MT4 IDE

I did not quite like Meta Editor, especially for MT4 version that lack support for AI and GitHub(better version control).
Anyone could suggest other alternative IDE(maybe VS code?).

Appreciate your input and guide for new workflow setup!

Regarding GitHub, although it's not the same, I installed Sourcetree and configured it to use the folder where my MT4 .mq4 reside, so it detected changes and it was easy for me to commit+push them into Bitbucket.

Did you find any other solution phrixusong?

I recommend using Visual Studio Code with MQL extensions and GitHub for version control; it’s a much smoother workflow, even though you’ll still rely on MetaEditor to compile in the background.

Solid point on the IDE limitations. Improving the dev environment is key to reducing errors in algorithmic trading. Would love to see more talk on how to bridge MT4 with more modern development tools. Thanks for starting this discussion!

As part of my MQL framework I developed a Bash script for compiling MQL files. It supports all MQL dialects (MQL4.0, MQL4.5 and MQL5.0) and turns the non-standard output of MetaEditor into the expected output of standard shell compilers, inclusive exit code and clickable error messages. It can easily be integrated into VS Code, or any other editor/IDE.

Requirements: A Linux compatible Bash shell. If you have Git-Bash installed you are good to go. It will not work in WSL1/2. Just run the Git-Bash from a regular Windows path.

I also use it as part of my CI workflow on GitHub to automatically compile everything in a CI environment.
Main documentation:

1. in the header of the script itself
2. help screen of the script: mqlc -h
3. in the config file

Script overview: rosasurfer/mt4-mql-framework/bin

The script itself: /bin/mqlc (click on the "Raw" button top right to download)

The config file: /bin/.mqlc.dist (click on the "Raw" button top right to download)

Its syntax is compatible with the standard MetaEditor command line syntax. Advanced call syntax in the CI workflow: /.github/workflows/compile-mql.yml#L75
As you can see there it's capable of batch-compiling whole directories, even with mixed MQL versions.

The script in the CI environment:

The script integrated into UltraEdit/UEStudio:


Tool configuration in UEStudio (VSCode will be similar):


Finally my own config file as a better example: