IntelliJ says the AWS plugin is incompatible — why, and what to do

Updated 17 August 2026

You updated your IDE and an AWS plugin is greyed out, marked incompatible, or silently gone. This is one of the most searched IntelliJ + AWS problems, and it is almost never your configuration.

What actually causes it

Every JetBrains plugin declares which IDE builds it supports, in a field called untilBuild. If a plugin declares an upper limit — for example 262.8665.* — then the day your IDE moves past that build, the IDE disables the plugin. Nothing is broken; the plugin simply told the IDE not to load it.

That is why the failure always lands on update day, and why reinstalling does not help.

Check it in 30 seconds

1. Note your IDE build: Help → About (the number like 252.23892.409).
2. Open the plugin's page on JetBrains Marketplace → Versions.
3. Look at the compatibility range of the newest version.

If the range ends below your build, the plugin is pinned. If the range is open-ended, your problem is something else — see the other guides below.

Options that work

• Wait for the vendor. Large vendors usually ship a compatibility bump, but the gap can be weeks. Check the plugin's Versions tab for how often it has shipped.
• Roll back the IDE. The Toolbox App keeps previous versions. This works, but you give up the IDE update you wanted.
• Use a plugin that does not pin an upper build. A plugin with no untilBuild limit is not switched off by an IDE update.

What does not work: disabling "compatibility checks", editing the plugin ZIP, or installing from a random mirror. Those either do nothing or leave you running code that was never verified against your IDE.

How to avoid it next time

Before installing an AWS plugin, open its Versions tab and check two things: whether the compatibility range is open-ended, and whether releases are verified against multiple IDE versions. Both are visible on the marketplace page before you install.