Set up Air
JetBrains Air requires a small amount of setup before you can run agentic tasks. You need to connect at least one AI provider, and you may need additional tooling depending on how you want to run tasks.
Desktop and web versions
JetBrains Air comes in two versions:
Desktop app – runs on your machine. Use it to run tasks locally or in the cloud, with full access to your local project, tools, and run environments.
Web version – the web version of JetBrains Air runs in the browser. Use it to run cloud tasks and automations from anywhere, without a local setup.
The web version is currently available only to organizations. You sign in with your JetBrains Account, and an organization administrator enables and manages access. See Set up Air for your organization.
Required tools
Make sure the following tools are installed:
Git – required for working with repositories and task branches.
Docker and Docker Desktop – required only if you want to run tasks in containers.
Other Docker runtimes (for example, Colima) may work but can require additional configuration. If you use an alternative runtime, make sure Docker commands work from the terminal before you use Docker tasks in JetBrains Air.
Install JetBrains Air
You can install the desktop version of JetBrains Air on the following OSs:
macOS: Download JetBrains Air for macOS from the official page at air.dev or install it through JetBrains Toolbox
Linux: Install JetBrains Air for Linux through JetBrains Toolbox
Windows: Install JetBrains Air for Windows through JetBrains Toolbox
Connect AI providers
AI providers are required to run agentic tasks. On the first start of JetBrains Air, you must connect at least one provider before you can continue.
If you want to connect additional providers later, use Settings.
Connect an AI provider
Open Settings (⌘ ,) and go to .
Click Connect next to the provider you want to use.
If you have a JetBrains AI subscription, connect JetBrains AI. It works as a universal provider and unlocks multiple agents (Claude Agent, OpenAI Codex, Gemini CLI, and Junie) under one subscription, with usage tracked through JetBrains AI credits.
If you already use a specific provider account, connect it directly.
Follow the login flow. For most providers, you can choose the account type you already use, for example, a subscription account or an API billing account.
Set up Air for your organization
JetBrains Air is available to everyone, including individual developers. If you're an organization, you also get central control over what your developers can use – access to the web version of Air and access to AI features.
This is implemented through JetBrains Central Console and relies on the following:
Your organization has an account in JetBrains Central Console.
Your developers are members of that organization.
Each developer signs in to JetBrains Air with their JetBrains Account in . They then use the provided AI agents based on the applied AI policies.
As an administrator, you set up the web version of Air and manage what developers can do with AI, as described below.
Set up the web version of Air
The first time you open the web version of JetBrains Air as an organization administrator, a setup wizard guides you through enabling the web version for your organization. After you finish it, the web version of JetBrains Air becomes available to organization developers for cloud tasks and automations.
Manage AI access for your organization
Once your developers sign in to JetBrains Air with their JetBrains Account, you control what they can do with AI from JetBrains Central Console. AI access is governed by policies in the AI governance section. These policies apply wherever a developer is signed in with their organization JetBrains Account – across JetBrains Air (in both local and cloud tasks, and in the desktop and web versions), and in AI Assistant in JetBrains IDEs.
You can open JetBrains Central Console directly at https://console.jetbrains.cloud/, or from Air: open your account menu and select Organization Dashboard.
By default, every organization developer has AI access, can use all agents, and can run tasks in the cloud. To apply stricter rules, change the AI access settings or create a policy, as described below.
The following table shows what controls AI access for your organization developers, where to configure it, and where it applies:
Where to configure | Applies to | |
|---|---|---|
Allow AI access and limit usage | Turn AI access on or off for developers and set AI credit limits (). See AI access. | Local and cloud tasks, desktop and web |
Limit the available agents | Create a policy, then select the AI providers on its General tab and the agents on its Agents tab (). See Agents. | Local and cloud tasks, desktop and web |
Allow running tasks in the cloud | Create a policy, then turn on Cloud tasks on its General tab (). See Policy settings. | Cloud tasks only, desktop and web |
Allow connectors | Create a policy, then turn on Other MCP servers on its MCP tab (). Without this, connectors don't appear in the cloud environment. See MCP policy settings. | Cloud tasks and automations, web |
Use your own AI provider connections (BYOK) | Developers can connect their own AI provider accounts in the JetBrains Air desktop app (). This isn't managed in JetBrains Central Console. | Desktop only (local tasks); not available for cloud tasks |
For the full policy reference, see Configure AI policies in the JetBrains Central Console documentation.