IntelliJ IDEA can be used to develop software on top of YugabyteDB, a distributed SQL database that is compatible with PostgreSQL. To get started, install a 3-node YugabyteDB cluster on Google Kubernetes Platform using Helm 3, and then create a sample Northwind database. Configure IntelliJ to work with YugabyteDB by adding a PostgreSQL data source and setting the connection string. Test the integration by running a sample query and generating an EXPLAIN PLAN visualization. With this setup, developers can now develop against the Northwind database in IntelliJ.