How to troubleshoot HTTP status code 403 error when downloading plugins

Problem:

Users experience issues when attempting to download or update plugins within IntelliJ IDEA (or other JetBrains IDEs). The download process fails, reporting an HTTP status code 403 Forbidden, and an error message similar to the following in idea log.

PluginDownloader - Request failed with status code 403
com.intellij.util.io.HttpRequests$HttpStatusException: Request failed with status code 403

Cause:

This issue typically arises due to network restrictions or proxy configuration errors, which prevent the IDE from accessing the necessary plugin download URLs.

Possible solution

To resolve this issue, follow these steps:

1. Test plugin URLs: Attempt to access the plugin URLs via a web browser to check if the issue is reproducible outside the IDE. If the network returns a similar error, contacting the network administrator might be necessary.

2. Verify Proxy Settings: Ensure that the proxy settings in IntelliJ IDEA are correctly configured. Documentation on setting up proxies is available here.

3. IP Allowlist: Confirm that the network allows traffic to the IntelliJ IDEA plugin repository's IP addresses. Details can be found in the JetBrains support article Firewall or proxy allowlist for IntelliJ-based IDEs: required hosts and ports.

See also: IDE cannot update/download plugins due to firewall/VPN/network threat protection policy