---
title: "Command line"
description: "Install the openidea shell command and use it to open projects, files at a line, and diffs from a terminal."
---

The `openidea` command opens folders and files in OpenIDEA from a terminal. It starts the app if it isn't running, hands over the request and returns.

## Install the command

| OS                | Menu                                      |
| ----------------- | ----------------------------------------- |
| macOS             | **OpenIDEA › Install 'openidea' Command** |
| Windows and Linux | **Tools › Install 'openidea' Command**    |

The action is also available in Find Action. Open a new terminal afterwards.

<Tabs>
  <Tab title="macOS">
    Move OpenIDEA to Applications first: the command is a link to the launcher inside the app bundle. It goes into `~/.local/bin` when that directory is on `PATH`; otherwise into `/usr/local/bin`, which may ask for an administrator password.
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Windows">
    Installation creates `openidea.cmd` in `%LOCALAPPDATA%\OpenIDEA\bin` and adds that directory to your user `PATH`. It works for installed and portable copies and doesn't need administrator rights.
  </Tab>
  <Tab title="Linux">
    Installation creates `~/.local/bin/openidea`. If that directory isn't on `PATH`, or another `openidea` comes first, the notification asks you to put it at the beginning of `PATH`:

    - Bash and Zsh: add `export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"` to your shell profile.
    - Fish: run `fish_add_path --prepend ~/.local/bin`.

    For an AppImage, the command starts the AppImage file itself, so keep it in a permanent location.

  </Tab>
</Tabs>

**Uninstall 'openidea' Command** in the same menu removes only OpenIDEA's own launcher (and on Windows its `PATH` entry). A command of the same name that belongs to another application is never overwritten or removed. After moving a portable copy or an AppImage, install the command again.

## Usage

```text
openidea [options] [[--line <n>] [--column <n>] path[:line[:column]] ...]
openidea diff <left> <right>
```

```sh
openidea .                              # open the current folder as a project
openidea src/main.rs README.md          # open files
openidea --line 12 --column 5 src/main.rs
openidea src/main.rs:12:5               # same, as path:line:column
openidea diff before.txt after.txt      # compare two files
openidea                                # bring OpenIDEA to the front
```

- Folders open as projects. Files open in the window of the project that contains them, or on their own when no open project does.
- Lines and columns start at 1. `--line` and `--column` apply to the next path.
- `path:line` and `path:line:column` are read as a position only when no file with that exact name exists.
- Relative paths resolve against the current directory.
- Use `--` before a file name that starts with `-`, or before a file named `diff`.

## Options

<ParamField path="--line <n>">Put the caret on line `n` of the next file.</ParamField>

<ParamField path="--column <n>">Put the caret in column `n` of that line.</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-h, --help">Print the usage.</ParamField>

<ParamField path="-v, --version">Print the version, for example `OpenIDEA 0.1.40`.</ParamField>

## Exit status

The command exits with `0` once OpenIDEA has accepted the request, and with `1` on an unknown option, a missing file, or when the app can't be reached or doesn't start within 30 seconds. Errors are printed as `openidea: <message>`.

The GUI executable and the operating system's file associations keep working without the command.

## Other command-line tools

- `openidea-server` runs OpenIDEA's backend on a remote machine for remote development. See [openidea-server](/en/guide/remote/server).
- `openidea-plugin` creates, builds and packages plugins. See the [plugin quickstart](/en/plugins/quickstart).