Jenkinsfile syntax highlighting in Java project using Intellij Idea

We already tried the approaches as listed below:

• https://github.com/oliverlockwood/jenkinsfile-idea-plugin
• https://st-g.de/2016/08/jenkins-pipeline-autocompletion-in-intellij

After having searched the web for many hours on multiple days, we still haven't found a helpful resource on this matter. Thus, it appears to make sense to ask a new question here.

We are developing our Java projects in IntelliJ idea and want to integrate our builds with Jenkins. When we create a Jenkinsfile in Idea, we do not get syntax highlighting or auto completion. Since we are new to Jenkins, those features would be really useful to us. How can we make Idea be more supportive with Jenkinsfiles?

If there is no way to get syntax highlighting and auto completion for a Jenkinsfile in idea, what other editors would be helpful?

Please note:

• we are working with java projects, not groovy projects.

• We've already tried the plugin https://github.com/oliverlockwood/jenkinsfile-idea-plugin. When the plugin is activated, the Jenkinsfile is recognized as such, but instead of syntax highlighting we get an error message, please see below.

   pipeline {
   agent { docker 'maven:3.3.3' }
   stages {
       stage('build') {
           steps {
               sh 'echo Hello, World!'
           }
       }
     }
   }
  

Idea highlights the p of pipeline as error. The error message reads:

JenkinsTokenType.COMMENT, JenkinsTokenType.CRLF or JenkinsTokenType.STEP_KEY expected, got 'p'

Thanks for any help!

If you want IDEA to recognize a Jenkinsfile as a Groovy file, then you can add the String "Jenkinsfile" as a valid file name pattern (normally contains file endings) for Groovy files. This is supported "out of the box" without requiring any additional Plugin (except the "Groovy" Plugin, but that is already part of IDEA).

To do that go to the settings menu, open the "Editor" item and then "File Types". Now select "Groovy" in the upper list and add "Jenkinsfile". You can also use a regex like "Jenkinsfile*" if you want to be more flexible regarding an optional file ending for the Jenkinsfile.
The setting should now look like this:

Your example now looks like this in IDEA (with the Dracula theme):

So IDEA now provides syntax highlighting and auto completion as far as I can tell. It suggests existing function/method names while writing, but I'm not a Groovy developer, thus I can't tell if some suggestions are missing.

At long last we found a solution that works for us and provides syntax highlighting and code completion for the Jenkinsfile present in an otherwise normal Java project in Idea. The solution is taken from here, here (and from additional personal experiments / research)

1. Download the Groovy SDK (if you did not do so already) from the Groovy Page and configure it on your Java project. For help on this see here

2. Download the pipeline GDSL file from your Jenkins instance which should be available under a link like https://yourJenkinsInstance.tld/pipeline-syntax/gdsl, and add it to the classpath of your Java project. E.g. by creating a new folder src/main/jenkins, putting the pipeline gdsl file there and marking the folder as source root in IntelliJ Idea

3. Add "Jenkinsfile" as a valid file name pattern for groovy files as described here

4. To avoid the error message 'node' cannot be applied to '(groovy.lang.Closure<java.lang.Object>), you can add this line at the top of your Jenkinsfile:

   // noinspection GroovyAssignabilityCheck

Another option is to use a shabang on top of the Jenkinsfile like this #!/usr/bin/env groovy. Also you can try out gdsl: https://st-g.de/2016/08/jenkins-pipeline-autocompletion-in-intellij but so far it doesn't support declarative pipelines: https://issues.jenkins-ci.org/browse/JENKINS-40127

If you add

#!groovy​

header to your jenkinsfile then you should get groovy syntax highlighting in IDE.

Looking at the source code, it looks like COMMENTS are not defined (they are commented out in the code)

The STEP_KEY is defined as: STEP_NAME="sh" | "parallel"

I'm not sure the plugin does much more and it hasn't been updated in 2 years.

go to the settings menu, open the "Editor"--> "File Types". Now select "Groovy" in the upper list and add ".Jenkinsfile". You can also use a regex like ".Jenkinsfile" if you want to be more flexible regarding an optional file ending for the Jenkinsfile.

Jenkinsfile is a groovy like script, but normally IntelliJ map it to TextMate editor.

To do that go to the settings menu, open the "Editor" item and then "File Types". Now select "TextMate" in the upper list and add "Jenkinsfile". You can also use a regex like "Jenkinsfile*" if you want to be more flexible regarding an optional file ending for the Jenkinsfile.

Use sh like this and the error should go away (worked for me)...

steps {
    sh """
        echo 'Hello, World!'
    """
}