Jewel aims at recreating the IntelliJ Platform's New UI Swing Look and Feel in Compose for Desktop, providing a desktop-optimized theme and set of components.
Warning
This project is in active development, and caution is advised when considering it for production uses. You can use it, but you should expect APIs to change often, things to move around and/or break, and all that jazz. Binary compatibility is not guaranteed across releases, and APIs are still in flux and subject to change.
Writing 3rd party IntelliJ Plugins in Compose for Desktop is currently not officially supported by the IntelliJ Platform. It should work, but your mileage may vary, and if things break you're on your own.
Use at your own risk!
Jewel provides an implementation of the IntelliJ Platform themes that can be used in any Compose for Desktop application. Additionally, it has a Swing LaF Bridge that only works in the IntelliJ Platform (i.e., used to create IDE plugins), but automatically mirrors the current Swing LaF into Compose for a native-looking, consistent UI.
Tip
If you want to learn more about Jewel and Compose for Desktop and why they're a great, modern solution for your desktop UI needs, check out this talk by Jewel contributors Sebastiano and Chris.
It covers why Compose is a viable choice, and an overview of the Jewel project, plus
some real-life use cases.
The first thing to add is the necessary Gradle plugins, including the Compose Multiplatform plugin. You need to add a
custom repository for it in settings.gradle.kts
:
pluginManagement {
repositories {
google()
gradlePluginPortal()
maven("https://maven.pkg.jetbrains.space/public/p/compose/dev")
mavenCentral()
}
}
Then, in your app's build.gradle.kts
:
plugins {
// Should align with the Kotlin and Compose dependencies in Jewel
kotlin("jvm") version "1.9.21"
id("org.jetbrains.compose") version "1.6.0-dev1440"
}
repositories {
maven("https://packages.jetbrains.team/maven/p/kpm/public/")
// Any other repositories you need (e.g., mavenCentral())
}
Warning
If you use convention plugins to configure your project you might run into issues such as
this. To solve it, make sure the
plugins are only initialized once — for example, by declaring them in the root build.gradle.kts
with apply false
, and then applying them in all the submodules that need them.
To use Jewel in your app, you only need to add the relevant dependency. There are two scenarios: standalone Compose for Desktop app, and IntelliJ Platform plugin.
If you're writing a standalone app, then you should depend on the latest int-ui-standalone-*
artifact:
dependencies {
// See https://github.com/JetBrains/Jewel/releases for the release notes
implementation("org.jetbrains.jewel:jewel-int-ui-standalone-[latest platform version]:[jewel version]")
// Optional, for custom decorated windows:
implementation("org.jetbrains.jewel:jewel-int-ui-decorated-window-[latest platform version]:[jewel version]")
// Do not bring in Material (we use Jewel)
implementation(compose.desktop.currentOs) {
exclude(group = "org.jetbrains.compose.material")
}
}
For an IntelliJ Platform plugin, then you should depend on the appropriate ide-laf-bridge-*
artifact:
dependencies {
// See https://github.com/JetBrains/Jewel/releases for the release notes
// The platform version is a supported major IJP version (e.g., 232 or 233 for 2023.2 and 2023.3 respectively)
implementation("org.jetbrains.jewel:jewel-ide-laf-bridge-[platform version]:[jewel version]")
// Do not bring in Material (we use Jewel) and Coroutines (the IDE has its own)
api(compose.desktop.currentOs) {
exclude(group = "org.jetbrains.compose.material")
exclude(group = "org.jetbrains.kotlinx")
}
}
Tip
It's easier to use version catalogs — you can use the Jewel version catalog as reference.
Jewel doesn't officially support using ProGuard to minimize and/or obfuscate your code, and there is currently no plan to. That said, people are reporting successes in using it. Please note that there is no guarantee that it will keep working, and you most definitely need to have some rules in place. We don't provide any official rule set, but these have been known to work for some: https://github.com/romainguy/kotlin-explorer/blob/main/compose-desktop.pro
Important
We won't accept bug reports for issues caused by the use of ProGuard or similar tools.
Jewel is in continuous development and we focus on supporting only the Compose version we use internally. You can see the latest supported version in libs.versions.toml.
Different versions of Compose are not guaranteed to work with different versions of Jewel.
The Compose Compiler version used is the latest compatible with the given Kotlin version. See here for the Compose Compiler release notes, which indicate the compatibility.
The minimum supported Kotlin version is dictated by the minimum supported IntelliJ IDEA platform.
