IntelliJ Plugin Verifier checks the binary compatibility between IntelliJ-based IDE builds and IntelliJ Platform plugins.

This tool is useful because plugin authors often specify a wide [since; until] compatibility range but compile a plugin against only a specific IDE from the range. The IntelliJ Platform API can occasionally change between releases, so binary incompatibilities may arise, leading to NoClassDefFoundError, NoSuchMethodError, and similar exceptions at runtime.

Example problems the Plugin Verifier can detect:

1. Plugin references a class com.example.Foo, which is not available in the IDE. This can happen if the plugin was compiled against IDE v1.0, and the class com.example.Foo was removed in IDE v2.0.
2. Plugin references a missing method of the IDE's class, which leads to NoSuchMethodError at runtime.
3. Many other binary incompatibilities as listed in Java Specification | Binary Compatibility.
4. Missing plugin dependencies, for example, when plugin A depends on plugin B, but plugin B doesn't have a build that’s compatible with this IDE. It means that the user cannot install plugin A as the IDE requires all dependent plugins to be installed.

• Installation
• Options
• Results
• Commands
  • check-ide
  • check-plugin
  • check-trunk-api
  • Common Options
• Technical details
• Integration
• Feedback

Download the latest available verifier-cli-<version>-all.jar from the JetBrains Package Repository or from Maven Central.

As an alternative, use curl to download the JAR archive from the command-line:

curl -L -o verifier-all.jar https://packages.jetbrains.team/maven/p/intellij-plugin-verifier/intellij-plugin-verifier/org/jetbrains/intellij/plugins/verifier-cli/<version>/verifier-cli-<version>-all.jar

The <version> is the latest version, which you can find in the package page or in the GitHub Releases.

You can use the GitHub API to retrieve the most recent release information. The resulting JSON response can be parsed using the jq tool. Following this, the artifact URL can be supplied to curl for download.

curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/JetBrains/intellij-plugin-verifier/releases/latest \
    | jq -r '.assets[].browser_download_url' \
    | xargs curl -L --output verifier-all.jar

The Plugin Verifier can be run using the command line:

java -jar verifier-all.jar [Command] [Options]

Command is one of check-plugin, check-ide or check-trunk-api.

Beginning with version 1.260, the Plugin Verifier requires Java 11. Prior to this version, Java 8 is required.

All the verification results are printed and saved in the following ways:

1. The results are saved to <verification-$timestamp> directory (can be changed with -verification-reports-dir option). The layout of files beneath this directory is as follows. The format of individual files is not specified. Basically, the files contain human-readable sentences.

   <verification reports dir>/
       <IDE version #1>/
           plugins/
               <ID of plugin #1/
                   <Version of plugin #1>/
                       <... report files ...>
               <ID of plugin #2>/
                   ...
       <IDE version #2>/
           plugins/
               ...
   

   File	Description	Exists if
   verification-verdict.txt	Human-readable verification verdict.	Always
   dependencies.txt	Dependencies of the plugin used during verification.	Plugin is valid
   compatibility-warnings.txt	Compatibility warnings of this plugin with the IDE.	> 0
   compatibility-problems.txt	Compatibility problems of this plugin with the IDE.	> 0
   deprecated-usages.txt	Descriptions of "Deprecated API is used" cases.	> 0
   experimental-api-usages.txt	Descriptions of "Experimental API is used" cases.	> 0
   internal-api-usages.txt	Descriptions of "Internal API is used" cases.	> 0
   override-only-usages.txt	Descriptions of "Override-only API is used incorrectly" cases.	> 0
   non-extendable-api-usages.txt	Descriptions of "Non-extendable API is used incorrectly" cases.	> 0
   plugin-structure-warnings.txt	Descriptions of plugin's own problems, which are not related to IDE compatibility.	> 0
   invalid-plugin.txt	Description of the invalid plugin error, in case the plugin is invalid.	Plugin is invalid

   Note! If you are implementing integration with the Plugin Verifier, you may check the presence of corresponding files to distinguish "successful" and "failed" verifications.

2. If the -teamcity (-tc) option is specified, the results are printed in TeamCity Tests Format. To choose a presentation type, specify the -tc-grouping (-g) option to either plugin, to group by each plugin, or problem_type, to group by the problem.

