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Table of Contents​

  1. Overview
  2. Inspectopedia and New Inspections
  3. Default Inspection Profile
  4. Command Line Usage (CLI)
  5. Severity Levels
  6. Profile Configuration
  7. Additional Resources

Overview​

JetBrains code inspections are a set of static analysis tools integrated into all JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, PyCharm, etc.) that detect:

  • Syntax errors
  • Dead code
  • Potential bugs
  • Poor coding style
  • Performance issues
  • Convention violations

Inspectopedia and New Inspections​

Main Resource​

New JVM Inspections (Latest Version)​

  1. ActionUpdateThread is Missing

    • Reports actions and action groups that don't explicitly declare their mode

  2. Component/Action Not Registered

    • Identifies plugin components and actions not registered in plugin.xml

  3. Extension Class Requirements

    • Verifies that extension classes are final and non-public
    • Warns about extensions registered as services/components

  4. Inspection and Intention Description Checkers

    • Detects inspections without HTML description files
    • Verifies intentions without description or template files

  5. Service and Listener Implementations

    • Verifies that lightweight services are final
    • Warns about listener implementations that implement Disposable

  6. JComponent Validation

    • Ensures JComponent classes use proper data provider interfaces

Default Inspection Profile​

Resource​

XML Profile Structure​

<component name="InspectionProjectProfileManager">
  <profile version="1.0">
    <option name="myName" value="idea.default" />
    <inspection_tool class="InspectionName" enabled="true" level="WARNING" enabled_by_default="true">
      <option name="optionName" value="optionValue" />
      <scope name="Production" level="ERROR" enabled="true" />
    </inspection_tool>
  </profile>
</component>

Main Inspection Categories​

  • Java code style and potential issues
  • Synchronization and threading checks
  • Naming conventions
  • Nullable/null related issues
  • Performance and redundancy warnings
  • Plugin and XML validation
  • Test-related inspections

Command Line Usage (CLI)​

Official Documentation​

Basic Syntax​

Windows​

idea64.exe inspect <project> <inspection-profile> <output> [<options>]

macOS​

inspect.sh <project> <inspection-profile> <output> [<options>]

Linux​

idea.sh inspect <project> <inspection-profile> <output> [<options>]

Complete Example​

# Windows
idea64.exe inspect C:\MyProject C:\MyProject\.idea\inspectionProfiles\MyProfile.xml C:\MyProject\InspectionResults -v2 -d C:\MyProject\src

# macOS/Linux
inspect.sh ~/MyProject ~/MyProject/.idea/inspectionProfiles/MyProfile.xml ~/MyProject/InspectionResults -v2 -d ~/MyProject/src

Main Parameters​

  • <project>: Path to the project to inspect
  • <inspection-profile>: Inspection profile XML file
  • <output>: Output directory for results
  • -v[0|1|2]: Verbosity level (0=quiet, 1=verbose, 2=very verbose)
  • -d: Specific directory to inspect (optional)
  • -changes: Inspect only uncommitted changes
  • -format: Output format (xml, json, plain)

Alternative Tools​

ReSharper Command Line Tools (InspectCode)​

# Installation via .NET tools
dotnet tool install -g JetBrains.ReSharper.GlobalTools

# Usage
jb inspectcode YourSolution.sln -o=<output-file>

Important Notes​

  1. Uses isolated configuration directories for conflict-free execution
  2. Requires properly defined project SDK
  3. Runs inspections in the background without UI

Note: Thanks to our implementation using -Didea.config.path and -Didea.system.path, inspections work seamlessly even when the IDE is already running for development.

Severity Levels​

Predefined Levels​

  1. ERROR

    • Issues preventing compilation or causing runtime errors
    • Generally not configurable

  2. WARNING

    • Corresponds to compiler warnings
    • Serious code efficiency issues

  3. WEAK WARNING

    • Insights about code structure
    • Not necessarily bad but useful to know

  4. INFORMATION

    • Suggestions and possible improvements

  5. TYPO

    • Lowest level
    • Details and improvement recommendations

Configuring Severity Levels​

Via IDE Settings​

  1. Open Settings/Preferences (Ctrl+Alt+S)
  2. Navigate to Editor → Inspections
  3. Select profile and inspection
  4. Change level in Severity list

From the Editor​

  1. Place cursor on detected issue
  2. Press Alt+Enter
  3. Modify severity directly

Via EditorConfig​

# .editorconfig
[*.java]
resharper_java_naming_rule_violation = error
resharper_java_unused_variable = warning

Profile Configuration​

Creating a Custom Profile​

  1. Go to Settings → Editor → Inspections
  2. Click gear icon → Duplicate
  3. Name the new profile
  4. Customize inspections

