IntelliJ IDEA #
IntelliJ IDEA – the Leading IDE for Professional Development in Java and Kotlin
Welcome to an overview of the most important fixes and usability improvements in IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3.
IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 ships over 1,000 bug fixes and over 300 performance fixes. We focused on performance, Java and Kotlin code intelligence, and the core workflows that matter for both classic and agentic development. User reports and data shared through automatic submission drive most of this work. Below is a recap of the most impactful updates.
Performance #
Freezes, CPU usage, and memory were the focus of this release. Many of these fixes came from freeze reports and profiling of real projects, and others came from your tickets.
Fewer UI freezes
We removed UI freezes in the places where they were reported most often. Among others, Spring Boot inlay hints, property highlighting, and JPA entity analysis no longer stall the editor. Tomcat, WildFly, and JBoss no longer read configuration files on the UI thread. The same goes for the debugger’s variable building, the Git Commit and Changes trees, Optimize Imports, and Java SDK setup.
Indexing, memory, and CPU
Indexing is lighter on large projects. We removed excessive index updates when a second project closes during indexing and made the workspace model copy files lazily.
Launching the IDE no longer starts WSL when you do not need it. The IDE also uses less memory. A code lens preview no longer keeps HiDPI images alive on the heap, and the JPA model no longer creates a new cache key on every lookup. Several leaks that kept closed projects in memory are fixed.
Project import
Importing large Maven and Gradle projects got optimization fixes. A deadlock during import on a remote development host is gone. A five-minute import of the Kotlin repository with Gradle 9.7 no longer spends most of its time processing errors after Gradle has finished.
Automatic error and freeze reporting
To find the problems that interrupt your work and fix them in order of impact, IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 sends error and UI freeze reports to JetBrains automatically. Reports contain technical data only. File paths, URLs, and usernames are removed before anything leaves your machine. You can turn reporting off in Settings | Appearance & Behavior | System Settings | Data Sharing.
Java #
JaCoCo is now the default coverage runner for new Java run configurations. It is the runner Gradle, Maven, CI systems, and SonarQube already use, so coverage numbers in the IDE match the ones in your pipeline.
The Unused declaration inspection now reports methods that are used only from test sources.
Quick fixes for the “might be null” inspection work on complex expressions, Rename stops suggesting the current name, and generic stream-to-list conversions no longer show a false compilation error.
Kotlin #
A new inspection warns when CancellationException is caught in suspending code and not rethrown, and offers a quick fix. Blocking calls are highlighted in suspend lambdas, and converting Java to Kotlin now turns @lombok.Data classes into data classes.
Spring #
There are hundreds of fixes for different aspects of Spring Framework support:
Profiles: Profile switching moved from an editor banner to a status bar widget, and the IDE finds more profiles, including test-scope ones. The empty popup and the stale widget icon are fixed.
Configuration properties: Find Usages on a ${…} placeholder first lists the key’s declaration and then all its usages. YAML placeholders resolve to keys with empty values. Editing config files no longer freezes the IDE.
Spring Data: Repository method completion is reworked: inherited methods come first, there is no wrong import, and Kotlin named queries are recognized.
Spring Cache: SpEL and meta-annotation handling is more accurate, with no false “missing cache name” warning for meta-annotations and Kotlin support in the cacheable components inspection.
Spring Modulith: allowedDependencies with String constants, additionalPackages, and @PackageInfo are read correctly, and violations are reported again.
Spring Debugger: About 20 fixes, mostly in bean presentation: FactoryBean<T> factories, init and destroy methods, and the security inlay.
Spring Web: Endpoint detection and URL references improved for Kotlin and Spring Boot 4, including companion-function routes and no false nullability warning for JSpecify parameters.
Spring Core and Spring Boot: 13 fixes, including Spring XML imports without a classpath prefix and from modules without the resource on their classpath, and import registration navigation for inner classes.
JPA and Hibernate: About 40 fixes, half of them performance problems. The JPA Console returns correct date values, @MapKeyJoinColumn resolves on @ManyToMany, and Generate DDL no longer loads forever.
Flyway and Liquibase: 22 fixes. Flyway Init and Diff work again, Liquibase validation errors are displayed, and Liquibase XML no longer causes high CPU use.
JPA Buddy: @OnDelete SQL generation works reliably, and the JPA Designer freeze and a slow Map To dialog are fixed.
Debugger #
HotSwap
The debugger now suggests HotSwap only where it can work. Some edits cannot be reloaded by the JVM, such as changes to a class structure, a method or field signature, or the inheritance. For these Java and Kotlin edits, the IDE offers a restart instead. Spring and other scenarios where re works differently keep the previous behavior.
Virtual threads and tests
The thread dump now includes virtual threads, mounted and unmounted, in a single dump. You can rerun tests that failed in @BeforeAll, and the Stream Debugger shows an inline hint when the debugger s at a stream chain.
