Advanced configuration
Besides the standard options available the IDE settings, IntelliJ?IDEA enables you to perform low-level configuration of the underlying platform and the Java runtime.
IntelliJ?IDEA runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which has various options that control its performance. The default options used to run IntelliJ?IDEA are specified in the IDE installation directory:
<IDE_HOME>\bin\idea64.exe.vmoptions
IntelliJ?IDEA.app/Contents/bin/idea.vmoptions
<IDE_HOME>/bin/idea64.vmoptions
Configure JVM options
Do one of the following to create a copy of the default file with JVM options in the
configuration directory
that will override the original file:
Go to
.
If you do not have any project open, on the Welcome screen, click
Configure
and then
Edit Custom VM Options
.
If you cannot start IntelliJ?IDEA, manually copy the default file with JVM options to the IntelliJ?IDEA
configuration directory
.
If you do not have write access to the IntelliJ?IDEA configuration directory, you can add the
IDEA_VM_OPTIONS
environment variable to specify the location of the file with your preferred JVM options. This file will override both the original default file and the copy located in the IntelliJ?IDEA configuration directory.
Locate the JVM options file
If you are not sure where IntelliJ?IDEA is getting its JVM options, check the following:
The location specified by the
IDEA_VM_OPTIONS
environment variable. If the specified file exists, it will override all other JVM options files.
If the Toolbox App manages your current IntelliJ?IDEA instance, open the Toolbox App, click
next to the relevant IDE instance, and select
Settings
. Under
Configuration
, find
Java Virtual Machine options
and click
Edit
.
If you are running a standalone IntelliJ?IDEA instance, check the
configuration directory
.
If there are no JVM options files defined in the previous locations, IntelliJ?IDEA will use the
default JVM options file
. Do not modify it. Use it only to check what are the default options that IntelliJ?IDEA uses.
Common options
The default values of the JVM options should be optimal in most cases. The following are the most commonly modified ones:
Option
| Description
|
---|
-Xmx
| Limits the maximum memory heap size that the JVM can allocate for running IntelliJ?IDEA. The default value depends on the platform. If you are experiencing slowdowns, you may want to increase this value, for example, to set the value to 2048 megabytes, change this option to
-Xmx2048m
.
For more information, refer to
Increase the memory heap of the IDE
.
|
-Xms
| Specifies the initial memory allocated by the JVM for running IntelliJ?IDEA. The default value depends on the platform. It is usually set to about half of the maximum allowed memory (
-Xmx
), for example,
-Xms1024m
.
|
-XX:NewRatio
| Specifies the ratio between the size of the young and old generation of the heap. In most cases, a ratio between 2 and 4 is recommended. This will set the size of the young generation to be 1/2 to 1/4 of the old generation correspondingly, which is good when you are often working on one project and only a few files at a time. However, if you are constantly opening new files and switching between several projects, you may need to increase the young generation. In this case, try setting
-XX:NewRatio=1
, which will make the young generation as large as the old generation, allowing objects to remain in the young generation for longer.
|
For more information about the available JVM options, refer to the
java
command reference.
IntelliJ?IDEA enables you to customize various platform-specific properties, such as the path to user-installed plugins and the maximum supported file size. The default properties used to run IntelliJ?IDEA are specified in the IDE installation directory:
Do one of the following to create an empty
idea.properties
file in the
configuration directory
that will override the values from the original file:
Go to
.
If you do not have any project open, on the Welcome screen, click
Configure
and then select
Edit Custom Properties
.
If you cannot start IntelliJ?IDEA, manually create an empty
idea.properties
file in the IntelliJ?IDEA
configuration directory
.
If you do not have write access to the IntelliJ?IDEA configuration directory, you can add the
IDEA_PROPERTIES
environment variable to specify the location of the
idea.properties
file. The properties in this file will override the corresponding properties in both the original default file and the one located in the IntelliJ?IDEA configuration directory.
Users often change the location of the
default IDE directories
. For more information, refer to
Change the location of IDE directories
.
Limits that can affect performance:
Property
| Description
|
---|
idea.max.content.load.filesize
| Maximum size of files (in kilobytes) that IntelliJ?IDEA is able to open. Working with large files can affect editor performance and increase memory consumption. The default value is
20000
.
|
idea.max.intellisense.filesize
| Maximum size of files (in kilobytes) for which IntelliJ?IDEA provides coding assistance. Coding assistance for large files can affect editor performance and increase memory consumption. The default value is
2500
.
|
idea.cycle.buffer
| Maximum size of the console cyclic buffer (in kilobytes). If the console output size exceeds this value, the oldest lines are deleted. To disable the cyclic buffer, set
idea.cycle.buffer.size=disabled
.
|
idea.max.vcs.loaded.size.kb
| Maximum size (in kilobytes) that IntelliJ?IDEA loads for showing past file contents when
comparing changes
. The default value is
20480
.
|
IntelliJ?IDEA provides a number of other properties that define interaction with the environment (window managers, launchers, the file system, and so on). Most of them act like hidden settings (in the sense that they are not evidently exposed), which you may need to enable or disable in certain cases. Change these properties only if advised by
JetBrains Support
.
Last modified: 07 September 2023