{"id":2678,"date":"2026-06-04T03:32:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T03:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tucumandevelopers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/async-vfs-content-writes-what-plugin-authors-need-to-know\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T03:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T03:32:35","slug":"async-vfs-content-writes-what-plugin-authors-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tucumandevelopers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/04\/async-vfs-content-writes-what-plugin-authors-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"Async VFS Content Writes \u2013 What Plugin Authors Need to Know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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IntelliJ Platform<\/a> Plugins<\/a><\/p>\n

Async VFS Content Writes \u2013 What Plugin Authors Need to Know<\/h2>\n

Some plugin code follows this pattern:<\/p>\n

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  1. Save open documents.<\/li>\n
  2. Get a file or directory path.<\/li>\n
  3. Pass that path to something outside the IDE, such as a formatter, linter, compiler, VCS command, language server, or custom CLI tool.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Historically, it was reasonable to assume that once the save finishes, the file on disk already contains the latest editor text.<\/p>\n

    That is no longer guaranteed.<\/p>\n

    The IntelliJ Platform can now update the VFS first and finish the disk write in the background a bit later. Code that reads the file through IntelliJ Platform file APIs still sees the new content immediately. Code that reads the same file through Path<\/code>, File<\/code>, Files.*<\/code>, or an external process may need an explicit flush before the handoff.<\/p>\n

    The official SDK docs cover that contract in When are VirtualFile<\/code> changes persisted on disk and loaded from disk to VFS?<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    Why This Exists<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    Writes to VirtualFile<\/code><\/a> must happen under a write action. Until now, saving a file often meant doing the actual file-system write while that write action was still open.<\/p>\n

    That is expensive when the file system is slow, remote, or mounted through WSL or Docker. Moving the disk write out of the write action is meant to reduce freezes during document saves.<\/p>\n

    The Rule<\/strong><\/h2>\n

    If your plugin saves and reads files using IntelliJ Platform file APIs, you probably do not need to change anything. This is fine:<\/p>\n