30 Essential IntelliJ IDEA Plugins for Java and Spring Development

Many developers aim to turn IntelliJ IDEA into a one‑stop development environment, so they install a variety of plugins; this article recommends thirty IDEA plugins that suit different needs.

Installation tutorial: Search for plugins directly within IDEA’s marketplace and install them with a single click.

Highly recommended plugins:

Presentation Assistant – Shows keyboard shortcuts during screen sharing or recording.

Codota – Provides intelligent code suggestions and lets you search for code examples; includes a website at https://www.codota.com/code.

Alibaba Java Code Guidelines – Highlights code that violates Alibaba’s Java development handbook, supporting both Chinese and English.

Translation – Quick translation tools with shortcuts (Command+Ctrl+I on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+O on Windows/Linux).

SequenceDiagram – Generates call‑chain sequence diagrams via right‑click → Sequence Diagram.

Rainbow Brackets – Colors matching brackets to avoid mismatches.

HighlightBracketPair – Highlights the start and end of bracket pairs.

Grep Console – Highlights console logs for easier reading.

google‑java‑format – Automatically formats code without manual shortcuts.

Key promoter X – Displays available shortcuts in the UI’s lower‑right corner.

CodeGlance – Shows a miniature map of the code for quick navigation.

Leetcode Editor – Allows solving algorithm problems directly inside IDEA.

RoboPOJOGenerator – Generates POJOs from JSON (GsonFormat alternative).

Statistic – Provides project file‑type statistics.

CamelCase – Switches between different naming conventions.

jclasslib bytecode viewer – Views compiled bytecode within IDEA.

Auto filling Java call arguments – Uses Alt+Enter to auto‑populate method parameters.

GenerateAllSetter – Calls all setter methods automatically.

Maven Helper – Helps resolve Maven JAR conflicts.

FindBugs – Detects potential bugs in code.

Stack trace to UML – Generates UML diagrams from JVM stack traces.

Java Stream Debugger – Visualizes Stream operation steps.

RestfulToolkit – Quickly navigates to Action methods.

JRebel – Applies code changes instantly after a shortcut.

String Manipulation – Provides various string processing utilities.

Free Mybatis Plugin – Jumps from mapper interfaces to XML files.

IDEA QAPlug – Detects potential bugs early.

The article also mentions an open‑source e‑commerce project built with SpringBoot 3, JDK 17, and Vue, hosted on GitHub with 60K stars, and provides Docker deployment instructions.

Overall, the guide serves as a practical reference for developers seeking to enhance their IntelliJ IDEA workflow with productivity‑boosting plugins.