IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1 Help

Create and open memory snapshots

Heap dumps are useful for identifying memory-related problems. You can analyze the heap to find memory leaks and locate the code that uses large amounts of memory resources.

IntelliJ IDEA allows you to analyze .hprof snapshots regardless of whether they were taken in IntelliJ IDEA or any other external tool.

Take a memory snapshot

  • If the process is already running through the Run or Services tool window, click Profile the process | Capture Memory Snapshot.

    Profile the Process menu in the Run tool window
  • For arbitrary processes: in the Profiler tool window (View | Tool Windows | Profiler), right-click the process and select Capture Memory Snapshot.

    A menu appears on right-clicking a process in the Profiler tool window

    When the snapshot is captured, it opens for analysis right away.

The snapshot also appears under Recent snapshots. From there, you can view the recent snapshots or open other snapshots that are stored elsewhere on your hard drive.

By default, the snapshots are stored in the user home directory. If you prefer another location, you can change that.

Change the snapshots location

  1. Open the Profiler tool window.

  2. On the Home tab, click More, then select Change Snapshots' Folder.

    Change Snapshot Folder item in the More menu

If you are developing an IDE plugin, you may want to take a memory snapshot of IntelliJ IDEA itself.

Take a memory snapshot of the IDE

  • In the main menu, go to Help | Diagnostic Tools | Capture Memory Snapshot.

Last modified: 11 February 2024