Debugging in WSL
Debugging in WSL is more reliable. The debugger no longer blocks the application in WSL2 mirrored network mode, gets stuck while attaching, or disconnects after the first breakpoint. Gradle tests in WSL also no longer hang.
Build tools #
Maven and Gradle got many fixes. The most voted topic is Maven delegation.
With Delegate IDE build/run action to Maven enabled, every build, rebuild, and compile ran mvn install, which is usually not the desired behavior. And the presentation of the output was not the same as with the IntelliJ IDEA runner. We fixed both, and delegated builds now run the process-test-classes phase by default.
Running main() from the gutter now works with Gradle 9.7 Isolated Projects.
Scala #
Scala 3 and Twirl
The Scala plugin now supports Scala 3.10. Scala 3 code analysis is more accurate, with fewer false errors around overloaded extension methods and inferred collection types. Completion also distinguishes extension methods more clearly and shows fewer duplicate suggestions. We’ve rewritten Twirl support for Play Framework to make editing and refactoring templates more reliable. Parsing, completion, formatting, and Find Usages have all improved, and template renaming updates references more consistently.
sbt
sbt 2.x projects import more reliably, while build scripts show fewer false errors around .value and / expressions. We’ve also addressed slow imports with Scala 3.8 and a BSP import performance regression.
Debugger
Debugger fixes remove interruptions caused by UI freezes during expression completion and watch evaluation. Breakpoints now stop execution as expected in Future callbacks and for comprehensions inside Scala 3 top-level methods.
Compiler-based highlighting
Compiler-based highlighting now uses fewer resources by reusing diagnostics, combining file checks, and avoiding unnecessary compilation retries. BSP checks and diagnostics after edits or cancellation are more reliable, and the editor explains blocked highlighting with links to the errors responsible. Further fixes span Scala CLI scripts and shebang syntax, dependency completion, formatting and Scalafmt integration, and incremental compilation after macro changes. You can read more in this article.
Markdown #
Markdown received more fixes than almost any other area, so editing specifications and documentation is smoother. Absolute path links in the preview open the file, and a new setting, Strip trailing spaces in Markdown files on save, keeps whitespace out of your documents. GitHub wiki links and images embedded as base64 work in the preview. Breadcrumbs show the heading path, and you can exclude headings from a generated table of contents.
Terminal #
The terminal got the ghostty emulator, and over 40 fixes on top of it. Among others, working with tabs was reworked, multiline URLs and file paths are handled better and more reliably.
User interface #
New Plugin management UI
We’ve merged the Installed and Marketplace tabs into a single view, so one search box now finds plugins whether they’re already installed, bundled with the IDE, or available on JetBrains Marketplace. Results are grouped into clear Installed, Bundled, and Suggested sections that you can expand as needed, so you no longer have to switch tabs to find what you’re looking for.
The Plugins page also opens in its own window, which leaves more room for plugin descriptions, screenshots, and release notes. Simple on/off toggles and a less crowded layout give it a cleaner look.
Vertical tool window names and new layouts
The newly released Extended Tool Windows UI plugin adds vertical names beside tool window icons, keeping labels visible without taking extra width from the editor. You can also arrange tool window buttons in horizontal rows along the top or bottom edge and anchor tool windows in the upper-left or upper-right corners.
Reorder status bar widgets
Status bar widgets are now movable, and indentation settings, memory indicator, or inspection widget can sit where you look first. Drag widgets into your preferred order and hide the ones you don’t need. The IDE saves your layout between sessions.
Git #
Git worktrees
Git worktrees are the most requested fix of this release. Worktrees now work in multi-root projects, and you can also open a merge request in a separate worktree.
Stash and remote development
You can include untracked and ignored files when you stash. In remote development, Open Diff as Editor Tab now behaves as it does in a local IDE.
GitLab connections with OAuth
Connect your GitLab account to your JetBrains IDE by signing in through your browser, without creating and pasting a personal access token. OAuth works with GitLab.com and custom GitLab instances, and you can use the connected account for merge requests and Git operations over HTTPS.
Git SHA-256 repositories
JetBrains IDEs now handle the 64-character object IDs used in Git SHA-256 repositories. The fixes cover Git Log filtering and navigation, file history, interactive rebase, and commit-editing actions.
Other improvements #
SSH
JetBrains IDEs now use OpenSSH for SSH connections. This adds support for certificate-based authentication, hardware security tokens such as YubiKey, Kerberos SSPI, X11 forwarding, and ProxyJump, along with a broader range of SSH agents and wrappers.
Remote JSON schemas now [download without a VFS error](https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IJPL-173495).
[MCP server port is configurable](https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IJPL-207839) in settings.
That’s it #
That’s it for this overview. Let us know which fixes matter most to you and where you still see friction. Update to IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 and share your favorite updates with us on X, Bluesky, or LinkedIn.
Thank you for using IntelliJ IDEA!
Prev postWhere Did the Saved Bytes Go? Compact Object Headers in IntelliJ IDEA
What’s New in IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 Next post