Apart from making your development environment look nicer, it has a functional purpose too. This is because you'll know exactly how long before your project has finished compiling.

Rainbow CSV

When you import and export a lot of data in your applications, you’ll often use CSV files. The problem with these is that it's often difficult to figure out what data fits where. Even worse, by not being able to easily see what type of data you're dealing with, it makes it more challenging to debug.

The Rainbow CSV plugin solves this problem. It does this by showing every column of data in a different color. This makes it easier to work with CSV files and visually work with the different types of data. The plugin supports different characters as delimiters and you're able to set custom column colors.

SwiftLint

Earlier, when dealing with ESLint, we mentioned how important it is to eliminate programming errors and bugs from your code, not only for your own sanity but also for other developers who need to work on your code.

The SwiftLint plugin brings swift linting support to IntelliJ. It allows you to improve the quality of your swift code by providing features like code highlighting and autocorrect. Ultimately, the plugin will ensure that you keep to swift style and conventions. So, if you're building iOS applications using IntelliJ, the SwiftLint plugin is worth considering.

Grazie

It’s a fact, when we write, we make spelling and grammar mistakes. So, it’s understandable why productivity software and word processors come with spell and grammar checking capabilities built-in. But why can’t you have this functionality in your IDE?

In fact, you can. The Grazie plugin provides intelligent spell and grammar checking functionality. Using the LanguageTool proofreading engine, it supports over 15 languages including English, Chinese, German, and more. It also recognizes natural language constructs in programming languages, markup languages, comments, and commit messages.

GoLand is an IDE that helps you read, write, and edit Go code - the popular programming language designed by Google. Continuous error detection helps fix errors quickly with suggestions from the IDE's intelligent, quick fixes feature. Refactoring is just one-undo-step away as it can be done safely in an instant when using GoLand.

It’s great for beginners and experts alike because no matter your experience, there’s always something that you could use some help with.

GoLand lets you easily navigate your code through instant switching. You can jump between types and examine them in a group based on the usage type that they are part of. GoLands tools help you increase productivity by running tests without additional plugins and debugging your applications within the GoLand IDE.

The IDE directly supports Git, GitHub, and Mercurial, while plugins are required to support Perforce and other version control software.

GoLand is a true IDE in that it supports core Go development, JavaScript, NodeJS, SQL Databases, and others. These abilities enable GoLand to work on modern web applications, DevOps, or any other tasks.

Finally, GoLand's has over 1000 plugins that you can use to enhance the IDE further.

EduTools

If you're learning to code, one of the main challenges you'll have is finding the right educational materials. This is simply because there’s so much information out there.

The EduTools plugin aims to solve this problem and it lets you learn programming languages like Kotlin, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, and C++. It does this by giving you coding tasks and verification tests in your IntelliJ IDE. In this way, you’ll get to build your knowledge and get instant feedback on the code you've written.

It goes further than this, though. It's also the perfect tool for educators who want to teach students to code. Here, they'll be able to create their own interactive courses with integrated tests.

Node.js

In recent years, Node.js has become increasingly popular as a backend framework for both web and mobile application development. So, it’s quite possible that, at some stage, you’ll need to write some Node.js code if you haven’t already.

If this is the case, the Node.js plugin is definitely worth considering as it provides support for Node.js projects in your IntelliJ-based IDE. As such, you’ll be able to run Node.js applications from your IDE and debug them by using the built-in visual debugging tool.

You’ll also be able to profile Node.js application from your IDE, create new Express projects from the Welcome Screen, and, with the Node.js remote interpreters plugin, run and debug Node.js applications in remote environments.

Duckly

We couldn't create a list of plugins without mentioning ours. Duckly is here to make pair programming a breeze.

Duckly is a video chat tool built for developers with direct integration to the IDE so you can talk, share your code in real-time, and easily collaborate with your team. It enables remote developers to work as if they were side by side.

This plugin proves itself necessary by the day. With remote work becoming the norm throughout companies due to COVID-19, the ability to pair-program is interrupted by bad WiFi signals or background noise. Duckly provides the solution to that by allowing you and your team to share the same view while coding. Duckly is great for pair programming, code reviews, debugging sessions, and much more.

Protocol Buffers

Because protocol buffers provide a faster and more efficient way to serialize data compared to other formats like JSON and XML, you’ll probably, at some stage or another, work with them. This is even more so when you’re working with modern server architectures where vast amounts of data are transferred constantly.

