JetBrains Junie
Type: full-code · Vendor: JetBrains · Language: Kotlin (IDE plugin), TypeScript (CLI) · License: proprietary · Status: active · Status in practice: emerging · First released: 2025-04-16
JetBrains' coding agent that lives inside the JetBrains IDE AI Chat and as a separate Junie CLI, with multi-step planning, Guidelines-as-memory, approval-gated execution, and an opt-in Brave Mode.
Description. Junie is JetBrains' first-party coding agent. It is integrated into the AI Chat across JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, GoLand, PhpStorm, RubyMine, RustRover, CLion, Rider, Android Studio) and also ships as Junie CLI, an LLM-agnostic terminal agent. Junie breaks tasks into multistep plans and reports back as it executes them. Sensitive actions — terminal commands, code execution, MCP tool calls — require explicit user approval by default; Brave Mode authorises Junie to run them without prompting. Guidelines provide persistent reusable context to every task.
Agent loop shape. Plan-then-execute loop with explicit approval. Junie ingests project Guidelines, breaks the task into a multistep plan, and executes the plan step by step while streaming progress. Sensitive steps (terminal, code execution, MCP tool calls) prompt the user unless Brave Mode is on. The same agent powers both the IDE AI Chat surface and the Junie CLI; in CLI/headless mode it runs programmatically.
Primary use cases
- IDE-resident coding agent in the JetBrains AI Chat
- terminal coding agent via Junie CLI (LLM-agnostic)
- multistep plan-driven execution with approval gates
- headless runs in CI/CD, GitHub, GitLab pipelines
Key concepts
- Multistep plan → plan-and-execute (docs) — Junie breaks the task into a plan and reports progress as it executes.
- Guidelines → cross-session-memory (docs) — Persistent, reusable per-project context added to every task.
- Brave Mode → approval-queue (docs) — Opt-in mode that authorises sensitive actions without approval.
- Junie CLI (docs) — Interactive terminal agent; also runs headless in CI/CD.
- Unified AI Chat — Junie is now part of the single JetBrains AI Chat.
Patterns this full-code implements —
- ★Agent-Computer Interface
JetBrains IDE AI Chat is the primary ACI; Junie CLI is an interactive terminal alternative.
- ★★Approval Queue
Sensitive actions need explicit approval by default; Brave Mode opt-in disables prompts.
- ★★ReAct
Iterative tool-use loop wrapped in plan/execute reporting; autonomously runs commands, creates files, edits, runs tests, verifies.
- ★★Tool Use
Tool surface includes terminal commands, code execution, and MCP tool calls.
- ★★Plan-and-Execute
Multistep plan is generated then executed step by step with progress reporting; CLI has dedicated plan mode.
- ★★Cross-Session Memory
Guidelines provide persistent reusable context added to every task; stored in AGENTS.md / .junie/AGENTS.md.
- ★★Model Context Protocol
Junie can call MCP tools (treated as sensitive actions); MCP server connection is a documented seam.
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- Verification status: verified