IntelliJ Setup

This guide walks you through a first time Intellij setup for Baserow for developers. It will ensure you can run and debug all tests and also enable all the relevant linters and automatic style fixers to make your life as easy as possible.

This guide assumes you have a basic understanding of git, python, virtualenvs, postgres and command line tools.

Prerequisites

Install the following tools:

• just - command runner
• uv - Python package manager

Setup Steps

1. First checkout a fresh copy of Baserow: git clone git@github.com:baserow/baserow.git
2. cd baserow
3. ./config/intellij/apply_standard_baserow_intellij_config.sh
   1. Type Y and hit enter to apply the standard Baserow config
4. Open Intellij and on the “Welcome to IntelliJ IDEA” screen click the “Open” button and open the baserow folder you cloned above.
5. Make sure you have installed / enabled the Python IntelliJ plugin.
6. Now we will create a Python virtual environment and configure IntelliJ to use it to run tests and linters:
   1. Initialize the backend (creates venv and installs dependencies):

      just b init
      

      This creates a virtualenv at .venv/ in the project root.
   2. Now back in Intellij, press F4 or right-click on the top level baserow folder and select module settings:
      1. Make sure the backend module SDK is set to the python virtualenv you just made (.venv/bin/python).
      2. There will most likely be an existing Python 3.14 (baserow) virtualenv SDK which is red. Delete this first.
      3. Then you will most likely need to add it as a new SDK by navigating to
         1. F4 → SDK
         2. click +
         3. Add New Python SDK
         4. Existing Interpreter
         5. Find and select your virtualenvs bin/python executable (.venv/bin/python)
         6. call this new SDK Python 3.14 (baserow) so you don’t make an accidental change to the backend.iml file:
7. Install and get a postgresql database running locally:
   1. The easiest way is to use Docker:

      just dc-dev up -d db redis
      

   2. Or install PostgreSQL locally: https://www.postgresql.org/docs/11/tutorial-install.html
   3. If running PostgreSQL locally, create a baserow user:

      CREATE USER baserow WITH ENCRYPTED PASSWORD 'baserow';
      ALTER USER baserow CREATEDB;
      

8. Now you should be able to run the backend python tests, try run backend/tests/baserow/core/test_core_models.py for instance.
9. Now lets set up your frontend dev by changing directory to baserow/web-frontend
10. Now run just f install (or yarn install directly). If you do not have yarn available check out and install a node version manager like nvm or fnm and follow the Yarn installation instructions). See baserow/docs/installation/supported.md to determine the supported version of Node.js to use.
11. Select “Trust Project” if you see an IntelliJ popup after running yarn install
12. Open your settings, search for and open the Node.js and NPM category and ensure the Node interpreter is pointing to the desired node executable
13. Confirm you can run a web-frontend unit test from intellij
14. Open settings and search for eslint, make sure you have switched to Manual ESLint configuration, have set the ESlint package to to eslint sub folder in the node_modules created by the previous yarn install (baserow/web-frontend/node_modules/eslint)

Recommended Plugins

1. https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/14321-blackconnect
   1. Auto runs black over changed files. Setup a blackd daemon that runs on startup for lowest friction.
2. Database Navigator
3. IntelliVue
4. Key Promoter X
5. Vue.js