Run CLion for the first time
You can use the Toolbox App to run any JetBrains product. In case of a standalone installation, running CLion depends on the operating system:
To run CLion, find it in the Windows Start menu or use the desktop shortcut. You can also run the launcher batch script or executable in the installation directory under bin.
Run the CLion app from the Applications directory, Launchpad, or Spotlight.
Run the clion.sh shell script in the installation directory under bin. You can also use the desktop shortcut, if it was created during installation.
For information about running CLion from the command line, see Command-line interface.
When you run CLion for the first time, some steps are required to complete the installation, customize your instance, and start working with the IDE.
Select the user interface theme
Select whether you want to use the default Darcula or Light theme.
For more information, see User interface themes.
Disable unnecessary plugins
CLion includes plugins that provide integration with different version control systems and application servers, add support for various frameworks and development technologies, and so on. To increase performance, you can disable plugins that you do not need. If necessary, you can enable them later in the Settings/Preferences dialog Ctrl+Alt+S under Plugins. For more information, see Plugins.
You can click the Disable All link for each group of plugins to disable them all, or Customize to disable individual plugins in the group.
Download and install additional plugins
If necessary, click Plugins in the left-hand pane and download and install additional plugins from the CLion plugins repository.
Configure toolchains
Next, you will be prompted to configure the toolchains. A toolchain is a set of the necessary tools required for building and running your application. If there are toolchains already installed on your machine, CLion will automatically detect them.
You will always be able to configure the toolchains later in the dialog.
For more information on toolchains, see Configure CLion on Windows, Configure CLion on macOS: Toolchains, and Toolchains for CMake projects.
Start a project in CLion
Click Start using CLion, and you will see the Welcome screen. From there, you can do the following:
