| name | module-set-pluginization |
| description | Pluginize a Product DSL module set by hand-writing a wrapper plugin module next to its feature modules. Use when promoting modules out of an aggregate module set (e.g. `essential`, `ide.common`) into a bundled plugin so products can include or omit them through normal plugin wiring, when updating bundled plugin registration for such a wrapper, or when fixing tests whose plugin loading logs show a missing wrapper plugin for a former module set. |
Module Set Pluginization
Use this workflow when a group of platform modules that currently live inside an aggregate Product DSL ModuleSet (typically essential, essentialMinimal, or ide.common) should become a standalone bundled plugin wrapper.
New canonical pattern: the wrapper is a hand-written JPS module placed next to the feature modules — not auto-generated under community/module-set-plugins/generated/. Auto-generation is being phased out; legacy wrappers stay in place until migrated. Reference example: community/platform/navbar/plugin/ (IJPL-245430, commit 9d61ae6803221).
Before Editing
- Read
community/platform/build-scripts/product-dsl/.claude/rules/product-dsl.md before changing product-dsl sources.
- Look at
community/platform/navbar/plugin/ as the reference: a sibling plugin/ directory of the feature modules with its own .iml, resources/META-INF/plugin.xml, and plugin-content.yaml.
- Decide whether the modules should still be inlined inside a parent module set in any product. Pluginized wrappers usually stop being emitted through the aggregate
intellij.moduleSets.<name>.xml and become a bundled plugin instead.
- For library modules with only a small closed consumer set, do not create or keep a shared wrapper just to make the library available. Prefer
visibility="private" on the library descriptor and register the module as unnamed <content> in each consuming plugin, so each copy lives in that plugin's implicit private namespace.
Create the Wrapper Plugin Module
Create a new JPS module at <feature-root>/plugin/, e.g. community/platform/<feature>/plugin/:
-
intellij.<feature>.plugin.iml — resources-only JAVA_MODULE inheriting JDK; for example:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<module type="JAVA_MODULE" version="4">
<component name="NewModuleRootManager" inherit-compiler-output="true">
<exclude-output />
<content url="file://$MODULE_DIR$">
<sourceFolder url="file://$MODULE_DIR$/resources" type="java-resource" />
</content>
<orderEntry type="inheritedJdk" />
<orderEntry type="sourceFolder" forTests="false" />
</component>
</module>
-
resources/META-INF/plugin.xml — a minimal <idea-plugin> listing the content modules. Mirror the navbar wrapper (replace FEATURE with the actual short name; the description must be at least 40 characters):
<idea-plugin>
<id>intellij.FEATURE.plugin</id>
<name>FEATURE</name>
<description>Provides FEATURE platform modules for the IDE.</description>
<vendor>JetBrains</vendor>
<content namespace="jetbrains">
<module name="intellij.platform.FEATURE" loading="required"/>
<module name="intellij.platform.FEATURE.backend"/>
<module name="intellij.platform.FEATURE.frontend"/>
<module name="intellij.platform.FEATURE.monolith"/>
</content>
</idea-plugin>
Naming: plugin id uses the short intellij.FEATURE.plugin form (e.g. intellij.navbar.plugin). Do not reuse the legacy com.intellij.moduleSet.FEATURE prefix — that is the auto-generated wrapper convention being phased out, kept only on existing wrappers under community/module-set-plugins/generated/. The plugin name is a short human-readable label (e.g. Navbar). The JPS module name is intellij.platform.FEATURE.plugin (or intellij.FEATURE.plugin outside the platform/ subtree).
Mark only the shared/anchor module (the one that loads in every product mode) as loading="required" — intellij.platform.FEATURE in the example. Plugin-XML inspection requires at least one required/embedded/required-if-available content module per wrapper, so the anchor satisfies that. Do not add loading="required" to backend / frontend / monolith modules: in frontend product mode (JetBrains Client) the platform's backend module is unavailable, so a required FEATURE.backend excludes itself and takes the whole wrapper plugin down — producing a confusing cascade like "Plugin 'FEATURE' depends on plugin 'IDEA CORE' which failed to load".
-
plugin-content.yaml — list the JAR layout. Mirror the navbar example:
- name: lib/modules/intellij.platform.<feature>.backend.jar
contentModules:
- name: intellij.platform.<feature>.backend
- name: lib/modules/intellij.platform.<feature>.frontend.jar
contentModules:
- name: intellij.platform.<feature>.frontend
- name: lib/modules/intellij.platform.<feature>.jar
contentModules:
- name: intellij.platform.<feature>
- name: lib/modules/intellij.platform.<feature>.monolith.jar
contentModules:
- name: intellij.platform.<feature>.monolith
- name: lib/platform-<feature>-plugin.jar
modules:
- name: intellij.platform.<feature>.plugin
-
Suppress SplitModeMixedDependencies and PluginXmlPluginLogo in plugin.xml only if the inspection actually flags the wrapper.
