How we’re improving performance of IntelliJ IDEA Kotlin plugin
summary
Renaming a private property triggers a text scan across ~1,500 files until scope is constrained, so the plugin changes APIs to require tight scopes; compiler reference index reduces candidate files and yields up to 5× speedups in examples. Highlighting moves to compiler-first, cutting per-file latency from ~5.5s to ~300ms for gutter icons, and semantic analysis caches remove repeated root-to-leaf walks. A DSL generates monster projects for synthetic tests, CI runs performance benchmarks continuously, and migration to the K2 compiler plus async API work reduces freezes.
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chapters (13)
- 0:00Performance perception
- 1:32IntelliJ platform context
- 2:13Common performance issues
- 3:22Refactoring bottlenecks
- 6:31Compiler reference index
- 10:07Benchmarking strategies
- 15:28Stability as performance
- 17:28Fixing UI freezes
- 19:26Java and Kotlin interop
- 25:35Optimizing IDE actions
- 27:50Compiler speed improvements
- 33:40Future Kotlin development
- 36:44Q&A session
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