3. If -teamcity isn't specified, the results are printed to console.

This command is used to check IDE build against a set of plugins.

check-ide
    <IDE>
    [-runtime-dir | -r <file>]
    [-plugins-to-check-file | -ptcf <file>]
    [-plugins-to-check-all-builds | -p-all < ':'-separated list>]
    [-plugins-to-check-last-builds | -p-last < ':'-separated list>]
    [-excluded-plugins-file | -epf <file> ]
    [-team-city | -tc ]
    [-tc-grouping | -g ]
    [-external-prefixes <':'-separated list>]
    [-dump-broken-plugin-list | -d]
    [-ignored-problems | -ip <file>]
    [-keep-only-problems | -kop <file>]

<IDE> is either a path to local IDE installation, or an IDE pattern (see bellow in the common options)

If no plugins are explicitly specified, then all compatible plugins in the Plugin Repository will be verified (options).

Check IDEA Ultimate #162.1121.32 against all plugins listed in pluginsToCheck.txt:

java -jar verifier-all.jar -runtime-dir /home/user/.jdks/corretto-11.0.8 -team-city -tc-grouping problem_type -excluded-plugins-file ignorePlugins.txt -plugins-to-check-file pluginsToCheck.txt -dump-broken-plugin-list actualBroken.txt check-ide /tmp/IU-162.1121.32

Check IDEA Ultimate 162.1121.32 against all versions of Kotlin and NodeJs plugins and the last version of the PHP plugin:

java -jar verifier-all.jar -runtime-dir /home/user/.jdks/corretto-11.0.8 -plugins-to-check-all-builds org.jetbrains.kotlin:NodeJS -plugins-to-check-last-builds com.jetbrains.php check-ide /tmp/IU-162.1121.32

This command is used to check one or more plugins against one or more IDEs (options).

check-plugin
    <plugins>
    <IDE> [<IDE>]*
    [-runtime-dir | -r <file>]
    [-team-city | -tc ]
    [-tc-grouping | -g ]
    [-external-prefixes <':'-separated list>]
    [-suppress-internal-api-usages no|jetbrains-plugins]
    [-mute comma-separated plugin problem identifier list]

<plugins> is either <plugin path> or '@<file>' with a list of plugin paths to verify, separated by a newline.

<IDE> is either a path to local IDE installation, or an IDE pattern (see below in the common options)

• -suppress-internal-api-usages will suppress internal API usages from JetBrains plugins. This option is used by JetBrains Marketplace by default.

  Allowed values:

  • no: all internal API usages will be reported. This is the default value.
  • jetbrains-plugins: internal API usages by JetBrains plugins will not be reported.

• -mute will mute (ignore) a specified plugin problems.

  Supported values:

  • ForbiddenPluginIdPrefix,
  • TemplateWordInPluginId,
  • TemplateWordInPluginName

  A comma-separated list of plugin problems is allowed, e.g.:

    -mute TemplateWordInPluginId,TemplateWordInPluginName
  

  The switch will mute any kind of supported plugin problems — including plugin problems related to the plugin descriptor.

  Usually, a long-existing plugin uploaded to the JetBrains Marketplace might be verified with more relaxed rules than a new plugin. This option is used to mute plugin problems that do not apply to such a plugin.

Check Kotlin plugin against IDEA Ultimate 162.2032.8, 163.1024, and 163.7277:

java -jar verifier-all.jar -runtime-dir /home/user/.jdks/corretto-11.0.8 check-plugin /tmp/Kotlin /tmp/IU-162.2032.8 /tmp/IU-163.1024 /tmp/IU-163.7277

This command tracks API Changes between two IDE builds: a release and a trunk.

Note that its purpose is to detect incompatibilities between two IDE builds, not to detect all the plugins' own problems.

Given the release IDE build, all plugins' versions for release IDE will be verified with both the release and trunk and only new problems with a trunk will be reported.

