This appears to be a regression from 6.x and may be related to the fact that CompileContext.getProgressIndicator() returns null when invoked via executeTask. java.lang.NullPointerException at com.intellij.compiler.progress.CompilerTask.d(CompilerTask.java:117) at com.intellij.compiler.progress.CompilerTask.addMessage(CompilerTask.java:115) at com.intellij.compiler.impl.CompileContextImpl.addMessage(CompileContextImpl.java:1) at com.intellij.compiler.impl.CompileContextImpl.addMessage(CompileContextImpl.java:38) [[ our code ]] at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl$2.run(ProgressManagerImpl.java:6) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.executeProcessUnderProgress(ProgressManagerImpl.java:52) at com.intellij.openapi.progress.impl.ProgressManagerImpl.runProcess(ProgressManagerImpl.java:39) at com.intellij.compiler.impl.CompileDriver$20.run(CompileDriver.java:5) at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl$5.run(ApplicationImpl.java:8) at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:441) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask$Sync.innerRun(FutureTask.java:303) at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:138) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:885) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:907) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619) at com.intellij.openapi.application.impl.ApplicationImpl$1$1.run(ApplicationImpl.java:3)