diff --git a/server/build.gradle.kts b/server/build.gradle.kts
index 915dcc767..972fb1508 100644
--- a/server/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/server/build.gradle.kts
@@ -18,7 +18,13 @@ val applicationName = "kotlin-language-server"
 application {
     mainClass.set(serverMainClassName)
     description = "Code completions, diagnostics and more for Kotlin"
-    applicationDefaultJvmArgs = listOf("-DkotlinLanguageServer.version=$version")
+    applicationDefaultJvmArgs = listOf(
+        "-DkotlinLanguageServer.version=$version",
+        "-Xms256m",
+        "-Xmx1024m",
+        "-XX:+UseG1GC",
+        "-XX:+UseStringDeduplication"
+    )
     applicationDistribution.into("bin") { filePermissions { unix("755".toInt(radix = 8)) } }
 }
 
diff --git a/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/definition/GoToDefinition.kt b/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/definition/GoToDefinition.kt
index 77c8a05de..909a2b973 100644
--- a/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/definition/GoToDefinition.kt
+++ b/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/definition/GoToDefinition.kt
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ import java.io.File
 import java.nio.file.Paths
 
 private val cachedTempFiles = mutableMapOf<KlsURI, Path>()
-private val definitionPattern = Regex("(?:class|interface|object|fun)\\s+(\\w+)")
+private val definitionPattern = Regex("(?:class|interface|object|fun|val|var)\\s+(\\w+)")
 
 fun goToDefinition(
     file: CompiledFile,
diff --git a/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/externalsources/ClassContentProvider.kt b/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/externalsources/ClassContentProvider.kt
index 9b3d6618b..ba814cb1a 100644
--- a/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/externalsources/ClassContentProvider.kt
+++ b/server/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/externalsources/ClassContentProvider.kt
@@ -25,7 +25,8 @@ class ClassContentProvider(
 ) {
     /** Maps recently used (source-)KLS-URIs to their source contents (e.g. decompiled code) and the file extension. */
     private val cachedContents = object : LinkedHashMap<String, Pair<String, String>>() {
-        override fun removeEldestEntry(eldest: MutableMap.MutableEntry<String, Pair<String, String>>) = size > 5
+        // Decompilation is expensive; larger cache reduces repeated decompilation overhead
+        override fun removeEldestEntry(eldest: MutableMap.MutableEntry<String, Pair<String, String>>) = size > 50
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/SourceExclusions.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/SourceExclusions.kt
index de4a512c2..db738f2fd 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/SourceExclusions.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/SourceExclusions.kt
@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ class SourceExclusions(
     val excludedPatterns = (listOf(
         ".git", ".hg", ".svn",                                                      // Version control systems
         ".idea", ".idea_modules", ".vs", ".vscode", ".code-workspace", ".settings", // IDEs
-        "bazel-*", "bin", "build", "node_modules", "target",                        // Build systems
+        "bazel-*", "bin", "node_modules", "target",                                 // Build systems
+        "build/classes", "build/libs", "build/tmp", "build/reports", "build/kotlin", "build/resources", // Gradle build outputs (but allow build/generated-src)
     ) + when {
         !scriptsConfig.enabled -> listOf("*.kts")
         !scriptsConfig.buildScriptsEnabled -> listOf("*.gradle.kts")
diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/classpath/CachedClassPathResolver.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/classpath/CachedClassPathResolver.kt
index d81667deb..868987be6 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/classpath/CachedClassPathResolver.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/classpath/CachedClassPathResolver.kt
@@ -55,47 +55,63 @@ internal class CachedClassPathResolver(
 ) : ClassPathResolver {
     override val resolverType: String get() = "Cached + ${wrapped.resolverType}"
 
