Below are examples on how to start IDE from the command line on different OS. You should substitute the product name and version/build number in path according to your installation.

- Windows

- macOS

- Linux

Windows

For 2024.2+ IDE versions:

Click Windows start menu, type cmd.exe to find and open cmd app. To get additional debug logging for troubleshooting launcher issues, run command below first to set debug environment variables before starting the IDE:

set IJ_LAUNCHER_DEBUG=true

Run commands below to start IDE (replacing the IDE installation path, IDE name, and version number with your installed ones):

cd "C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 2024.2\bin"
.\idea64.exe

If you are using a different IDE, you need to use the corresponding command .\<IDE name>64.exe such as .\pycharm64.exe, .\goland64.exe, .\datagrip64.exe or another IDE file name to start it.

If you use Toolbox (see this article on how to find IDE path quickly):

cd "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate\bin"
.\idea64.exe

cd "C:\Program Files\JetBrains\IntelliJ IDEA 2023.3\bin"
.\idea.bat

cd "%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate\bin"
.\idea.bat

macOS

Open the Terminal app. To get additional debug logging for troubleshooting launcher issues, run command below first to set debug environment variables before starting the IDE:

export IJ_LAUNCHER_DEBUG=true
export IDEA_LAUNCHER_DEBUG=true

Run commands below to start IDE (replacing the IDE installation path and IDE name to your installed ones):

cd /Applications
./IntelliJ\ IDEA.app/Contents/MacOS/idea

If you are using a different IDE, you need to use the corresponding command ./<IDE app name>.app/Contents/MacOS/<IDE name> like ./GoLand.app/Contents/MacOS/goland, ./PyCharm.app/Contents/MacOS/pycharm to start it. Also, make sure you have added \ before each space character in path for escaping.

If you use Toolbox (see this article on how to quickly find IDE path):

cd ~/Applications
./IntelliJ\ IDEA\ Ultimate\ 2023.3.app/Contents/MacOS/idea

Linux

For 2024.2+ IDE versions:

Open a terminal app. To get additional debug logging for troubleshooting launcher issues, run command below first to set debug environment variables before starting the IDE:

export IJ_LAUNCHER_DEBUG=true

Run commands below to start IDE (replacing the installation path, IDE name and version number with your installed ones):

cd '~/Software/IntelliJ IDEA 2024.2/bin'
./idea

If you are using a different IDE, you need to use the corresponding command ./<IDE name> such as ./pycharm, ./goland, ./datagrip or another IDE file name to start it.

If you use Toolbox (see this article on how to quickly find IDE path):

cd ~/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps/intellij-idea-ultimate/bin
./idea

cd '~/Software/IntelliJ IDEA 2023.3/bin'
./idea.sh

cd ~/.local/share/JetBrains/Toolbox/apps/intellij-idea-ultimate/bin
./idea.sh

Start IntelliJ without opening any project

Add dontReopenProjects in the command line to not reopen projects and show the welcome screen. This can help if a project that was open crashes IntelliJ IDEA.