Busy Plugin Developers Newsletter – Q2 2026

Elena Kerpeleva

Your quarterly dose of plugin dev news, tools, and tips from JetBrains

🧩 Marketplace Updates

Internal API Usage Notifications

To support the ongoing IntelliJ Platform API stabilization, JetBrains Marketplace now automatically notifies plugin authors when their plugins use internal APIs. This gives authors an opportunity to review and replace unsupported APIs before they affect plugin compatibility.

Exceptions Tab Available by Default

Access to the Exceptions tab is now enabled automatically for all plugin authors, no need to request access anymore. Use the Exception Analyzer to track production exceptions, diagnose issues faster, and improve plugin stability.
Learn more about the Exception Analyzer →

🔧 Plugin Development Tooling Updates

IntelliJ Platform Plugin Template 2.6.0

Repository that simplifies the initial stages of plugin development for IntelliJ-based IDEs. 

• Updated to org.jetbrains.intellij.platform 2.16.0, IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2.6.2, and Gradle 9.5.0.
• Simplified project configuration by removing settings and changelog configuration now handled automatically by the IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin.
• Streamlined GitHub Actions workflows with updated actions and simplified plugin artifact upload.
• Cleaned up the template by removing outdated UI testing workflow and fixing the Run Plugin sandbox log path.

View Changelog →

IntelliJ Plugin Verifier 1.409

Tool that checks binary compatibility between IntelliJ-based IDE builds and plugins. 

• Reduced memory usage and improved performance for batch verification, report generation, and compatibility checks.
• Improved HTML report rendering with faster processing and parallel per-plugin generation.
• Restored Windows compatibility by fixing ZIP file handling.
• Updated Kotlin ecosystem libraries and key dependencies, including ASM, Jackson, ByteBuddy, and Bouncy Castle.

View Changelog →

IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin 2.18.1

Plugin that helps configure your environment for building, testing, verifying, and publishing plugins for IntelliJ-based IDEs. 

Highlights from the 2.18.x release series:

• Added support for product-specific IDE Starter dependencies and new options to customize the test IDE classpath.
• Improved product release handling for IDE selection and plugin verification.
• Enhanced TestIdeTask with more accurate bundled plugin resolution and better configuration cache support.
• Excluded bundled translation plugins from the test classpath and fixed GrammarKit cleanup behavior.

View Changelog →

💡 Tip of the Quarter

Optimize Distribution Size

Users with poor internet may cancel long downloads. Reuse platform utilities and bundled libraries, eliminate duplicate dependencies, optimize assets, and consider downloading large resources on-demand rather than bundling them.

📚 Resources & Learning

📖 Blog

Make Your Plugin Remote Development-Ready

Remote development is reshaping plugin development for JetBrains IDEs. With client-server architecture, plugin authors need to rethink how and where their code runs. In this post, we share resources to help you build plugins that work in both remote and local environments.
Read  →

The Road to Responsive IntelliJ-Based IDEs

Discover the multi-year effort to improve UI responsiveness in IntelliJ-based IDEs. Learn how new APIs and architectural changes are moving performance-sensitive work off the UI thread to deliver a smoother developer experience.
Read →

Improving Accessibility in JetBrains IDEs: What’s New and What’s Next in 2026

Explore the latest accessibility improvements in JetBrains IDEs, from better support for screen readers and magnifiers to enhanced keyboard navigation and new audio feedback features.
Read →

Async VFS Content Writes – What Plugin Authors Need to Know

If your plugin saves files through VFS and then hands them off to a CLI, formatter, VCS command, or Java file API, this update is for you. Learn when to flush pending VFS writes to ensure external tools see the latest file content.
Read →

Structuring IntelliJ Plugins with Optional Content Modules

Need your plugin to adapt to different IDE editions or features? Discover how optional content modules help you keep functionality modular and available only when needed.
Read →

The Dev Containers Story: Introducing EelApi for Plugin Authors

Modern development environments are changing how plugins interact with files, processes, and paths. Learn how the new EelApi helps your plugin work seamlessly across local projects, WSL, and Dev Containers.
Read →

Open-Sourcing the LSP Client API in IntelliJ IDEA 2026.2

The IntelliJ Platform LSP client is becoming open source, making the same battle-tested API available across JetBrains IDEs, Android Studio, and other IntelliJ-based products. Learn what this means for your plugins.
Read →

 🛠 IntelliJ Platform Plugin SDK

Error Reporting

Improve plugin diagnostics with the IntelliJ Platform’s error reporting APIs. Learn how to implement custom reporting flows, automatic exception collection, and UI freeze reporting.
Read →

⭐ Community Spotlight

Gradle Setup Powering Multi-module IntelliJ Plugins

Róbert Novotný demonstrates how to build modular IntelliJ plugins with Gradle, from organizing content modules and shared code to adding optional functionality with the IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin.

Stop Pasting Tokens: OAuth2 for JetBrains IDE Plugins

Learn how to implement a browser-based OAuth2 login flow for JetBrains IDE plugins. In this video, Jakub Chrzanowski demonstrates secure authentication with PKCE and storing access tokens in PasswordSafe.

Until next time — happy coding!
JetBrains Marketplace team