JetBrains + Claude Code (Marketplace plugin)

[Day0Dreamer]

Good day, I am very very lost.

Claude.exe has Serena plugin
PyCharm has Serena plugin

If I install Claude, PyCharm and both Serena plugins, I get two Serena things, and I am so lost about what goes where...

I created config.yaml with language_backend: JetBrains but is it used? I don't know. Serena Web controls that open up from claude.exe show PyCharm disabled...

So I was thinking like Okay; I need Serena plugin for PyCharm to make Claude talk to PyCharm through Serena... Is that the correct thinking?

I have then disabled serena plugin in claude, and while PyCharm launched the server and the server says things in http://localhost:24226/status - claude.exe can't do anything about it...

What am I supposed to do to bring everything together?

Help appreciated <3

[Day0Dreamer]

So I also ran
claude mcp add serena -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server --context claude-code --project "$(pwd)"
and it did something, file got changed. yes.

Now what I start the PyCharm Claude plugin, http://127.0.0.1:24282/dashboard/index.html opens with Available Contexts:

• agent
• chatgpt
• claude-code
• codex
• context.template
• desktop-app
• ide
• oaicompat-agent

Why is there no ide? I am running everything from the IDE....

AND YET, with claude code running and the web thing open, PyCharm errors out with "Cannot launch Claude Code"

Next try - I have reenabled the serena plugin in the claude code. Now when I launch it - TWO web dashboards open.

So confused...

[Day0Dreamer]

Running uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server --language-backend JetBrains opens up the web dashboard and the dashboard says "Please install the Serena from JetBrains Marketplace"

THIS. IS. INSANE.

How do I know if anything works?

Meanwhile... in Pycharm's Serena there is

INFO    Serena plugin (version 2023.2.5) is starting up ...
INFO    Initializing Serena backend service for project: al-submitter-c4d
INFO    Starting Serena backend service thread for project al-submitter-c4d ...
INFO    Serena backend service will listen on port 24226
INFO    Ready to accept requests from Serena

And nothing asked it for a connection...

[Day0Dreamer]

Mean while I asked Claude /mcp and it said

 Manage MCP servers
 2 servers

 ❯ 1. plugin:serena:serena  ✔ connected · Enter to view details
   2. serena                ✔ connected · Enter to view details

So it seems I am running 3 servers.... and no clients....

[Day0Dreamer]

So startover.

Go to PyCharm, install Plugin... Then as said in plugin description, go to https://oraios.github.io/serena/02-usage/030_clients.html#claude-code and since I am launching Claude Code - install it and have Context: claude-code

BUT the promo image on the plugin says Context: Using Jet Brains Backend.

Why would the plugin point me to a wrong installation manual?

This is not EASE OF USE. This a middle finger to all users.

[Day0Dreamer]

Apparently after installing this plugin I needed to write a cusom command
claude mcp add serena -- uvx --from git+https://github.com/oraios/serena serena start-mcp-server --context claude-code --language-backend JetBrains --project "$(pwd)"
to make the claude auto start the serena client as the MCP server and ONLY THEN something started working.

[MischaPanch]

Hi @Day0Dreamer , sorry you had a frustrating time with this. We had a typo in our docs, the path on windows should have been %USERPROFILE%\.serena\serena_config.yml instead of %USERPROFILE%\.serena\config.yaml. That's why your setting of the JetBrains backend there was not picked up.

Fixed in 72ce32a, where I also added a section on how to verify that the setup worked.

[Day0Dreamer]

From Mike to Mike - thank you 🙏

[bfmcneill]

If the codebase is on WSL2 and the JetBrains IDE is installed on windows and accesses codebase on the remote WSL2 do we configure this on windows and wsl2?

[opcode81]

Hi @bfmcneill, I am not sure whether you really meant to say "remote WSL". If the WSL is not remote but on your local machine, one approach would be Windows-centric:

• run both Serena and the IDE on Windows
• keep your project in the Windows file system, access it in WSL via /mnt/ (optionally linking the folder where you need it to be in the WSL file system)

If you prefer to keep things mainly in WSL (WSL-centric), you should

• run Serena in WSL (while the IDE runs in Windows)
• make sure Serena in WSL can communicate with services running on Windows. This will normally be the case when using mirrored networking; otherwise, you can configure jetbrains_plugin_server_address in your serena_config.yml and, if necessary, configure the listen address of the Serena plugin in the IDE (Settings / Tools / Serena).

[bfmcneill]

My bad. I think they call the WSL@ a remote connection when working on windows with a Jetbrains IDE that accesses code on WSL2.

You answered the question with the WSL-centric / Windows-centric remarks.

I was not expecting a fee for the plugin. Is it an enhanced version of the open source one?

Thanks for your reply!

[MischaPanch]

Yes, it's a more powerful version and will keep getting more powerful (because the Jetbrains symbol indexing is more powerful than the LSP variant). We documented it here
https://oraios.github.io/serena/02-usage/025_jetbrains_plugin.html

Also, of course it takes quite enormous effort to maintain the open source part of Serena and the plugin code, so the small fee for the plugin is so far the only way for us to get some income from Serena and keep developing and maintaining it.