JetBrains AI

JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, GoLand, PyCharm, etc.) include an AI Assistant with LM Studio integration that speaks the OpenAI-compatible API. Since candela listens on the same port (:1234), it works with zero additional configuration.

Zero-Config Setup

candela is designed to be a drop-in replacement for LM Studio’s API endpoint. JetBrains IDEs auto-detect models from http://localhost:1234/v1/models.

Start candela:
Terminal window
```
candela start
```
Open JetBrains Settings:
- Navigate to Settings → Tools → AI Assistant
- Enable “LM Studio” as a provider
Select a model from the dropdown — it auto-populates from Candela’s /v1/models endpoint, showing both local and cloud models

That’s it. Every AI Assistant interaction now flows through Candela.

What Gets Traced

Feature	Traced
AI chat panel	✅
Inline code completions	✅
Code explanations	✅
Refactoring suggestions	✅
Commit message generation	✅
Test generation	✅

Manual Configuration

If auto-detection doesn’t work, configure manually:

Settings → Tools → AI Assistant → LM Studio
Set URL to http://localhost:1234
The model list should populate automatically

AI Studio Plugin

If you’re using the JetBrains AI Studio plugin:

Settings → AI Studio → Providers
Add a new OpenAI-compatible provider:

Setting	Value
Name	`Candela`
API URL	`http://localhost:1234/v1`
API Key	`candela`

Add models manually or use the auto-detect feature

Multiple IDE Instances

If you run multiple JetBrains IDEs simultaneously (e.g., GoLand + WebStorm), they all share the same candela instance on :1234. Traces from all IDEs appear in the same management UI.

Official Candela JetBrains Plugin

The candela-jetbrains plugin adds real-time cost visibility and budget controls directly inside your JetBrains IDE — no terminal switching required.

Features

Status bar cost tracker — live 🔥 1.2M · $2.45 · 🟢45% in the bottom bar, auto-refreshing every 60s
Rich hover tooltips — input/output token splits, request counts, model-by-model breakdown, grant details
Budget warning balloons — notifications when usage crosses your threshold (default 80%), red alerts when exhausted
Grant display — active bonus grants with remaining amounts and expiry countdowns
Offline backoff — shows 🕯️ offline when Candela isn’t running, backs off to 5-minute polling to avoid noise
Startup health check — brief notification on project open confirming connection

Installation

From GitHub Releases (recommended)

Go to the latest release
Download candela-jetbrains-x.x.x.zip (not the source code archives)
In your IDE, open Settings → Plugins
Click the ⚙️ gear icon → Install Plugin from Disk…
Select the downloaded .zip file
Click OK and Restart IDE

Build from Source

git clone https://github.com/candelahq/candela-jetbrains.git
cd candela-jetbrains
nix develop -c ./gradlew buildPlugin
# Output: build/distributions/candela-jetbrains-*.zip

Then install the .zip from disk using steps 3–6 above.

Settings

Configure under Settings → Tools → Candela:

Setting	Default	Description
Server URL	`http://localhost:8181`	Candela server URL
Status bar enabled	`true`	Show cost tracker in status bar
Refresh interval	`60s`	Auto-refresh interval (0 to disable)
Budget warning threshold	`80%`	Warning percentage threshold

Access from Tools → Candela or via the command palette:

Action	Description
Show Cost Summary	Detailed token/cost breakdown with model-by-model stats
Check Budget	Budget meter with remaining balance and active grants
Open Dashboard	Launch the Candela web dashboard in your browser
Refresh Status	Force refresh status bar data

Development

# Enter dev shell (JDK 21 + Gradle + Kotlin)
nix develop

# Run sandboxed IDE with plugin loaded
nix develop -c ./gradlew runIde

# Build distribution
nix develop -c ./gradlew buildPlugin

# Run tests
nix develop -c ./gradlew test