Directory-based settings

Solution-level vs IDE-level settings

Preferences for Rider's front-end features, which are based on IntelliJ Platform, are saved in the directory-based format — in XML files in two specific places:

• Your IDE settings — such as IDE layout, preferred keymap, editor settings — are saved in your user profile (%APPDATA%\JetBrains\RiderXX on Windows, ~/.config/JetBrains/RiderXX on Linux, and ~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/RiderXX on macOS).

• Your solution-specific settings — for example, Version Control integration, code style preferences — are saved under .idea\.idea.[Solution_Name]\.idea (hidden on macOS) in the solution directory.

Solution-level settings

The solution-level settings are applied to the current solution only. These settings are stored together with other solution files in the .idea directory.

If your solution is under a version control system, it is recommended that you store XML files with solution-specific settings (the .idea folder inside the solution folder) under version control, the exception being workspace.xml, which stores user-specific settings.

You can refer to JetBrains.gitignore on GitHub to see what should be ignored.

Share project settings through VCS

Project settings are stored in the project directory as a set of XML files under the .idea folder. This folder contains both user-specific settings that shouldn't be placed under version control and project settings that are normally shared among developers working in a team, for example, the code style configuration.

When you place a project under version control, your personal settings are automatically ignored. JetBrains Rider moves workspace.xml — the file with your personal settings — to the list of ignored files to avoid conflicts with other developers' settings.

Configuration files are processed according to your choice. Once you modify the project settings, and a new configuration file is created, the IDE shows a notification at the bottom of the screen prompting you to select how you want to treat configuration files in this project:

• View files: view the list of created configuration files and select, which of them you want to place under version control. After that, the selected files will be scheduled for addition to VCS.

• Always Add: silently schedule all configuration files created in the .idea directory for addition to VCS (applies only to the current project).

• Don't Ask Again: never schedule configuration files for addition to VCS; they will have the unversioned status until you manually add them to VCS (applies only to the current project).

If you close the notification without selecting any option, it will appear again after a new configuration file is created. The new file will also go to the list that will be there until you select one of the options even if you restart the IDE.

IDE-level (global) settings

The IDE level (global) settings are applied to all newly created projects. The list of the IDE-level settings contains less options, but it enables you to change the editor settings, create custom scopes, configure inspections, set VCS-specific settings, and so on.

If you want to share the IDE settings between already existing solutions, you can use the Settings Repository or the IDE Settings Sync plugin. You can also export the settings to a ZIP archive and import them later to other IDE instances. However, note that the settings import may not work correctly if you already use the Settings Repository or the IDE Settings Sync plugins.

Restore the default IDE settings

To restore the JetBrains Rider default settings, remove the configuration directory idea.config.path when the IDE is not running.

For more information, see JetBrains Rider configuration directory.