diff --git a/build.gradle.kts b/build.gradle.kts
index e8315eaeeff..41e8ca68995 100644
--- a/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/build.gradle.kts
@@ -104,6 +104,7 @@ extra["JDK_17"] = jdkPath("1.7")
 extra["JDK_18"] = jdkPath("1.8")
 extra["JDK_9"] = jdkPathIfFound("9")
 
+extra["versions.intellij"] = "IC-172.4343.14"
 extra["versions.protobuf-java"] = "2.6.1"
 extra["versions.javax.inject"] = "1"
 extra["versions.jsr305"] = "1.3.9"
@@ -117,6 +118,21 @@ extra["versions.android"] = "2.3.1"
 extra["ideaCoreSdkJars"] = arrayOf("annotations", "asm-all", "guava", "intellij-core", "jdom", "jna", "log4j", "picocontainer",
                                    "snappy-in-java", "streamex", "trove4j", "xpp3-1.1.4-min", "xstream")
 
+// the former "ideaSdk/core" dir contents without intellij-core.jar
+extra["ideaSdkIntellijCoreDependencies"] =
+        listOf("annotations.jar",
+               "asm-all.jar",
+               "guava-*.jar",
+               "jdom.jar",
+               "jna.jar",
+               "log4j.jar",
+               "picocontainer.jar",
+               "snappy-in-java-*.jar",
+               "streamex-*.jar",
+               "trove4j.jar",
+               "xpp3-1.1.4-min.jar",
+               "xstream-*.jar")
+
 extra["compilerModules"] = arrayOf(
         ":compiler:util",
         ":compiler:container",
diff --git a/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts b/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts
index 4672c1e5dae..b5fb46abda8 100644
--- a/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/buildSrc/build.gradle.kts
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ buildscript {
     val buildSrcKotlinVersion: String by extra(findProperty("buildSrc.kotlin.version")?.toString() ?: embeddedKotlinVersion)
     val buildSrcKotlinRepo: String? by extra(findProperty("buildSrc.kotlin.repo") as String?)
     extra["versions.shadow"] = "2.0.1"
+    extra["versions.intellij-plugin"] = "0.3.0-SNAPSHOT"
 
     repositories {
         buildSrcKotlinRepo?.let {
@@ -34,7 +35,8 @@ repositories {
         maven(url = it)
     }
     maven(url = "https://dl.bintray.com/kotlin/kotlin-dev") // for dex-method-list
-//    maven { setUrl("https://repo.gradle.org/gradle/libs-releases-local") }
+    maven(url = "https://oss.sonatype.org/content/repositories/snapshots/") // for intellij plugin
+    maven(url = "http://dl.bintray.com/jetbrains/intellij-plugin-service") // for intellij plugin
     jcenter()
 }
 
@@ -46,6 +48,7 @@ dependencies {
 //    compile("org.jetbrains.kotlin:kotlin-gradle-plugin:${rootProject.extra["bootstrap_kotlin_version"]}")
     compile("com.github.jengelman.gradle.plugins:shadow:${property("versions.shadow")}")
     compile("org.ow2.asm:asm-all:6.0_BETA")
+    compile("org.jetbrains.intellij.plugins:gradle-intellij-plugin:${property("versions.intellij-plugin")}")
 }
 
 samWithReceiver {
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/dependencies.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/dependencies.kt
index 02b4d173f15..49112c9ec1e 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/dependencies.kt
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/dependencies.kt
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ fun DependencyHandler.protobufFull(): ProjectDependency =
         project(protobufLiteProject, configuration = "relocated").apply { isTransitive = false }
 val protobufFullTask = "$protobufLiteProject:prepare-relocated-protobuf"
 
-private fun File.matchMaybeVersionedArtifact(baseName: String) = name.matches(baseName.toMaybeVersionedJarRegex())
+fun File.matchMaybeVersionedArtifact(baseName: String) = name.matches(baseName.toMaybeVersionedJarRegex())
 
 private val wildcardsRe = """[^*?]+|(\*)|(\?)""".toRegex()
 
