Where Does IntelliJ IDEA Store Settings and Plugins?
IntelliJ IDEA and JetBrains IDE config, plugins and caches folders on Windows, macOS and Linux.
Last updated
JetBrains IDEs keep settings, installed plugins and caches in versioned folders, one per IDE and release. The IDE picks them up automatically at startup.
Config and caches are separate directories. That split means you can wipe caches to fix indexing weirdness without losing keymaps or plugins.
Where IntelliJ IDEA stores this, by platform
%APPDATA%\JetBrains\IntelliJIdea[Version]
Config and plugins live here; caches sit in a sibling system folder under %LOCALAPPDATA%\JetBrains. Folder names include IDE and version.
~/Library/Application Support/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea[Version]
Caches live in ~/Library/Caches/JetBrains alongside this path. Use Go to Folder in Finder.
~/.config/JetBrains/IntelliJIdea[Version]
Caches live in ~/.cache/JetBrains. Same versioned naming as other platforms.
Frequently asked questions
How do I migrate IntelliJ settings to a new machine?
Copy the versioned config folder to the same location on the new machine with the IDE closed, matching major versions. The built-in Settings Sync plugin covers this without file copying for most people.
How do I clear IntelliJ caches manually?
Delete the system (caches) folder for your version while the IDE is closed. Config and plugins survive. A full reindex follows on next launch, so do this when you have a few minutes.
Notice an outdated path? Let us know.