IntelliJ IDEA 2021.2 Help

Maven dependencies

IntelliJ IDEA lets you manage Maven dependencies in your project. You can add, import Maven dependencies, and view them in the diagram.

Add a Maven dependency

IntelliJ IDEA lets you add a Maven dependency to your project. We recommend that you specify the dependency inside your POM. Dependencies that you set up manually inside IntelliJ IDEA module settings will be discarded on the next Maven project reload.

  1. Open your POM in the editor.

  2. Press Alt+Insert to open the Generate context menu.

  3. From the context menu, select Dependency or Dependency Template for quick search.

  4. In the dialog that opens either search for artifacts or for classes if you switch to the Search for class tab.

    The syntax for searching Maven artifacts is as follows:

    group-id:artifact-id:version
    the Maven Artifact Search dialog

    You can also use the :*: wildcard character to specify your search where : acts as a separator between group-id, artifact-id and version.

    For example, typing *:fest:* will return artifacts that contain "fest" part in their artifact-id.

    search with wildcards

    Typing easy:*:4 will return artifacts that have "4" in their versions and "easy" in their group-id.

    search with wildcards

    Click Add. IntelliJ IDEA adds the dependency to your pom.xml.

    POM with the added dependency

    IntelliJ IDEA also adds the dependency to the Dependencies node in the Maven tool window and to the External Libraries in the Project tool window.

    If the added dependency has its own transitive dependencies, IntelliJ IDEA displays them in both tool windows.

    the Maven tool window

Enable annotation processors

  1. Open your POM file.

  2. Specify the annotationProcessors and annotationProcessorPaths options.

    For example, check the following code:

    <build> <plugins> <plugin> <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId> <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId> <version>3.5.1</version> <configuration> <annotationProcessorPaths> <annotationProcessorPath> <groupId>org.sample</groupId> <artifactId>sample-annotation-processor</artifactId> <version>1.2.3</version> </annotationProcessorPath> </annotationProcessorPaths> <configuration> </plugin> </plugins> </build>

    For more information, refer to Maven.

  3. Re-import your project. IntelliJ IDEA creates an annotation processors profile, enables the annotation processing and adds the appropriate path to the Annotation Processor settings located in Settings / Preferences | Build, Execution, Deployment | Compiler.

    Annotation processors settings

Centralize dependency information

In a multi-module Maven project, the dependency in the parent POM will be inherited by all sub projects. You can use dependencyManagement to consolidate and centralize the management of the dependencies' versions.

  1. Open your POM in the editor.

  2. Press Alt+Insert to open the Generate context menu.

  3. From the context menu, select the Managed Dependency option that will show you the list of the dependencies that are defined in the dependencyManagement section of your parent POM in a multi-module project. IntelliJ IDEA also shows the list of dependencies from the BOM files.

    the Choose Dependency dialog
  4. Select the desired dependency and click OK. The dependency is added to the POM. You don't need to specify the version on the dependency it will be taken from the DependencyManagement.

    dependency management

    However, if you want to overwrite the defined version, you need to include version when you add the managed dependency to the POM.

Add a scope for the Maven dependency

You can add a scope for your dependency using POM. In this case IntelliJ IDEA will execute the dependency at the specified phase.

  1. In your POM, in the dependency description add scope and using the code completion add the name of the scope.

    the dependency scope
  2. Import your changes. The name of the scope is displayed in the Maven tool window. In the Project Structure dialog, on the Modules page you can see that the scope of the dependency is also displayed.

    the Project Structure dialog

    Note that changing dependency's scope in the Project Structure dialog will not affect the pom.xml file.

You can also add a custom jar file as a dependency using the Maven scope system when you define your dependency. However, note that this dependency will only be available on your machine and you can use it only for the local deployment.

Work with Maven transitive dependencies

You can view transitive dependencies that were pulled in with the added or imported Maven dependency. You can check their versions, change them, or exclude those dependencies altogether.

The Maven tool window displays the direct dependency and all its transitive dependencies that were pulled in.