When you do need to work with protocol buffers, it might be a good idea to consider the Protocol Buffers plugin. It provides editor support in IntelliJ-based IDEs. So, it offers syntax highlighting, semantic analysis, references and navigation, quick documentation, autocompletion, brace matching, and more.

Presentation Assistant

Pair programming is not only an excellent way to increase the quality of code and the efficiency of your team but also a great tool when educating new developers. A problem that often occurs when pair programming is when a developer uses keyboard shortcuts the other developer doesn't know. This is especially the case when teaching someone to code.

The Presentation Assistant plugin solves this problem by showing the name and the shortcut of any action you invoke while coding. In this way, your coding partner, whether experienced or inexperienced, knows exactly what you're doing. Because of this, it's the ideal tool when live coding in front of an audience, screencasting, and when teaching.

Quokka

When was the last time you wrote a bunch of code only to find out that it doesn't work when you're done? To solve this problem, you’ll often switch to online REPL tools to test a specific block of code. This takes time and makes you less productive.

The Quokka plugin solves this problem and makes it easier to prototype and test JavaScript code in your IntelliJ IDE. It's as simple as opening a new Quokka file and then start experimenting. Because you're able to do it in your IDE, you don't need to learn any new tools just to test an idea and you can focus on writing code.

Zero Width Characters Locator

The problem with zero width characters is that they can cause havoc with your code. The bigger problem with them is that they’re invisible. So, two pieces of code might look identical, but one could contain zero width characters. This makes them extremely hard to find and debug.

Instead of spending hours to find zero width characters, rather use the Zero Width Characters Locator plugin. It adds an inspection tool to IntelliJ that makes it easier to find zero width characters. Ultimately, this plugin could end up saving you a lot of time and headaches.

Lines Sorter

Different developers have different preferences on how they like their code to be arranged. For instance, some don’t care much about the order of lines while others prefer to have it in a specific order, often alphabetically.

If you’re one of the last mentioned, then the Lines Sorter plugin is definitely for you. It adds a Sort Lines action in IntelliJ’s edit menu. So, you can just select the lines you want to sort, click on Sort Lines, and the lines of code will be sorted alphabetically.

ESLint

Let's face it, bugs can be frustrating to find and solve. It's even more difficult for new developers working on a codebase for the first time. So, you’ll want to eliminate and avoid programming errors as far as possible.

The ESLint plugin helps you do this. It quickly analyzes your code to find programming errors, stylistic errors, and bugs. And when you find these errors and bugs easier, you'll be able to rectify them quickly and easily. Another bonus is that the plugin can fix many errors it finds automatically.

Also, you’re able to write your own rules that will work alongside the plugin’s built-in rules. Ultimately, you can customize the plugin based on your team's needs and you'll ensure that your code is always free of errors.

Tabnine AI Code Completion

Still on the topic of saving time, one of the pain points of a developer is usually writing every single simple function or line every time. This issue is solved with Tabnine AI Code Completion!

Tabnine is an AI-powered code completion extension to help you code. It is powered by machine learning models trained on lines from trusted Open Source code on GitHub. This plugin works in various IDEs and different languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, TypeScript, Rust, Swift, and more.

You can see two gifs of code with and without Tabnine to see the difference this plugin brings. It predicts what you will potentially create according to your object or function. Now, instead of having to type console.log("hello world"), you can just start typing, and Tabnine will finish the job for you.

Rainbow Brackets

Let's face it, when coding, you'll deal with brackets upon brackets and even more brackets from round ones, to square ones and squiggly ones. Obviously, this can become complicated when trying to figure out which bracket closes which block of code.

Luckily, the Rainbow Brackets plugin solves this problem. By showing bracket pairs in specific colors, it makes it easier for you to see where a code block starts and where it ends. This eliminates confusion and allows you to save time when writing code.

VSCode Keymap

So, you’re thinking of switching from Visual Studio Code to an IntelliJ based IDE? Maybe you’ve made the switch already. The problem is that, when switching, you’ve got to learn a new set of keyboard shortcuts to not only find your way around the IDE but also to be productive when writing code.

Luckily, there is a solution. The VSCode Keymap plugin lets you use the VSCode keymap in all IntelliJ-based IDEs. In this way, you can still use the keyboard shortcuts you know and love and you won’t lose anything when it comes to productivity. In simple terms, it let’s you switch from VSCode quickly and effortlessly.

Multirun

When developing an application, you’ll often need to test different configurations. This will, generally, require you to run the application in a specific configuration, change the configuration, and then run the application again. This, in turn, takes a lot of time and effort.

