[webstorm] What is the .idea folder?

When I create a project in JetBrains WebStorm, a folder called .idea gets created. Is it okay if I delete it? Will it affect my project?

This question is related to webstorm jetbrains-ide

The answer is


There is no problem in deleting this. It's not only the WebStorm IDE creating this file, but also PhpStorm and all other of JetBrains' IDEs.

It is safe to delete it but if your project is from GitLab or GitHub then you will see a warning.


As of year 2020, JetBrains suggests to commit the .idea folder.
The JetBrains IDEs (webstorm, intellij, android studio, pycharm, clion, etc.) automatically add that folder to your git repository (if there's one).
Inside the folder .idea, has been already created a .gitignore, updated by the IDE itself to avoid to commit user related settings that may contains privacy/password data.

It is safe (and usually useful) to commit the .idea folder.


It contains your local IntelliJ IDE configs. I recommend adding this folder to your .gitignore file:

# intellij configs
.idea/