View the transitive dependency

  1. In your project's POM, press Ctrl and hover the mouse over the dependency.

  2. Click the dependency to open the dependency's POM.

    the dependency POM
  3. In the dependency POM, view the active dependency, its transitive dependencies and their versions.

    the dependency POM with transitive dependencies

    You can check the origin from which the dependency was pulled in.

    the dependency POM with origin

Exclude the transitive dependency

You can exclude a transitive dependency if you want.

  1. Open the dependency POM and find the transitive dependency you want to exclude. Copy groupId and artifactId.

  2. In your project POM, underneath your active dependency, enter exclusions and using code completion paste the copied info of the dependency you want to exclude.

    POM with dependency exclusion

    The dependency is also excluded from the Project and Maven tool windows.

Import Maven dependencies

You can import dependencies to your Maven project. When IntelliJ IDEA imports the added dependency, it parses the dependency and updates your project.

  • In the pom.xml file, add a dependency you need. When you change the pom.xml, IntelliJ IDEA displays a notification suggesting to load the changes. Click Load the changes in the editor to import the dependency and update your project.

  • In the Maven tool window, press Reimport All Maven Projects. In this case you manually trigger the re-importing process of all projects and their dependencies.

View Maven dependencies as a diagram

IntelliJ IDEA lets you view and work with Maven dependencies in a diagram format.

Generate a diagram

  1. In the Maven tool window, on the toolbar, click the Show Dependencies icon or select the appropriate option from the context menu.

    Show Dependencies
  2. In the diagram window, IntelliJ IDEA displays the sub project and all its dependencies including the transitive ones.

    the Maven dependencies diagram

View the diagram structure

  1. Generate a diagram.

  2. Click Structure in the left toolbar. IntelliJ IDEA opens the Structure tool window that displays a map of your diagram with a small preview of the selected block and its neighbors.

    the Structure view

    Use the context menu to zoom in and out, move canvas, change layout, and export part of the diagram into an image.

    the context menu
    the context menu

You can perform different actions while in the diagram window.

Change the visibility level

You can change the visibility level and, for example, view dependencies that have a specific scope (compile, test, and so on).

  1. In the diagram window, select the sub project and click the Change Visibility Level icon.

  2. From the list, select the dependency scope you want to see. IntelliJ IDEA displays only the specified dependency scope.

    the Specific scope diagram

Navigate to POM

You can easily navigate to POM from the diagram window.

  • Select the desired node, and press F4, or choose Jump to Source on its context menu. The corresponding file opens in the editor.

You can check conflicts and duplicates by clicking the Conflicts and Duplicates icon in the diagram window.

Check conflicts and duplicates

  • In the diagram window, click the Conflicts and Duplicates icon.

Show conflicts and duplicates

The red arrow points to dependencies that contain duplicates or errors. IntelliJ IDEA also displays dependencies' versions to help you resolve the conflicts. Double-click the dependency to open its POM.

Show path from the selection to the root

You can select dependencies and see how they are included into the project.

  1. In the diagram window, select a dependency for which you want to see a connection to a project. If you want to select several dependencies at once, hold down Shift and make the selection.

  2. Click the Show Path Root Selection.

Show Path Root Selection

Show neighbors of the selected node

You can select dependencies and see what other dependencies are connected to the selected nodes. It might be helpful if you have a large diagram and want to focus on just a part of it.

  1. In the diagram window, select a dependency you need. If you want to select several dependencies at once, hold down Shift and make the selection.

  2. Click the Show Neighbors of Selected Nodes.

    Show Neighbors of Selected Nodes

    .

Exclude a dependency

You can use a diagram to exclude a dependency from the project's POM.

  1. Select a dependency in the diagram window.

    Exclude diagrams
  2. From the context menu, choose Exclude.

  3. From the list, select the module (if any) where the exclusion definition will be added. The selected dependencies will be removed from diagram, and the exclusion section will be added to the corresponding dependency in the module's POM.

    Exclude a dependency
Last modified: 02 August 2022