The project is split in modules:
buildSrc
contains the build logic, including:- The
jewel
andjewel-publish
configuration plugins - The
jewel-check-public-api
andjewel-linting
configuration plugins - The Theme Palette generator plugin
- The Studio Releases generator plugin
- The
foundation
contains the foundational Jewel functionality:- Basic components without strong styling (e.g.,
SelectableLazyColumn
,BasicLazyTree
) - The
JewelTheme
interface with a few basic composition locals - The state management primitives
- The Jewel annotations
- A few other primitives
- Basic components without strong styling (e.g.,
ui
contains all the styled components and custom painters logicdecorated-window
contains basic, unstyled functionality to have custom window decoration on the JetBrains Runtimeint-ui
contains two modules:int-ui-standalone
has a standalone version of the Int UI styling values that can be used in any Compose for Desktop appint-ui-decorated-window
has a standalone version of the Int UI styling values for the custom window decoration that can be used in any Compose for Desktop app
ide-laf-bridge
contains the Swing LaF bridge to use in IntelliJ Platform plugins (see more below)markdown
contains a few modules:core
the core logic for parsing and rendering Markdown documents with Jewel, using GitHub-like stylingextension
contains several extensions to the base CommonMark specs that can be used to add more featureside-laf-bridge-styling
contains the IntelliJ Platform bridge theming for the Markdown rendererint-ui-standalone-styling
contains the standalone Int UI theming for the Markdown renderer
samples
contains the example apps, which showcase the available components:standalone
is a regular CfD app, using the standalone theme definitions and custom window decorationide-plugin
is an IntelliJ plugin that showcases the use of the Swing Bridge
Code on the main branch is developed and tested against the current latest IntelliJ Platform version.
When the EAP for a new major version starts, we cut a releases/xxx
release branch, where xxx
is the tracked major
IJP version. At that point, the main branch starts tracking the latest available major IJP version, and changes are
cherry-picked into each release branch as needed. All active release branches have the same functionality (where
supported by the corresponding IJP version), but might differ in platform version-specific fixes and internals.
The standalone Int UI theme will always work the same way as the latest major IJP version; release branches will not
include the int-ui
module, which is always released from the main branch.
Releases of Jewel are always cut from a tag on the main branch; the HEAD of each releases/xxx
branch is then tagged
as [mainTag]-xxx
, and used to publish the artifacts for that major IJP version.
Important
We only support the latest build of IJP for each major IJP version. If the latest 233 version is 2023.3.3, for example, we will only guarantee that Jewel works on that. Versions 2023.3.0–2023.3.2 might or might not work.
Caution
When you target Android Studio, you might encounter issues due to Studio shipping its own (older) version of Jewel and Compose for Desktop. If you want to target Android Studio, you'll need to shadow the CfD and Jewel dependencies until that dependency isn't leaked on the classpath by Studio anymore. You can look at how the Package Search plugin implements shadowing.
The standalone theme can be used in any Compose for Desktop app. You use it as a normal theme, and you can customise it to your heart's content. By default, it matches the official Int UI specs.
For an example on how to set up a standalone app, you can refer to
the standalone
sample.
Warning
Note that Jewel requires the JetBrains Runtime to work correctly. Some features like font loading depend on it, as it has extra features and patches for UI functionalities that aren't available in other JDKs. We do not support running Jewel on any other JDK.
To use Jewel components in a non-IntelliJ Platform environment, you need to wrap your UI hierarchy in a IntUiTheme
composable:
IntUiTheme(isDark = false) {
// ...
}
If you want more control over the theming, you can use other IntUiTheme
overloads, like the standalone sample does.
The JetBrains Runtime allows windows to have a custom decoration instead of the regular title bar.
The standalone sample app shows how to easily get something that looks like a JetBrains IDE; if you want to go very
custom, you only need to depend on the decorated-window
module, which contains all the required primitives, but not
the Int UI styling.
To get an IntelliJ-like custom title bar, you need to pass the window decoration styling to your theme call, and add the
DecoratedWindow
composable at the top level of the theme:
IntUiTheme(
theme = themeDefinition,
styling = ComponentStyling.default().decoratedWindow(
titleBarStyle = TitleBarStyle.light()
),
) {
DecoratedWindow(
onCloseRequest = { exitApplication() },
) {
// ...
}
}
Jewel includes a crucial element for proper integration with the IDE: a bridge between the Swing components — theme and LaF — and the Compose world.
This bridge ensures that we pick up the colours, typography, metrics, and images as defined in the current IntelliJ theme, and apply them to the Compose components as well. This means Jewel will automatically adapt to IntelliJ Platform themes that use the standard theming mechanisms.
Note
IntelliJ themes that use non-standard mechanisms (such as providing custom UI implementations for Swing components) are not, and can never, be supported.
If you're writing an IntelliJ Platform plugin, you should use the SwingBridgeTheme
instead of the standalone theme:
SwingBridgeTheme {
// ...
}
To use Jewel in the IntelliJ Platform, you should depend on the appropriate jewel-ide-laf-bridge-*
artifact, which
will bring in the necessary transitive dependencies. These are the currently supported versions of the IntelliJ Platform
and the branch on which the corresponding bridge code lives:
IntelliJ Platform version(s) | Branch to use |
---|---|
2024.2 (beta 1+) | main |
2024.1 (EAP 3+) | releases/241 |
2023.3 | releases/233 |
2023.2 (deprecated) | archived-releases/232 |
2023.1 or older | Not supported |
For an example on how to set up an IntelliJ Plugin, you can refer to | |
the ide-plugin sample. |
When building for IntelliJ Platform or a standalone app, you can use the key-based icon loading API that allows you to load icons in a cross-target way.
