Fleet Cheat Sheet

Overview

Fleet is a lightweight code editor from JetBrains designed for quick editing with the option to activate full IDE capabilities on demand. It starts as a fast text editor and can transform into a smart IDE by enabling Smart Mode, which provides code intelligence, refactoring, navigation, and debugging powered by the IntelliJ platform backend.

Fleet supports a wide range of languages including Java, Kotlin, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Go, Rust, PHP, C, and C++. It features built-in collaborative editing, a terminal, Git integration, and a distributed architecture where the processing backend can run locally or on a remote machine. Fleet uses a modern UI built on a custom rendering engine.

Installation

Download and Install

# Install via JetBrains Toolbox (recommended)
# Download Toolbox from https://www.jetbrains.com/toolbox-app/
# Then install Fleet from within Toolbox

# macOS via Homebrew
brew install --cask jetbrains-fleet

# Linux via snap
sudo snap install fleet

# Or download directly from https://www.jetbrains.com/fleet/download/

First Launch

# Open Fleet from command line
fleet .

# Open a specific file
fleet path/to/file.py

# Open a specific directory
fleet /path/to/project

Core Features

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut (macOS / Linux)	Action
`Cmd+P` / `Ctrl+P`	Quick file open
`Cmd+Shift+P` / `Ctrl+Shift+P`	Command palette
`Cmd+K` / `Ctrl+K`	Quick actions
`Cmd+Shift+F` / `Ctrl+Shift+F`	Find in files
`Cmd+B` / `Ctrl+B`	Go to definition
`Cmd+Shift+B` / `Ctrl+Shift+B`	Find usages
`Cmd+E` / `Ctrl+E`	Recent files
`Cmd+/` / `Ctrl+/`	Toggle line comment
`Cmd+Shift+/` / `Ctrl+Shift+/`	Toggle block comment
`Cmd+D` / `Ctrl+D`	Select next occurrence
`Cmd+Shift+L` / `Ctrl+Shift+L`	Select all occurrences
`Alt+Enter`	Show context actions
`Cmd+Shift+A` / `Ctrl+Shift+A`	Find action
`Cmd+,` / `Ctrl+,`	Open settings

Smart Mode

Feature	Editor Mode	Smart Mode
Syntax highlighting	Yes	Yes
Code completion	Basic	Full IntelliJ
Go to definition	No	Yes
Find usages	Text search	Semantic
Refactoring	No	Yes
Error detection	No	Yes
Debugging	No	Yes
Code analysis	No	Yes

# Enable Smart Mode
Click the lightning bolt icon in the top-right corner
Or: Cmd+Shift+P → "Smart Mode: Enable"

Multi-Cursor Editing

# Add cursor above/below
Alt+Shift+Up / Alt+Shift+Down

# Add cursor at next occurrence
Cmd+D / Ctrl+D

# Add cursors at all occurrences
Cmd+Shift+L / Ctrl+Shift+L

# Column selection
Alt+Shift+Click and drag

Configuration

Settings (settings.json)

{
  "editor.fontFamily": "JetBrains Mono",
  "editor.fontSize": 14,
  "editor.lineNumbers": true,
  "editor.minimap": true,
  "editor.wordWrap": "off",
  "editor.tabSize": 2,
  "editor.formatOnSave": true,
  "editor.theme": "Dark",
  "terminal.fontSize": 13,
  "terminal.shell": "/bin/zsh"
}

Keymap Customization

{
  "keymap": "VSCode",
  // Options: "Fleet", "IntelliJ", "VSCode", "Sublime"
}

Language-Specific Settings

{
  "languages": {
    "python": {
      "interpreter": "/usr/bin/python3",
      "formatter": "black",
      "tabSize": 4
    },
    "typescript": {
      "tabSize": 2,
      "formatter": "prettier"
    },
    "go": {
      "formatter": "gofmt",
      "formatOnSave": true
    }
  }
}

Advanced Usage

Remote Development

# Connect to a remote machine via SSH
# Fleet → Connect to Remote → SSH
# Enter: user@hostname:port

# The backend runs on the remote machine
# Only the UI runs locally, reducing local resource usage

Collaborative Editing

# Start a collaboration session
1. Click the collaboration icon in the toolbar
2. Select "Start Session"
3. Share the generated link with teammates
4. Collaborators join via the link

# Features in collaboration mode:
- Real-time cursor visibility
- Follow mode (follow another user's view)
- Shared terminal sessions
- Chat within the editor

Run Configurations

// .fleet/run.json
{
  "configurations": [
    {
      "name": "Run Python App",
      "type": "python",
      "program": "main.py",
      "args": ["--debug"],
      "env": {
        "PYTHONPATH": "${workspaceFolder}/src"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Run Node Server",
      "type": "node",
      "program": "server.js",
      "env": {
        "NODE_ENV": "development",
        "PORT": "3000"
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Run Go Service",
      "type": "go",
      "program": "${workspaceFolder}/cmd/server",
      "args": ["-config", "dev.yaml"]
    }
  ]
}

Debugging

# Set a breakpoint
Click in the gutter next to the line number

# Start debugging
Click the debug icon next to the run configuration
Or: Cmd+Shift+D / Ctrl+Shift+D

# Debug controls
F5          - Continue
F10         - Step over
F11         - Step into
Shift+F11   - Step out
Shift+F5    - Stop debugging

Git Integration

# Built-in Git operations
Cmd+K G     - Open Git panel
Cmd+K C     - Commit changes
Cmd+K P     - Push to remote

# View diff
Click on a changed file in the Git panel

# Branch management
Click branch name in the status bar

Troubleshooting

Issue	Solution
Smart Mode not activating	Ensure the language SDK is installed (e.g., JDK for Java, Python interpreter)
Slow performance in Smart Mode	Large projects need more memory; increase heap in settings
Extensions not available	Fleet uses JetBrains plugin ecosystem; check compatibility
Remote connection failing	Verify SSH access works from terminal; check firewall rules
Code completion not working	Enable Smart Mode; verify language runtime is configured
Theme not applying	Restart Fleet after changing theme settings
Terminal not opening	Check shell path in settings; verify shell is installed
Collaboration lag	Check network connection; ensure both parties have stable internet
File watchers exhausted (Linux)	Increase `fs.inotify.max_user_watches`: `echo 524288 \| sudo tee /proc/sys/fs/inotify/max_user_watches`