Change the boot Java runtime of the IDE

Last modified: 23 April 2021

As a Java application, MPS includes JetBrains Runtime (based on OpenJDK 11), which is used by default. It is recommended to run MPS using JetBrains Runtime, which fixes various known OpenJDK and Oracle JDK bugs, and provides better performance and stability. However, in some cases you may be required to use another Java runtime or a specific version of JetBrains Runtime.

The path to the selected runtime is stored in the mps.jdk or mps64.jdk file in the MPS configuration directory. If there are problems with the selected runtime, you can delete this file to revert to the default runtime.

You can also override the runtime used for MPS by adding the MPS_JDK environment variable with the path to the desired JDK home directory.