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JetBrains IDE extension

Created by: anna-mmikhova

Problem to solve

Sourcegraph is not easily accessible from IDEs, we are not embedded in user workflows therefore are not top of mind for our users. We require users to come to Sourcegraph to search open source as well as their private repositories while they code. We are not a daily use product for most of our users, we're not close enough to their day to day work.

Measure of success

Having Sourcegraph available from IDEs reduces the friction and drives usage. Increased OSS usage also drives cloud users and increases PQLs. Brand recognition goes up, measured in amount of social activity around extension Per user search frequency from IDE extension surpasses .com

Solution summary

Have quality IDE extensions for JetBrains, providing an easy to use access point to Sourcegraph

What specific customers are we iterating on the problem and solution with?

We will target large enterprises with high level of JetBrains users including:

  • sourcegraph/accounts#250
  • sourcegraph/accounts#574
  • sourcegraph/accounts#548
  • sourcegraph/accounts#564

Impact on use cases

Delivery plan

The hashtags are the iteration indexes:

  • Earlier: create PD for JetBrains Extension
  • #​6—March–April: De-risk. Figure out the unknowns marked “small” and “medium” in this list.
  • #​7—April: De-risk. Figure out the two unknowns marked “large” in the same list: virtual files in editor tabs and styling the web search component
  • #​8—April–May: A higher fidelity prototype. A bare minimum list of search results and opening the file in an editor
  • #​9—May: Search result display. Build a web-based search result display component that works with Sourcegraph but resembles the IDE look and feel.
  • #​10—May–June: Settings and auth. Ensure that users can work with their private Sourcegraph instance and authenticate.
  • #​11—June: Theming. Refine the look and feel of the plugin to blend in well with the IDE.
  • #​12—till July 3: Testing. Manual and automated testing, possibly an internal release.
  • We have another scope called “Robust Infrastructure,” but we didn’t dedicate an iteration to this. Instead, we'll spread out this effort during the project.) It includes stuff like
    • bundling
    • moving the project to the monorepo
    • setting up automated testing, and
    • other background work

The end of Q2 is July 31, so we have a four-week gap there, but we didn't account for vacations, plus better be safe than slip.