Indent Guide Highlighting#

Rainbow Brackets augments IntelliJ-based IDEs' native indent guide lines with colorized, context-aware highlighting. The feature is configured via indentGuidesOptions in the plugin settings 1 and supports four distinct modes 2:

How "Only Selected Indent Guide" Works#

The default free mode (indentGuidesOptions="Only selected indent guide") selects an indent guide only when the caret is in the same column as that guide 1. This differs from stock IDE behavior (e.g., RustRover), which also selects a guide when the caret is on the same row as a bracket that owns that guide — even if the caret is not at the guide's column 1.

Known behavioral difference (issue #2897): A reported mismatch (open as of 2026-10-02) shows that placing the caret on a bracket's row in Rainbow Brackets does not highlight that bracket's indent guide unless the caret column aligns exactly with the guide. The stock IDE highlights the guide in this situation. The relevant setting is indentGuidesOptions, stored in the plugin's XML config 1.

Configuration#

The setting is stored in the plugin's XML settings block under <option name="indentGuidesOptions" value="..." /> 1. Related settings that interact with indent guide display:

• showRainbowIndentGuides — master toggle for rainbow indent guide display 1
• indentGuideLineHighlightingStrength — controls highlight intensity (0.0–1.0) 1
• customIndentGuides — enables custom indent guide rendering 1
• disableRainbowIndentsInZenMode — suppresses rainbow indent guides in Zen Mode 1
• suppressAdvancedIndentGuidesBanner — hides the upgrade prompt for premium indent guide modes 1

References#

• README — Indent highlighting section: Visual screenshots of all four modes with settings panel screenshot.
• Issue #2897: Open report on the caret-column vs. caret-row selection discrepancy 1.
• Features Matrix: Shows which languages support indent guide highlighting (free + premium).