Update the Product DSL
Remove the now-pluginized modules from the aggregate ModuleSet:
- In
community/platform/build-scripts/src/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/productLayout/CommunityModuleSets.kt (and any product-specific layout file that listed them), delete the module("intellij.platform.<feature>.…") / embeddedModule(...) calls that the wrapper now owns.
- Add the wrapper JPS module name to
DEFAULT_BUNDLED_PLUGINS in community/platform/build-scripts/src/org/jetbrains/intellij/build/productLayout/ProductModulesLayout.kt, e.g. "intellij.platform.<feature>.plugin".
- Check products that override or reset default bundled plugins (Rider's
ReSharperExternalProductProperties, Gateway, JetBrains Client product-modules XML under remote-dev/, etc.) and add the wrapper module name where appropriate.
Do not create a new plugin("<feature>") DSL block under the old generator path. The wrapper exists as a standalone JPS module instead.
Re-trim Content Module Descriptors
Pluginization is a good moment to verify that each former direct module declares only the dependencies it really needs:
- Trim
intellij.platform.<feature>.<backend|frontend|monolith>.xml so it declares the actual runtime dependencies (e.g. intellij.platform.backend, intellij.platform.frontend, the shared intellij.platform.<feature> module).
- If any extension point was renamed/qualified, grep the repo for the old short name and update every
<extensionPoint …> reference accordingly.
- If a downstream consumer used a module that the new wrapper now hides, switch the consumer's descriptor to depend on the wrapper plugin:
<plugin id="intellij.<feature>.plugin"/> instead of <module name="intellij.platform.<feature>.frontend"/>. Existing references to legacy com.intellij.moduleSet.<feature> ids stay valid for the auto-generated wrappers that have not yet been migrated.
Re-run Code Generation
After the source edits, run the generators so the platform descriptors, Bazel files, and .idea/modules.xml are updated to match:
bazel run //platform/buildScripts:plugin-model-tool
./build/jpsModelToBazel.cmd
Expected diffs:
community/platform/platform-resources/generated/META-INF/intellij.moduleSets.essential.xml, …ide.common.xml, and licenseCommon/generated/META-INF/intellij.moduleSets.ide.ultimate.xml no longer list the pluginized modules.
community/.idea/modules.xml and .idea/modules.xml gain the new intellij.<feature>.plugin.iml module.
build/bazel-generated-file-list.txt and community/build/bazel-generated-file-list.txt gain the new plugin directory.
- Product content snapshots (
build/expected/ultimate-content-platform.yaml, dbe/build/datagrip-content.yaml, etc.) gain the wrapper plugin entry.
tests/ideaProjectStructure/testResources/com/intellij/ideaProjectStructure/fast/available-in-idea-free-mode.txt gains the new module if it is free-mode available.
- Existing wrappers under
community/module-set-plugins/generated/intellij.moduleSet.plugin.<name>/ are unrelated — do not touch them unless you are migrating one to the new pattern.
Fix Ordering Bugs When Validation Runs Before Generation
Hand-written wrappers usually do not hit the pre-generation-on-disk ordering trap, since the descriptor exists in source from the first build. The cache path remains relevant only for the legacy generated wrappers:
PluginContentCache injects PluginContentInfo objects for already-generated wrappers during the model-building stage. If you migrate one of those to the new pattern, drop the corresponding cache entry along with the generated directory.
Downstream Test Runtime Dependencies
Pluginization can break narrow test modules even when product packaging tests pass. Test runtime classpaths may still include a plugin module whose extracted platform dependency is no longer embedded. Catch this from idea.log, not from test assertion text alone.
- Inspect
Plugin set resolution and Problems found loading plugins in local or TeamCity test logs.
- Treat messages such as missing
intellij.platform.structureView.impl, intellij.platform.execution.serviceView, or intellij.platform.navbar.frontend as a missing wrapper-plugin runtime dependency (intellij.moduleSet.plugin.structureView, intellij.moduleSet.plugin.servicesView, or the new intellij.platform.<feature>.plugin).
- Add the wrapper dep only to the affected test module with
scope="RUNTIME". Do not add it to broad shared modules such as intellij.platform.testFramework or aggregate/global test infrastructure.
- After changing
.iml, run ./build/jpsModelToBazel.cmd and verify the generated BUILD.bazel runtime deps are updated.
- For TeamCity, read the published test log artifact when needed:
/app/rest/builds/id:<buildId>/artifacts/content/testlog.zip!.../idea.log.
Pre-TeamCity Canary Suite
Run this suite before relying on TeamCity after pluginization or plugin dependency changes. Run the listed commands in parallel when resources allow; the order is diagnostic priority, not execution order. Fix failures in checks 1-6 before interpreting downstream canary failures.
- Embedded dependency closure:
./bazel.cmd run //platform/buildScripts:plugin-model-tool -- --json='{"filter":"embeddedDependencyClosure","pluginSourceOnly":true}'
- Product DSL module-set validation:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.platform.buildScripts.productDsl.tests --test org.jetbrains.intellij.build.productLayout.validator.ProductModuleSetValidatorTest
- Fast project structure/root packages:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.projectStructureTests --test com.intellij.ideaProjectStructure.fast.IntelliJProjectPackageNamesTest
- Product packaging baseline:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.idea.ultimate.build.tests --test com.intellij.idea.ultimate.build.smokeTests.AllProductsPackagingTest
- CLion packaging baseline:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.clion.build.tests --test org.jetbrains.intellij.build.clion.CLionPackagingTest
- Rider packaging baseline:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.rider.build.tests --test com.jetbrains.rider.build.RiderPackagingTest
- Database and SQL plugin loading:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.database.tests --test com.intellij.database.DataGripLiteSuite
./tests.cmd --module intellij.database.sql.tests --test com.intellij.sql.SqlFileStructureViewTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.database.sql.tests --test com.intellij.sql.editor.SqlMultiLineTodoTest
- Code Server DB plugin loading:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.codeServer.db.sql.tests --test com.intellij.database.SqlCompletionTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.codeServer.db.csv.datagrid.tests --test com.intellij.codeServer.db.csv.datagrid.tests.CsvCoreGridTest
- Package Checker plugin loading:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.packageChecker.tests --test com.intellij.packageChecker.model.VulnerabilitiesRepositoryServerTest
- Grazie and spellchecker plugin loading:
./community/tests.cmd --module intellij.grazie.tests --test com.intellij.grazie.spellchecker.inspector.SuggestionTest
./community/tests.cmd --module intellij.grazie.tests --test com.intellij.grazie.spellchecker.inspection.CommentsWithMistakesInspectionTest
- Shell plus Markdown plugin loading:
./community/tests.cmd --module intellij.sh.tests --test com.intellij.sh.highlighting.ShHighlightUsagesInMarkdownTest
- Ruby plugin loading:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ruby.tests --test org.jetbrains.plugins.ruby.gem.GemsProviderTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ruby.tests --test org.jetbrains.plugins.ruby.ruby.psi.RubyHeredocInjectorTest#testSqlHeredoc
- RustRover structure and SQL loading:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.rustrover.core.test --test org.rust.ide.structure.RsStructureViewModelTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.rustrover.sql.tests --test com.jetbrains.rust.sql.SqlInjectorTest
- ReSharper external services/DataGrip bridge:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.resharper.external.services.test.cases.rd --test com.jetbrains.resharper.external.services.test.cases.ReSharperDataGripRdTest
- AI Assistant plugin loading:
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.chat.tests --test com.intellij.ml.llm.core.chat.ui.chat.navigation.FilePathMatcherTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.completion.tests --test com.intellij.ml.llm.completion.cloud.context.mainEditor.RecentLocationsContextCollectorTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.devkit.tests --test com.intellij.ml.llm.devkit.context.DevKitChatContextProviderTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.java.embeddings.tests --test com.intellij.ml.llm.java.embeddings.JavaEmbeddingParsingTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.java.inlinePromptDetector.tests --test com.intellij.ml.llm.java.inlinePromptDetector.JavaInlinePromptHighlightingTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.nextEdits.tests --test 'com.intellij.ml.llm.nextEdits.tests.history.NextEditFileHistoryTest;com.intellij.ml.llm.nextEdits.tests.diff.CheckFileRangesSyntaxCorrectTest'
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.ruby.test --test com.intellij.ml.llm.ruby.testGeneration.RubyLLMGenerateTestsSupportPromptTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.ruby.test --test com.intellij.ml.llm.ruby.testGeneration.rails.RailsGenerateTestsPromptTest
./tests.cmd --module intellij.ml.llm.sql.tests --test com.intellij.ml.llm.sql.SqlObjectChatInputTest
Verification
-
Run lint_files() on every changed Kotlin source and test file.
-
Run the Pre-TeamCity Canary Suite after generated files and narrow test dependencies are updated.
-
Keep CLion and Rider packaging tests in the standard suite: wrapper plugins and DEFAULT_BUNDLED_PLUGINS changes can affect those product baselines even when AllProductsPackagingTest is green.
-
Run at least one representative test from each affected test module via ./tests.cmd --module <module> --test <FQN or FQN#method>. Prefer a small smoke test that exercises plugin loading without external fixtures.
-
If the original CI test needs unavailable data or services, run a nearby smoke test and document the local blocker. Confirm idea.log no longer reports the original missing wrapper plugin.
-
Re-render the skill mirrors:
node community/.ai/render-guides.mjs
The renderer copies this file to community/.claude/skills/module-set-pluginization/SKILL.md, .agents/skills/module-set-pluginization/SKILL.md, and .claude/skills/module-set-pluginization/SKILL.md. Confirm git status shows only those four files diverging.