IntelliJ IDEA high CPU usage and intermittent hanging
Answered
I am experiencing repeated high CPU usage and intermittent freezing while using IntelliJ IDEA in a Windows virtual desktop environment.
At times, IntelliJ becomes very slow or unresponsive and affects my work. The issue continues after the virtual desktop and security-related checks were completed.
Environment details:
- IntelliJ IDEA build: IU-252.27397.103
- Operating system: Windows
- GitHub Copilot, Gherkin and Cucumber for Java are installed
Attached the following files captured (idea.log and CPU profiling capture) while the issue was occurring:
2026_07_22_SGgb7KvmD8tFvUhJBsXEkc
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Hi there,
Based on the attached CPU snapshot, high CPU usage was caused by the Cucumber plugin.
The root cause is the same as in the known issue – https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-296675
Please update your IntelliJ IDEA to the 2026.2 version, which included some improvements (from the fixed issue https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-386128).
If you still have such problems with the Cucumber plugin in the 2026.2 version, please use the following workaround from IDEA-296675:
1. Open Settings in the IntelliJ IDEA
2. Disable features that trigger calculation of usages:
Let us know how it goes for you in the 2026.2 version of IntelliJ IDEA, thanks in advance.
Thank you! I disabled the 2 features (IDEA-296675) as recommended, and it resolved the high CPU usage and latency issues for me. I really appreciate your help!
Thanks for your feedback!
I'm glad to hear that.
You’re welcome to subscribe to the IDEA-296675 issue to get updates on its progress. See this article https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/articles/SUPPORT-A-1737 if you aren’t familiar with our bug tracking system.
Hi, The issue may be related to background indexing or one of the installed plugins. I'd suggest temporarily disabling GitHub Copilot and the Gherkin/Cucumber plugins to see if performance improves. If possible, share the idea.log and CPU profiling capture so the root cause can be identified more accurately.