IntelliJ IDEA 2018.3 Help

Project Category and Options

This page of the New Project wizard opens when you select File | New | Project in the main menu or Create New Project on the Welcome screen.


In the left-hand pane, select the project category. This may be the technology that you are going to use, the platform or runtime that your development is going to target, and so on.

In the right-hand part of the page, select additional options and specify associated settings.

Don't worry about selecting "wrong" options at the moment. Just select the ones that you think suit you best. If necessary, you will be able to make the necessary changes to your project at a later time.

Note that the set of options you can select from depends on which plugins are currently enabled in IntelliJ IDEA.

Java

Select this option if you are going to develop a Java application.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

If necessary, select additional options and specify associated settings. For more information, see Additional Libraries and Frameworks.

Java Enterprise

Select this option if you are going to develop a Java EE application.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Java EE version

Select the Java EE version to be supported. (Affects the corresponding version setting for the Web Application, EJB and JavaEE Application options.)

Application Server

Specify the application server that you are going to use to deploy and run your application. As a result, IntelliJ IDEA will create a run/debug configuration for the specified server. (You can specify the server later.)

You can select a server which IntelliJ IDEA is already aware of, or specify another "new" server.

To specify a new server, click New and select the server of interest. Then, specify the server settings:

  • For a server installed locally, specify the path to the server installation directory. (Click browseButton to select the directory in the corresponding dialog.)

  • For a hosted server (Cloud Foundry or CloudBees), specify your user account details.

Select additional options and specify associated settings. For more information, see Additional Libraries and Frameworks.

J2ME

Select this option if you are going to develop for Java ME.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK for your project.

If the necessary SDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired Java ME SDK. (By this time, the corresponding SDK must already be installed on your computer.)

SQL Support

Select the checkbox to enable SQL support. Select the SQL dialect to be used by default from the list.

Android

Select this option if you are going to develop for the Android OS.

For more information, see Getting Started with Android Development and Andoid New Project References.

Clouds

Select this option if you are going to deploy your application to a cloud platform such as CloudBees, Cloud Foundry, or Heroku. For more information, see Working with Cloud Platforms.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Account

Specify your cloud user account.

If the corresponding user account is already registerd in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New, select the cloud platfrom and specify your user account settings in the dialog that opens.

Application

Cloud platform-specific application settings.

CloudBees and Cloud Foundry. IntelliJ IDEA will create a sample Java web application which you'll be able to deploy to the cloud and run straight away.

  • Version. The version of the Servlet specification to be supported.

  • Create web.xml. For version 3.0 or later: select this checkbox to create the deployment descriptor file web.xml. (For earlier versions, this file is always created.)

Heroku. You can select to create a new application or to git-clone the source code for one of your applications already deployed on Heroku.

  • Template. A new sample application will be created. You'll be able to deploy this application to Heroku straight away.

  • Existing. Select the application whose source code you want to clone.

Spring

Select this option if you are going to develop a Spring application.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

For information on other options and settings, see:

Java FX

Select this option if you are going to develop a JavaFX application.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK (version 7 or later) is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

IntelliJ Platform Plugin

Select this option if you are going to develop a plugin for IntelliJ IDEA or other IntelliJ Platform-based IDE.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK for your project.

If the necessary SDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired IntelliJ IDEA version. (An IntelliJ IDEA installation acts as an IntelliJ Platform Plugin SDK.) (By this time, the corresponding IntelliJ IDEA version must already be installed on your computer.)

Groovy

Select the checkbox to be able to use Groovy. Specify the Groovy installation to be used.

Use library. If the desired version of Groovy is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list. (Groovy in IntelliJ IDEA is represented by a library.)

Create. Click this button to create a library for Groovy. In the dialog that opens, select the Groovy installation directory.

SQL Support

Select the checkbox to enable SQL support. Select the SQL dialect to be used by default from the list.

Spring Initializr

Select this option if you are going to develop a Spring Boot application.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Initializr Service URL

Specify the Spring Initializr instance URL. By default, it is https://start.spring.io, but you can use any other custom instance if needed.

Maven

Select this option if you are going to develop a Java application with dependencies managed by Maven.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Create from archetype

If this checkbox is not selected, the new pom.xml file will contain the basic information.
If this checkbox is selected, the new module will be created on the base of a Maven archetype chosen from the list that includes both the standard archetypes, and the ones found in Maven indices. You can modify Maven properties on Maven Settings Page.
If you want to populate the list with some archetype from a remote Maven repository, click the Add Archetype button, and find the desired archetype by Maven coordinates specified in Maven.

Gradle

Select this option if you are going to develop a Java application with dependencies managed by Gradle.

See also Gradle.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

If necessary, select additional options and specify associated settings. For more information, see Additional Libraries and Frameworks.

Groovy

Select this option if you are going to develop a Groovy application.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Groovy library

If the desired version of Groovy is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list. (Groovy in IntelliJ IDEA is represented by a library.)

