Version control

OpenIDEA has built-in Git support. Git is the only version control system it supports. It reads repository state (status, diffs, blame, log) in-process, and runs the git executable for everything that changes the repository, so hooks, credentials, signing and your Git config behave as on the command line. You need Git installed. OpenIDEA finds it through OPENIDEA_GIT, then PATH, then the usual install locations; set an explicit path in Settings › Version Control › Git › Path to Git executable and click Test to check it.

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Where to find things

Annotate with Git Blame, Show Git Log, Show History, Pull…, Fetch, Merge…, Rebase…, Stash Changes… and Resolve Conflicts… have no default shortcut; assign one in the keymap if you use them often.

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Get a repository

• Git › Clone… opens Clone Repository. Enter a URL: and Directory:, and optionally check Shallow clone with a history truncated to N commits. The GitHub source in the sidebar lists your GitHub repositories (see GitHub).
• When creating a project, check Create Git repository in the New Project dialog.

There is no action to run git init in a project that is already open; run it in the terminal and OpenIDEA picks the repository up. OpenIDEA finds the repository that contains the project and nested repositories up to four levels deep (skipping folders such as node_modules, target and build). Status, commit, fetch and update cover all of them; branch and log actions work on the selected repository. Submodules show as nested repositories, without submodule commands.

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Commit changes

The Commit tool window lists your changes in groups: Merge Conflicts, Changes (one group per changelist) and Unversioned Files. With View Options › Group By › Staging State, the changes split into Staged Changes and Unstaged Changes. Check Amend (⌃⌥M / Alt+M) to amend the last commit; the button changes to Amend Commit. Double-click a file (or press Enter) to see its diff; Preview Diff shows it next to the tree. The file context menu has Show Diff, Jump to Source, Rollback…, Add to VCS, Add to .gitignore, Stage, Unstage, Move to Another Changelist…, Shelve Changes…, Create Patch…, Copy as Patch to Clipboard, Show History, Show Local History and Annotate with Git Blame.

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Partial commits

To commit only part of a file, open its diff from the Commit tool window. Each changed block has an Include in commit checkbox in the gutter; uncheck the blocks to leave out. The file’s checkbox in the tree becomes partly checked. OpenIDEA commits the selected blocks through a temporary index, so your working tree and staging area stay as they are. Selection works per block, not per line. The diff toolbar also has Stage Change (git add hunk) if you prefer the staging area.

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Changelists

Changelists group local changes without touching Git. The default list is called Changes; new changes go to the active list. Changelists are saved per project in .openidea/changelists.json.

• New Changelist…, Edit Changelist… (F2 or ⇧F6 / Shift+F6), Delete Changelist, Set Active Changelist.
• Move to Another Changelist… (⇧⌘M / Alt+Shift+M), or drag files between lists.
• Right-click a changelist and choose Commit… to commit just that list.

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Commit options and checks

The gear button (Commit Options) next to Commit has:

• Author: to commit as someone else (Name <email>), and Sign-off commit.
• Commit Checks: Reformat code, Optimize imports, Cleanup (applies fix-all code actions) and Run Git hooks (off adds --no-verify).
• Advanced Commit Checks: Analyze code (errors and warnings from the language servers) and Check TODO (TODO and FIXME in added lines).

Before committing, OpenIDEA also warns about committing in detached HEAD or during a rebase, file names that cause problems on other systems, files larger than 50 MB, and CRLF line endings. A warning stops the commit once; click Commit Anyway to go ahead. There is no “run tests” check.

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Modal commit

With Use non-modal commit interface turned off (Settings › Version Control › Commit), there is no Commit tool window: Local Changes, Shelf and Stash become tabs of the Git tool window, and Commit… opens a Commit Changes dialog.

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Changes in the editor

The editor gutter marks added, modified and deleted lines compared with HEAD. Click a marker to open a popup with Previous Change, Next Change, Rollback, Show Diff and Copy Original Text. Rollback… with the caret on changed lines rolls back just those lines.

