Hey devs!
As a JetBrains partner, we at Dragonsoft are excited to share what’s packed into the new IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 release.
If you've ever dealt with annoying UI freezes or terminal focus issues, this update is for you. JetBrains crushed over 1,000 bugs!
Here is a quick breakdown of what they changed:
Performance
JetBrains continues to prioritize reliability, working to improve application performance, fix freezes, optimize operations, and cover the most common use cases with metrics. Using their internal tools, the development team identified and resolved 40 specific scenarios that caused UI freezes.
However, internal tooling alone cannot uncover every issue. To identify additional cases, JetBrains enabled automatic error and freeze reporting in EAP builds. By collecting this data, JetBrains gains a real, unfiltered picture of what’s going wrong, how often it happens, and how many users are affected. This allows JetBrains to prioritize fixes based on real impact rather than guesswork.
As always, JetBrains prioritize your privacy and security. When using EAP builds, you maintain full control and can disable automatic error and freeze reporting in Settings | Appearance & Behavior | System Settings | Data Sharing.
Terminal
Version 2026.1 enhances your productivity by streamlining the experience offered by the terminal, a crucial workspace for developer workflows involving CLI-based AI agents.
First, this release fixed the Esc behavior – it is now handled by the shell instead of switching focus to the editor, so it does not break the AI-agent workflow. Additionally, Shift+Enter now inserts a new line, making it easier to write multi-line prompts and commands directly. This behavior can be disabled in Settings | Advanced Settings | Terminal
The update also improved the detection of absolute and relative file paths in terminal output, allowing you to open files and folders with a single click in any context. When you encounter compilation or build errors, or submit a task to an AI coding agent, you can jump directly to the referenced file and review or fix issues faster.
Link navigation is activated by holding Ctrl (or Cmd on macOS) and clicking – just like in external terminals.
JVM language support
Better Kotlin bean registration support
Kotlin’s strong DSL capabilities are a perfect fit for Spring Framework 7’s BeanRegistrar API. In 2026.1, JetBrains has made working with programmatic registration as productive as annotation-based configuration.
The IDE ensures complete visibility into your application structure thanks to the Structure tool window, providing better endpoint visibility, intuitive navigation with gutter icons, integrated HTTP request generation, and path variable support.
New Kotlin coroutine inspections
To help maintain code quality, the new release has introduced a set of new inspections for the Kotlin coroutines library, covering common pitfalls.
Scala
Working with sbt projects inside WSL and Docker containers is now as smooth as working with local projects. They have also improved code highlighting performance and sped up sbt project synchronization.
To reduce cognitive load and provide a more ergonomic UI, the new release has redesigned the Scala code highlighting settings. A new Settings page consolidates previously scattered options, making them cleaner, more intuitive, and easier to access.
You can now disable built-in inspections when compiler highlighting is sufficient, or configure compilation delay for compiler-based highlighting. Settings for Scala 2 and Scala 3 projects are now independent, and the type-aware highlighting option has been integrated with the rest of the settings.
Spring
Spring support remains a core focus for IntelliJ IDEA. JetBrains is committed to maximizing reliability and reducing friction in your daily development.
This release made a dedicated effort to address issues related to running Spring Boot application from the IDE. There are now even fewer reasons to run your application in the terminal – just run it in the IDE and use the debugger when you need deeper insights.
Spring Boot 4 API versioning support
This is a new Spring Boot feature, and JetBrains keeps improving its support based on your feedback. In this version, JetBrains added .yml files support for version configuration, fixed false positives and added a couple of useful inspections, so you get an instant feedback about issues without running the app.
Flyway DB Migrations
To ensure a reliable and distraction-free experience, the IDE now verifies migration scripts only when a data source is active, eliminating false-positive errors when the data source is disconnected.
At the same time, Flyway scripts got correct navigation to the table definitions, and SQL autocompletion for any files and tables defined in them.
User interface
With IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1, JetBrains has continued to prioritize ultimate comfort and an ergonomic UI, ensuring your workspace is as accessible and customizable as your code.
The long-awaited ability to sync the IDE theme with the OS is now available to Linux users, bringing parity with macOS and Windows. Enable it in Settings |Appearance & Behavior | Appearance.
The code editor now supports OpenType stylistic sets. Enjoy more expressive typography with your favorite fonts while coding. Configure them via Editor |Font, and preview glyph changes instantly with a helpful tooltip before applying a set.
Windows users who rely on the keyboard can now bring the IDE’s main menu into focus by pressing the Alt key. This change improves accessibility for screen reader users.
Version control
JetBrains continues to make small but impactful improvements that reduce friction and support your everyday workflow.
You can now [coming in 2026.1.1 update] amend any recent commit directly from the Commit tool window – no more ceremonies involving interactive rebase. Simply select the target commit and the necessary changes, then confirm them – the IDE will take care of the rest.
In addition to Git worktrees, the IDE has improved branch workflows by introducing the Checkout & Update action, which pulls all remote changes.
Furthermore, fetching changes can now be automated – no need for a separate plugin. Enable Fetch remote changes automatically in Settings | Git.
In-IDE reviews for GitLab merge requests now offer near feature parity with the web interface. Multi-line comments, comment navigation, image uploads, and assignee selection when creating a merge request are all available directly in the IDE, so you can stay focused without switching to the browser.
The Subversion, Mercurial, and Perforce plugins are no longer bundled with the IDE distribution, but you can still install them from JetBrains Marketplace.
Databases
JetBrains has enhanced the Explain Plan workflow with UI optimizations for the Query Plan tab, an additional separate pane for details about the execution plan row, inner tabs that hold flame graphs, and an action to copy the query plan in the database’s native format.
JetBrains daemon
IntelliJ IDEA 2026.1 includes a lightweight background service – jetbrainsd – that handles jetbrains:// protocol links from documentation, learning resources, and external tools, opening them directly in your IDE without requiring you to have the Toolbox App running.
Sunsetting of Code With Me
As of version 2026.1, Code With Me will be unbundled from all JetBrains IDEs and will instead be available as a separate plugin on JetBrains Marketplace. Version 2026.1 will be the last IDE release to officially support Code With Me as JetBrains gradually sunset the service.
Enhanced AI management and analytics for organizations
JetBrains is working hard to provide development teams with centralized control over AI and built-in analytics to understand adoption, usage, and cost. As part of the effort, JetBrains has introduced the JetBrains Console. It adds visibility into how your teams use AI in practice, including information about active users, credit consumption, and acceptance rates for AI-generated code.
The JetBrains Console is available to all organizations with a JetBrains AI subscription, providing the trust and visibility required to manage professional-grade development at any scale.
What’s your favorite new feature? Let us know in the comments! (And hit up Dragonsoft if your team needs enterprise licenses!)
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