diff --git a/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.cpp b/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.cpp
index e9a330ce817..997d00fc3b2 100644
--- a/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.cpp
+++ b/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.cpp
@@ -68,6 +68,8 @@ SyntaxHighlighter::SyntaxHighlighter(QTextDocument* parent): QSyntaxHighlighter(
     mGlobals = SyntaxHighlighterGlobals::instance();
 
     connect(mGlobals, SIGNAL(syntaxFormatsChanged()), this, SLOT(rehighlight()));
+
+    connect(Main::scProcess(), &ScProcess::introspectionChanged, this, &SyntaxHighlighter::rehighlight);
 }
 
 void SyntaxHighlighter::highlightBlockInCode(ScLexer& lexer) {
@@ -88,6 +90,7 @@ void SyntaxHighlighter::highlightBlockInCode(ScLexer& lexer) {
 
         case Token::Class: {
             auto className = QString(lexer.text().begin() + tokenPosition, tokenLength);
+
             auto* classInstance = Main::scProcess()->introspection().findClass(className);
 
             if (classInstance != nullptr)
@@ -208,6 +211,10 @@ void SyntaxHighlighter::highlightBlockInComment(ScLexer& lexer) {
 }
 
 void SyntaxHighlighter::highlightBlock(const QString& text) {
+    // if we don't have introspection yet don't format anything
+    if (!Main::scProcess()->introspection().introspectionAvailable())
+        return;
+
     TextBlockData* blockData = static_cast<TextBlockData*>(currentBlockUserData());
     if (!blockData) {
         blockData = new TextBlockData;
diff --git a/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.hpp b/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.hpp
index 33e5fdab3a8..0fae956c6f0 100644
--- a/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.hpp
+++ b/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/highlighter.hpp
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ class SyntaxHighlighter : public QSyntaxHighlighter {
     SyntaxHighlighter(QTextDocument* parent = 0);
 
 private:
-    void highlightBlock(const QString& text);
+    void highlightBlock(const QString& text) override;
     void highlightBlockInCode(ScLexer& lexer);
     void highlightBlockInString(ScLexer& lexer);
     void highlightBlockInSymbol(ScLexer& lexer);