JetBrains shipped IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 on November 5, 2026. The release brings the Air agentic development layer, an extension that carries the IDE's Java and Kotlin intelligence into Cursor and VS Code, and new debugging tools.
It also adds support for Java 28 and for Jakarta Persistence 4 with Hibernate 8. JetBrains says the release contains more than 1,000 bug fixes and more than 300 performance fixes, so it is worth a look even if you ignore the headline features.
What is new in IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3
JetBrains groups the release into a few themes. The first is JetBrains Air, described as a new layer for agentic development. The second is an extension that brings IntelliJ IDEA's Java and Kotlin support to Cursor and VS Code.
The debugging work includes an ij-debugger agent skill, a Hibernate debugger and Spring Security diagnostics shown in HTTP responses. Spring cache support in the Spring Debugger is planned for the 2026.3.1 update. The release also lists a tool called AppGlass.
On the language side, the release supports Java 28, Jakarta Persistence 4 and Hibernate 8. It also includes Scala updates and Kotlin support for Spring Modulith. You can run quick tasks and edits without opening a project, and Git worktrees are supported for parallel work and code reviews.
Performance and stability fixes
The fixes post says the team focused on freezes, CPU use and memory. Spring Boot inlay hints, property highlighting and JPA entity analysis no longer stall the editor. Tomcat, WildFly and JBoss integrations no longer read configuration files on the UI thread.
The same applies to the debugger's variable building, the Git Commit and Changes trees, Optimize Imports and Java SDK setup. Indexing is lighter on large projects, and launching the IDE no longer starts WSL when you do not need it. Several leaks that kept closed projects in memory are fixed.
Large Maven and Gradle imports were also tuned. JetBrains reports that a five-minute import of the Kotlin repository with Gradle 9.7 no longer wastes most of its time on error processing after Gradle finishes. A deadlock during import on a remote development host is gone as well.
Java, Kotlin and Spring changes
For Java, JaCoCo is now the default coverage runner for new run configurations. It is the runner that Gradle, Maven, CI systems and SonarQube already use, so the numbers in the IDE should match your pipeline. The Unused declaration inspection now reports methods that only test sources use.
Kotlin gets a new inspection that warns when CancellationException is caught in suspending code and not rethrown, with a quick fix. Blocking calls are highlighted inside suspend lambdas. Converting Java to Kotlin now turns Lombok @Data classes into Kotlin data classes.
Spring support received hundreds of fixes. Profile switching moved from an editor banner to a status bar widget, and the IDE finds more profiles, including test-scope ones. Repository method completion in Spring Data was reworked, and JPA and Hibernate support got about 40 fixes, half of them performance related.
- Flyway and Liquibase: 22 fixes, including working Flyway Init and Diff and visible Liquibase validation errors.
- Spring Debugger: about 20 fixes, mostly in how beans are presented.
Debugger and build tool improvements
The debugger now suggests HotSwap only where the JVM can actually reload the change. Edits that alter a class structure, a method or field signature or the inheritance cannot be reloaded, so the IDE offers a restart instead. Spring and other setups where reloading works differently keep the old behavior.
Thread dumps now include virtual threads, both mounted and unmounted, in one dump. You can rerun tests that failed in @BeforeAll, and the Stream Debugger shows an inline hint when execution pauses at a stream chain. Debugging in WSL is also more reliable.
For Maven users, the most voted topic was delegation. With the delegate build option enabled, every build ran mvn install, which was rarely what developers wanted. Delegated builds now run the process-test-classes phase by default, and the output looks like the IntelliJ IDEA runner again.
Git, SSH and other workflow updates
Git worktrees were the most requested fix in this release. They now work in multi-root projects, and you can open a merge request in a separate worktree.
You can connect a GitLab account through the browser with OAuth instead of pasting a personal access token. This works with GitLab.com and custom GitLab instances. The IDEs also handle the 64-character object IDs used by Git SHA-256 repositories.
JetBrains IDEs now use OpenSSH for SSH connections. That adds certificate-based authentication, hardware tokens such as YubiKey, Kerberos SSPI, X11 forwarding and ProxyJump. The MCP server port is now configurable in settings.
What it means for developers
If you work on Spring Boot, Hibernate or large Gradle builds, the performance work is the most practical reason to upgrade. Fewer UI freezes and lighter indexing should be noticeable on big projects.
The Maven delegation change can alter what your delegated builds do, so check your build logs after updating. The same goes for coverage: if your pipeline already uses JaCoCo, new run configurations will now match it by default. Existing configurations may need a manual switch.
The automatic error and freeze reporting deserves attention in company environments. JetBrains says reports contain technical data only and that file paths, URLs and usernames are removed. You can turn reporting off under Settings, Appearance and Behavior, System Settings, Data Sharing.
If you query Oracle databases from Java code, the JPA and Hibernate fixes also help. For more on the database side, see our tutorial on Hibernate and JPA.
How to update
You can download the release from the JetBrains website or update from inside the IDE. The free Toolbox App and snap packages for Ubuntu work too.
Conclusion
IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 mixes new agent-focused tools with a large amount of everyday polish. Java 28 and Hibernate 8 support keep the IDE current with the ecosystem. The fixes for freezes, imports, worktrees and debugging will matter to most Java and Kotlin teams.
Sources
- What's New in IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 (JetBrains Blog)
- What's fixed in IntelliJ IDEA 2026.3 (JetBrains Blog)
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