How to Install IntelliJ IDEA on Ubuntu 24.04

Ubuntu 24.04, like its previous releases, provides various sources to install IntelliJ IDEA. The sources include Snap Store (CLI and GUI) and Binay Executable. Let’s start from the Snap Sotre’s CLI method:

Method 1: Snap Store | CLI

Snap store offers compiled packages known as snaps. These snaps are equipped with the necessary configurations, dependencies, and executables for a package. Interestingly, Snap support is available as CLI and GUI support.

IntelliJ IDEA is also available on the Snap Store. Follow the below steps to install it from the snap store, i.e., the CLI method.

Step 1: Install and Enable Snapd

Ubuntu 24.04 is by default equipped with snap support. However, if not, you can install and enable the snap store using the below commands:

Install the Snap Daemon:

sudo apt install snapd

Install the snap core (a snap that offers the dependencies integration of all the snaps)

sudo snap install core

Step 2: Install IntelliJ

Snap Store offers all three variants of IntelliJ IDEA. Choose the variant you want to install and use the command as per your variant:

IntelliJ Community

sudo snap install intellij-idea-community --classic

Ultimate and Educational Variants

sudo snap install intellij-idea-ultimate --classic #Ultimate
sudo snap install intellij-idea-educational --classic #Educational

Step 3: Launch IntelliJ

You can launch IntelliJ from the applications menu (GUI) and the terminal (CLI). To launch it from the terminal, you need to use the proper name of the variant you installed:

intellij-idea-community
intellij-idea-ultimate
intellij-idea-educational

And to launch it from the GUI of Ubuntu, just open the applications menu and search for IntelliJ. You will get the launcher of the installed application:

Here you go with the IntelliJ offered by Snap.

Method 2: Binary Executable From IntelliJ Website | CLI

IntelliJ itself provides the executable on the Official Website. To get IntelliJ, download the tar file and extract the executable from it, i.e., as demonstrated below:

Step 1: Download the tar.gz File

Navigate to the Official Website of IntelliJ and download the latest “tar.gz” file available. You will also get multiple variants of IntelliJ:

Step 2: Extract the Executable

Navigate to the downloaded file’s location and extract the tar file (or use the full path of the downloaded file while extracting):

tar -xvf ideaIU-2024.1.tar.gz

Step 3: Run the IntelliJ IDEA

An executable script is created with the “idea.sh” name inside the “bin” directory of the extracted folder. Locate and run that script to launch the IntelliJ IDEA:

cd <Path-to-extracted-bin-directory>
./idea.sh

Right now, the executable can be used from the location where it is available (or you have to use its complete path to use IntelliJ). To make it executable from any location of the system, you can create a symbolic link of that executable to the “/usr/bin” directory:

sudo ln -s <path-of-executable> /usr/bin/intellij

As we have named the symbolic link “intellij”, so it will be executable by the same name:

intellij

That’s how you can install IntelliJ from the executable.

Method 3: Snap Store | GUI (App Centre)

The Snap Store GUI support is integrated with the App Centre. You can install it using the following steps:

Open the App Centre and search for IntelliJ. You will find all three variants. Click on the one that you want to install:

Click on the Install button:

Provide the user password, and follow the onscreen instructions to install it:

Once installed, the IntelliJ application can be found in the Applications Menu.

How to Uninstall/Remove IntelliJ IDEA From Ubuntu 24.04

The removal method depends on the way you install IntelliJ. So, we will discuss all the removal methods referring to the installation methods discussed above:

Snap Based Installation

Use the below command to uninstall your snap-based installed IntelliJ, i.e., use the edition name that you have installed:

sudo snap remove <your-installed-edition>

We are removing the community edition:

Binary Executable-Based Installation

If you have installed IntelliJ using its binary executable, you need to remove the extracted directory as a whole:

sudo rm -r <path-of-the-directory>

Note: Removing only the symbolic link will not remove the IntelliJ support from your system.

Bottom Line

IntelliJ can be installed from the snap store and the executable is available on the official site. Snap method is recommended as it offers full control over the application via its CLI and GUI support. Whereas the binary executable provides a less configurable environment.

All in all, you have learned all the possible methods to install IntelliJ on Ubuntu 24.04.

Hardware Component	Requirement(s)
Hardware Component	Minimum	Recommended (For best experience)
RAM	2 GB of Free Space	4 GB of Free Space
CPU	Dual Core but it will minimize the user experience.	Multi-core processor to enable multi-processing functionality
Disk Space/Type	3 GB/HDD	5 GB/SSD

System Requirements

Variants of IntelliJ IDEA

Community Edition

Ultimate Edition

Educational Edition