To save time, the Multirun plugin allows you to run multiple configurations at once. With it, you’re able to group multiple run configurations and run them with the click of a button. This makes it easier to run batches of tests and configurations or to start multiple servers and web applications.

.env Files Support

.env files are extremely important to control the environment your application will be running in. In other words, they allow you to configure the environment for different stages of your application development process whether it's for staging, production, or your local environment. By configuring these files correctly, you'll ensure that your application runs as it should.

The .env Files Support plugin adds support for editing .env files to all IntelliJ-based IDEs. As such, it offers syntax highlighting, autocompletion of environment variables in .env files, Dockerfiles, and docker-compose.yml files, and the ability to go to specific declarations in your files through keyboard shortcuts.

PowerShell

When writing applications, you’ll often need to execute scripts. In Linux, this is generally not a problem as you have access to the terminal through IntelliJ. The problem is, running PowerShell scripts on Windows in the IDE is challenging and you’ll often be required to copy and paste code to the PowerShell window.

That is, until now. The PowerShell plugin gives IntelliJ PowerShell language support. As a result, you’ll have features like syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, code snippets, code formatting, script execution, and more.

Save Actions

It often happens, especially with larger projects or larger development teams, that you end up with a messy code base with differing styles, indentations, and the like. This not only makes it difficult for new developers to start working on the project but also makes the project more challenging to maintain.

The Save Actions plugin solves this problem. With it, you'll be able to set configurable save actions that will be applied every time files are saved. So, every time a developer saves their work, you’ll be able to reformat, rearrange, compile or optimize your code.

This allows you to enforce a code style and code rules which makes your code cleaner, more uniform and easier to maintain.

Grazie

It’s a fact, when we write, we make spelling and grammar mistakes. So, it’s understandable why productivity software and word processors come with spell and grammar checking capabilities built-in. But why can’t you have this functionality in your IDE?

In fact, you can. The Grazie plugin provides intelligent spell and grammar checking functionality. Using the LanguageTool proofreading engine, it supports over 15 languages including English, Chinese, German, and more. It also recognizes natural language constructs in programming languages, markup languages, comments, and commit messages.

GitToolBox

By now you know that, as a developer, you'll not only spend a lot of time in your IDE but you’ll also spend a lot of time using git. As a result, it's vital that you have an IDE with excellent git integration get allows you to perform your git actions from within your development environment.

Fortunately, JetBrains’s range of IDEs features some of the best git integrations on the market. With the GitToolBox plugin, you’ll be able to extend the features these IDEs already offer. Its features include enhanced status display, auto fetch at fixed intervals, inline blame annotation, commit dialog completion, behind notifications, and more.

Terraform and HCL

Hashicorp’s Terraform is a powerful infrastructureas code tool that makes it easy to manage cloud services. As such, it allows you to write infrastructure as code in configuration files that determine the configuration of cloud services. To do this, however, you’ll need to use HashiCorp Configuration Language (HCL) and HashiCorp Interpolation Language.

But where do you start? Fortunately, the Terraform and HCL plugin add support for these languages and the Terraform framework in IntelliJ-based IDEs. So, it offers features like autocompletion, rename refactoring, syntax highlighting, code formatting, inspections, and more.

These features allow you to get up to speed quickly and efficiently.

Database Navigator

As a software developer, you’ll work with databases often. You’ll typically do this by using the specific database’s console or shell through the terminal or desktop application.

The Database Navigator plugin aims to make this easier. It adds extensive database management, development, and maintenance capabilities to IntelliJ and other IntelliJ-based IDEs.

As such, it provides both SQL and PL/SQL editors, advanced database connection management capabilities, script execution support, database objects browsing, advanced navigation functionality, and more. Moreover, it supports most of the databases you’ll often work with including, MySQL, SQLite, PostgreSQL, and others.

CamelCase

This is often one of the biggest disagreements between developers - what case should code be written in. Well, it depends on the specific language’s specifications and its naming conventions. Sometimes languages even require the use of different cases, so you’ll need to understand the difference and how to use them.

No matter the language or your preference, another important thing is that you apply your naming conventions consistently in your codebase. The CamelCase plugin ensures consistency by allowing you to switch easily between kebab-case, snake_case, PascalCase, camelCase, and more.

Makefile Language

The make utility can be extremely helpful when you want to run or update tasks when certain files are updated. When using it, you’ll typically use Makefile that defines the set of actions or tasks that need to be executed. Like writing code, you’ll need the right tool that allows you to ensure the quality of your makefiles.

