Boost Your Java Backend Coding with CC GUI: Visual Claude Code in IntelliJ

Introduction

CC GUI (Claude Code GUI) is a powerful IntelliJ IDEA plugin that visualizes Claude Code and Codex AI coding tools, currently with over 2.4k stars on GitHub.

Key Features

Dual AI engine support : integrates Claude Code and Codex, allowing flexible model selection.

Smart conversation and interaction : context‑aware, @file references, image sending for multimodal dialogs.

Agent intelligence : built‑in automation agents and slash‑command skill system, extensible via MCP.

Developer experience enhancements : code diff, navigation, multi‑language themes.

Session management : history, search, favorites, statistics, easy traceability.

Installation & Configuration

Search for Claude in the IDEA plugin marketplace; the plugin has about 190k downloads.

After installation, open CC GUI from the right‑hand panel; the first launch prompts installation of the AI SDK dependency. Choose Claude Code SDK.

Authorize CC GUI in Vendor Management to access your Claude Code configuration file.

Once authorized, the plugin can read your large‑model settings.

The model list includes Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus, each with different intelligence levels, response speeds, costs, and ideal scenarios (see comparison below).

Model Comparison

Haiku – entry‑level, ultra‑fast, lowest cost; best for quick syntax lookup and simple comment generation.

Sonnet – mainstream, fast, medium cost; suited for everyday coding, debugging, documentation, and typical logical reasoning.

Opus – top‑tier, slower, highest cost; ideal for complex refactoring, multi‑file deep analysis.

Usage Example

Using a Spring Boot scaffold project (mall‑tiny) as a demo, the author shows how CC GUI can plan an upgrade from Spring Boot 3.1.5 to 3.5.13, generate a Markdown plan, refactor JWT utilities with Hutool, and automatically create API test documentation.

Planning mode ( plan mode) produces a detailed upgrade plan covering dependencies, code changes, steps, and checks.

The generated plan can be executed directly.

CC GUI can invoke the IDE’s MCP service, exposing up to 40 tools that let Claude Code compile, run, and interact with the database, even taking over the entire IDE.

File‑context awareness lets the model work on the exact code segment selected in IDEA, a capability missing from the CLI.

Conclusion

By combining IntelliJ IDEA with Claude Code through CC GUI, developers gain a highly efficient workflow: the plugin visualizes AI commands, leverages MCP services to automate compilation, execution, error detection, and iterative fixing, dramatically simplifying backend development tasks.

Project Repository

https://github.com/zhukunpenglinyutong/jetbrains-cc-gui