CLion 2018.3

Initial Remote Development support

• You can now develop remotely from a Windows, Linux, or macOS client machine to a Linux remote host, for CMake-based projects only. The current setup assumes the source code is located on a local machine, which CLion synchronizes to the remote machine.
• Supported configurations - To start developing remotely, first create a remote toolchain in Settings | Build, Execution, Deployment | Toolchains. Provide the remote host address and credentials, and then use the toolchain in one or several CMake Profiles. After CMake is reloaded, you’ll be ready to start working remotely with your project in CLion.
• Remote mode - After the configuration is done, you can run or debug your application or unit tests remotely from CLion. Code is built, run and debugged on a remote host, while you work with the code in CLion on your local machine. Code is resolved locally, and CLion synchronizes the header search path to the local machine to speed up the process.
• Enable remote as default - To use CLion in remote mode for all your projects, both the new and existing ones, you can set your remote toolchain to be the default.

CPU Profiler

• CLion now integrates with CPU Profiler on Linux (Perf) and macOS (DTrace). You can run the profiler right from the IDE and review the analysis results in a dedicated tool window. Use the flame chart, call tree and method lists to get a better overview of the possible performance issues in your code. Navigate to the source code to locate the issues in the code base.

C++ Support

• Clangd-based navigation and search - Several navigation and search actions, including Go to declaration, highlighting references under the caret, quick documentation, and Find usages. The results are still merged with the ones collected by CLion’s own engine.
• C++17: fold expressions and deduction guides - Now, CLion correctly parses C++17 fold expressions and C++17 deduction guides. This means that there is less false code highlighting and better code assistance for you. For example, the correct type will be shown in the parameter info for user-defined deduction guides.

New IDE actions

• New Build and Rebuild actions - The new Build menu comes with a set of new and updated build-related actions for CMake:
  • Build/Rebuild all target from all CMake Profiles
  • Build/Rebuild all target from the selected CMake Profile
  • Build/Rebuild the selected configuration
  • Recompile the current file
  • Install
  • Clean
• Activity Monitor - This new experimental feature shows how much CPU the subsystems and plugins (both built-in and additionally installed ones) are consuming.
• New Run Anything - Run Anything (Double Ctrl) is a new and universal way to run and debug any configuration in your project, or even open a project. To run a configuration, just start typing its name. To debug, hold down the Shift key to switch to the Debug Anything mode.
• Updated Search Everywhere - The updated Search Everywhere (Double Shift) now includes all the multiple actions in one:
  • Search Everywhere
  • Find Action
  • Go to Class
  • Go to File
  • Go to Symbol

Unit testing

• 2018.3 reworks integration with unit testing frameworks (Google Test, Boost.Test, and Catch (2)) in order to eliminate various performance issues and hangs. It also improves output processing in many cases.
• Show Test List - To improve performance, CLion now uses lazy test detection. This reduces project indexing times in many situations.

Compilation database validation

• CLion now provides specific inspections to check for compliance with the compilation database’s JSON schema. For example, it can highlight situations when an incorrect type is used for the property value, or when the property is missing.

Editor

• Formatted macro expansion - CLion now formats the macro replacement in the Quick Documentation popup (Ctrl+Q). It also highlights strings and keywords used in the final substitution, so you can quickly understand the code that will be substituted after the preprocessor pass.
• Multiline TODO comments - To add more information to TODO comments but keep them readable, you can now split the comment into several lines. Just add an indent starting from the second line of your multiline TODO comment and the IDE will differentiate it from an ordinary comment.

VCS

• Git submodules - You can now work with Git submodules in CLion. When you clone the root repository, CLion will clone all its submodules. The same is true for updates, and other VCS actions work with submodules as well.
• GitHub pull requests - A brand-new GitHub pull requests tool window lets you view all the pull requests to the repository. Search them by state, assignee, author, etc., and easily create a new local branch with a simple right click.

Accessibility improvements

• New High-contrast theme, expanded support for screen readers (they can now read line numbers, VCS annotations, and gutter icons tooltips) and an option to adjust IDE colors for people with color deficiencies.
• High-contrast Theme - A High-contrast Theme is now available for CLion. You can either switch it on just for the editor (Ctrl+`) or for the whole IDE.

Plugins

• New Plugins UI - Plugins settings under Settings | Plugins have been redesigned from the ground up. The new UI makes it much easier to control the plugins installed in your CLion instance and keep them up-to-date.
• Featured plugins and marketplace - You can see a list of the most valuable plugins for CLion located in the Featured plugins list. Or, sort all the plugins by rating or number of downloads.

Other improvements

• CLion 2018.3 comes with the Swift Package Manager support in the Swift plugin. Simply open the SPM project in CLion and work with it - no additional configuration required. Read more and watch a short demo
• Rust plugin was updated to get partial Rust 2018 support, Move analysis inspection and cargo unit testing support.