JetBrains Platform
Plugin and extension development for JetBrains products.
Busy Plugin Developers Newsletter – Q1 2026
Your quarterly dose of plugin dev news, tools, and tips from JetBrains.
🧩 Marketplace Updates
Updated Approval Guidelines: New Technical Requirement
We’ve added a new clause to the Plugin Approval Criteria, under Section 2.2:
c. The Plugin must not modify, hide, intercept, or otherwise interfere with the functionality of any JetBrains Product in a way that disrupts, degrades, or circumvents its intended behavior, including any mechanisms related to licensing, subscriptions, trials, or product upgrade flows.
This requirement formalizes what has always been an expectation: plugins on JetBrains Marketplace must not tamper with core product behavior. Any plugin found to interfere with licensing, subscription validation, trial flows, or upgrade mechanisms (regardless of intent) will not meet our approval criteria.
If your plugin interacts with IDE internals in these areas, please review your implementation and make sure it complies before your next submission.
See the docs →
Build Plugins Page Got a New Look
The page for those just entering the world of plugin development has been redesigned. It now provides clearer steps covering the entire process—from development to publishing—along with key resources and essential information to simplify plugin creation and management.
Explore the page →
🔧 Plugin Development Tooling Updates
IntelliJ Platform Plugin Template 2.5.0
Repository that simplifies the initial stages of plugin development for IntelliJ-based IDEs.
- Updated to the latest
org.jetbrains.intellij.platform2.14.0. - Simplified project configuration by migrating repository setup to
settings.gradle.ktsand inlining key properties and dependencies. - Cleaned up build scripts by removing redundant configurations and deprecated dependencies.
- Streamlined the template by removing Qodana, Kover, and other unnecessary setup for a lighter, more maintainable project structure.
IntelliJ Plugin Verifier 1.402
Tool that checks binary compatibility between IntelliJ-based IDE builds and plugins.
- Improved stability by optimizing graph cycle calculations and fixing macOS module naming issues.
- Enhanced compatibility with paginated plugin ID retrieval from the Marketplace API.
- Updated Kotlin and key dependencies.
IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin 2.14.0
Plugin that helps configure your environment for building, testing, verifying, and publishing plugins for IntelliJ-based IDEs.
- Improved defaults for plugin verification, signing, and publishing configuration.
- Added new helpers for selecting target IDEs and enhanced Gradle task configuration.
- Simplified project setup with better defaults for Java toolchains and module handling.
- Updated a minimum supported IntelliJ Platform version and fixed compatibility issues.
💡 Tip of the Quarter
Enable Internal Mode to Access Powerful Development Tools
Enable Internal Mode to access UI Inspector (see component creation code), PSI Viewer, Registry settings, and more. Use “Skip Window Deactivation Events” when debugging to prevent ProcessCanceledException during breakpoints.
📚 Resources & Learning
📖 Blog
Wayland by Default in 2026.1 EAP
IntelliJ-based IDEs will run natively on Wayland by default in supported Linux environments. See what’s changed, what to expect, and how this transition improves stability and performance.
Read →
Editor Improvements: Smooth Caret Animation and New Selection Behavior
More precise selections, smoother caret movement, and a refreshed visual style bring a more comfortable and intuitive coding experience. See what’s changed in the editor.
Read →
The Experience Gap: How Developers’ Priorities Shift as They Grow
A closer look at how plugin developers grow with the platform—and how their tools, habits, and expectations change along the way.
Read →
UI Freezes and the Dangers of Non-Cancellable Read Actions
Not all UI freezes come from the EDT. See how background read actions can cause issues and how to fix them.
Read →
🛠 IntelliJ Platform Plugin SDK
Split Mode (Remote Development)
Learn how Split Mode changes where plugin code runs, how frontend and backend communicate, and what it takes to build plugins that work smoothly in remote development environments.
Read →
Top-Level Notifications
Notification balloons help surface relevant information without interrupting the developer’s flow. Explore how to configure notification groups, add actions, and choose the right notification type.
Read →
⭐ Community Spotlight
Livestream Recording: UI Freezes in JetBrains IDE Plugins and How to Avoid Them
In a recent livestream, Product Manager for the IntelliJ Platform Yuriy Artamonov, together with Developer Advocate Patrick Scheibe, explored one of the most common and frustrating issues in plugin development—UI freezes. The session covered why freezes happen (even outside the event dispatch thread), how read actions can block the UI, and what patterns to avoid when working with background tasks and concurrency.
Plugin Model v2 Explained: A New Way for JetBrains IDEs
In this short video, Róbert Novotný walks through Plugin Model v2 for the IntelliJ Platform, covering its modular architecture, improved reloading, and clearer dependency management.
💌 Until next time — happy coding!
JetBrains Marketplace team