For clarity, here is an example of the command:

check-trunk-api
    -r /home/user/.jdks/corretto-11.0.8
    -subsystems-to-check without-android
    -team-city
    -jetbrains-plugins-file all-jetbrains-plugins.txt
    -release-jetbrains-plugins release-plugins
    -trunk-jetbrains-plugins trunk-plugins
    -major-ide-path IU-173.4548.28
    IU-181.3741.2

The IU-173.4548.28 is IDEA Ultimate 2017.3.4 build, and IU-181.3741.2 is some IDE built from the master. This command will do the following:

1. Take all plugins from the Plugin Repository compatible with IU-173.4548.28 and run the verification against IU-173.4548.28.
2. Take the same versions of the plugins and verify them against IU-181.3741.2, even if those plugins' [since; until] compatibility ranges don't include the IU-181.3741.2.
3. Report problems that are present in IU-181.3741.2 but not present in IU-173.4548.28.

There are the following points to mention:

1. IntelliJ API is considered to consist of all the classes bundled to IDE, all its bundled plugins, and all the JetBrains-developed plugins compiled from the same sources revision. Those plugins are not bundled into IDE distribution but are available locally after the IDE build finishes. The plugins are typically uploaded to the Plugin Repository when a new release IDE gets out, but it cannot be valid for intermediate builds.
   • -jetbrains-plugins-file all-jetbrains-plugins.txt points to a file containing IDs of all JetBrains plugins built from the same sources as the IDE, like (NodeJS, Pythonid, Docker).
   • -release-jetbrains-plugins release-plugins points to a directory containing all the plugins built along with the release IDE. Plugins can be in the form of .jar, .zip, or directories.
   • -trunk-jetbrains-plugins trunk-plugins points to a directory containing all the plugins built along with the trunk IDE.
2. -subsystems-to-check without-android specifies that the Plugin Verifier should not show problems related to Android support.

Here is the full syntax of the command:

check-trunk-api <trunk IDE>
    [-runtime-dir | -r <file>]
    [-major-ide-path | -mip <file>]
    [-external-prefixes <':'-separated list>]
    [-subsystems-to-check | -subsystems]
    [-release-jetbrains-plugins | -rjbp <path>]
    [-trunk-jetbrains-plugins | -tjbp <path>]
    [-team-city | -tc ]

• -major-ide-path (-mip)

  The path to the major IDE release build to compare API problems of the trunk (master) IDE build.

• -release-jetbrains-plugins (-rjbp)

  The root of the local plugin repository containing JetBrains plugins compatible with the release IDE. The local repository is a set of non-bundled JetBrains plugins built from the same sources revision. The verifier will read the plugin descriptors from every plugin-like file under the specified directory. During the verification, the JetBrains plugins will be taken from the local repository, if present. Otherwise, they will be fetched from the public repository.

• -trunk-jetbrains-plugins (-tjbp) The same as --release-local-repository but specifies the directory containing plugins built for the trunk IDE.

• <IDE>

  The path to a local IDE installation or a pattern in form [latest-release-IU] or [latest-IU] (latest EAP).

  In the latter case the IDE will be downloaded to a temp directory <temp dir>/<IDE version>. You can change the <temp dir> part with -Dintellij.plugin.verifier.download.ide.temp.dir=<custom path> system property.

• -verification-reports-dir (-vrd)

  The path to the directory where verification reports will be saved. By default, it is equal to <current working dir>/verification-<timestamp>.

• -verification-reports-formats (-vrf)

  The output format of the verification reports. Supported formats are: plain (console output), html and markdown By default, plain and html output formats are enabled. Multiple output formats are supported, separated by a comma.

  Output format that starts with a - (dash) will be suppressed: either from the default set of output formats or from the specified output formats.

  Examples:

  • plain,markdown will enable console output and the Markdown verification reports.
  • -plain will disable console output, but retain the default HTML output.
  • "" (literal empty string) will disable all verification report formats. This will essentially suppress console output, leaving only logging messages.

• -runtime-dir (-r)

  The path to the directory containing Java runtime JAR files (JDK). If not specified, the embedded JDK from the provided IDE parameter will be used.
  If the IDE does not contain an embedded JDK, the JAVA_HOME environment variable will be used to resolve the Java runtime.

• -external-prefixes (-ex-prefixes)

  The prefixes of classes from the external libraries. The Plugin Verifier will not report 'No such class' for classes of these packages.

• -plugins-to-check-all-builds (-p-all)

  The plugin IDs to check with the IDE. The plugin verifier will check ALL compatible plugin builds.

• -plugins-to-check-last-builds (-p-last)

  The plugin IDs to check with the IDE. The plugin verifier will check the LAST plugin build only.

