diff --git a/build.gradle b/build.gradle
index 785db7ec0c4..20976eff2bd 100644
--- a/build.gradle
+++ b/build.gradle
@@ -177,6 +177,12 @@ tasks.idea.doLast {
 if (System.getProperty('idea.active') != null && ideaMarker.exists() == false) {
   throw new GradleException('You must run gradle idea from the root of elasticsearch before importing into IntelliJ')
 }
+// add buildSrc itself as a groovy project
+task buildSrcIdea(type: GradleBuild) {
+  buildFile = 'buildSrc/build.gradle'
+  tasks = ['cleanIdea', 'ideaModule']
+}
+tasks.idea.dependsOn(buildSrcIdea)
 
 
 // eclipse configuration
diff --git a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy
index 271bc5e58be..c6edc87b9a7 100644
--- a/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy
+++ b/buildSrc/src/main/groovy/org/elasticsearch/gradle/test/StandaloneTestBasePlugin.groovy
@@ -39,9 +39,6 @@ class StandaloneTestBasePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
         BuildPlugin.globalBuildInfo(project)
         BuildPlugin.configureRepositories(project)
 
-        // remove some unnecessary tasks for a qa test
-        project.tasks.removeAll { it.name in ['assemble', 'buildDependents'] }
-
         // only setup tests to build
         project.sourceSets {
             test
@@ -56,6 +53,12 @@ class StandaloneTestBasePlugin implements Plugin<Project> {
                 plusConfigurations = [project.configurations.testRuntime]
             }
         }
+        project.idea {
+            module {
+                testSourceDirs += project.sourceSets.test.java.srcDirs
+                scopes['TEST'] = [plus: [project.configurations.testRuntime]]
+            }
+        }
         PrecommitTasks.configure(project)
     }
 }