ShowDev: An Evernote integration plugin for JetBrains IDEs
Tags: showdev, productivity, evernote, jetbrains
Published: 2020-06-19 17:24:36

---
title: ShowDev: An Evernote integration plugin for JetBrains IDEs
published: true
description: I built a plugin for JetBrains IDEs that lets you access your Evernote account right from your development environment.
tags: showdev, productivity, evernote, jetbrains
cover_image: https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/d7avhdp2lqtcimqjupg5.png
---
TLDR; I built 🏗️ and just recently launched 🚀 an awesome notes plugin for JetBrains IDEs that integrates the Evernote note taking service into the IDE. Its called Spellbook! [**Check it out**](https://www.getspellbook.dev)! You can try out the paid version for 30 days for [**FREE**] (https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/14519-spellbook)! You can also try the ALWAYS FREE [**Spellbook Basic**] (https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/14545-spellbook-basic), which has a limited feature set of its paid counterpart. 

I use Evernote as basically a development knowledge repository. I use it to store code snippets, implementation notes, stack overflow screenshots, commonly used git commands...if it's reusable, I probably have it saved in my Evernote account lol. But when I'm working in my IDE and I need to access this information repo, I always have to leave my IDE and go to the browser. I wanted an easy way to access the development knowledge archived in my Evernote account without needing to break my focus, leave my IDE, and go to the browser or some other app. So... I built my own solution for Intellij using the Evernote API.

I didn't actually realize how much I really needed a tool like this until I started using a very basic alpha version of the plugin in Intellij 🤯. Before Spellbook, when I wanted to access my "knowledge repo" in Evernote to find a code snippet, I had to leave the cozy confines of my development environment and go to the browser, which sometimes, for me, was less than productive. I'd quickly find myself on reddit, or hacker news, or DEV reading cool stuff instead of actually working 🤦🏽. There's lots of scientific evidence that shows that context switching can absolutely destroy productivity, particularly for very thought intensive work like programming. This doesn't just apply to tasks, but also apps and tools as well. It's simple, the more apps a developer has to manage while working, the lower his/her productivity.

I can say that my productivity has definitely jumped since using this plugin, as I'm spending less time in the browser and more time in my IDE getting work done. I figured if I benefitted so much from this tool, then maybe other devs would too. So I took the alpha version, developed a few more useful features and released the plugin in the JetBrains marketplace.
I also released a simplified FREE version of the plugin that contains a limited feature set, but still allows developers to reap the benefits of accessing Evernote from the IDE (Spellbook Basic).

So, if you use any JetBrains IDE (Intellij, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.) **AND** you use or want to use Evernote as a repo of software development awesomeness **AND** you want an easy way to access that repo right from your IDE give [**Spellbook**] (https://www.getspellbook.dev) a look see!!

[**Get Spellbook**] (https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/14519-spellbook)
[**Get Spellbook Basic**] (https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/14545-spellbook-basic)

ALSO FYI - I'm working to integrate additional note and code snippet services into Spellbook to make it even more accessible to more devs. **GitLab Code Snippets** and **GitHub Gists** are the next integrations coming to Spellbook in v2. So... if you use a particular note service and would like to see it integrated into Spellbook in the future, please leave a comment or shoot me an email - <getspellbook@gmail.com> - and I'll see what I can do!

Cheers 🍻