🔍 MCP JetBrains Code Inspections

Caution

⚠️ Deprecated Notice

This project is deprecated but still functional. Starting from version 2025.2, JetBrains IDEs (WebStorm, IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, etc.) now include a built-in MCP server that provides native integration with external clients like Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, and others.

🔄 Migration Options

IDE Version	Recommended Solution	Link
2025.2+	Built-in MCP server	Official Documentation
Earlier versions	JetBrains MCP plugin	Plugin Marketplace

✅ Native Integration Benefits

• Direct IDE control without external tools
• 25+ tools comprehensive tool set
• Better performance and reliability
• Official support from JetBrains

[!IMPORTANT] The native get_file_problems tool requires setting errorsOnly: false for similar functionality to this project. The get_project_problems tool only returns critical errors.

📚 View Migration Guide & Comparison →

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that provides JetBrains IDE code inspections with automatic IDE selection and a unified inspection profile that works across all file types.

Tip

📚 Full Documentation Available: Visit our comprehensive docs at josedacosta.github.io/mcp-jetbrains-code-inspections

🎯 Quick Start

Note

Get started in under 2 minutes!

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/josedacosta/mcp-jetbrains-code-inspections.git
cd mcp-jetbrains-code-inspections

# Install and build
yarn install && yarn build

# Test with MCP Inspector
yarn inspect

Then configure your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) with the configuration below.

✨ Features

🚀 Core Features 🔍 Automatic IDE Detection Intelligently selects the best JetBrains IDE ⚡ Configurable Timeout Default 120s, adjustable for large projects 🔄 Cross-IDE Compatible Works with all JetBrains IDEs

🔧 Advanced Capabilities 📊 Smart Output Formats Markdown for LLMs, JSON for tools 🎯 Concurrent Execution Run even when IDE is open 🌐 Universal Profiles One profile for all languages 💬 Built-in Prompts Pre-configured prompts for common tasks 📚 Server Resources Access profiles, config, and IDE info

📦 Installation

Note

Prerequisites: Node.js ≥20 and a JetBrains IDE installed

Step-by-step Installation

1. Install dependencies:

   yarn install

2. Build the server:

   yarn build

3. Configure MCP (see ⚙️ Configuration section below)

Tip

Use yarn inspect after installation to test the server with the MCP Inspector

🚀 Usage

📚 MCP Features

The server provides three types of MCP features:

🔨 Tools

• get_jetbrains_code_inspections: Runs code inspections on specified files or directories

💬 Prompts

• analyze-project: Analyze a project for code quality issues
• check-file: Check a specific file for issues
• fix-issues: Get suggestions to fix detected issues

📚 Resources

• inspection://profiles: List of available inspection profiles
• inspection://config: Current MCP server configuration
• inspection://ides: List of detected JetBrains IDEs on the system

🏃 Running the Server

Tip

For development, use yarn dev which includes hot-reload for faster iteration.

# 🔄 Run in development mode (with hot-reload)
yarn dev

# 📦 Run the built server (production)
yarn start

# 🧪 Use MCP Inspector for interactive testing
yarn inspect

⚙️ Configuration

The code inspections server can be configured through environment variables in .mcp.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp-jetbrains-code-inspections": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": ["./dist/index.js"],
            "env": {
                "EXCLUDE_INSPECTIONS": "SpellCheckingInspection"
            }
        }
    }
}

📝 Available Parameters

🔧 Tool Parameter (Required)

Important

The tool accepts only one parameter from the LLM:

Parameter	Type	Description	Required	Example
path	string	File or directory path to inspect	✅ Yes	"src/index.ts" or "./src"

🌍 Configuration via Environment Variables

Note

All configurations are managed through environment variables in .mcp.json. These settings control how the inspection server operates.

📑 Available Environment Variables (click to expand)

Environment Variable	Type	Description	Default
FORCE_INSPECT_PATH	string	Force specific IDE inspect tool (disables auto-detection)	Auto-detected
FORCE_PROJECT_ROOT	string	Force project root directory (disables auto-detection)	Auto-detected
FORCE_PROFILE_PATH	string	Force inspection profile path (disables defaults)	Project defaults
INSPECTION_TIMEOUT	number	Maximum analysis time (ms)	120000
EXCLUDE_INSPECTIONS	string	Comma-separated inspection codes to exclude	SpellCheckingInspection
ONLY_INSPECTIONS	string	Only include these inspection codes	-
RESPONSE_FORMAT	'markdown'|'json'	Output format for diagnostics	'markdown'
DEBUG	boolean	Enable debug logging	false

Tip

📚 For detailed configuration options, see Configuration Documentation.

🧪 Testing

1️⃣ Interactive MCP Test

yarn test:mcp

This runs an interactive test that allows you to test the MCP server functionality directly.

2️⃣ Test with MCP Inspector (recommended)

# Launch the inspector (no installation needed)
yarn inspect

# Or for development mode with hot reload
yarn inspect:dev

The inspector opens a web interface where you can:

• View available tools, prompts, and resources
• Test get_jetbrains_code_inspections tool interactively
• Use pre-configured prompts for common tasks
• Access server resources (profiles, config, detected IDEs)
• See requests/responses in real-time

⚙️ How It Works

🎯 Automatic IDE Selection

Note

The server intelligently detects and selects the most appropriate JetBrains IDE for your project.

