Is there a good, sanctioned API to query the plugin repository for the latest version of a plugin regardless of whether or not it’s compatible with the installed IDE version?
My plugin maintains compatibility with roughly one full year’s worth of IDE versions, so currently 2025.2-2026.2 (though I will likely drop 2025.2 support shortly). I have an issue where users on older versions of the IDE, e.g., 2025.1, don’t even realize that there are updates available to my plugin because the IDE no longer prompts for them once new builds of my plugin have dropped support for what they have installed.
This bit me recently when there was a breaking change (for security purposes) to a key CLI used by my plugin, and I issued a new build to adjust for those changes, but users on older IDE versions didn’t even know that new build existed. As a result, I’ve been handling them through support requests, directing them to update the IDE so they could update the plugin.
This has prompted me to add a new startup check that looks for plugin updates including those that aren’t compatible with the installed IDE version. Obviously that won’t help folks who are on plugin versions before I added this check, but it should pay dividends going forward.
While I’ve found some core IDE functionality that does some of that, it’s internal and/or only checks for compatible plugin updates, so it doesn’t really resolve the issue for me. Instead I’m querying my own external release metadata to get this information, and while that definitely works, it just feels like there must be some other/better way to do this in the plugin SDK itself. Or even that the IDE might perform a check, saying “A new update of PluginXYZ is available but requires an update to JetBrainsIDE.”
I can certainly stick with what I have now, but I figured it never hurts to ask in case I’ve missed something in the SDK that could do this for me.
The short answer is: within the IntelliJ Platform, there is no good supported API for “tell me if a newer plugin version exists even when it is incompatible with this IDE” that I know of. There are only 3 solutions I’m aware of and these are not good or beautiful solutions:
Ship one last “bridge update” for users on old IDEs that informs them about the new update that also requires a new IDE.
Maintain your own metadata and check it as you proposed. If you combine it with the “bridge update” for older releases, you could bring this functionality to older versions without waiting for the dividends, so to speak.
Have a community channel outside the IDE on your product website, LinkedIn, Twitter, or wherever. On social media, this can work like a push notification if people follow you but you need to build your community first.
In your case, I think combining 1. and 2. would be a good way.
Maybe someone from Marketplace knows more and I’m happy to be proven wrong.
Yes, unfortunately even for JetBrains plugins it does not exist. We only may check if there are updates of a plugin for a future known IDE build. We do it for IDE self-update notifications.
Theoretically, it can be expanded, but given how fast community updates their compile SDK version it barely makes sense to introduce.
No worries. That’s what I expected based on what I found in the SDK. I’ve already implemented the notification based on my own release metadata, so it’s done, and quite simple at that. I just wanted to see if there was already something that I’d overlooked.