Create. Click this button to create a library for Groovy. In the dialog that opens, select the Groovy installation directory.

If necessary, select additional options and specify associated settings. For more information, see Additional Libraries and Frameworks.

Grails

Select this option if you are going to develop a Grails application.

See also Getting Started with Grails 3.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK (JDK) for your project.

If the necessary JDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Grails SDK Home

If the desired version of Grails is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list. (Grails in IntelliJ IDEA is represented by a library.)

Click browseButton this button to create a library for Grails. In the dialog that opens, select the Grails installation directory.

Create

create-app - select this option if you want to create a Grails application.
create-plugin - select this option if you want to create a Grails plugin project.

Options

Use this field to specify additional options such as profiles, for example.

If necessary, select additional options and specify associated settings. For more information, see Additional Libraries and Frameworks.

Application Forge

Select this option if you are going to develop a project using Grails Application Forge service.

See also Grails Application Forge.

Item

Description

Project SDK

Specify an SDK for your project.

If the necessary SDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select JDK. Then, in the dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired JDK. (By this time, the corresponding JDK must already be installed on your computer.)

Project Type

Use this drop-down list to specify what you want to develop (Application or Plugin).

Grails Version

Use this drop-down list to specify a Grails version for your project.

Profiles

Use this drop-down list to specify a profile for the project.

Features

Select the necessary checkboxes to specify features for your project.

PHP

Select PHP if you are going to develop an application using PHP. This option is available only in the Ultimate edition when the PHP plugin is installed and enabled. The plugin is not bundled with IntelliJ IDEA, but it can be installed from the JetBrains plugin repository as described in Managing Plugins.

In the right-hand pane, choose one of the following project types:

  • PHP Empty Project: choose this option to get just a project folder without any contents.

Kotlin

Select this option if you are going to create a Kotlin project. Specify the associated settings.

Item

Description

Project name

Specify the project name.

Project location

Specify the path to the directory in which you want to create the project. (By default, a directory having the same name as the project is created.)

You can click browseButton (Shift+Enter) and select the necessary directory in the dialog that opens. (You can create a new directory in that dialog, e.g. by using icons actions newFolder svg.)

Project SDK

Specify an SDK for your project. If the necessary SDK is already defined in IntelliJ IDEA, select it from the list.

Otherwise, click New and select SDK type. Then, inkotlin_intro_p dialog that opens, select the installation folder of the desired SDK. (By this time, the corresponding SDK must already be installed on your computer. If it isn't, download and install it first.)

Kotlin runtime

Specify here the runtime library kotlin-runtime.jar. The library resides within the Kotlin plugin and contains the standard Kotlin classes.

If the desired library is missing, click Create.

When a project is being created, one can either copy the said jar to the project (option Copy to), or just refer to the jar from the Kotlin plugin (option Use library from plugin).

More Settings

Click the arrow (arrow right show settings or icons actions down) to show or hide additional settings. Mainly, these are the settings for the module to be created (discussed below).

Note that in certain cases those additional settings are unavailable.

Module name

Specify the module name.

Content root

Specify the path to the module content root folder. (This is where all the files that make up you module will be stored; for more information, see Configure content roots.)

To use a different folder, click browseButton (Shift+Enter) and select the necessary folder in the dialog that opens. (You can create a new folder in that dialog, e.g. by using icons actions newFolder svg.)

Module file location

Specify the path to the folder where the .iml module file should be created.

By default, this file is created in the module content root folder (recommended).

To use a different folder, click browseButton (Shift+Enter) and select the necessary folder in the dialog that opens. (You can create a new folder in that dialog, e.g. by using icons actions newFolder svg.)

Project format

Select the project format to be used. (The .idea directory-based format is recommended).

Static Web

Select Static Web if you are going to develop a Web application using HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, and related frameworks.

Choose this option also if you want to generate a project stub based on a framework template.

In the right-hand pane, choose one of the following project types:

Project type

Description

Static Web

Choose this option to get just a project folder without any contents.

HTML5 Boilerplate

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some sources generated based on the HTML5 Boilerplate template.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. From the Version list, choose the template version to use and click Create.

Web Starter Kit

Choose this option to create a project, set up its structure, and generate some sources in accordance with the Web Starter Kit requirements.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. From the Version list, choose the template version to use and click Create.

React App

Choose this option to generate a project using a globally installed create-react-app package, see Generating a React application with create-react-app for details.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. In the Node Interpreter field, specify the Node.js interpreter to use. Choose a configured interpreter from the list or choose Add to configure a new one

  3. In the create-react-app field, specify the path to the create-react-app package.

  4. Optionally, in the Scripts version field, specify a custom package to use instead of react-scripts during the project generation. This can be one of the packages forked from react-scripts, for example, react-awesome-scripts, custom-react-scripts, react-scripts-ts, etc.