The Makefile Language plugin adds extensive makefile language support to IntelliJ-based IDEs. It offers features like syntax highlighting, keyword and target name completion, rules, variables, and conditionals folding, quick documentation for comments, makefile run configurations, context and gutter actions, and more.

Programming is often seen as a lonely job. The image of the hacker in dark room is what people have witnessed through movies, but you know that the reality is something very different. Programming is a social job.

Developers are more productive when they feel inspired and work together with their team. This means giving developers tools and resources that help them better collaborate with other developers.

This can be achieved using a variety of tactics and one special methodology is pair programming. At first it looks like just another way to increase efficiency and productivity, but when developers pair with another colleague, besides producing code with fewer bugs, they build trust in the team.

It's true that pair programming can be intimidating for some developers. They don't like the idea of someone watching them code, they feel they are being judged, etc. But that's not how it works. In this post we'll be discussing the benefits, challenges, styles of pairing programming and some of the best practices.

So make sure you stick with the article till the end to get all your doubts cleared.

What is Pair Programming?

Pair programming is a programming methodology in which two (or more) programmers work side-by-side and collaborate together in real-time. There are many ways to do pair programming, one common format is having two roles: The Driver (host) and the Navigator (guest).

The driver is the developer who codes, talks as he/she works and shares their thoughts in real-time. As the "navigator," another developer watches the driver while they work. While the driver codes, the navigator comments, offers suggestions and can focus on the bigger picture. They naturally can (and should) switch between each other throughout the duration of the coding session.

One important point is that as the navigator is reviewing every line of code produced, this inspection enables the early detection of bugs and reduces the time reviewing code later. Actually we could say that pair programming is a way to do continuous code reviews.

Pair programming unlocks better collaboration, higher quality, better code, and more sustainable improvement in development practices.

Why Should You be Pair Programming?

Engineers definitely can work around the clock to push code into production and deliver features under tight deadlines. But how productive would that be if they are always working alone? The code will be more prone to technical debt, hidden bugs and performance issues. Solving these later may cost even more time and effort.

Pair programming isn't about producing more code, but knowledge sharing.

Code should be easy to read and concise so it behaves as expected and others can collaborate with you without adding more bugs. To make that possible, developers need to be able to communicate clearly the requirements and their intentions. This sounds simple, but those are real problems that pair programming can help to solve.

The quality of code produced by two developers working together improves, along with their mutual understanding of the codebase. In general, when two people can think about the same problem, they can create simpler and more efficient solutions while learning from each other.

What are the Benefits of Pair Programming?

1. Fewer bugs: You know the saying, two heads are better than one. If the driver comes across an issue that prevents him/her from moving further, there will be an extra brain to help figure out the solution.
2. Focused workflow: Focus on the work, and attention will increase. The pair will help one another remain focused on their work to create a productive session. The flow is more resilient to interruptions as one person handles the interruption, while the other keeps coding.
3. Knowledge sharing: Pair programming is a great way for developers to learn from each other, independently on their experience level. Developers can have contact with different ways of thinking and approaches. Another element is pure codebase knowledge that is shared among the participants. People can explain the code, their intentions and they can discuss in real-time their decisions and ideas.
   
   All mature software development teams should also consider the "bus factor." What happens to a project if one person is hit by a bus or has to leave suddenly? What about technical knowledge that is not easily accessible or would take too long to recover?
4. Improves codes quality: Better code is possible by sharing best practices with partners. When you are part of a pair programming session, you work in a team. Both partners can use their experience and knowledge to solve problems quicker and in a better way.
5. Improved team collaboration: Besides being able to learn from your colleagues, pair programming motivates partners to be more accountable and to produce better code.
6. Less code reviews: While code reviews can be helpful specially when working asynchronously, pairing is better, allowing developers to be equally familiar with their code and the decisions made. Regularly swapping pairing partners helps maintain high levels of communication between all members of a team while reviewing the code in real-time.
7. Get Stuck Less: It can often save you a lot of time if someone is there to direct you in the right direction. The navigator might help the driver move in the right direction when the driver seems to get stuck - and vice versa. This way, everyone wins, and problems get solved faster.

What are the Challenges of Pair Programming?

Although pair programming have many benefits, it has some challenges as well. Lack of focus, not switching roles, not having an agenda and just being rude with your partner are some of the problems you could face on a pair programming session.

Here are some traps you can easily avoid with your colleagues.

