Support for Multiple Open Projects

[noreff]

Support for Multiple Open Projects

When working with multiple JetBrains IDE projects simultaneously, it's currently difficult to determine which port corresponds to which open project. The current implementation scans ports 63342-63352 and uses the first working port it finds, or allows specifying a single port via the IDE_PORT environment variable.

However, this approach makes it challenging to:

1. Know which specific project a Claude is currently connected to
2. Switch between different open projects intentionally
3. Maintain consistent connections to specific projects

Feature Request

Add support for working with multiple open projects simultaneously, with clear indicators of which port corresponds to which project.

Suggested Solution

1. Add a project identifier in the JetBrains UI that shows:

   • The port number the MCP server is using for that project
   • A visual indicator showing whether Claude is currently connected to this project

2. Enhance the configuration to allow naming of project-port mappings:

"mcpServers": {
  "jetbrains": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["-y", "@jetbrains/mcp-proxy"],
    "projects": {
      "projectA": {
        "port": 63342,
        "name": "Frontend App"
      },
      "projectB": {
        "port": 63343,
        "name": "Backend API"
      }
    },
    "defaultProject": "projectA"
  }
}

3. Add a command in Claude to list available projects and switch between them:
   • /jetbrains list - Show all available projects
   • /jetbrains connect projectA - Connect to a specific project

Benefits

• Clear visibility into which project Claude is analyzing and modifying
• Ability to work on multiple projects without confusion
• Improved developer experience when managing complex workspaces

This would require:

1. Modifications to the MCP Server plugin to expose project metadata
2. Updates to the proxy server to handle project switching
3. UI enhancements in JetBrains IDEs to show the connection status

Has anyone else encountered this issue when working with multiple projects? How are you currently handling this workflow?

[githoober]

@noreff JetBrains does not maintain Claude, does it? Supporting what you are asking on the Claude side would require the Claude team to make the necessary changes.

[Ga-Ol-St]

@noreff You can try to customize port in IDEA for each project, use "Edit Custom JVM options" in Help menu and specify it this way:
-Drpc.port=64400
then use multiple proxies with different ports.

[rvanbaalen]

@githoober just like we can now tell Claude to 'look at my jetbrains project' and it will scan the corrent active project, it would be nice if something like 'look at project [NAME] in jetbrains' would work which would limit/direct Claude to the open active project with that name.

That would definitely be a feature on the jetbrains proxys side I suppose.

[zzJinux]

Not sure if it’s possible, but it’d be great to have just one mcp server that can handle all projects across all jetbrains IDEs installed on my machine

[avxkim]

can someone explain if i run 2 instances of WebStorm, how do i setup claude config for this? Where do i get the host:port of running ide?