Boost Your IntelliJ IDEA Productivity: 15 Must‑Have Plugins & Settings

1. Install Plugins

Codota Code Completion Plugin

Provides intelligent code suggestions after typing a few letters, showing usage frequency based on learned project code.

It learns your codebase and adapts to your coding preferences.

If combined with machine learning, AI‑assisted coding could become a reality.

Key Promoter X Shortcut Hint Plugin

Shows a popup with shortcut hints in the bottom‑right corner, helping you learn IDE shortcuts quickly.

CodeGlance Code Minimap Plugin

Displays a thumbnail overview of the code, useful when working with large files.

Lombok Plugin

Eliminates boilerplate getters, setters, constructors, toString, hashCode, etc., in entity classes.

Alibaba Java Coding Guidelines Plugin

Checks code against Alibaba's Java standards, highlights issues with colors, and shows inline tips.

CamelCase Naming Conversion Plugin

Quickly toggle between camelCase and snake_case using Shift+Alt+U , handy for bulk renaming.

MybatisX Plugin

Enhances MyBatis development with efficient navigation and code generation.

SonarLint Code Quality Plugin

Detects issues such as using System.out instead of a logger, helping improve code quality.

Save Actions Plugin

Optimizes imports, adds final to unchanged variables, inserts this where appropriate, and enforces consistent formatting.

CheckStyle Plugin

Provides similar style checks as the Alibaba plugin.

Grep Console Plugin

Customizes console output appearance.

MetricsReloaded Plugin

Analyzes code complexity metrics.

Statistic Plugin

Provides code statistics.

Translation Plugin

Offers inline translation capabilities.

Rainbow Brackets Plugin

Colors matching brackets identically, improving readability.

2. Custom Live Templates

Define templates (e.g., typing apr expands to @Autowired ) to speed up repetitive code entry.

3. Global Configuration Tweaks

Optimize Import Settings

Adjust import handling for cleaner code.

Disable Single‑Line Tab Display

Shows tabs on multiple lines, allowing more files to be visible.

Move Double‑Slash Comments to Code Header

Places comments directly above the related code.

Copy Entire Line with Selection

Enables copying a whole line even if only part of it is selected.

Disable Case‑Sensitive Matching

Allows suggestions like String after typing lowercase s .

Improve VCS Directory Color Display

Customizes colors for version‑control directories.

Auto‑Insert Author and Timestamp on New Files

Automatically adds header comments with author and date.

Show Line Numbers and Method Separators

Enables line numbers and visual method separators for easier navigation.

Feel free to share any other IntelliJ IDEA efficiency tips or plugins in the comments.