[BUG] High memory consumption when running Claude Code in multiple IntelliJ projects

[smbpunt]

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

Description

Running Claude Code simultaneously in two different IntelliJ IDEA projects causes significant slowdowns and triggers the IDE memory warning: "The IDE is running low on memory and this might affect performance. Please consider increasing the heap size."

Environment

• OS: macOS 26.1 (25B78)
• Hardware: MacBook Pro M4
• IDE: IntelliJ IDEA 2025.2.5 (Ultimate Edition)
• Claude Code: 2.0.57

What Should Happen?

Claude Code should manage memory efficiently when running in multiple IDE instances without causing performance degradation or memory warnings.

Error Messages/Logs

The IDE is running low on memory and this might affect performance. Please consider increasing the heap size.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open two projects in separate IntelliJ windows
2. Start Claude Code in both
3. Use Claude Code in each project

Claude Model

Sonnet (default)

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

No response

Claude Code Version

2.0.57

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

IntelliJ IDEA terminal

Additional Information

No response

[github-actions[bot]]

Found 3 possible duplicate issues:

1. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/9658
2. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/8968
3. https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/12685

This issue will be automatically closed as a duplicate in 3 days.

• If your issue is a duplicate, please close it and 👍 the existing issue instead
• To prevent auto-closure, add a comment or 👎 this comment

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[hackyon-anthropic]

hey @smbpunt - is a recent regression for you? Are you able to reproduce the same high memory usage outside of the IDE?

[BaggioMarco]

I confirm the issue on windows as well. It is happening from some days. In my case happen with just one project opened and claude code running or ending operations. When it happens if I try to close claude code in intellij, a pop up window appear and tells:

"Process "Terminal Claude Code" is running. Do you want to terminate the process "terminal claude code"? Immediately when this window appear the CPU go to zero. If I close the window without terminating, the CPU will start to consume again between 80 and 100% resources.

I have 16GB ram and set the memory of intellij to 4096.

I get also the warning: The IDE is running low on memory and this might affect performance. Please consider increasing the heap size.

Here a further analysis I did, and the result is not good.

=============== ANALYSIS INFORMATION ============== Prepare files duration: 55.50 s Analysis duration: 4.616 min TOTAL DURATION: 5.546 min Temp files: heapdump = 7.32G id-mapping = 1.88G auxOffset = 472M aux = 1.98G parents = 472M sizes = 472M visited = 472M refIndex = 118M

Projects open: 1 Project 1: Module count: 1 Editors opened: 2. Counts by type:

• 1 com.intellij.openapi.fileEditor.impl.text.PsiAwareTextEditorImpl[com.jetbrains.python.PythonFileType]
• 1 com.intellij.openapi.fileEditor.impl.text.PsiAwareTextEditorImpl[com.intellij.openapi.fileTypes.PlainTextFileType]