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The Rust Version of Intellij IDEA Has Launched, and I'm Already Tried It

3 min read6 days ago

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I didn't expect it—or rather, why wouldn't I have expected it—the fire has spread so fast that it's now reached the most important IDE for developers, with even Intellij IDEA getting cloned

Nowadays, one of the ways to measure whether a Java programmer has gotten "old" is to see whether their computer's fan starts roaring like a helicopter taking off when they open a project

As someone who used to live and breathe the Java ecosystem for years, my feelings toward IDEA are truly complicated

It really does understand me—its shortcuts, its global search, its tool windows, they've basically become part of my muscle memory

But it's also really heavy

I've often fantasized: what if IDEA could be as lightning-fast as Zed

Now, that fantasy has actually come true

It's been completely overturned by an open-source project called OpenIDEA

▸ I stumbled upon this gem while browsing GitHub a few days ago

Its ambition is outrageous: perfectly replicate IDEA's workflow, including shortcuts, search, and buttons

To prove it's not all talk, the author released an extremely brutal set of benchmark comparisons

The author used the latest version, IDEA 2026.2.3

Opening the project window

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12+ years experience working in the IT field. Writer, write about Apple, Linux, AI, Open source projects and other relevant tech and productivity topics.