Fix for IntelliJ IDEA "Use Option as Meta key" auto-enabling bug (Claude Code)

install-meta-fix.sh

#!/bin/zsh

echo "IntelliJ IDEA Meta Key Fix — Installer"
echo "======================================="
echo ""

setopt nullglob
JBRS=(/Applications/IntelliJ\ IDEA*.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home)

if [[ ${#JBRS[@]} -eq 0 ]]; then
    echo "⚠️  IntelliJ IDEA not found — agent will not be installed."
    echo "   Install IntelliJ IDEA and re-run this script."
else
    JBR=${JBRS[1]}
    echo "✓ JBR: $JBR"

    rm -rf ~/.local/share/meta-agent
    mkdir -p ~/.local/share/meta-agent

    TMPDIR=$(mktemp -d)

    cat > "$TMPDIR/DisableMeta.java" << 'JAVA'
import java.lang.instrument.Instrumentation;
import java.lang.reflect.Method;
import java.lang.reflect.Field;

public class DisableMeta {
    public static void agentmain(String args, Instrumentation inst) {
        try {
            Class<?> clazz = null;
            for (Class<?> c : inst.getAllLoadedClasses()) {
                if (c.getName().equals("org.jetbrains.plugins.terminal.TerminalOptionsProvider")) {
                    clazz = c;
                    break;
                }
            }
            if (clazz == null) return;

            Method getInst = clazz.getDeclaredMethod("getInstance");
            getInst.setAccessible(true);
            Object instance = getInst.invoke(null);

            Field stateField = clazz.getDeclaredField("state");
            stateField.setAccessible(true);
            Object state = stateField.get(instance);

            for (Field f : state.getClass().getDeclaredFields()) {
                if (f.getName().equals("useOptionAsMetaKey")) {
                    f.setAccessible(true);
                    f.set(state, false);
                    break;
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {}
    }
}
JAVA

    cat > "$TMPDIR/LoadAgent.java" << 'JAVA'
import com.sun.tools.attach.VirtualMachine;

public class LoadAgent {
    public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
        VirtualMachine vm = VirtualMachine.attach(args[0]);
        vm.loadAgent(args[1]);
        vm.detach();
    }
}
JAVA

    echo "⏳ Compiling..."
    if "$JBR/bin/javac" "$TMPDIR/DisableMeta.java" "$TMPDIR/LoadAgent.java" 2>/dev/null; then
        mkdir -p "$TMPDIR/META-INF"
        printf "Agent-Class: DisableMeta\nCan-Retransform-Classes: true\n\n" > "$TMPDIR/META-INF/MANIFEST.MF"
        (cd "$TMPDIR" && zip -q disable-meta.jar META-INF/MANIFEST.MF DisableMeta.class)

        cp "$TMPDIR/DisableMeta.class" "$TMPDIR/LoadAgent.class" "$TMPDIR/disable-meta.jar" ~/.local/share/meta-agent/
        echo "✓ Agent: ~/.local/share/meta-agent/"
    else
        echo "⚠️  Compilation failed — IDE JBR may be corrupted, agent was not installed."
    fi

    rm -rf "$TMPDIR"
fi

mkdir -p ~/.local/bin

cat > ~/.local/bin/fix-jetbrains-meta << 'SCRIPT'
#!/bin/zsh
setopt nullglob
AGENT_DIR="$HOME/.local/share/meta-agent"
[[ -f "$AGENT_DIR/disable-meta.jar" ]] || exit 0

JBRS=(/Applications/IntelliJ\ IDEA*.app/Contents/jbr/Contents/Home)
[[ ${#JBRS[@]} -eq 0 ]] && exit 0

LOG="$AGENT_DIR/fix.log"
for JBR in "${JBRS[@]}"; do
    PIDS=$("$JBR/bin/jps" -l 2>/dev/null | grep "com.intellij" | awk '{print $1}')
    [[ -z "$PIDS" ]] && continue
    echo "$(date): JBR=$JBR PIDS=$PIDS" >> "$LOG"
    for PID in ${(f)PIDS}; do
        "$JBR/bin/java" --add-modules jdk.attach -cp "$AGENT_DIR" LoadAgent "$PID" "$AGENT_DIR/disable-meta.jar" >> "$LOG" 2>&1
        echo "$(date): PID=$PID EXIT=$?" >> "$LOG"
    done
done
SCRIPT
chmod +x ~/.local/bin/fix-jetbrains-meta
echo "✓ Script: ~/.local/bin/fix-jetbrains-meta"

# Clean up old wrapper
if [[ -f ~/.zshrc ]]; then
    sed -i '' '/# JetBrains Meta Key fix/,/^}$/d' ~/.zshrc
    sed -i '' '/^$/N;/^\n$/d' ~/.zshrc
fi

# Add PATH and wrapper
{
    echo ""
    echo "# JetBrains Meta Key fix"
    echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"'
    cat << 'ZSH'
claude() {
    { sleep 1 && fix-jetbrains-meta } &>/dev/null &!
    command claude "$@"
}
ZSH
} >> ~/.zshrc
echo "✓ .zshrc updated (PATH + claude wrapper)"

echo ""
echo "✅ Installation complete!"
echo "   Open a new terminal and type 'claude' — Meta Key will be disabled automatically after 1 second."

What this does:

This script creates a small Java Agent using IntelliJ's built-in JBR. It runs silently in the background when you type claude, injecting a fix to keep the "Use Option as Meta key" setting disabled, so your @ symbol and other keys keep working.

How to install:

Run the following commands in your terminal:

curl -L -o install-meta-fix.sh "https://gist.githubusercontent.com/cKalens/bc30f4acced35829c913dcd79c221597/raw/install-meta-fix.sh"
chmod +x install-meta-fix.sh
./install-meta-fix.sh