Products · Product
JetBrains IDEs
Raised as a usability problem by 232 people on Hacker News over 15 years (2012–2026), in 149 threads.
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Every issue, all time, most people first
IDE performance degrades over time, slowing workUnreviewed
20122026- IDE feels slow and heavy, and seems to get slower over time2026-10-06
- IDE gets stuck indexing when new worktrees are created and blocks branch checkout2026-09-22
- IDE is remarkably slow to load and feels sluggish on older hardware2026-05-18
Editor feels laggy while typing, worse than plain text editorsUnreviewed
20122026- Clunky and slow, not embedded in editors, hard to integrate with tools2026-10-06
- Editor became much slower after an update, making the commenter stop subscribing2025-09-28
- Editor gets out of sync when typing quickly, then rolls back typed text2025-05-27
Users find the interface confusing at first and abandon itUnreviewed
20122026- AI features forced into the IDE are an annoyance to the user2026-10-06
- A feature that makes the IDE unusable until it is turned off2026-05-18
- Redesigned IDE UI changes randomly, forcing users to relearn the software to keep working2025-10-01
Separate IDEs per language are annoying for multi-language projectsUnreviewed
20122026- Separate IDEs per language are annoying for multi-language projects2025-10-29
- Switching between separate IDEs per language is annoying and causes friction2025-05-22
- Must launch a separate IDE for each language or use case2025-04-30
Cannot turn off AI assistant; it reappears after updatesUnreviewed
20122026- AI assistant is hard to turn off and keeps turning itself back on2026-05-18
- Cannot turn off the AI assistant and it keeps reappearing after updates2024-02-03
- AI assistant shows prominently at first start and is hard to get rid of2024-02-03
Indexing is slow and fully reruns after a clean reinstallUnreviewed
20122026- Repeated re-indexing with no UI or log explaining why it happens2026-05-18
- Slow to start, re-indexing repeatedly before the user can type2023-08-30
- Indexing is slow and reruns fully after a clean reinstall, disrupting work2022-10-18
Frequent UI overhauls force users to relearn the interfaceUnreviewed
20122026- Frequent UI overhauls force users to relearn a changed interface2026-10-29
- Each update resets the familiar tool-packed interface to a minimal look, requiring a plugin to restore2026-05-21
- Old interface option is buried deep in menus, hard to find2022-10-18
Redesigned interface depends on memorising keyboard shortcutsUnreviewed
20122026- Default keyboard shortcuts are difficult and unintuitive, requiring manual remapping2025-05-07
- Redesigned interface is hard to like and depends on memorizing keyboard shortcuts2024-03-28
- Missing shortcuts for basic actions makes the interface arcane and slower to use2022-10-18
Autocomplete is distracting; manual workflows for unsupported tasks are tediousUnreviewed
20122026- AI autocomplete replaces better heuristic suggestions with made-up properties, no easy switch back2025-12-04
- Autocomplete popup freezes the IDE, and killing it loses data2025-02-12
- Autocomplete is aggravatingly distracting; manual workflows for unsupported tasks are tedious.2023-07-14
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Frequent UI overhauls force users to relearn a changed interface2026-10-29
- Font picker won't let user choose several fixed-width fonts or set weights2026-10-27
- Project list duplicates every worktree and reopening asks which project to open again2026-10-25
- Installer gives confusing, contradictory guidance about which platforms the local model supports2026-10-18
- AI features forced into the IDE are an annoyance to the user2026-10-06
- Clunky and slow, not embedded in editors, hard to integrate with tools2026-10-06
- IDE feels slow and heavy, and seems to get slower over time2026-10-06
- Too many AI features scattered around with unclear explanation; suggestions flash everywhere and are distracting2026-09-22
- Can't find how to switch modes without it defaulting to Junie or Claude2026-09-22
- Codex auth fails in IntelliJ; must log in separately despite CLI login2026-09-22
- Model selection resets to a free API service on every click, with no way to change the default2026-09-22
- IDE gets stuck indexing when new worktrees are created and blocks branch checkout2026-09-22
- New UI forced on users; Classic UI plugin lags, breaking familiar workflow2026-08-03
- Each update resets the familiar tool-packed interface to a minimal look, requiring a plugin to restore2026-05-21
- IDE search box often doesn't work or gives misleading results2026-05-19
- UI loads in separate blocks, so users can't tell if it's ready to work2026-05-19
- IDE is remarkably slow to load and feels sluggish on older hardware2026-05-18
- AI sidebar keeps reappearing and must be removed every few days2026-05-18
- Holding the right arrow key lags badly in the newer version2026-05-18
- IDEs are clunky and heavy on resources, slowing the user down2026-05-18
- IDE gets stuck in long slow loops updating package skeletons and becomes unresponsive2026-05-18
- Updates shuffle UI elements the user had memorized, forcing relearning2026-05-18
- Repeated re-indexing with no UI or log explaining why it happens2026-05-18
- Monochrome icons are hard to tell apart, forcing users to guess what they mean2026-05-18
- IDE user interface is sluggish and unresponsive2026-05-18
- AI assistant is hard to turn off and keeps turning itself back on2026-05-18
- A feature that makes the IDE unusable until it is turned off2026-05-18
- IDE hangs or takes too long to respond on laptop2026-04-29
- Receives upsell and plugin notification popups inside a developer tool, causing distraction2026-04-07
- Unlabeled buttons and cluttered, undifferentiated interface make needed features hard to find2025-12-14
- Simple actions like search take minutes, getting slower every year2025-12-09
- Latest IDE version is slow to open and lags on typing and cursor movement2025-12-09
- IDE performance seems to be degrading over time, making it slower to use2025-12-09
- Assistant ignores provided MCP tools like context7 and memory unless explicitly told to use them2025-12-05
- AI autocomplete replaces better heuristic suggestions with made-up properties, no easy switch back2025-12-04
- 2025 versions are bordering on unusable2025-12-03
- Key presses give different outcomes depending on timing of asynchronous UI updates2025-11-06
- Separate IDEs per language are annoying for multi-language projects2025-10-29
- Redesigns just rearrange items and add whitespace, adding no usability benefit2025-10-02
- Redesigned IDE UI changes randomly, forcing users to relearn the software to keep working2025-10-01
- Forced new UI update was hard to adjust to and drew heavy negative feedback2025-10-01
- Editor became much slower after an update, making the commenter stop subscribing2025-09-28
- IDE UI feels laggy and the application takes forever to start2025-09-23
- JetBrains tools are inaccessible to a blind user, unlike VS Code2025-09-16
- Took 10 minutes to figure out how to open the AI chat window2025-08-30
- Local LLM setup gave no diff capability, forcing slow full-document replaces; tool calls unreliable2025-08-25
- Default 5k line scrollback in PyCharm's terminal is awkward, and the plugin doesn't feel integrated2025-07-11
- Having to juggle multiple editors open and switch between JetBrains and Cursor2025-06-23
- Editor gets out of sync when typing quickly, then rolls back typed text2025-05-27
- Switching between separate IDEs per language is annoying and causes friction2025-05-22