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/intellijPluginHelpers.kt b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/intellijPluginHelpers.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..61e174e8aae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/kotlin/intellijPluginHelpers.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+@file:Suppress("unused") // usages in build scripts are not tracked properly
+
+import org.gradle.api.GradleException
+import org.gradle.api.Project
+import org.gradle.api.file.ConfigurableFileCollection
+import org.gradle.api.file.FileTree
+import org.gradle.api.tasks.util.PatternFilterable
+import org.gradle.kotlin.dsl.configure
+import org.gradle.kotlin.dsl.extra
+import org.gradle.kotlin.dsl.the
+import org.jetbrains.intellij.IntelliJPluginExtension
+import org.jetbrains.intellij.dependency.PluginDependency
+
+fun Project.configureIntellijPlugin(body: (IntelliJPluginExtension.() -> Unit) = {}) {
+
+    plugins.apply("org.jetbrains.intellij")
+
+    configure<IntelliJPluginExtension> {
+        version = rootProject.extra["versions.intellij"] as String
+        instrumentCode = false
+        configureDefaultDependencies = false
+        body()
+    }
+
+    val intellijTasks = listOf("patchPluginXml", "prepareSandbox", "prepareTestingSandbox",
+                               "verifyPlugin", "runIde", "buildPlugin", "publishPlugin")
+    intellijTasks.forEach {
+        tasks.findByName(it)?.also { it.onlyIf { false }; tasks.remove(it) }
+        ?: logger.warn("intellij task $it not found")
+    }
+    configurations.findByName("archives")?.artifacts?.clear()
+}
+
+// reimplementation of helpers from intellij plugin, since it is not convenient to use gradle closures from kotlin build scripts
+
+fun Project.intellij(filter: (PatternFilterable.() -> Unit) = {}): FileTree {
+    val jars = the<IntelliJPluginExtension>().ideaDependency?.jarFiles?.takeIf { it.isNotEmpty() }
+               ?: throw GradleException("intellij is not (yet) configured. Please note that you should configure intellij dependencies in the afterEvaluate block")
+    return files(jars).asFileTree.matching {
+        exclude("**/kotlin-*.jar")
+    }.matching(filter)
+}
+
+fun Project.intellijPlugins(vararg pluginNames: String): ConfigurableFileCollection {
+    val selectedPlugins = arrayListOf<PluginDependency>()
+    val invalidPlugins = arrayListOf<String>()
+    for (pluginName in pluginNames) {
+        val plugin = the<IntelliJPluginExtension>().pluginDependencies.find { it.id == pluginName }
+        if (plugin == null || plugin.jarFiles.isEmpty()) {
+            invalidPlugins.add(pluginName)
+        }
+        else {
+            selectedPlugins.add(plugin)
+        }
+    }
+    if (invalidPlugins.isNotEmpty()) {
+        throw GradleException("intellij plugins $invalidPlugins are not (yet) configured or not found. Please note that you should specify plugins in the intellij.plugins property and configure dependencies to them in the afterEvaluate block")
+    }
+    return project.files(selectedPlugins.map { it.jarFiles })
+}
+
+fun Project.intellijPlugin(pluginName: String, filter: (PatternFilterable.() -> Unit) = {}): FileTree {
+    val pluginDep = the<IntelliJPluginExtension>().pluginDependencies.find { it.id == pluginName }?.takeIf { it.jarFiles.isNotEmpty() }
+                    ?: throw GradleException("intellij plugin '$pluginName' is not (yet) configured or not found. Please note that you should specify plugins in the intellij.plugins property and configure dependencies to them in the afterEvaluate block")
+    return project.files(pluginDep.jarFiles).asFileTree.matching(filter)
+}
+
+fun Project.intellijExtra(extraName: String, filter: (PatternFilterable.() -> Unit) = {}): FileTree {
+    val extraDep = the<IntelliJPluginExtension>().ideaDependency?.extraDependencies?.find { it.name == extraName }?.takeIf { it.jarFiles.isNotEmpty() }
+                   ?: throw GradleException("intellij extra artifact '$extraName' is not (yet) configured or not found. Please note that you should specify extra dependencies in the intellij.extraDependencies property and configure dependencies to them in the afterEvaluate block")
+    return project.files(extraDep.jarFiles).asFileTree.matching(filter)
+}
+
+// frequent combinations
+
+fun Project.intellijCoreJar() = intellijExtra("intellij-core") { include("intellij-core.jar") }
+fun Project.intellijCoreJarDependencies(filter: (PatternFilterable.() -> Unit) = {}): FileTree =
+        intellij {
+            include(rootProject.extra["IntellijCoreDependencies"] as List<String>)
+        }
+        .matching(filter)
diff --git a/compiler/util/build.gradle.kts b/compiler/util/build.gradle.kts
index fca6189bf17..30b9b10304a 100644
--- a/compiler/util/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/compiler/util/build.gradle.kts
@@ -3,10 +3,21 @@ apply { plugin("kotlin") }
 
 jvmTarget = "1.6"
 
+configureIntellijPlugin {
+    setExtraDependencies("intellij-core", "jps-standalone")
+}
+
 dependencies {
     compile(projectDist(":kotlin-stdlib"))
     compile(project(":core:deserialization"))
-    compile(ideaSdkCoreDeps(*(rootProject.extra["ideaCoreSdkJars"] as Array<String>)))
+}
+
+afterEvaluate {
+    dependencies {
+        compile(intellijCoreJar())
+        compile(intellijCoreJarDependencies())
+        compile(intellijExtra("jps-standalone") { include("jps-model.jar") })
+    }
 }
 
 sourceSets {
diff --git a/gradle/project-schema.json b/gradle/project-schema.json
index 8c57b991b4e..b5e9edab32a 100644
--- a/gradle/project-schema.json
+++ b/gradle/project-schema.json
@@ -3002,6 +3002,8 @@
             "compileClasspath",
             "compileOnly",
             "default",
+            "idea",
+            "ideaPlugins",
             "implementation",
             "kapt",
             "kaptTest",
@@ -3022,7 +3024,8 @@
             "kotlin": "org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.dsl.KotlinJvmProjectExtension",
             "kapt": "org.jetbrains.kotlin.gradle.plugin.KaptExtension",
             "defaultArtifacts": "org.gradle.api.internal.plugins.DefaultArtifactPublicationSet",
-            "reporting": "org.gradle.api.reporting.ReportingExtension"
+            "reporting": "org.gradle.api.reporting.ReportingExtension",
+            "intellij": "org.jetbrains.intellij.IntelliJPluginExtension"
         }
     },
     ":core:builtins": {