Connected mode setup
Setting up connected mode and sharing your connection with your team is the easiest way to get started with using the Sonar Solution to bring SonarQube's AI capabilities into your IDE.
Connection setup
SonarQube for Eclipse offers a Sonar connection wizard to help you set up connected mode; it can be accessed in two different ways:
Go to File > New > Other… to open Eclipse’s Select a wizard menu. Then, find SonarQube > New SonarQube (Server, Cloud) Connection and select Next.
Or, Right-click in the SonarLint Bindings tasks view tab and select New Connection…. This method will start the wizard right away.
Choose SonarQube Cloud or SonarQube Server, and select the Next button to continue. Follow the SonarQube Server instruction when connecting to SonarQube Community Build:
Automatic setup with SonarQube Server
SonarQube and SonarQube Community Build offer the easiest way to set up connected mode: simply use the Opening issues in the IDE feature from SonarQube Server or SonarQube Community Build. You must trust SonarQube Server to store a token for the connection, and it’s best if you already have the project open in your IDE.
Check the Troubleshooting connected mode setup if something doesn’t work right or follow the instructions below to manually create a SonarQube Server connection.
Create a new SonarQube Server Connection
1. When you select SonarQube, you will need to enter the server URL before selecting Next to proceed. The default URL is http://localhost:9000, but your URL might differ.
2. Choose your authentication method & authenticate:
Token: generate a user token in your SonarQube instance. Selecting Generate token will open the
https://<YOUR-SONARQUBE-URL>/account/security/page in your default browser. You can always create a token manually, if needed. See the Tokens page in SonarQube Server for more information.
3. Enter a Connection name so that you can find it later in the SonarQube Bindings view window, and click Next to continue.
4. Then, choose if you want to receive Notifications; you have the option to allow SonarQube Server to send Smart Notifications to the IDE. Connected mode make you aware of changes made on the server. Finally, select Finish to complete the Connection wizard.
SonarQube for Eclipse will automatically compare SonarQube Server’s project list against open projects in your workspace. If you’ve accepted notifications, SonarQube for Eclipse will suggest a binding. The final step involves binding your local project to the project on the server.
Note that logging in with your Username + Password was available in previous versions of SonarQube for Eclipse to create a connection setup with SonarQube Server. If you used this method in a previous version and then updated SonarQube for Eclipse, you will need to reauthenticate your connection by adding a user token.
First-time connection setup for shared binding
One team member must step through the first-time setup process, then export and commit the binding configuration to the repository. Any team member who opens the project while running SonarQube for IDE will automatically receive a notification to bind the project. Each team member must use their own project credentials and SonarQube for IDE will use the binding details found in the configuration file to complete the connection.
To begin, one person from the team must follow the steps outlined in Using the connection wizard and Configure your binding, then follow the Save and share your setup instructions below to save the project configuration for the rest of the team.
Save and share your setup: Recommended for teams
Reuse the binding configuration
Export the binding configuration
There are two ways to create a binding configuration file:
Right-click on a connection found in the SonarQube Bindings view and select
Share Binding….Right-click on a project in the Eclipse Explorer, then navigate to SonarQube and select
Share Binding….
Either method prompts a confirmation window to explain that a configuration file will be created. Once confirmed, a .json file containing the SonarQube Server URI and Project Key or SonarQube Cloud Organization and Project Key will be added to the .sonarlint folder in your project.
Export binding configurations for a hierarchical directory
SonarQube for Eclipse gives you the ability to export shared binding configurations to match hierarchical project directories.
If you right-click on the parent-level project and select Share Binding…,
the binding configuration file will be saved at the root project level.
If you right-click on a child-level project and select Share Binding…,
choose Save to Project to create a binding configuration file at the child level or,
choose Save to Root Project to create a binding configuration file at the parent level.
Share the binding configuration
Commit the file you just created in the working directory; your teammates should have access to the binding configuration once your commit becomes part of the repository.
Because your Project’s identifying information is saved in a location under source control, it will be available to anyone with access to the project repo. Each team member is still required to have their own SonarQube (Server, Cloud) credentials; these are managed in
See the Managing your tokens page in SonarQube Server.
See the Managing tokens page in SonarQube Cloud.
Each team member is still required to have their own SonarQube Server or SonarQube Cloud connection and credentials.
Bind using shared configuration
When opening or adding a new project to the Eclipse Explorer, SonarQube for Eclipse will check for a shared binding configuration file and prompt notify users.
If no connection exists, SonarQube for Eclipse will ask to create a new connection. Users must provide their own User Token in the connection mode setup wizard; selecting the Generate token button will open SonarQube (Server, Cloud) to step through this process and populate the setup form with your new token.
If a matching connection setup exists, users are asked only to bind the project using the shared binding configuration.
Bind configurations for hierarchical directories
Because Eclipse can have multiple local projects open in the Eclipse Explorer, SonarQube for Eclipse might find multiple shared binding configuration files. When there are multiple combinations, SonarQube for Eclipse will suggest the best match between the local projects and those on the server.
To confirm the project bindings, select the More information link in the notification window to check how SonarQube for Eclipse will map the configuration. If the suggested matches are incorrect, you must configure or reconfigure the bindings manually.
Sharing configurations between different IDEs
SonarQube for IDE extensions are available for IntelliJ (and other Jet Brains IDEs), Visual Studio, VS Code, and Eclipse. Although the information stored in the shared configuration file is the same, each extension might export the JSON file to a slightly different location depending on IDE and project type. This may cause friction when opening a configuration in an IDE other than the IDE that created it.
If SonarQube for IDE does not send you a notification to accept a shared configuration, please check first if you have opened your project’s root. If SonarQube for IDE still does not suggest a matching configuration, you must configure binding manually. Please see the Configure your binding collapsible above for instructions.
Project binding
SonarQube for IDE keeps server-side data in local storage and synchronizes with configured servers at startup; one example would be the quality profile defined by your SonarQube Cloud Organization.
A binding update will automatically be attempted once every hour or after an IDE restart and SonarQube for IDE will do its best to synchronize with the most appropriate branch from the server.
View connections
Connections and their bindings can be retrieved in the SonarQube Bindings view tab which is found by navigating to the File Menu > Window > Show View > Other… > SonarQube > SonarQube Bindings:
Right-clicking on a connection will open a tooltip to edit or delete the connection and can be useful, for example, to update credentials and bindings if they have changed.
Right-clicking on a connection will reveal an option to select Update All Project Bindings.
SonarQube for IDE-SonarQube Server version support policy
SonarQube for IDE enables users to establish a connection to the latest SonarQube Server version and to the latest LTA (Long-Term Active) version. When a new LTA version is released, we still enable connecting SonarQube for IDE to the previous LTA version for a certain period of time (currently 9 months after the latest LTA release) to allow enough time for organizations to update their SonarQube Server version.
For more information about long-term support of SonarQube Server, check out our page describing the SonarQube Server Release cycle model. Review your SonarQube for IDE-specific requirements for version-to-version differences.
The 8.9LTA reached its support expiration date (in November ’23).
Learn more
Check out the main Connected mode page to learn more about the benefits of using connected mode, information about SonarQube for Eclipse’s branch matching strategy, and how to activate and deactivate your Sonar Smart Notifications in the IDE.
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