# CLion IDE macro for CMake

In some cases, you may want a CMake script to detect whether it is being called from CLion or another instance like console. For this, use the special environment variable `CLION_IDE`. This variable is platform-independent and is only `TRUE` when CMake generation or build is invoked from CLion.

> **Tip:**
> There is also a preprocessor macro `__CLION_IDE__` that helps avoid IDE freezes during the parsing of some intricate preprocessor code blocks. With this macro, you can eliminate such problematic definitions or includes from your code and replace them with dummy ones.
>
>
>
> `__CLION_IDE__` macro affects parsing only.

Using the `CLION_IDE` variable, you can set specific paths (for example, customize build directories), execute additional scripts, or add extra logging.

Placing this variable into your CMake code is easy with the environment variables completion available for `CMakeLists.txt` files:

![code completion for environment variables in cmake files](https://resources.jetbrains.com/help/img/idea/2026.2/cl_cmakeinvoke_completion.png)

## See also

### How tos

[Quick CMake tutorial](quick-cmake-tutorial.html)