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Roll back, add and ignore

• Rollback… opens Rollback Changes: pick the files, optionally Delete local copies of added files.
• Add to VCS adds untracked files. When you create or delete files, OpenIDEA asks whether to add or remove them in Git; change this under Settings › Version Control › Confirmation.
• Add to .gitignore writes a rule to the nearest .gitignore or to .git/info/exclude.

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Diff viewer

Diffs open in an editor tab. The toolbar switches between Side-by-side Viewer and Unified Viewer, and sets whitespace handling (Do not ignore, Trim whitespaces, Ignore whitespaces, Ignore whitespaces and empty lines), highlighting (words, lines or none), Collapse Unchanged Fragments, Synchronize Scrolling and Align Changes. When the right side is your working file you can edit it, use Revert Change, or Stage Change (git add hunk). Gutter arrows apply a change from one side to the other. Other ways to compare:

• Compare with Branch or Revision… and Compare with Revision… for the current file, or for folders (a list of changed files).
• Compare With… (⌘D / Ctrl+D in the Project view), Compare Files, Compare Directories (with copy left/right) and View › Compare with Clipboard.

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Branches

Click the branch widget in the title bar (or Git › Branches…) to open the branches popup. Type to search branches and actions. The popup shows Recent, Local, Remote and Tags, and at the top Update Project…, Commit…, Push…, New Branch… and Checkout Tag or Revision…. The gear button toggles grouping by prefix, recent branches and tags. Select a branch (→ or Enter) for its actions:

• Checkout, New Branch from ’…’…, Checkout and Rebase onto ’…’
• Compare with ’…’, Show Diff with Working Tree, Show History
• Rebase ’…’ onto ’…’, Merge ’…’ into ’…’, and for remote branches Pull into ’…’ Using Rebase / Using Merge
• Update, Push…, Rename…, Add to Favorites, Delete

If local changes block a checkout, you can choose Smart Checkout (stash, check out, unstash), Force Checkout or Don’t Checkout. A deleted branch can be brought back with Restore in the notification. With several repositories, the popup shows branches common to all of them, plus a submenu per repository.

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Sync with remotes

• Fetch fetches all repositories. OpenIDEA also checks for incoming commits in the background (after 20 seconds, then every 15 minutes); see Explicitly check for incoming commits on remotes in the Git settings.
• Update Project… (⌘T / Ctrl+T) pulls all repositories, by merge or by rebase. Uncommitted changes are stashed and restored. The Update Project dialog only shows when Show options before Update is on.
• Pull… pulls a chosen remote branch into the current branch, with --rebase, --ff-only, --no-ff, --squash and other options.
• Push… (⇧⌘K / Ctrl+Shift+K) lists outgoing commits and their files. Edit the target branch, pick a remote, and choose Force (with lease), Set upstream or push tags. Force push is not allowed to protected branches (master; main by default). If the push is rejected, OpenIDEA offers to merge or rebase and push again.
• Manage Remotes… adds, edits and removes remotes.

HTTPS passwords and SSH passphrases are asked for in a dialog and can be remembered; saved HTTPS credentials are listed under Settings › Version Control › Git › Passwords.

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Merge, rebase and conflicts

Git › Merge… and Git › Rebase… open dialogs with the common Git options (--no-ff, --ff-only, --squash, --no-commit; --onto, --rebase-merges, --keep-empty). While a merge, rebase, cherry-pick or revert is in progress, the title bar shows a widget with Resolve Conflicts… and Continue / Abort, and the Git menu enables Abort Merge, Continue Rebase, Skip Commit, Abort Rebase and the cherry-pick and revert equivalents. A merge is concluded by committing. When conflicts appear, a notification and the Conflicts dialog list the files. For each file choose Accept Yours, Accept Theirs or Merge…. Merge… opens a three-way merge editor: your side, the result and their side.

• Click the arrows in the gutter to accept a change, or the cross to ignore it. Hold the modifier key to resolve the whole conflict with one side.
• The toolbar applies all non-conflicting changes (from the left, the right or both), Resolve Simple Conflicts, compares any two of the versions, and shows how many changes and conflicts remain.
• Click Apply to save the result and mark the file resolved, or Accept Yours / Accept Theirs for the whole file.

