JetBrains Builds Air for Agents into IDE 2026.3 and Splits Users Over a Splash Screen

JetBrains has updated the splash screens in IDE version 2026.3, and tickets already ask to remove the AI images and bring back the old design. The dispute is vivid, but it is more of a backdrop. What matters more is something else: the IDE now ships together with Air, an environment where agents are handed tasks and a human checks the result.

Air and ACP: the Editor as an Interface to the Agent

The logic of Air is simple. The agent performs the task, while the IDE helps you follow its work and review the changes. JetBrains explains the shift by saying that working with agents in parallel requires a different interface. You delegate tasks, go through the edits and answer for the outcome.

Choosing an agent separately from the editor is made possible by the Agent Client Protocol (ACP). It was introduced by the Zed team on August 27, 2025, with Gemini CLI as the first reference integration. The principle is this: the agent arrives with its own harness, that is, its own logic for calling the model and carrying out actions. The IDE sends it tasks, shows the progress and changes, and lets you respond to permission requests. It can also provide files, a terminal and additional tools, but the set of capabilities depends on the specific integration.

The difference from the familiar dropdown list of models is substantial. There, you choose only the model. Here, you choose an entire tool with its own way of working, and the editor becomes a window into that work. For developers, this means less lock-in to a single vendor: you swap the agent, while the interface and working habits stay the same.

The Man with a Laser: What Is This Picture

In PyCharm 2026.3, the splash screen shows a person in safety goggles processing an emerald with a laser. Nearby are a laptop, a robotic arm and a control panel, with the caption "powered with air" at the bottom.

The author of the analysis extracted the images from the distributions and found that the same laboratory is used by WebStorm, PhpStorm, RubyMine, CLion, RustRover and IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate. What changes are the color of the stone, the lighting and the IDE name. DataGrip has its own abstract graphics, GoLand has a simple splash screen with the name, and Rider EAP has a separate scene.

In the reflection of the glasses, cats can be seen on the screen, while in the version from behind there is a stone instead.

JetBrains support says that designers use ML models and refine the images by hand. The company does not disclose which model was used for the new splash screen. It previously talked about other experiments. In 2020, it showed a neural network tool for abstract images and animations. In 2023, it described a combination of CPPN with Stable Diffusion.

A CPPN can be thought of as a function: you feed in a pixel's coordinates and a set of parameters, and you get a color. Change the parameters, and the pattern changes. Change them smoothly, and you get an animation. The CPPN image was used as a base so that Stable Diffusion would keep the palette and composition. But this recipe cannot be carried over to the current man: those articles describe earlier experiments.

User Complaints and How to Disable the Splash Screen

The complaints in the tickets vary. Some see artifacts at the edges of the laptop (the author of the analysis believes this is a processing style). Some write that such graphics cheapen professional software. Some simply want the old splash screen back or want to choose the look of a tool they use every day.

Choice is still limited. According to a support reply from November 6, the switch to a simplified splash screen exists only in IntelliJ IDEA. In PyCharm and CLion, you can hide the startup screen. To do this, open Help | Edit Custom VM Options and add the line:

-Dnosplash=true

This disables the splash screen entirely. You cannot set a different image this way.

What to Do About It

The splash screen itself is not the main point here. You can love it, criticize it or turn it off. What is more interesting is that a familiar work tool is being rebuilt for development with agents. The practical takeaways are:

• If your team is adopting agents, think about more than choosing a model. Decide in advance how to formulate tasks, review others' edits and manage parallel sessions: who changed what, which results can be merged, and where it is time to step in.
• If you already have a favorite agent with its own harness, check whether an ACP integration exists for it. Then it can be connected to the IDE without changing tools.
• If the splash screen bothers you and you use PyCharm or CLion, use the flag above. If you use IntelliJ IDEA, just switch to the simplified version.

There is also a product lesson. The startup screen is seen at every launch, and even a small choice of design removes some of the complaints. Trying a new design is fine, but leaving people the right to choose would be sensible.

The limitations are worth naming too. What exactly a connected agent can do in Air depends on the integration. JetBrains has not disclosed the model used for the splash screen. And the assessments of "fresh and meaningful" belong to the author of the original analysis; that is a matter of taste, not a fact. Still, the direction is clear: the IDE is turning from a place where code is written into a place where that code is managed.