12 Must‑Have IntelliJ IDEA Plugins to Supercharge Your Java Development

Preface

Every programmer writes code, but the speed varies; some write only a few hundred lines a day while others can produce thousands. This article explores twelve IDEA plugins that can boost coding efficiency.

1. Lombok

Lombok reduces boiler‑plate in entities, DTOs, VOs, and BOs. With the built‑in IDEA Lombok support (IDEA 2020.3+), a simple class definition can replace a lengthy JavaBean.

<code>public class User {
    private Long id;
    private String name;
    private Integer age;
    private String address;
}</code>

Adding Lombok annotations such as

@ToString

,

@EqualsAndHashCode

,

@NoArgsConstructor

,

@AllArgsConstructor

,

@Getter

, and

@Setter

generates getters, setters, constructors, equals, hashCode, and toString automatically.

Remember to add the Lombok dependency in the project’s pom.xml file.

2. Free MyBatis Plugin

The Free MyBatis plugin lets you jump between a MyBatis mapper interface and its corresponding XML statements, speeding up development.

<code>public interface UserMapper {
    int insertUser(UserModel user);
}</code>

<code>&lt;mapper namespace="com.sue.jump.mappers.UserMapper"&gt;
    &lt;insert id="insertUser" parameterType="com.sue.jump.model.UserModel"&gt;
        INSERT INTO user ...
    &lt;/insert&gt;
&lt;/mapper&gt;</code>

After installing the plugin, green arrows appear next to interface methods and XML statements for quick navigation.

3. Translation

The Translation plugin provides on‑the‑fly translation of selected English documentation directly within IDEA, helping developers understand foreign language resources.

4. Alibaba Java Coding Guidelines

This plugin checks Java code against Alibaba’s coding standards, highlighting violations in Blocker, Critical, and Major categories.

5. GenerateAllSetter

GenerateAllSetter creates all setter methods (or getters) for a class with a single shortcut (Alt+Enter), saving time when many fields need to be populated.

6. SequenceDiagram

SequenceDiagram generates UML sequence diagrams for selected methods, visualizing call flows without manual drawing.

7. CheckStyle‑IDEA

CheckStyle‑IDEA integrates Google and Sun style checks into IDEA, allowing one‑click scans for unused imports, missing comments, long methods, and other formatting issues.

8. JRebel and XRebel

JRebel enables hot‑deployment of Java code changes without restarting the application, while XRebel provides runtime performance monitoring (method execution time, SQL timing, etc.).

9. Codota

Codota offers AI‑driven code completions, suggesting context‑aware snippets to accelerate coding.

10. GsonFormat

GsonFormat converts JSON strings into Java POJOs (and vice‑versa) automatically, eliminating manual field‑by‑field copying.

11. Rainbow Brackets

Rainbow Brackets colors matching parentheses in distinct hues, making nested code structures easier to read.

12. CodeGlance

CodeGlance provides a miniature overview of the current file on the right side of the editor, allowing rapid navigation through large classes.