[BUG] JetBrains plugin + WSL terminal: Claude never connects to IDE — lock file written to Windows %USERPROFILE%\.claude\ide, WSL Claude only reads ~/.claude/ide

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

When IntelliJ's terminal shell is set to WSL (wsl.exe -d Ubuntu) and Claude Code is installed inside WSL, clicking the Claude Code toolbar button starts claude correctly in the WSL terminal, but it never connects to the IDE. A few seconds later the plugin shows a misleading "Cannot launch Claude Code … 'claude' command is in your system path" error, and /ide finds no IDE.

Root cause (verified):

• The plugin (running on Windows) writes its lock file to C:\Users\<user>\.claude\ide\<port>.lock.
• Claude running in WSL only looks in the Linux ~/.claude/ide/, which doesn't exist, so it never discovers the IDE.
• The plugin's server itself is reachable from WSL: with networkingMode=mirrored, curl http://127.0.0.1:<port>/ returns 400 (expected for a WebSocket endpoint).
• The notification is misleading: per the plugin code it fires when no Claude session has connected back to the plugin's MCP server within a few seconds, not when claude is missing from PATH. Installing Claude Code natively on Windows doesn't help, since the WSL terminal never uses it.

Related (all closed as stale without a fix): #58014 (same symptom, no root cause identified), #45692, #52342, #67502, #77875, #72129.

What Should Happen?

Claude started from the plugin in a WSL terminal should discover and connect to the IDE automatically. E.g. the plugin writes the lock file into the distro's ~/.claude/ide as well (via \\wsl.localhost\<distro>\home\<user>\.claude\ide), or Claude Code running in WSL also scans /mnt/c/Users/<winuser>/.claude/ide.

If the connection does time out, the notification should say that the IDE connection failed, not that the claude command isn't on PATH.

Error Messages/Logs

Cannot launch Claude Code
Please ensure Claude Code is installed and the 'claude' command is in your system path.

$ ls -la ~/.claude/ide/
ls: cannot access '/home/<user>/.claude/ide/': No such file or directory
$ ls -la /mnt/c/Users/<user>/.claude/ide/
-rwxrwxrwx 1 user user 248 Sep 24 19:05 27334.lock
$ curl -s -o /dev/null -w '%{http_code}' http://127.0.0.1:27334/
400

Steps to Reproduce

1. On Windows 11, install IntelliJ IDEA 2026.2 and the Claude Code [Beta] plugin 0.1.14-beta.
2. Install Claude Code inside WSL (Ubuntu); do not install it on Windows.
3. Set Settings → Tools → Terminal → Shell path to wsl.exe -d Ubuntu.
4. Open any project located on the Windows drive (e.g. C:\Users\<user>\IdeaProjects\foo).
5. Click the Claude Code toolbar button.
6. Claude starts in the WSL terminal; after a few seconds the "Cannot launch Claude Code" notification appears and /ide shows no IDE.

Workaround that fixes it:

mkdir -p ~/.claude && ln -s /mnt/c/Users/<user>/.claude/ide ~/.claude/ide

plus networkingMode=mirrored in %USERPROFILE%\.wslconfig (the plugin binds to 127.0.0.1 only).

Claude Model

Opus

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.281 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

Windows

Terminal/Shell

IntelliJ IDEA terminal

Additional Information

• IDE: IntelliJ IDEA 2026.2 (build 262.10968.63), Windows 11
• Plugin: Claude Code [Beta] 0.1.14-beta
• WSL distro: Ubuntu, networkingMode=mirrored
• IntelliJ terminal shell: wsl.exe -d Ubuntu