Files with conflict markers show a banner with Resolve conflicts…, and the markers are reported as errors. Accept Yours / Theirs / Both (Conflict at Caret) resolve one conflict in the text editor.

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Git log

The Log tab of the Git tool window shows the commit graph.

• Filters: text or hash (with regex and match case), branch, user, date and paths; Recent Filters brings back earlier ones.
• Go to Hash/Branch/Tag (⌘F / Ctrl+F in the log).
• Graph Options: sort by date, topologically or incoming first; first parent only; no merges.
• View Options: reference display, details pane, and columns (Author, Date, Hash, Signature, GitHub Commit Checks).
• The branches pane on the left filters the log by branch and has branch actions.
• The details pane shows the changed files, the commit message, who committed it, which branches contain it and its signature.

Right-click a commit for Copy Revision Number (⌥⇧⌘C / Ctrl+Alt+Shift+C), Create Patch…, Cherry-Pick, Checkout Revision, Browse Repository at Revision, Compare with Local, Reset Current Branch to Here…, Revert Commit, Undo Commit…, New Branch…, New Tag…, View in Browser and more. With two commits selected, Compare Versions diffs them.

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Rewrite history

From the log you can Edit Commit Message…, Fixup…, Squash Into…, Drop Commit, Squash Commits… and Interactively Rebase from Here…. The interactive rebase dialog lets you pick, reword, edit, squash, fixup, drop and reorder commits. These actions are disabled for commits that are already pushed. Limits: interactive rebase doesn’t support ranges with merge commits, and Undo Commit… works only on the latest commit (its changes go back to a changelist).

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Tags, reset and worktrees

• Git › New Tag… creates a tag on a commit (annotated when you enter a message). New Tag… in the log creates a lightweight tag.
• Git › Reset HEAD… and Reset Current Branch to Here… reset with Soft, Mixed (default), Hard or Keep.
• Git › New Worktree… and Worktrees… create, list, remove and open worktrees in a new window.

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Stash, shelf and patches

Stash uses git stash:

• Stash Changes…: a message, Keep index and Include untracked files. Stashes always include all changes; there is no per-file stash.
• Unstash Changes…: apply or pop a stash, reinstate the index, or create a branch from it.
• The Stash tab of the Commit tool window lists stashes with apply, pop and drop.

Shelf is managed by the IDE and stored as patches in .openidea/shelf:

• Shelve Changes… lets you pick files and a name; the changes are then reverted.
• Unshelve… applies a shelf (or one file of it) with a three-way merge, into a changelist you choose.
• The Shelf tab shows shelves with diff, compare with local, patch export, rename and delete.

Turn on Combine stashes and shelves in one tab in the Git settings to show both in one tab. Git › Patch has Create Patch…, Apply Patch… and Apply Patch from Clipboard….

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Blame and history

• Annotate with Git Blame shows author and date per line in the gutter (also from the gutter’s context menu). Click an entry to open the commit in the log. Show inline blame for the current line in the Git settings shows the author at the end of the caret line.
• Show History opens the file’s history in a tab of the Git tool window.
• Show History for Selection shows the commits that changed the selected lines.
• Show Current Revision reveals the commit of the caret line in the log.

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Local history

Local history keeps snapshots of your files independent of Git, including deleted files and labelled states such as the one taken before a refactoring.

• Git › Current File › Local History (or Local History › Show History in the Project view) opens the history of a file or folder. Select a revision and click Revert (or Restore for a deleted file).
• Put Label… marks the current state.
• Recent Changes (⌥⇧C / Alt+Shift+C) lists recent edits across the project.

Retention is set in the Local History section of Settings › Appearance & Behavior › System Settings: 5 working days and 512 MB per project by default. Files over 2 MB are not snapshotted automatically.

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Settings

Settings › Version Control has these pages:

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Not supported

• Mercurial, Subversion, Perforce and other systems.
• git init for an open project, submodule commands, editable directory mappings.
• Per-line partial commits (block level only) and per-file stashes.
• Git LFS beyond the large-file warning.