IntelliJ IDEA Local History pruning limits and disk space triggers

Local History Retention Behavior

IntelliJ IDEA 2024.1 allows users to configure the Local History retention policy via Appearance & Behavior | System Settings | Local History. This feature defines a maximum number of retention days and a maximum size in megabytes to prevent the local repository from consuming excessive disk space.

According to the documentation, the IDE should automatically prune older history entries when either the time limit is reached or the configured maximum size is exceeded. However, it is unclear how the pruning mechanism interacts with actual system disk pressure versus the internal size limit settings.

There is uncertainty regarding whether pruning is triggered in real-time or only during specific IDE lifecycle events, such as restarts or database access. This creates a gap in understanding why entries may persist beyond the configured limits when the physical disk is nearly full.

• Does the IDE prioritize the Local History max size setting over actual available system disk space?
• Under what specific conditions is the pruning process triggered to ensure the retention limits are strictly enforced?