mcp-jetbrains-ide_skill

Overview

This skill provides programmatic control of JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, WebStorm, PyCharm) via an MCP server. It exposes tools to open files, run configurations, search code, and perform refactorings so an AI agent can interact with a live IDE. Use it when you need precise IDE-driven actions that depend on project context and IDE inspections.

How this skill works

The skill communicates with a local MCP SSE endpoint (default http://localhost:64342/sse) and exposes about 21 tools. Each tool maps to an IDE action such as opening files, running builds, running a configuration, searching the project, or applying refactorings. Tools are inspected before use to learn parameter schemas; invocations use a CLI helper (mh) or direct HTTP SSE calls and expect the IDE to have the MCP plugin active.

When to use it

• Open a specific file in the editor from a code assistant or workflow.
• Run or re-run a run configuration and capture results programmatically.
• Search the codebase by text, regex, filename, or glob to locate relevant symbols.
• Apply project-wide rename refactoring or replace text safely using IDE context.
• Format or analyze files with IDE inspections to catch errors before committing changes.

Best practices

• Always run an inspect/list call to view a tool's parameter schema before invoking it.
• Ensure the JetBrains IDE is running with the MCP plugin enabled and reachable at the configured SSE URL.
• Use getFileProblems and IDE inspections after edits to validate changes before CI or commits.
• Prefer renameRefactoring and replaceTextInFile tools over raw file edits for safe, cross-file refactors.
• Set appropriate timeouts for long operations (builds, large searches) instead of relying on defaults.

Example use cases

• Create a new source file with createNewFile and immediately open it with openFileInEditor for guided editing.
• Find all uses of a symbol via searchInFilesByText or searchInFilesByRegex, then run renameRefactoring to update references.
• Run executeRunConfiguration to run tests or an app and capture build/test errors via buildProject and getFileProblems.
• Use findFilesByGlob to discover config files, then update content with replaceTextInFile and reformatFile.
• Query getProjectDependencies or getProjectModules to generate reports or decide upgrade steps.