JetBrains is shutting down this neat little feature in its IDEs

A niche little feature in JetBrains' IDEs is getting the boot because, apparently, maintaining it takes a lot of precious engineering resources that could be applied elsewhere.

JetBrains has announced that it is shutting down the "Code With Me" feature in its IDEs following the 2026.1 release.

According to the company, Code With Me will only be available as a plugin from the JetBrains Marketplace after that version. This plugin will get no new features, but will receive critical security fixes for a time. Its public relay infrastructure will also remain operational for some time, but all sales and renewals for the service have stopped.

The service will be completely deactivated in Q1 2027, taking down both the public relays and active sessions with it. When Code With Me shuts down, JetBrains says that those who want remote access should look at its other remote development features.

JetBrains says it is doing this because "maintaining Code With Me alongside the evolving IntelliJ Platform requires ongoing engineering investment." and that shutting down the collaboration tool will "allow [it] to focus [its] efforts on areas that deliver the most value to developers."

Demand for built-in pair programming and real-time collaboration tools like Code With Me peaked during the pandemic and has since shifted, with many teams adopting different collaboration workflows. At the same time, maintaining Code With Me alongside the evolving IntelliJ Platform requires ongoing engineering investment.

 

After reviewing usage trends and the long-term direction of our IDEs, we’ve decided to discontinue Code With Me. This will allow us to focus our efforts on areas that deliver the most value to developers and align with how teams collaborate today.

Code With Me was a tool designed for real-time pair programming and remote collaboration, introduced to the world in late 2020 before becoming generally available a couple of months later, in April 2021. It uses a Host-Guest architecture where the host, the person with the source code, initiates a session and shares a link with guests. These guests then join using a thin client without needing the full project on their own machines

The development tool is not the only feature JetBrains has killed in the last year. The company's dedicated test automation IDE, Aqua, was sunsetted last April due to low adoption rates. In a similar fashion, JetBrains integrated its core capabilities into its more established IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, and WebStorm through a plugin.

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Posted Tuesday 17 March 2026 at 12:11 pm AEST (my time).

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