Priority order:

1. IntelliJ IDEA - Ultimate Java/Kotlin IDE
2. WebStorm - JavaScript/TypeScript specialist
3. PyCharm - Python development
4. PhpStorm - PHP development
5. GoLand - Go programming
6. Rider - .NET development
7. CLion - C/C++ development
8. RubyMine - Ruby/Rails
9. DataGrip - Database management
10. DataSpell - Data science
11. AppCode - iOS/macOS development

Tip

Use FORCE_INSPECT_PATH to override auto-detection and specify a particular IDE.

🔒 Isolated Configuration

Important

Key Innovation: The server uses temporary isolated configuration directories with -Didea.config.path and -Didea.system.path JVM properties. This allows inspections to run even when the IDE is already open!

Benefits:

• ✅ No IDE conflicts
• ✅ Parallel execution support
• ✅ Clean, isolated analysis
• ✅ No interference with your active IDE sessions

💻 Example Output

🔎 View Example Output (click to expand)

🔍 Searching for available JetBrains IDE inspect tools...
   Following priority order: IntelliJ IDEA > WebStorm > PyCharm > PhpStorm > GoLand > ...

   ✅ WebStorm - Found and selected!
      Path: /Applications/WebStorm.app/Contents/bin/inspect.sh
      Note: Using isolated configuration - works even if IDE is already running

📊 Analysis Results:
   ⚠️ Warning: Unused variable 'config' at line 42
   ❌ Error: Missing semicolon at line 156
   💡 Info: Consider using const instead of let at line 78

🛠️ Troubleshooting

❌ "JetBrains IDE inspect tool not found"

Warning

This error occurs when no JetBrains IDE can be found in standard installation locations.

Solutions:

• ✅ Verify that a JetBrains IDE is installed in /Applications/ or ~/Applications/
• ✅ Ensure the inspect.sh file is executable
• ✅ Use FORCE_INSPECT_PATH environment variable to specify the exact path

⚠️ "No inspection profile found"

Caution

Without an inspection profile, the tool cannot analyze your code properly.

Steps to fix:

1. Open the project in a JetBrains IDE
2. Go to Settings → Inspections
3. Configure and save an inspection profile
4. Alternatively, use FORCE_PROFILE_PATH to specify a custom profile

⏱️ Timeout Issues

Tip

Default timeout is 120 seconds. Large projects may need more time.

Solutions:

• 🔄 Increase timeout: Set INSPECTION_TIMEOUT=300000 (5 minutes)
• 📊 Check that the IDE is not currently indexing
• 📦 For very large projects, consider inspecting specific directories

🚫 "Only one instance can be run at a time"

Note

✅ This is no longer an issue! The server automatically handles this by using isolated configuration directories, allowing inspections to run even when the IDE is already open.

📚 Documentation

Tip

🌐 Visit our comprehensive documentation at josedacosta.github.io/mcp-jetbrains-code-inspections

Available sections:

Section	Description
🏁 Getting Started	Installation and prerequisites
⚙️ Configuration	Environment variables and profiles
📖 Usage Guide	Basic and advanced usage
🔬 Technical Details	Architecture and IDE detection
💡 Guides	Best practices and troubleshooting

📖 JetBrains Documentation

Tip

Learn more about JetBrains code inspections and the command-line inspector:

Resource	Description
📘 Code Inspection Overview	Learn about code inspections, severity levels, and inspection profiles
🔧 Command-Line Code Inspector	Detailed documentation on using the inspect.sh/inspect.bat tool

🤝 Contributing

Note

We welcome contributions! Please see our Contributing Guide for full details.

What we're looking for:

• 🐛 Bug fixes and issue reports
• ✨ New features and enhancements
• 📝 Documentation improvements
• 🧪 Test coverage expansion
• 🌍 Language/IDE support

🚀 Quick Start for Contributors

Important

We follow Conventional Commits and use GitHub Flow.

# 1. Fork and clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/mcp-jetbrains-code-inspections.git

# 2. Create a feature branch
git checkout -b feat/amazing-feature

# 3. Make your changes and commit
git commit -m 'feat(scope): add amazing feature'

# 4. Push to your fork
git push origin feat/amazing-feature

# 5. Open a Pull Request

Tip

See CONTRIBUTING.md for branch naming, commit message standards, and PR guidelines.

🏷️ Keywords

🔍 SEO Keywords (click to expand)

MCP & AI Integration: MCP server • Model Context Protocol • Claude Code integration • MCP JetBrains • Claude AI code inspection • MCP tools • Claude Code extensions • MCP inspector • Anthropic MCP • Claude.ai code analysis • LLM code analysis • AI code review

JetBrains IDEs: JetBrains code inspection • WebStorm MCP • IntelliJ IDEA MCP integration • PyCharm MCP server • PhpStorm code inspection • GoLand analysis • Rider code quality • CLion inspection • RubyMine linter • DataGrip SQL analysis • Android Studio inspection • RustRover analysis

Technical Terms: JetBrains command line inspector • inspect.sh • automated code inspection • JetBrains unified profile • IDE code diagnostics • static code analysis • inspection severity levels • inspection profiles • Node.js MCP server • MCP environment variables • code problems detection

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