JetBrains ships Air in its 2026.3 IDEs: run Codex, Claude, Copilot and Junie in one panel

JetBrains has shipped Air in all of its 2026.3 IDEs. Air is a workspace for running coding agents, tracking them and reviewing their changes, and it was in early access since October. JetBrains announced the release on 11 November and published the details on its AI blog.

What agents get from the IDE

The selling point is that agents run inside the IDE, not next to it. Through the IDE’s MCP server and built-in skills, JetBrains says, agents can check inspections, run your build and run configurations, query your databases and use the IDE’s refactorings. In IntelliJ IDEA and CLion they can also drive the debugger.

Features in the release

• Parallel sessions with their own Git worktrees, so agents do not collide, plus notifications when an agent needs you. Worktrees that agents create on their own are not tracked in Air yet.
• Presets that save an agent, model and instructions for a type of task.
• A review panel and Code Notes: comments on specific lines go back to the session with code context, and this works for terminal agents too.
• Usage visibility: session cost in tokens or money, and remaining JetBrains AI quota. JetBrains says it is working on the same view for Codex, Claude and Copilot subscriptions.
• Commit messages drafted from selected changes, and a compact right-hand tool window for people coming from AI Assistant.

Which agents, and what it costs

JetBrains lists Codex, Claude Agent, Claude Code (in the terminal), Gemini, GitHub Copilot, DeepSeek, OpenCode, Cursor, Pi, Grok, Kimi and Kilo, with more through the Agent Client Protocol. You bring an existing provider subscription, an API key or JetBrains AI. A paid JetBrains AI subscription is not required. Junie, JetBrains’ own agent, is free in its Lite configuration with a JetBrains Account. One catch from the FAQ: a Claude Pro or Max plan works through Claude Code in Air’s terminal tab, while Claude Agent in the chat view needs a JetBrains AI subscription or an Anthropic API key.

JetBrains says Air does not start agents or send code to a provider until you choose and authorize one. AI Assistant stays available as a separate plugin until early 2027, and Air can be turned off in Settings | Plugins.

Why this matters

JetBrains cites Atlassian’s 2026 survey that 49% of developers spend four or more hours a week reviewing AI output, and Air is built around that review step. The bet is that agents which can run inspections, builds and the debugger hand you changes that are easier to check than agents that only read and write files. Teams already on Air Teams for cloud tasks now get the same workspace locally. Check which agents your plans actually cover before you roll it out.