Why does IDEA report errors for build.sbt in a new sbt project?

I was also getting highlighted errors in all of the build.sbt file. What fixed it was to select to Download "Sources for SBT and plugins" in the Import Project from SBT window.

In case IntelliJ IDEA struggles a bit with caching, try the first and if still not working the second should definitely do the trick:

• File -> Invalidate cache and restart
• Close IDEA, delete .idea, re-import your project

Please, check if you added the “scala-library*.jar” to Scala compiler library

This link might be helpful:

http://blog.jetbrains.com/scala/2010/09/02/project-configuration-explained/

If you are using windows or linux, please also see:

http://confluence.jetbrains.com/display/SCA/Setting+up+Scala+plugin+project+in+IntelliJ+IDEA