Description

The IntelliJ plugin currently creates new Gson instances repeatedly throughout the codebase. This pattern is an anti-pattern for heavy objects in IntelliJ plugin development and causes unnecessary performance overhead:

• Memory waste: Each Gson instance requires significant memory allocation due to reflection-based type adapter initialization
• GC pressure: Short-lived Gson objects increase garbage collection frequency
• CPU overhead: Repeated reflection operations on every instantiation
• Against IntelliJ best practices: Heavy objects should follow the Light Service pattern

Current State

Common problematic patterns in our Kotlin codebase:

• Config file parsing: Gson() created per file read
• Message handling: Gson() created per IDE ↔ Core communication
• JCEF bridge: Gson() created per React ↔ Kotlin message exchange
• State persistence: Gson() created for each save/load operation

Proposed Solution

Implement JsonService as an IntelliJ Light Service following platform best practices:

1. Create application-scoped singleton service with @Service(Service.Level.APP) annotation
2. Provide two Gson instances:
   • Standard compact formatter for production use
   • Pretty-printed formatter for debugging and config files
3. Add convenience methods for common JSON operations
4. Migrate all existing Gson() and GsonBuilder().create() calls to use the singleton

Implementation Location:

• Service: extensions/intellij/src/main/kotlin/com/github/continuedev/continueintellijextension/services/JsonService.kt
• Pattern: Light Service (zero XML configuration, auto-discovered by platform)
• Scope: Application-level (single instance per IDE session)
• Thread-safety: Gson is inherently thread-safe

Expected Benefits

• Reduced memory footprint: Single initialization instead of repeated allocations
• Lower GC pressure: Fewer short-lived objects
• Better CPU efficiency: Reflection-based initialization done once
• Platform compliance: Follows IntelliJ Platform SDK recommendations for resource-intensive objects

References

• IntelliJ Platform Plugin Services
• Gson Thread-Safety Guarantees

Implementation Plan

I'm willing to implement this optimization and will submit a PR after this issue is reviewed. The implementation will:

• Create the JsonService Light Service
• Migrate all existing Gson instantiations
• Ensure no functional regressions (all tests pass)
• Follow Continue's contribution guidelines

Labels: performance, enhancement, intellij
Priority: Medium-High