Bootstrap

Choose this option to create a project, set up its structure, and generate some sources based on the Bootstrap template.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. From the Version list, choose the template version to use and click Create.

Foundation

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some sources generated based on the Foundation framework template.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. From the Version list, choose the template version to use and click Create.

AngularJS

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some sources generated based on the AngularJS framework template.

In the right-hand pane, specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

Angular CLI

Choose this option to get a stub where later you can automatically generate specific structures, such as Classes, Components, Routes, Pipes, Services, etc. using the Angular CLI command line interface.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. In the Node Interpreter field, specify the Node.js interpreter to use. Choose a configured interpreter from the list or choose Add to configure a new one

  3. In the Angular CLI field, specify the path to the @angular/cli package.

React Native

Choose this option to get a stub for developing a React Native application.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. In the Node Interpreter field, specify the Node.js interpreter to use. Choose a configured interpreter from the list or choose Add to configure a new one

  3. In the React Native field, specify the path to the react-native-cli package.

Node.js Express App

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some project sources generated based on the Express framework.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. The Node interpreter, see Configuring a local Node.js interpreter.

  3. The package manager to use - npm or Yarn, see npm and Yarn.

  4. The Express template engine to use. From the Template engine drop-down list, choose one of the following:
  5. The CSS engine to use. From the CSS engine drop-down list, choose one of the following:

Cordova App

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some sources generated based on the PhoneGap, Apache Cordova, and Ionic frameworks.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. Specify the location of the executable file phonegap.cmd, or cordova.cmd, or ionic.cmd (see Installing PhoneGap/Cordova/Ionic).

Yeoman

Choose this option to get interface for generating framework-specific project stubs using the Yeoman tool.

The right-hand pane shows all the previously installed Yeoman generators. Select the required generator from the list, click Next.

Meteor App

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some sources generated based on the Meteor frameworks.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. Specify the location of the Meteor executable file (see Installing Meteor).

  3. From the Template list, choose the sample to generate. To have a basic project structure generated, choose the Default option.

  4. In the Filename text box, type the name for the mutually related .js, .html, and .css files that will be generated. The text box is available only if the Default sample type is selected from the Template drop-dow list.

Vue.js

Choose this option to create a Vue.js application using Vue CLI.

In the right-hand pane:

  1. Specify the project name and the path to the folder where the project-related files will be stored.

  2. In the Node Interpreter field, specify the Node.js interpreter to use. Choose a configured interpreter from the list or choose Add to configure a new one

  3. In the vue-cli or @vue/cli field, specify the folder where the vue-cli or the @vue/cli package is stored.

  4. From the Project template list, choose the Vue.js template to use.

Dart

Choose this option to have the project structure set up and some sources generated for a Dart application.

Flash

Select this option if you are going to develop for the Adobe Flash runtimes using Flex or ActionScript. Specify the associated settings.

Item

Description

Target platform

Select the target environment for the content that you are going to develop:
  • Web for Flash player / Web browser-targeted content.

  • Desktop for Adobe AIR-targeted content.

  • Mobile for the content intended for mobile devices (Android, iOS, etc.).

Pure ActionScript

Select this checkbox if you are not going to use MXML (i.e. all your source code will be written in ActionScript).

Output type

Select the intended output type, that is, what your resulting content is going to be:
  • Application. A runnable application, an SWF file.

  • Runtime-loaded module. A dynamically-loadable module, an SWF file.

  • Library. An SWC file.

Target devices

For a Mobile Application: use the Android and iOS checkboxes to specify the intended target devices for your application.

As a result, IntelliJ IDEA enables or disables creating an application descriptor and packaging your application for the corresponding devices. (The Android and iOS checkboxes on this page correspond to the Enabled checkboxes on the Android and iOS tabs in the build configuration that will be created.)

Flex/AIR SDK

Select the Flex or AIR SDK to be used.

If the list is empty or does not contain the required SDK, click browseButton (Shift+Enter) and add the required SDK in the Configure SDK dialog.

Target player

For the Web target platform: the target Flash Player version (readonly). (This setting is defined by the selected Flex SDK version.)

Create sample app

For the Application output type: select this checkbox if you want a sample application to be created.

You can use this sample application for learning and also as a basis for your own application development.

If necessary, change the source file name suggested by IntelliJ IDEA.

Create HTML wrapper template

For a Web Application: select this checkbox if you want an HTML wrapper template for your application to be created.

Select or deselect the associated options as needed:

  • Enable integration with browser navigation. Select this option to enable deep linking.

    Deep linking lets users navigate their interactions with the application by using the Back and Forward buttons in their browser.

  • Check Flash player version. If you select this option, the compiled application will check for the correct version of Flash Player.

  • Express install. If you select this option, the application will run an SWF file in the existing Flash Player to upgrade users to the latest version of the player.

Empty Project

If you select this option, IntelliJ IDEA will create just a minimal folder structure and the necessary project definition files. You'll be able to expand your project later.

Last modified: 1 February 2019