• Be a nice person.
  Nobody likes working with rude people, just be nice with people that you are coding with. If you see that you are losing your patience for whatever reason, just ask for a break or don't say everything that comes on your mind.
• Have an objective.
  What are you trying to achieve? Are you building a new feature? Debugging something? Be clear about your goals and the time you are going to commit to the pair programming session. You don't need to over plan it, just have a very basic milestone to accomplish is enough.
• Switch roles regularly.
  This is a very easy trap to fall. You are feeling productive coding, your partner is happy and you keep going longer than originally planned. The issue you are going to start to be tired and your partner frustrated with their participation, but that will be too late to switch. Another big problem is that the knowledge is not equally shared when both developers are not given the opportunity to lead the action.

What are the Different Styles & Techniques of Pair Programming?

There are three main styles of pair programming:

• driver/navigator,
• unstructured,
• and ping-pong.

Driver-Navigator: This type of pair programming is looser than the Ping Pong Pattern. It is like two people driving in rally cars, one driving (coding) and the other navigating.

The navigator gives the driver instructions, and the driver can make corrections or request clarification. This is a good antidote to the anti-pattern, where the person typing controls the text.

It puts the other person in passive mode, and they can watch what is happening. Every 15 minutes or so, the driver and navigator can switch roles.

Ping-Pong: This type of pair programming can be used in conjunction with Test Driven Development. One person creates a test, and the other makes it pass.

This is because it is easy to take turns. Each member should alternate writing and passing tests.

Suppose the same person writes the tests all the time (often the less experienced or confident developer) and is constantly making the test pass (often more senior or more confident developers). In that case, this can lead to a Ping-Pong anti-pattern.

Unstructured: This type of pairing is common when there is no specific approach being used. This type of pairing is fluid, with the navigator and driver turning as it seems appropriate. This is style is also very good when you have more than 2 people participating. This freedom from a structure can make a coding session move faster.

Pair programming works best when each person brings something to the table. It's best to have the option to choose your pair programming partner. Find someone to fill in the knowledge gap or give you a new perspective.

What are the Best Practices of Pair Programming?

Although pair programming has many benefits, it is always best to know the best practices before you start coding sessions in your organization. Some of the best pair programming practices include:

1. Pair up carefully: Make sure the developers can work well together without any problems. Or else, this will create a hostile work environment. Keep analyzing the results of pairs when they work together to understand better if they are best suited for each other or not.
   
2. Switch often: Collaboration is great because each member brings their skills to the table. Create a culture that encourages sharing. The team members should be aware that they will be expected to spend equal time as navigator and driver, so they don't feel they have done less or more.
   
3. Consistent Communication: Developers are unlikely to share their thoughts if there isn't communication. So both the team members must be communicating regularly and having healthy discussions about the project.
   
4. Encourage Respect: Tensions can be seen flaring up when one of your team members feels ignored or picked on. You can help keep frustration at bay by setting some rules of respect from the beginning, including respect for ideas, the class, the roles, and the personal space.
   
5. Take Breaks: No one can ever achieve any best results by working all the time continuously. Especially if you are working in a pair, you must set some rules for the breaks, and both should be comfortable with it.

Wrapping Up

Pair Programming is an effective methodology that has been used in software development for years and can improve team collaboration, knowledge sharing among other aspects of your work. It naturally has some challenges, but with a few pair programming tips, even your first pairing sessions will be a success.

If you are not already doing it, it's worth trying to do pair programming with your team. If it's your first time, also be sure to check the guide about starting to pair programming. This will make your work more enjoyable, encourage team communication, and of course, make your code better.

Duckly is a tool that helps you to have more productive pair programming sessions. You can share your code from any IDE and your colleagues can collaborate with you in real-time from their own IDE. Besides code sharing, Duckly allows you to share your terminal, screen and naturally talk. Duckly integrates audio and video calls so that you don't have to use multiple tools simultaneously.

Pair programming is a great way to work on a software project and share knowledge. It’s when two or more programmers work together. Usually, one developer is leading while the other is providing feedback and following the development. The benefits of pair programming are many: improved code quality, greater knowledge transfer, and increased motivation and satisfaction among developers. With that said, there are some challenges to overcome when doing pair programming that you need to be aware of.

Here, are 7 pair programming tips for having a productive coding session:

Pair programming tip #1: Plan together

Before start programming, plan what you are going to do and what are your goals. Is this about building something new? Debugging? Mentoring a junior developer? Be clear about your goals and communicate them to your partner. It could be that the most experienced developer is responsible for planning, but it doesn't need to be like that. Plan together and have your partner participate too.

