Home Contest Submission Guidelines

Submission Guidelines

Applying for the contest

You have to apply for the contest in order to be able to submit a plugin for consideration.

  1. Register for a JetBrains developer account

    If you already have a JetBrains account, skip to #2.

    Your JetBrains account lets you access plugins.intellij.net (main IntelliJ IDEA plugin repository). You must have an account in order to enter the Plugin Contest. To create your account, visit JetBrains account center and click the Sign Up link in the upper right-hand corner of the page.

    Note that the e-mail address you furnish will not be visible on the plugin repository site. An e-mail form will be available for people who want to contact you.

  2. Log in to your JetBrains account

    On login, you are taken to your personal profile page. You can start the contest application process from there. Later on, you'll be able to announce and submit it.

  3. Complete the contest application

    On your profile page, look for the link Apply for Contest and click to launch the online application form. The link appears only if you have not previously registered for the contest.

    The application form is pretty simple and straightforward. You tell us the size and where to mail your commemorative contest T-shirt, specify the category(ies) of the plugin(s) you intend to develop for the contest, and write a brief description of all the plugins you plan to develop for the contest. (You will announce and submit your specific plugin(s) later.)

    Note that you can edit your contest application after you submit it. Look for the Edit contest application link on your Profile page.

Completing your contest entry

At this point you have completed the basic application process, but have not submitted your plugin for consideration. There are 2 more things you will need to do at some point to complete your contest entry:

  1. Announce your plugin
  2. Upload your plugin to the repository

You can announce your plugin first and upload it later, or you can announce and upload at the same time.

You can do this right after you complete the online application form, or any time up until the contest deadline (see Terms and Conditions for deadline info).

It's OK to announce your plugin before it's completed, but remember that when you do, other contestants can see the information about it on the plugin repository site. This is not necessarily a disadvantage. For example, you might want to announce right away so the community knows about it and you can get feedback. The decision about when to announce is up to you.

How to announce/ upload your plugin:

The same online form is used to announce your plugin and upload it to the repository. You can use it just for announcing, just for uploading, or to do both at once.

To access the Announce Plugin form:

  1. Log in to your JetBrains account and access your Profile page
  2. Click the Announce / upload new plugin link

You should prepare the following items for your final submission upload:

  • The JAR file for your plugin runtime.
    You can upload a local file, or provide a URL from which the repository can take it.

  • A screenshot image in GIF, PNG, or JPG format. Screenshot is optional.
    You will be able to add additional screenshot images after you upload your plugin.

  • Plugin documentation.
    Also optional, but highly recommended. You can enter some brief doc on the form, and provide a URL where the repository can get your docs.

  • Your plugin source code.
    This should include the IntelliJ IDEA project file, Ant scripts, etc. Provide a Zip or JAR archive. You can upload a local file, or provide a URL from which the repository can take it.

Note that on the contest entry page for your plugin you are able to add additional authors. Authors must have an account on the JetBrains plugin repository site.

During development

As you get started, don't forget about the plugins newsgroup at news://news.intellij.net/jetbrains.intellij.plugins. On the newsgroup you can find ideas to use, share ideas with others, find collaborators, and solicit feedback, all of which can be a great help to you during the developmet phase of your plugin.

When you announce your plugin, you can either specify an existing supporting site for it, or request to create a supporting page on our Confluence site. This can help you in soliciting feedback and/or collaborators in the developer community. In the listing of your announced plugin(s) on your Profile page, look for the link Add supporting page.