How IDEA 2026.1 Turns Into an Open AI Platform with ACP Integration

IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 and the Agent Client Protocol (ACP)

IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 introduces the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), an open‑standard communication layer that allows external AI‑powered agents to be launched from the IDE and to exchange contextual information such as the current file, cursor position, selected text, or project metadata.

Protocol basics

When an agent implements ACP, IDEA starts the agent process, sends a JSON request containing the context, and receives a JSON response that may contain code snippets, refactoring edits, database queries, or Git commands. The protocol is language‑agnostic; any tool that can read/write the defined JSON schema can act as an agent.

ACP Registry

The IDE ships with an integrated ACP Registry. The registry lists agents that are known to support the protocol (e.g., Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot) and provides a one‑click install experience similar to plugin installation. Installation steps:

Open Settings → Tools → Agent Client Protocol .

Browse the catalog of agents.

Select an agent and click Install . The IDE downloads the agent package, verifies signatures, and registers the executable path.

After installation, the agent appears in the Agents dropdown for quick invocation.

Typical workflow

After an agent is installed, developers can invoke it from the editor context menu or via a keyboard shortcut. The IDE supplies the following context automatically:

Absolute path of the current file.

Zero‑based line and column of the caret.

Selected text (if any).

Project‑level information such as module name and SDK version.

The agent processes the request and returns one of the following actions:

Code generation / refactoring: a snippet or a set of edit operations that IDEA applies to the document.

Database query: a SQL statement that IDEA runs against a configured data source and displays the result in a tool window.

Git operation: a command such as git checkout -b new-branch that IDEA executes via its VCS integration.

Benefits and implications

Decouples AI functionality from the IDE, eliminating vendor lock‑in.

Allows teams to evaluate different models (e.g., OpenAI Codex vs. Anthropic Claude) without changing the IDE.

Encourages third‑party developers to publish specialized agents that conform to the ACP schema.

All agents are managed centrally; updates are delivered through the registry without leaving the IDE.

Technical references

The ACP specification and reference implementation are hosted in the JetBrains GitHub repository:

https://github.com/JetBrains/intellij-community/tree/master/plugins/agent-client-protocol

Agents are distributed as executable JARs or native binaries; the registry stores the download URL and the command‑line template used to launch each agent.

Illustrative UI

Below are screenshots of the ACP Registry UI and the agent invocation dialog.