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CIMNotebook for IntelliJ

The IntelliJ plugin gives you real-time SPARQL and SHACL validation against CIM / CGMES schema profiles directly in IntelliJ-platform IDEs. It is a thin client around CIMLangServer, wired into the IDE through the LSP4IJ LSP client.

Requirements​

  • IntelliJ IDEA (or any IntelliJ-platform IDE) 2024.2 or later. The plugin launches the language server on the IDE's bundled Java runtime, which is Java 21+ from 2024.2 onward.
  • LSP4IJ — a required dependency, installed automatically from the Marketplace.
  • Java 21 or later. By default the IDE's own runtime is used; you can override this in settings.

Install​

Install CIMNotebook from the Marketplace (Settings → Plugins → Marketplace). LSP4IJ is a required dependency, and IntelliJ installs it automatically as part of a Marketplace install.

Installing from disk

If you install CIMNotebook from a downloaded .zip (Install Plugin from Disk), IntelliJ does not resolve Marketplace dependencies — install LSP4IJ manually first (Settings → Plugins → Marketplace → search "LSP4IJ").

After install, point CIMNotebook at your CGMES profiles via an opencgmes.jsonc (run Tools → CIMNotebook: Create Config File to scaffold one) or a # [endpoint=...] directive in the query. Without a schema, validation is syntax-only — there is no bundled default schema. Then open any .rq, .sparql, .ttl, or .shacl file: the server starts, loads the schema in the background, and begins validating.

Features​

Syntax highlighting​

Lexer-based highlighting for SPARQL (.rq, .sparql) and SHACL / Turtle (.ttl, .shacl).

The .ttl extension

The SHACL file type deliberately claims the generic .ttl extension, since ENTSO-E and most tooling ship SHACL shapes as plain Turtle. If another installed plugin already owns .ttl, add the association under Settings → Editor → File Types → SHACL.

Real-time diagnostics​

Every open document is validated against the loaded schema; findings appear as inline underlines — unknown classes and properties, syntax errors, domain/range mismatches, datatype conflicts, and invalid SHACL cardinalities. The full list of codes and severities is on the Validation checks page.

CIMNotebook diagnostics on a SPARQL query in IntelliJ

Hover documentation​

Hover over any CIM term (e.g. cim:ACLineSegment) to see its full IRI, its rdfs:label and rdfs:comment, and its rdfs:domain / rdfs:range and declaring profile(s) — read straight from the loaded schema.

Auto-completion​

Typing : after a prefix (e.g. cim:) triggers completion suggestions for all classes and properties in the loaded schema. In object position after an enumeration-ranged property, the enumeration's members are suggested (e.g. cim:WindGenUnitKind.offshore).

CIMNotebook completion list after typing cim: in IntelliJ

Go to definition​

Ctrl+Click / Cmd+Click (or Ctrl+B / Cmd+B) on any CIM IRI jumps to its declaration line in the source .rdf or .ttl profile file.

Use Go to Symbol (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+N on Windows/Linux, Cmd+Option+O on macOS) and type a CIM class or property name to navigate to any schema term. Matching is partial and case-insensitive — aclineseg matches ACLineSegment.

Settings​

Under Settings / Preferences → Tools → CIMNotebook. Schema configuration itself lives in opencgmes.jsonc, not here.

SettingDefaultDescription
Server JAR(bundled)Absolute path to cimvocabcheck-lsp.jar. Leave empty to use the JAR bundled with the plugin.
Java executable(IDE runtime)Java executable used to launch the language server. Must be Java 21+. Leave empty to use the IDE's own runtime.
JVM arguments(none)Extra JVM arguments passed before -jar, e.g. -Xmx512m.

Building from source​

The plugin bundles the language server JAR, which is built by the cimvocabcheck-lsp Maven module:

# 1. Build the language server fat JAR
mvn -f ../../cimvocabcheck/lsp/pom.xml package -DskipTests

# 2. Build the plugin (copies the JAR into the plugin and zips it)
./gradlew buildPlugin

# 3. (Optional) Run the IntelliJ Plugin Verifier
./gradlew verifyPlugin

The resulting plugin zip is written to build/distributions/.

Troubleshooting​

Common IntelliJ issues — no diagnostics, Java not found, the .ttl file-type conflict, and the server failing to start (use LSP4IJ's Language Servers tool window) — are collected on the Troubleshooting page.