Custom XML Profile Structure​

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<component name="InspectionProjectProfileManager">
  <profile version="1.0">
    <option name="myName" value="Custom Profile" />

    <!-- Disable an inspection -->
    <inspection_tool class="UnusedDeclaration" enabled="false" level="WARNING" enabled_by_default="false" />

    <!-- Modify severity -->
    <inspection_tool class="NullableProblems" enabled="true" level="ERROR" enabled_by_default="true">
      <option name="REPORT_ANNOTATION_NOT_PROPAGATED_TO_OVERRIDERS" value="true" />
    </inspection_tool>

    <!-- Scope configuration -->
    <inspection_tool class="SpellCheckingInspection" enabled="true" level="TYPO" enabled_by_default="true">
      <scope name="Production" level="WARNING" enabled="true" />
      <scope name="Tests" level="INFORMATION" enabled="true" />
    </inspection_tool>
  </profile>
</component>

Available Scopes​

  • Production: Production code
  • Tests: Test code
  • Project Files: All project files
  • Scratches and Consoles: Temporary files
  • User-defined custom scopes

Additional Resources​

Official JetBrains Documentation​

  1. Code Inspections Overview

  2. Running Inspections

  3. Inspection Settings

GitHub and Open Source​

  1. IntelliJ Community Source

  2. Inspection Profiles Examples

    • Default profiles: /.idea/inspectionProfiles/

Forums and Support​

  1. JetBrains Support

  2. Stack Overflow

    • Tag: intellij-inspections

CI/CD Integration​

  1. TeamCity Integration

  2. GitHub Actions

Plugin Development​

  1. Creating Custom Inspections

  2. Inspection Description Format

    • HTML templates for custom inspection descriptions

Best Practices​

For Teams​

  1. Share Profiles

    • Version control .idea/inspectionProfiles/ files
    • Use a common team profile

  2. CI/CD Integration

    • Run inspections in pipelines
    • Block PRs with critical errors

  3. Progressive Training

    • Start with ERROR inspections only
    • Progressively add WARNING and WEAK WARNING

Performance​

  1. Inspection Optimization

    • Disable irrelevant inspections
    • Use scopes to limit analysis
    • Configure exclusions for generated files

  2. CLI Usage

    • Use -d to analyze specific directories
    • JSON format for integration with other tools
    • Parallelize analysis of large projects

Advanced Usage Examples​

Bash Script for Automatic Analysis​

#!/bin/bash
PROJECT_PATH="/path/to/project"
PROFILE_PATH="$PROJECT_PATH/.idea/inspectionProfiles/Project_Default.xml"
OUTPUT_PATH="$PROJECT_PATH/inspection-results"
IDEA_PATH="/Applications/IntelliJ IDEA.app/Contents/bin/inspect.sh"

# Create output directory
mkdir -p "$OUTPUT_PATH"

# Run inspection
"$IDEA_PATH" "$PROJECT_PATH" "$PROFILE_PATH" "$OUTPUT_PATH" -v2 -format json

# Analyze results
if [ -f "$OUTPUT_PATH/report.json" ]; then
    ERROR_COUNT=$(jq '[.problems[] | select(.severity == "ERROR")] | length' "$OUTPUT_PATH/report.json")
    if [ $ERROR_COUNT -gt 0 ]; then
        echo "Found $ERROR_COUNT errors!"
        exit 1
    fi
fi

GitHub Actions Integration​

name: Code Inspection
on: [push, pull_request]

jobs:
    inspect:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
        steps:
            - uses: actions/checkout@v2

            - name: Setup JDK
              uses: actions/setup-java@v2
              with:
                  java-version: '11'

            - name: Run IntelliJ Inspections
              run: |
                  wget -q https://download.jetbrains.com/idea/ideaIC-2023.3.tar.gz
                  tar -xzf ideaIC-2023.3.tar.gz
                  ./idea-IC-*/bin/inspect.sh \
                    ${{ github.workspace }} \
                    .idea/inspectionProfiles/Project_Default.xml \
                    inspection-results \
                    -v2 -format json

            - name: Upload Results
              uses: actions/upload-artifact@v2
              with:
                  name: inspection-results
                  path: inspection-results/

Conclusion​

JetBrains inspections offer a powerful and flexible system for maintaining code quality. Command-line usage enables CI/CD workflow integration, while fine-grained profile configuration allows analysis tailored to each project's specific needs.

To stay up to date with the latest features, regularly consult:

  • Official documentation for your JetBrains IDE
  • Release notes for new inspections
  • Community forums for best practices