Product Overview: IntelliJ IDEA Collaborate (Code With Me)
IntelliJ IDEA Collaborate, also known as Code With Me, is a powerful collaboration tool integrated into the IntelliJ IDEA development environment. This feature enables real-time collaboration on coding projects, enhancing teamwork and productivity among developers.
What It Does
Code With Me allows users to share their locally running projects with others, facilitating collaborative coding, debugging, and project management. It enables multiple participants to work together on the same project simultaneously, even if they do not have IntelliJ IDEA installed on their machines.
Key Features and Functionality
Real-Time Collaboration
- Code With Me supports real-time collaboration where multiple users can edit code, debug, and share servers simultaneously. This feature is particularly useful for pair programming, where two developers can work together on different parts of the code independently.
Permission Management
- The host can set various permission levels for guests, including Read-only, Edit Files, Full Access, and Custom. These permissions can be further customized to control specific actions such as running and debugging code.
Multi-Participant Support
- Code With Me allows multiple participants to join a session. In a teacher-students scenario, one host can share their screen with multiple guests who can follow along. For simultaneous multi-editing, up to five participants can actively type together, with a notification to wait if this limit is reached.
Independent Work
- Unlike traditional pair programming where developers share a single screen and keyboard, Code With Me enables each participant to work independently on their own screen and keyboard, enhancing productivity and flexibility.
Rich IDE Functionality
- Guests benefit from the full range of IntelliJ IDEA features, including syntax highlighting, project navigation, code completion, inspections, and refactorings, even without having the IDE installed on their machine.
Audio and Video Integration
- Code With Me includes integrated audio and video capabilities, allowing for seamless communication during collaborative sessions. However, it is important to note that audio and video are muted by default when new participants join, requiring manual re-enablement.
Session Management
- Hosts can easily start, manage, and end sessions using the Code With Me dialog. This includes creating a session link, setting permissions, and copying the link to share with guests. Guests can join by clicking the link and accepting the session invitation.
Follow and Pair Coding Modes
- Participants can follow each other’s cursors in real-time, and the host can engage in pair coding mode where the guest’s cursor is synchronized with the host’s cursor. This feature is particularly useful for focused collaborative coding sessions.
Additional Benefits
- Version Control Integration: Changes made by different authors are tracked in separate changelists, allowing clear visibility of who made which changes. This requires manually merging these changelists for committing.
- No Project Setup Required: Guests do not need to have the project checked out or set up on their machine, making it easy to join and collaborate immediately.
In summary, IntelliJ IDEA Collaborate (Code With Me) is a robust tool that enhances collaborative coding by providing real-time interaction, flexible permission management, and the full functionality of the IntelliJ IDEA environment, all without the need for guests to have the IDE installed.