• -team-city (-tc)

  Specify this flag if you want to print the TeamCity compatible output on stdout.

• -tc-grouping (-g)

  Group the TeamCity presentation of the problems: either 'plugin' to group by each plugin or 'problem_type' to group by problem type.

• -excluded-plugins-file (-epf)

  File with a list of excluded plugin builds. The verifier will not verify such updates even if they are compatible with the IDE. File with list of excluded plugin builds (e.g. '/lib/resources.jar/brokenPlugins.txt').

• -offline

  Specify this flag if the Plugin Verifier must use only locally downloaded dependencies of plugins and must avoid making HTTP requests.

• -dump-broken-plugin-list (-d)

  File to dump broken plugin ids. The broken plugins are those which contain at least one problem as a result of the verification.

• -plugins-to-check-file (-ptcf)

  A file that contains a list of plugins to check. Each line of the file is either:

  • plugin_id (check ALL builds of the plugin)
  • $plugin_id' (check only the LAST build of the plugin)

• -subsystems-to-check (-subsystems)

  Specifies which subsystems of IDE should be checked. Available options: all (default), android-only, without-android.

• -ignored-problems (-ip)

  A file that contains a list of problems that will be ignored in report. The file must contain lines in form <plugin_xml_id>:<plugin_version>:<problem_description_regexp_pattern>

• -keep-only-problems (-kop)

  A file that contains patterns of problems that will be reflected in report. All other problems will be ignored. Applied to short problem description. The file must contain lines in form: <plugin_xml_id_regexp_pattern>:<plugin_version_regexp_pattern>:<problem_description_regexp_pattern>

Plugin Verifier uses the following paths for operational purposes:

• <home-directory> - base directory for all other directories:
  • By default, it is <USER_HOME>/.pluginVerifier,
  • It can be modified via -Dplugin.verifier.home.dir JVM parameter, e.g. -Dplugin.verifier.home.dir=/tmp/verifier,
• <plugins-directory> = <home-directory>/loaded-plugins - cache directory for downloaded plugins,
• <extracted-directory> = <home-directory>/extracted-plugins - temporary directory used for extracting plugins that are distributed as .zip archives.

Downloading plugins

Plugins to be verified and plugins' dependencies are downloaded into <plugins-directory>. It can be reused between multiple runs of the Plugin Verifier: on the first run, all the necessary plugins will be downloaded, and on the subsequent runs, they will be taken from the cache. Note that not only the verified plugins are downloaded but also all plugins' dependencies.

Plugins are downloaded from the Plugin Repository into <plugins-directory>/<update-ID>.jar or <plugins-directory>/<update-ID>.zip, depending on the plugin's packaging type. <update-ID> is the unique ID of the plugin's version in the Plugin Repository's database. For example, Kotlin 1.2.30-release-IJ2018.1-1 has update-ID equal to 43775.

Limit size of <plugins-directory>

That's possible to limit the size of the <plugins-directory>, which is 5 GB by default. To do this, specify JVM option -Dplugin.verifier.cache.dir.max.space=<max-space-MB>. The Plugin Verifier will remove the least recently used plugins from the cache as soon as the occupied space reaches the limit.

Extracting .zip-ed plugins

Plugins packaged in .zip archives are extracted into <extracted-directory>/<temp-dir> before verifying these plugins starts. This is necessary to speed up the verification, which needs to do many searches of class-files.

The most straightforward way of integrating the Plugin Verifier with your project is using the Gradle IntelliJ Plugin, which provides runPluginVerifier configurable task.

If you're not using Gradle within your project, there are predefined third-party actions available in the GitHub Actions Marketplace that automate the plugin verification process.

Read more about possible integration options: Verifying Plugin Compatibility

Please report issues to YouTrack: https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issues/MP (MP stands for Marketplace)

• Check if there is already a similar ticket present.
• If not, create a New Issue.
• Type the issue Summary and Description.
• Select Subsystem to be Plugin Verifier - YouTrack will automatically assign a responsible developer.
• If the issue is a feature request, you may select Type to be Feature.

Thank you in advance for reporting issues, providing feedback, and making the Plugin Verifier better!

There is also a dedicated Slack channel available: #intellij-plugin-verifier.

The JetBrains Platform Slack community is a place where you can talk with other plugin developers and JetBrains employees about plugin and extension development.