CLion Features

CLion ships with a bundled debugging skill, so your AI agent can walk through breakpoints and variables on its own to track down root causes – and you can add more skills from the library as they arrive.

CLion’s built-in MCP server turns the IDE into a tool your AI agents can work with directly. Any other MCP-compatible tool can connect, too, pulling additional context straight into its own chat.

Get AI suggestions as you type, with clear diffs you can accept or dismiss – no credits consumed, no interruptions.

Connect your personal OpenAI or Anthropic account directly – no separate JetBrains AI subscription required.

CLion integrates clang-tidy directly into the editor, so checks run on the fly alongside CLion's own inspections, with quick-fixes available via Alt+Enter. It also supports .clang-tidy config files, custom clang-tidy binaries, and per-check options, so your team's existing linting setup works without reconfiguration.

Built-in inspections cover a subset of MISRA C 2012, MISRA C++ 2008, and MISRA C++:2023 checks directly in the editor. Catch the most common violations as you code, so you spend less time on compliance and more time crafting ship-ready features.

Create or open STM32 projects directly in CLion – CMake-based or CubeMX-based (.ioc) – and launch auto-generated run and debug configurations for your ST-Link probe, without manual configuration. CLion and STM32 work together – just like that!

Open, build, and debug Zephyr West projects without leaving the IDE. CLion detects your Zephyr workspace automatically and sets up build and flash configurations for you, so you stay focused on your firmware, not your toolchain. When you start debugging, RTOS-aware thread views show what each task is doing, so you can track down concurrency bugs faster.

CLion works with any GCC- or IAR-based toolchain, covering ARM, Xtensa (ESP32, ESP8266), RISC-V, and AVR (Arduino) hardware. It also has built-in PlatformIO support, so you can open and build projects without manual CMake setup. OpenOCD, SEGGER J-Link, and GDB-compatible debug servers are supported out of the box, alongside Peripheral View for ARM devices and RTOS thread awareness for FreeRTOS and ThreadX – everything you need for on-chip debugging in one place.

When compliance violations are found late, they cost exponentially more to fix. Import SARIF reports from Parasoft C/C++test, Clang Static Analyzer, or any compatible tool and review MISRA, AUTOSAR, and CERT violation findings alongside your code – no dashboards, no context switching.

Connect any debugger that supports the Debug Adapter Protocol, like Lauterbach TRACE32. You're never locked to one toolchain.

Take advantage of visual breakpoints, watches, memory view, and thread inspection – all without leaving the editor.

Configuration transitions support, a built-in Starlark REPL, and an execution log parser for performance analysis are available via the Bazel for CLion plugin.

CLion works with the build system you already use – no project migration required.

GoogleTest, Catch2, Boost.Test, and Doctest are all supported out of the box, including Meson projects.

Click the gutter icon next to any test. Results appear in a dedicated tool window, letting you easily navigate to failures.

Find any symbol, file, action, or setting in one keystroke.

Navigate to declarations or definitions, usages, type hierarchies, and call chains. It works across headers and sources.

Rename, extract, inline, change signature – refactorings that work across your entire project, not just the open file.

Fold any code region, browse file structure, and keep large files manageable.

Predefined keymaps for Visual Studio, Eclipse, Xcode, Emacs, and VS Code mean you won’t have to re-train your muscle memory. You can further customize existing shortcuts or even create your own.

If you live in Vim, you don't have to leave it behind. Full Vim emulation is available out of the box.

CLion works with CMake, Makefile, Meson, Bazel, and compilation databases – no project migration required.

Keep your CLion setup consistent across machines with settings synchronization via your JetBrains account.