Optimize Eclipse STS Memory Settings

  • 2/5/2011
  • One-minute read

Spring Tool Suite (STS) versions based on Eclipse 3.x frequently stalled on 4 GB developer machines. Tweaking the STS.ini JVM arguments prevents frequent full GCs and improves workspace responsiveness.

Suggested JVM Arguments

Edit STS.ini and adjust the VM section with the following baseline values:

-Xms768m
-Xmx768m
-XX:MaxPermSize=256m
  • -Xms/-Xmx keep the heap size consistent, reducing dynamic resizing pauses.
  • -XX:MaxPermSize protects against OutOfMemoryError: PermGen space triggered by large plugin sets (pre-Java 8).

Additional Considerations

  • On machines with more RAM, scale the heap to 1.5–2 GB and lift the PermGen ceiling accordingly.
  • For Java 8+ distributions, replace MaxPermSize with -XX:MaxMetaspaceSize or remove it entirely.
  • Combine memory tuning with the startup optimisations described in content/english/post/faster-sts-startup.md for best results.

Disclaimer

These settings target legacy STS releases. Modern Spring Tools embeds Eclipse 4.x with different memory characteristics—validate configuration changes in a staging workspace before rolling them out widely.

eclipsejavaperformancespringconfiguration