The Grails Plugin Has a New Home: Apache Grails

News

The Grails plugin for IntelliJ IDEA (which provides framework-aware coding assistance, GSP tooling, and GORM integration) has moved to the Apache Grails project. The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), which already stewards the Grails framework, now owns the plugin’s source code, which lives in its new GitHub repository. On JetBrains Marketplace, the plugin is listed as Apache Grails, with the ASF as the official vendor.

Why Apache Grails

The people closest to a framework are in the best position to build its tooling. Both teams agreed that the Apache Grails project was the right home for the plugin, with the Apache Grails Project Management Committee (PMC) now overseeing development. With development in the Grails team’s hands, the plugin can evolve in line with the framework’s roadmap (including GSP tooling, GORM integration, and build toolchain updates) and follow a release cadence that the team controls. JetBrains can stay focused on core IDE and platform work while continuing to feature the plugin on Marketplace.

What’s changed

The release cadence and IDE compatibility are set by Apache Grails PMCnow, not by IntelliJ IDEA releases. Updates ship on the framework’s roadmap, and the Grails team builds, signs, and publishes them straight to Marketplace under its own vendor credentials. The PMC and community contributors are already reviewing PRs, merging fixes, and shipping releases independently. Build 262.0.0, which supports IntelliJ IDEA 2026.2, is already available.

What this means for you

Already using the plugin from Marketplace? No migration is required: Updates will continue to come from the new maintainers, and the plugin ID stays the same for now. Starting with 2026.2, however, the plugin is no longer bundled with IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate by default. If you cannot find the plugin in your IDE, install it from the Marketplace under its new Apache Grails listing. At JetBrains, we will continue to collaborate with the Apache Grails team and give them early notice of platform API changes.

Get Involved

Follow the project in the repository on GitHub, or visit the Apache Grails plugin listing on JetBrains Marketplace. Got feedback? Open an issue in the new repository or leave feedback on the Marketplace page.

We’ll keep featuring the plugin on Marketplace, and we’re looking forward to seeing where the Apache Grails team takes it from here.