JetBrains is framing embedded development less as a board-specific workflow and more as a unified software engineering problem. In this conversation, the focus is CLion as the company’s embedded IDE for C, C++ and Rust, aimed at reducing the fragmentation that comes from switching between vendor SDKs, toolchains, debuggers and separate utilities. The key idea is a consistent developer experience across targets such as Espressif and STMicroelectronics, with support for frameworks like Zephyr and modern build flows around CMake, so firmware work can happen inside one environment instead of being spread across multiple disconnected tools. https://www.jetbrains.com/clion/embedded/
A big part of that story is AI, but in a practical embedded context rather than as a generic chatbot layer. JetBrains shows agent support directly inside the IDE, including Junie, external agents, MCP connectivity and bring-your-own-key workflows, with the emphasis on tool grounding and agent orchestration rather than just the raw model. That matters for firmware teams because the useful part is not only code generation, but being able to trigger project-aware actions such as rebuilds, refreshes, navigation and other IDE-native operations in a controlled way.
The interview also points to a broader shift in embedded engineering: local and on-premises AI is becoming relevant for teams that cannot send code or design data to public cloud services. JetBrains is clearly leaning into that requirement, showing local AI running on NVIDIA hardware and discussing private deployment models for LLM-backed development. For regulated sectors and larger product teams, that makes the IDE part of a secure internal toolchain rather than a thin client to an external service.
What makes the booth discussion interesting is that it connects classic embedded pain points with current software trends. CLion is presented as a bridge between microcontroller and SoC projects, vendor ecosystems, RTOS-oriented work and newer AI-assisted flows, while keeping the core promise around productivity, code intelligence and debugging. Filmed at Embedded World 2026 in Nuremberg, the video captures how JetBrains is positioning embedded work alongside mainstream software development instead of treating it as a separate niche.
The result is a view of embedded development where the IDE becomes the integration layer for toolchains, frameworks, AI agents and secure deployment options. Rather than chasing a single board demo, JetBrains is making the case that teams at companies such as automotive and industrial OEMs need a stable, extensible workspace that can handle Zephyr, ESP-IDF, STM32-class projects, CMake-based builds, Rust support and agentic coding in the same place. That makes this less about one feature and more about how firmware teams may want to structure their workflow over the next few years.
All my Embedded World videos are in this playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7xXqJFxvYvjgUpdNMBkGzEWU6YVxR8Ga
