--- title: How to Use AI Agents in IntelliJ IDEA With ACP | daily.dev description: IntelliJ IDEA now supports connecting to AI coding agents through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), a standard analogous to the Language Server Protocol but for... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: How to Use AI Agents in IntelliJ IDEA With ACP | daily.dev og:description: IntelliJ IDEA now supports connecting to AI coding agents through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), a standard analogous to the Language Server Protocol but for... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/KUCTw5rln.png og:image:alt: How to Use AI Agents in IntelliJ IDEA With ACP og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How to Use AI Agents in IntelliJ IDEA With ACP **[JetBrains](https://daily.dev/sources/jetbrains)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary IntelliJ IDEA now supports connecting to AI coding agents through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), a standard analogous to the Language Server Protocol but for coding agents rather than languages. The IDE ships with several ACP-compatible agents (Codex, Claude Agent, Junie) that work out of the box, additional agents can be installed from the ACP Registry, and internal or custom agents can be registered via a local acp.json configuration file. The core benefit is that navigation, editing, and diff review stay inside IntelliJ IDEA while the underlying agent - including its models, tools, and authentication - becomes a swappable component rather than a fixed IDE commitment. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How do I connect a custom internal AI agent to IntelliJ IDEA that isn't in the ACP Registry? Register it in the ~/.jetbrains/acp.json file using an agent_servers key with the agent's display name, a command field pointing to the full executable path, an args array for activation arguments, and optionally an env field for environment variables like API keys. IntelliJ IDEA also provides an 'Add Custom Agent' action that creates and opens this file automatically. _daily.dev surfaces practical setup guides for developers wiring custom agents into their IDE workflow._ ### What is the Agent Client Protocol (ACP) and how does it relate to LSP? ACP is a standardized contract between an IDE like IntelliJ IDEA and a coding agent, often compared to the Language Server Protocol (LSP) because it solves a similar integration problem. Instead of writing a bespoke plugin for each IDE-agent pairing, any ACP-compatible agent can connect through JSON-RPC over standard input and output, negotiating capabilities during initialization. _developers comparing agent protocols can track how tools like ACP evolve alongside daily.dev's coverage of AI coding workflows._ ### Which AI agents are bundled with IntelliJ IDEA out of the box for ACP support? IntelliJ IDEA ships with several ACP-compatible agents that require no manual configuration: Codex, Claude Agent, and Junie. Additional agents can be installed from the ACP Registry through Settings, Tools, AI Assistant, Agents, and internal or unlisted agents can be registered separately through an acp.json configuration file. _developers weighing which coding agent to adopt can follow daily.dev for comparisons across the agent ecosystem._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [The "LSP Moment" for AI Agents: WebStorm ACP](https://daily.dev/posts/the-lsp-moment-for-ai-agents-webstorm-acp-wgebx0n8r) · JetBrains · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Specialized IDEs deserve AI too: Kiro adopts ACP](https://daily.dev/posts/specialized-ides-deserve-ai-too-kiro-adopts-acp-lin59ouze) · Kiro · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Our 2026 Direction: AI and Classic Workflows in JetBrains IDEs](https://daily.dev/posts/our-2026-direction-ai-and-classic-workflows-in-jetbrains-ides-rtcomvlpw) · JetBrains · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#devtools](https://daily.dev/tags/devtools), [#ai-agents](https://daily.dev/tags/ai-agents), [#mcp](https://daily.dev/tags/mcp), [#jetbrains](https://daily.dev/tags/jetbrains) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"How to Use AI Agents in IntelliJ IDEA With ACP","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln"},"datePublished":"2026-08-12T15:20:51.314Z","dateModified":"2026-09-14T07:54:08.833Z","description":"IntelliJ IDEA now supports connecting to AI coding agents through the Agent Client Protocol (ACP), a standard analogous to the Language Server Protocol but for...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/21cc561a9ae03686fc642ef1beafe9f7?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/21cc561a9ae03686fc642ef1beafe9f7?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"JetBrains","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"JetBrains","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1/logos/53ecf0c676f34b3896ee109609d91efa","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/jetbrains"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"devtools,ai-agents,mcp,jetbrains","timeRequired":"PT6M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"JetBrains","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/jetbrains"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to Use AI Agents in IntelliJ IDEA With ACP"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-use-ai-agents-in-intellij-idea-with-acp-kuctw5rln#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"How do I connect a custom internal AI agent to IntelliJ IDEA that isn't in the ACP Registry?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"Register it in the ~/.jetbrains/acp.json file using an agent_servers key with the agent's display name, a command field pointing to the full executable path, an args array for activation arguments, and optionally an env field for environment variables like API keys. 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