OpenIDEA Launches: Rust Rebuild of IntelliJ with Faster Startup and Lower Memory
Open-source IDE OpenIDEA has launched, rebuilding the IntelliJ IDEA workflow using a native Rust core. Benchmarks demonstrate significant improvements in startup speed, memory footprint, and CPU efficiency compared to standard IntelliJ, supporting 60+ languages across macOS, Windows, and Linux.
Full Report
Contents2 sections
The IDE you know, rebuilt in Rust.
Download · Benchmark · Build · Discord
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/234dd54c-1255-4b3a-b35c-533d78d737c0
OpenIDEA brings the IntelliJ IDEA way of working — its keymap, its tool windows, its search-everything habits — to a native app with a Rust core.
Editor, code insight, debugger, Git, terminal, database and HTTP clients, for 60+ languages. Builds for macOS, Windows and Linux.
Benchmark
Opening freqtrade (Python, ~770 files) with warm caches, median of 5 runs:
| OpenIDEA | IntelliJ IDEA 2026.2.3 | |
|---|---|---|
| Window with the project | 0.9 s | 3.1 s |
| Ready (CPU settled) | 1.1 s | 13.2 s |
| Memory (USS, all processes) | 169 MB | 2011 MB |
| CPU time until ready | 2.4 s | 47.9 s |
| Idle CPU | 4 % of a core | 7 % of a core |
| Quit | 0.3 s | 5.9 s |
A release build of OpenIDEA from main and IDEA with default settings and plugins, on
Windows 11, 32-core AMD, 62 GB RAM.
IDEA analyses Python more deeply, so "ready" doesn't mean the same work on
both sides. Both are measured from the outside, the same way: see
perf/compare to run it on your machine and projects.
Build
pnpm install
pnpm tauri devRust 1.96, Node 22, pnpm and the Tauri prerequisites.
Native notebook execution tests are opt-in and need two distinct Python environments
with ipykernel installed:
OPENIDEA_TEST_PYTHON=/first/env/bin/python \
OPENIDEA_TEST_PYTHON_SECOND=/second/env/bin/python \
cargo test -p ide-notebook --test kernel_runtime -- --ignored --test-threads=1