To load an icon, you can use the Icon
composable and provide a PathIconKey
with a resource path:
// Equivalent to the old path-based API
Icon(PathIconKey("icons/myIcon.svg"), contentDescription = "...")
If you want to benefit from a better experience, not having to deal with strings and keys everywhere, you can build your own *IconsKeys
file. Look at our AllIconsKeys
file as a reference. You can maintain it manually, or you can automatically generate it, depending on your needs.
If you need to use standard IntelliJ Platform icons in your standalone app, such as those found in AllIcons
, you will need a bit of setup to make sure that the icons are present on the classpath and can be loaded as resources.
Add this to your build script:
dependencies {
implementation("com.jetbrains.intellij.platform:icons:[ijpVersion]")
// ...
}
repositories {
// Choose either of these two, depending on whether you're using a stable IJP or not
maven("https://www.jetbrains.com/intellij-repository/releases")
maven("https://www.jetbrains.com/intellij-repository/snapshots")
}
Note
If you are targeting an IntelliJ plugin, you don't need this additional setup since the icons are provided by the platform itself.
Once the icons are on the classhpath can use the PlatformIcon
composable:
// For platform icons found in AllIconsse
PlatformIcon(AllIconsKeys.Nodes.ConfigFolder, "taskGroup")
The right IconKey
to use depends on whether an icon has Old UI and New UI variants, or not:
PathIconKey
represents an icon from the resources that has no Old and New UI variantsIntelliJIconKey
is similar, but provides paths for both the Old and New UI variants
If you are targeting only the New UI, you can use either PathIconKey
or IntelliJIconKey
to load the icon. If you are targeting the Old UI, you need to use IntelliJIconKey
.
Jewel emulates the under-the-hood machinations that happen in the IntelliJ Platform when loading icons. Specifically, the resource will be subject to some transformations before being loaded.
For example, in the IDE, if New UI is active, the icon path may be replaced with a different one. Some key colors in SVG icons will also be replaced based on the current theme. See the docs.
Beyond that, even in standalone, Jewel will pick up icons with the appropriate dark/light variant for the current theme,
and for bitmap icons it will try to pick the 2x variants based on the LocalDensity
.
If you have a stateful icon, that is if you need to display different icons based on some state, you can use the
PainterProvider.getPainter(PainterHint...)
overload. You can then use one of the state-mapping PainterHint
to let
Jewel load the appropriate icon automatically:
// myState implements SelectableComponentState and has a ToggleableState property
val myPainter by myPainterProvider.getPainter(
if (myState.toggleableState == ToggleableState.Indeterminate) {
IndeterminateHint
} else {
PainterHint.None
},
Selected(myState),
Stateful(myState),
)
Where the IndeterminateHint
looks like this:
private object IndeterminateHint : PainterSuffixHint() {
override fun suffix(): String = "Indeterminate"
}
Assuming the PainterProvider has a base path of components/myIcon.svg
, Jewel will automatically translate it to the
right path based on the state. If you want to learn more about this system, look at the PainterHint
interface and its
implementations.
To load a system font, you can obtain it by its family name:
val myFamily = FontFamily("My Family")
If you want to use a font embedded in the JetBrains Runtime, you can use the EmbeddedFontFamily
API instead:
import javax.swing.text.StyledEditorKit.FontFamilyAction
// Will return null if no matching font family exists in the JBR
val myEmbeddedFamily = EmbeddedFontFamily("Embedded family")
// It's recommended to load a fallback family when dealing with embedded familes
val myFamily = myEmbeddedFamily ?: FontFamily("Fallback family")
You can obtain a FontFamily
from any java.awt.Font
— including from JBFont
s — by using the asComposeFontFamily()
API:
val myAwtFamily = myFont.asComposeFontFamily()
// This will attempt to resolve the logical AWT font
val myLogicalFamily = Font("Dialog").asComposeFontFamily()
// This only works in the IntelliJ Platform,
// since JBFont is only available there
val myLabelFamily = JBFont.label().asComposeFontFamily()
As this is Compose for Desktop, you get a good degree of interoperability with Swing. To avoid glitches and z-order issues, you should enable the experimental Swing rendering pipeline before you initialize Compose content.
The ToolWindow.addComposeTab()
extension function provided by the ide-laf-bridge
module will take care of that for
you. However, if you want to also enable it in other scenarios and in standalone applications, you can call the
enableNewSwingCompositing()
function in your Compose entry points (that is, right before creating a ComposePanel
).
Note
The new Swing rendering pipeline is experimental and may have performance repercussions when using infinitely repeating animations. This is a known issue by the Compose Multiplatform team, that requires changes in the Java runtime to fix. Once the required changes are made in the JetBrains Runtime, we'll remove this notice.
Here is a small selection of projects that use Compose for Desktop and Jewel:
- Package Search (IntelliJ Platform plugin)
- Kotlin Explorer (standalone app)
- ...and more to come!
You can find help on the #jewel
channel on the Kotlin Slack.
If you don't already have access to the Kotlin Slack, you can request it
here.
Jewel is licensed under the Apache 2.0 license.
Copyright 2022–4 JetBrains s.r.o.
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at
https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.