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JetBrains IDEs consolidate WSL support to Native mode starting with 2026.2 release
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JetBrains is unifying WSL support across IntelliJ IDEA, WebStorm, and PhpStorm by adopting a single Native mode architecture starting with the 2026.2 release, replacing multiple previous approaches that led to inconsistent experiences.
Developers using JetBrains IDEs with WSL projects will get a more consistent and performant experience, as the previous fragmented approaches had significant trade-offs including broken symlink handling, Microsoft Defender scan delays, and degraded throughput from the 9P protocol.
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Starting with the 2026.2 release, JetBrains IDEs use a single Native mode where the IDE remains a Windows application while a small agent inside WSL handles files and processes.
The previous 9P-based approach suffered from limited symlink handling, Microsoft Defender on-access scan delays stretching reads by tens of seconds, and degraded throughput with many small files.
The WSLg approach of running the IDE as a Linux GUI application was rejected due to known rendering limitations and loss of control over the IDE experience compared to a Windows-native application.
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