Intellij, open two projects at once

Question

This is not one of the many questions about having two projects in the same window, like eclipse. What I want to ask is, is it possible to open 2 projects when you click one. Here is an image to describe what I want to do:

So when I press one of the projects in the red rectangle that it opens both in the rectangle, because I always need a server and a client running at the same time, so I was thinking, maybe there is a way to automate this process and just click one of the two and it opens two.

I've been using IntelliJ for half a year now, and I've never seen an option to do this; never looked either though. Aren't a client and server arguably part of the same project? I always just divide my project's package into client and server directories. — Carcigenicate, Mar 09 '17 at 21:09
If you always need them both open, why not add both modules to the same one project? You can do that even if they're in separate directories/repos/whatever. Just import module. — yshavit, Mar 09 '17 at 21:09
That's something I could do. Just divide them into 2 modules under the same project. Then comes my second question: is it possible to push and pull these modules seperately to github? — RuuddR, Mar 09 '17 at 21:11
If your project (module) has submodules (e.g. as in maven), than you can open just the submodule (e.g. server or client) by calling File -> New Project from Existing Sources. Than you can open both with different windows. (But later on you need to do two clicks) — Michael von Wenckstern, Mar 09 '17 at 21:15
Yeah, that's what have been bothering me. I just want to be able to quickly load up the server and client at the same time. I think I'll just make 2 modules, one for the server and one for the client. Is it possible to push and pull these modules seperately to github? — RuuddR, Mar 09 '17 at 21:17
file -> open and then in the dialog, choose new window. That will leave the already open project window alone and open a new window for the next project — David Zimmerman, Mar 09 '17 at 21:35
@DavidZimmerman This is what I've been doing constanlty, but I think there is a better way. — RuuddR, Mar 09 '17 at 21:37
The better way is using a shortcut. Or closing IntelliJ by File | Exit, so it reopens both projects on start. — Meo, Mar 09 '17 at 21:38
I'm not sure if I can push and pull the modules seperately, is that possible? — RuuddR, Mar 09 '17 at 21:40
I can't import a repository into a module, so I don't think this is possible. — RuuddR, Mar 09 '17 at 22:07
You can set separate VCS roots per modules, so it's not a problem, one module can even be in Git, another in Subversion. — CrazyCoder, Mar 10 '17 at 21:37

score 5 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 21 '20 at 16:03

This is from the Webstorm docs, but it also works for IntelliJ Idea. I have set the option to "Confirm window" so that Idea asks me every time I want to switch to another project whether I want it in a new window:

Changing the project opening policy

In the Settings/Preferences dialog ⌃⌥S, go to Appearance and Behavior | System Settings.

In the Project opening area, select the project opening policy.

Confirm window to open project in: This option is selected by default. WebStorm displays a dialog where you can choose to open the project in a new window, reuse the existing window, or add the new project to the currently opened one.
Open project in new window: Select this option to silently open each new project in a new window.
Open project in the same window: Select this option to silently close the project opened in the current window and open a new project in it.

vaughan · Accepted Answer · 2017-11-05T10:56:41.113

Use CLI. Add /path/to/intellij.app/Contents/MacOS/idea to your PATH.

idea ~/dev/a; sleep 1; idea ~/dev/b

Didn't work for me if I didn't sleep.

With JetBrains Toolbox the executable is in a strange place so I use this config in my ~/.bashrc. You have to update the version number when installing new versions in the toolbox.

export LATEST_IDEA_VERSION_NUMBER="ch-0/173.3531.6/IntelliJ\ IDEA\ 2017.3\ EAP.app"
export JETBRAINS_TOOLBOX_ROOT="${HOME}/Library/Application\ Support/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps"
export LATEST_IDEA_VERSION_CLI="${JETBRAINS_TOOLBOX_ROOT}/IDEA-U/${LATEST_IDEA_VERSION_NUMBER}/Contents/MacOS/idea"
alias idea="open -a ${LATEST_IDEA_VERSION_CLI}"

For other platforms see: https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/opening-files-from-command-line.html

Maybe it can be improved by using some `open` flags specified here: http://brettterpstra.com/2014/08/06/shell-tricks-the-os-x-open-command/ — vaughan, Nov 05 '17 at 10:55

Paulo Henrique · Answer 3 · 2020-11-29T19:51:01.837

Use can use this script do open all projects in background tasks

#!/bin/bash

# Run a command in the background.
_evalBg() {
    eval "$@" &>/dev/null & disown;
}

# in some cases is necessary open the application before projects 
webstorm && sleep 1;

_evalBg "webstorm /home/user/development/projects/first";
_evalBg "webstorm /home/user/development/projects/second";

This script is assembly with informations provided by executing shell command in background from script questions. All merits to the original author.

Intellij, open two projects at once

3 Answers3

Changing the project opening policy