IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1 Help

Next.js

IntelliJ IDEA integrates with the Next.js React framework.

Before you start

  1. Download and install Node.js.

  2. Make sure the JavaScript and TypeScript and Next.js Support required plugins are enabled on the Settings | Plugins page, tab Installed. For more information, refer to Managing plugins.

Create a new Next.js application

The recommended way to start building a new Next.js application is the create-next-app package, which IntelliJ IDEA downloads and runs for you using npx. As a result, your development environment is preconfigured to use Next.js.

Of course, you can still download create-next-app yourself or create an empty IntelliJ IDEA project and install Next.js in it.

Generate a Next.js application with create-next-app

  1. Select File | New | Project from the main menu or click the New Project button on the Welcome screen.

  2. In the New Project dialog, select React in the left-hand pane.

  3. In the right-hand part of the wizard, specify the project name and the folder to create it in.

  4. In the Project type area, select Next.js.

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

    From the create-next-app list, select npx create-next-app.

    Alternatively, for npm version 5.1 and earlier, install the create-next-app package yourself by running npm install --save-dev next react react-dom in the Terminal Alt+F12. When creating an application, select the folder where the create-next-app package is stored.

  5. Optionally:

    To use TypeScript instead of JavaScript, select the Use TypeScript template checkbox. IntelliJ IDEA will generate .ts files for your application and a tsconfig.json configuration file.

  6. When you click Create, IntelliJ IDEA generates a Next.js-specific project with all the required configuration files and downloads the required dependencies. IntelliJ IDEA also creates an npm start and JavaScript Debug configurations with default settings for running or debugging your application.

Install Next.js in an empty IntelliJ IDEA project

In this case, you will have to configure the build pipeline yourself. Learn more about adding Next.js to a project from the Next.js official website.

Create an empty IntelliJ IDEA project

  1. Select File | New | Project from the main menu or click the New Project button on the Welcome screen.

  2. In the New Project dialog, select New Project in the left-hand pane.

  3. In the right-hand pane, select JavaScript in the Language area.

  4. Name the new project and change its location if necessary, then click Create.

Install Next.js in an empty project

  1. Open the empty project where you will use Next.js.

  2. In the embedded Terminal (Alt+F12) , type:

    npm install --save-dev next react react-dom

Start with an existing Next.js application

To continue developing an existing Next.js application, open it in IntelliJ IDEA and download the required dependencies.

Open the application sources that are already on your machine

  • Click Open or Import on the Welcome screen or select File | Open from the main menu. In the dialog that opens, select the folder where your sources are stored.

Check out the application sources from your version control

  1. Click Get from VCS on the Welcome screen.

    Alternatively, select File | New | Project from Version Control or Git | Clone or VCS | Get from Version Control from the main menu.

    Instead of Git in the main menu, you may see any other Version Control System that is associated with your project. For example, Mercurial or Perforce.

  2. In the dialog that opens, select your version control system from the list and specify the repository to check out the application sources from. For more information, refer to Check out a project (clone).

Download the dependencies

  • Click Run 'npm install' or Run 'yarn install' in the popup:

    Open an application and download the dependencies

    You can use npm, Yarn 1, or Yarn 2, refer to npm and Yarn for details.

  • Alternatively, select Run 'npm install' or Run 'yarn install' from the context menu of package.json in the editor or in the Project tool window.

Project security

When you open a project that was created outside IntelliJ IDEA and was imported into it, IntelliJ IDEA displays a dialog where you can decide how to handle this project with unfamiliar source code.

Untrusted project warning

Select one of the following options:

  • Preview in Safe Mode: in this case, IntelliJ IDEA opens the project in a preview mode. It means that you can browse the project's sources but you cannot run tasks and script or run/debug your project.

    IntelliJ IDEA displays a notification on top of the editor area, and you can click the Trust project link and load your project at any time.

  • Trust Project: in this case, IntelliJ IDEA opens and loads a project. That means the project is initialized, project's plugins are resolved, dependencies are added, and all IntelliJ IDEA features are available.

  • Don't Open: in this case, IntelliJ IDEA doesn't open the project.

Learn more from Project security.

Run and debug Next.js applications

Please, refer to Run a React application and Debug a React application.

Last modified: 05 March 2024