Be sure to know a bit about your peer before starting the pair programming session. There are many different ways to do this. Each person should be given the opportunity to chat before the session starts. They can get to know their development’s style, quirks, and preferences. This helps you both understand each other’s mental model and put a plan in practice that makes the session more productive.

Plan your pair programming session:

• What's the task, what we are trying to accomplish
• Length of the session
• How often should change roles
• Any personal preferences

Pair programming tip #2: Change roles regularly

One of the most common mistakes developers make when doing pair programming is switching roles too often or not switching at all. How often you need to change roles depends on the experience level and how long is the session. If the session is less than 60 minutes long, you can switch just one time. If the session is shorter, it might be more productive to have just one person leading, but you still can switch in the half.

If you are working in a longer session, you need to be more conscious about the roles and when to change. It can happen that you are so focused on the task that you forget about changing roles. That's a mistake. Be sure to change regularly and you can use the Pomodoro technique to help with this.

In summary: to make things simple, start by changing roles every 30 minutes using the Pomodoro timer. Don't let your excitement of coding prevent you from giving the opportunity to the other developer to be leading the session.

Pair programming tip #3: Good audio and video setup

Naturally, the pair programming tips from this guide are considering that you are working remotely. In this scenario is crucial to have a good audio and video setup that allows you to communicate clearly.

First a basic pair programming tip: Be sure to have a good internet connection and to be in a place without much noise.

Although is not required, it's good practice to turn ON your video camera when pair programming. Communication is not only about what you say, but your body expression, how your face is reacting, etc. By having a video camera active your colleague can be more engaged and the session can be more entertaining for both sides.

For audio communication, be sure to use headsets. You don't need to go crazy with professional fancy audio equipment. Anything that makes you comfortable works. A headset that you can properly hear the other person and that they can understand you is already good enough.

Some tools like Duckly (shameless plug, I know) can help you a lot here as it has all the features for real-time code sharing and audio and video communication.

Pair programming tip #4: Avoid micro-management

One of the most annoying and counter-productive behaviors that can happen in a pair programming session is when a developer starts to micro-manage. This is more common than you know, but really kills the purpose of the pair programming. To have a safe environment for collaboration that increases knowledge sharing between developers.

Micro-management usually happens when one developer is more experienced (or just more opinionated) and try to force their point-of-view, dictate code, and is rigid about how exactly things should be done. This creates a negative feedback loop where confidence is low, more mistakes are done, more line-per-line comments...making the session slower and less collaborative.

Pair programming tip #5: Be nice and patient

Similar to micro-management, lack of patient makes the pairing experience much worst. This could happen when working with people with different skill levels and when a more experienced dev doesn't give their partner time to process their code. It can be tempting to be interrupting their flow to quickly correct errors, but this only breaks their flow and confidence. You can always write things down and comment later.  This will give you time to understand if that's really a problem that should be fixed or maybe it was already fixed somewhere else (or you didn't notice that there was a different way to solve it).

However, independently if there is a mistake or not, just be nice to people. We are all learning and trying to have a good time. Rule of thumb: Just be a nice person to work and collaborate with.

Pair programming tip #6: Avoid external distractions

Specially when working remotely, there are several challenges and distractions that you need to overcome. Phone notifications, emails, delivery on the door, etc. These interruptions are easier to battle if you are leading the pair programming, but if you are following you can find yourself drifting away on some occasions.

Ignore emails or any media while pairing. Don't schedule meetings that can interrupt your session. On top of that, don't do super long sessions that can last for hours. Take breaks and schedule time for other activities that are not programming.

Be present and respectful with your partner, but also wise about how you allocate your time.

Pair programming tip #7: Constant communication

Pair programming can be challenging, but it can be harder when one person has trouble keeping up or someone feels that they are coding alone. To avoid this, you should be actively communicating with your partner all the time. This will also make the session more engaging and fun. You don't need to be interrupting all the time or commenting on every single line (as we talked before), but let know that you are there for them and that you are working together.

The point of doing a pair programming session is to not be coding alone, so be present and participate with your partner.

Closing thoughts

Pair programming has a lot of advantages in comparison with solo coding: knowledge sharing, better code quality, improved communication. However, it also contains its own set of challenges. These pair programming tips can help you have a great collaborative and knowledge sharing session:

• plan your session properly,
• change roles regularly
• have a good audio-video setup,
• be mindful about micro-management,
• be patient and nice with your people and
• communicate with your partner.