Installation: Editors

JetBrains IDEs

The BAML plugin for JetBrains IDEs provides full support for editing and testing BAML files in IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, and other JetBrains IDEs.

Installation

  1. Open your JetBrains IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.)
  2. Go to Settings/Preferences → Plugins
  3. Click on the Marketplace tab
  4. Search for “BAML” or “BAML Playground”
  5. Click Install and restart your IDE

Alternatively, you can install directly from the JetBrains Marketplace.

Features

FeatureSupported
Syntax highlighting for BAML files✅
Language Server Protocol (LSP) integration✅
Jump to definition✅
LLM playground for testing BAML functions✅
Auto-download of BAML CLI✅

Opening the BAML Playground

Once you open a .baml file, you can access the BAML Playground in several ways:

  1. Tool Window: Look for the “BAML Playground (beta)” tool window in the sidebar
  2. Action: Use Find Action (Cmd+Shift+A on macOS or Ctrl+Shift+A on Windows/Linux) and search for “Open BAML Playground”
  3. Context Menu: Right-click in a BAML file and select “Open BAML Playground”

Setting Environment Variables

The playground allows you to set environment variables (like API keys) that persist between sessions. Click on the Settings button in the playground to configure them.

Environment variables are stored locally in your IDE’s storage. They are not sent across the network or saved to disk outside of the IDE.

Supported JetBrains IDEs

The BAML plugin works with all JetBrains IDEs that support plugins, including:

  • IntelliJ IDEA (Community and Ultimate)
  • PyCharm (Community and Professional)
  • WebStorm
  • GoLand
  • PhpStorm
  • RubyMine
  • Rider
  • CLion
  • DataGrip

Troubleshooting

Plugin not finding BAML files

Make sure your BAML files have the .baml extension and are located in a baml_src directory in your project.

Language Server not starting

The plugin automatically downloads the BAML CLI/Language Server on first use. If you encounter issues:

  1. Check your internet connection
  2. Look for errors in Help → Show Log in Explorer/Finder
  3. Try restarting your IDE

Playground not loading

The playground uses JCEF (Java Chromium Embedded Framework). If it fails to load:

  1. Make sure you’re using a recent version of your JetBrains IDE
  2. Check that JCEF is enabled in your IDE settings
  3. Try invalidating caches: File → Invalidate Caches / Restart

Feedback

If you encounter any issues or have feature requests, please: