Explyt Spring brings real Spring understanding to IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition: bean navigation and inspections backed by your app's actual context, a Spring debugger, an in-IDE Swagger/HTTP client, Quarkus support, Kotlin-first checks, and Spring-aware MCP tools for AI agents. Free for commercial and non-commercial use.
Settings → Plugins → Marketplace → search "Spring Explyt" → Install
Love it? ⭐ Star us on GitHub · 🗳️ Rate on the Marketplace — it takes 10 seconds and genuinely helps other developers find the plugin.
▶ See it in action: Native Context Mode (30s) · Endpoints tool window
A free way to get Spring-focused tooling in IDEA Community. Explyt is not a full IDEA Ultimate replacement — it is strongest when runtime bean accuracy, Kotlin Spring support, HTTP testing, and AI-agent/MCP workflows matter.
Legend: ✅ first-class · ◐ partial / setup-dependent · ❌ not available
| Capability | Explyt (CE) | IDEA Ultimate | VS Code + STS4 | IDEA CE alone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Native context mode — real bean metadata via javaagent (conditional/factory/library beans) | ✅ | ◐ static model; runtime via Actuator | ◐ needs running app + Actuator | ❌ |
| Spring Debugger — context tree, transactions, runtime property resolution | ✅ | ◐ | ◐ | ❌ |
Swagger UI HTTP client + .http/.rest runners in CE |
✅ | ◐ | ◐ via extensions | ❌ |
| Spring-aware MCP tools for AI agents (7 tools, 2025.2+) | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
Kotlin-first Spring inspections — internal/object beans, coRouter |
✅ | ◐ | ◐ | ❌ |
Highlights below. For the complete feature list — Spring Data, AOP, Docker/K8s, inlay hints, code generation, SPI beans, Kotlin inspections, and more — see the Features wiki.
Instead of analyzing source only, Explyt runs a lightweight version of your app and uses a javaagent + declarative bytecode patching to extract real bean metadata at Spring startup. That gives accurate detection of @Conditional, profile, factory, library, and multi-context beans.
→ How Native Context Mode works
A dedicated debug mode shows the Spring Context and Active Transaction in the debugger tree, resolves runtime property values as Code Vision in .properties / .yml, and lets you evaluate bean methods at breakpoints.
Generate OpenAPI from Spring Web methods and open Swagger UI inside the IDE; execute, inspect, and copy cURL. Or run .http / .rest files via JetBrains HttpClient CLI or httpyac.
The Explyt Endpoints tool window lists MVC/WebFlux endpoints, router functions, and message broker listeners (Kafka/RabbitMQ). Jump to any bean via the Beans tab in Search Everywhere (Shift Shift) and explore dependencies with Bean Analyzer.
Kotlin-specific Spring inspections catch an internal @Bean whose JVM name is mangled and an object declared as @Component, with quick-fixes. Kotlin coRouter endpoints are supported. For agentic clients, Explyt ships 7 Spring-aware MCP tools on the bundled JetBrains MCP Server (IDEA 2025.2+).
Also included: Quarkus CDI/JAX-RS/AOP, Spring Initializr, Docker Compose/K8s property completion, @Profile / @Scheduled inlay hints, code generation, and many inspections & quick fixes.
- Explyt Spring — load real bean metadata, browse contexts, view aspects, open Bean Analyzer. Entry point for native context mode: Link … From RunConfiguration → Load Beans.
- Explyt Endpoints — Web + message-broker endpoints in one navigable view.
▶ Native Context Mode · Endpoints
Recommended: IntelliJ IDEA → Settings → Plugins → Marketplace, search "Spring Explyt", click Install. Or install from the web: https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/28675-spring-explyt.
Other options: custom repository · manual ZIP from Releases.
First-time setup: open Explyt Spring → Link Explyt Spring Boot Project From RunConfiguration → Load Beans. Full guide: Installation & Setup wiki.
Using IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate? Disable its built-in Spring plugin if you see feature conflicts.
Useful links: Changelog · Marketplace description source
- Load beans: open Explyt Spring, link your run configuration, click Load Beans.
- Explore endpoints: open Explyt Endpoints; navigate Web + broker handlers.
- Test APIs: add Spring Web annotations and click the Run gutter icon → Swagger UI; or run
.http/.restfiles. - Fix issues:
Alt+Enteron highlights for Spring-aware quick fixes. - Generate:
Alt+Ins→ Spring Web Method / HttpClient Method / JPAequals/hashCode/ Properties↔YAML.
Step-by-step walkthroughs: Usage wiki.
In English
- Patching Spring bytecode to enhance application-context recognition — deep dive into the javaagent + declarative bytecode patching.
- Stop playing catch-up with Spring — Explyt Spring for IDEA Community — the approach to accurate context.
- Wiki home — detailed docs that back this concise README.
In Russian (Habr)
Contributions are welcome! New here? Clone, run ./gradlew :spring-bootstrap:runIde for a sandbox IDE, and grab a good first issue. The Contributing Guide has a 5-minute quickstart, a module map, and how to run a single test class.
- 🐛 Issues / feature requests: GitHub Issues
- 🗨️ Discussions: GitHub Discussions — Q&A, ideas, show & tell
- 💬 Telegram: English · RU channel / chat
- 📚 Docs: explyt.ai/docs · Wiki
If Explyt saves you time, please ⭐ star the repo and 🗳️ leave a Marketplace rating.
Licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Free to use, modify, and distribute under the terms of that license.
Made with ❤️ by the Explyt Team.