+    // In-memory cache layer to avoid repeated DB transactions
+    private var inMemoryClassPathEntries: Set<ClassPathEntry>? = null
+    private var inMemoryBuildScriptEntries: Set<Path>? = null
+    private var inMemoryMetadata: ClasspathMetadata? = null
+
     private var cachedClassPathEntries: Set<ClassPathEntry>
-        get() = transaction(db) {
+        get() = inMemoryClassPathEntries ?: transaction(db) {
             ClassPathCacheEntryEntity.all().map {
                 ClassPathEntry(
                     compiledJar = Paths.get(it.compiledJar),
                     sourceJar = it.sourceJar?.let(Paths::get)
                 )
             }.toSet()
-        }
-        set(newEntries) = transaction(db) {
-            ClassPathCacheEntry.deleteAll()
-            newEntries.map {
-                ClassPathCacheEntryEntity.new {
-                    compiledJar = it.compiledJar.toString()
-                    sourceJar = it.sourceJar?.toString()
+        }.also { inMemoryClassPathEntries = it }
+        set(newEntries) {
+            inMemoryClassPathEntries = newEntries
+            transaction(db) {
+                ClassPathCacheEntry.deleteAll()
+                newEntries.map {
+                    ClassPathCacheEntryEntity.new {
+                        compiledJar = it.compiledJar.toString()
+                        sourceJar = it.sourceJar?.toString()
+                    }
                 }
             }
         }
 
     private var cachedBuildScriptClassPathEntries: Set<Path>
-        get() = transaction(db) { BuildScriptClassPathCacheEntryEntity.all().map { Paths.get(it.jar) }.toSet() }
-        set(newEntries) = transaction(db) {
-            BuildScriptClassPathCacheEntry.deleteAll()
-            newEntries.map { BuildScriptClassPathCacheEntryEntity.new { jar = it.toString() } }
+        get() = inMemoryBuildScriptEntries ?: transaction(db) {
+            BuildScriptClassPathCacheEntryEntity.all().map { Paths.get(it.jar) }.toSet()
+        }.also { inMemoryBuildScriptEntries = it }
+        set(newEntries) {
+            inMemoryBuildScriptEntries = newEntries
+            transaction(db) {
+                BuildScriptClassPathCacheEntry.deleteAll()
+                newEntries.map { BuildScriptClassPathCacheEntryEntity.new { jar = it.toString() } }
+            }
         }
 
-    private var cachedClassPathMetadata
-        get() = transaction(db) {
+    private var cachedClassPathMetadata: ClasspathMetadata?
+        get() = inMemoryMetadata ?: transaction(db) {
             ClassPathMetadataCacheEntity.all().map {
                 ClasspathMetadata(
                     includesSources = it.includesSources,
                     buildFileVersion = it.buildFileVersion
                 )
             }.firstOrNull()
-        }
-        set(newClassPathMetadata) = transaction(db) {
-            ClassPathMetadataCache.deleteAll()
-            val newClassPathMetadataRow = newClassPathMetadata ?: ClasspathMetadata()
-            ClassPathMetadataCacheEntity.new {
-                includesSources = newClassPathMetadataRow.includesSources
-                buildFileVersion = newClassPathMetadataRow.buildFileVersion
+        }.also { inMemoryMetadata = it }
+        set(newClassPathMetadata) {
+            inMemoryMetadata = newClassPathMetadata
+            transaction(db) {
+                ClassPathMetadataCache.deleteAll()
+                val newClassPathMetadataRow = newClassPathMetadata ?: ClasspathMetadata()
+                ClassPathMetadataCacheEntity.new {
+                    includesSources = newClassPathMetadataRow.includesSources
+                    buildFileVersion = newClassPathMetadataRow.buildFileVersion
+                }
             }
         }
 
diff --git a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/database/DatabaseService.kt b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/database/DatabaseService.kt
index 0f80f73b4..620fd17c8 100644
--- a/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/database/DatabaseService.kt
+++ b/shared/src/main/kotlin/org/javacs/kt/database/DatabaseService.kt
@@ -62,7 +62,14 @@ class DatabaseService {
     private fun getDbFromFile(storagePath: Path?): Database? {
         return storagePath?.let {
             if (Files.isDirectory(it)) {
-                Database.connect("jdbc:sqlite:${getDbFilePath(it)}")
+                Database.connect("jdbc:sqlite:${getDbFilePath(it)}").also { db ->
+                    transaction(db) {
+                        // WAL mode: better concurrent read performance
+                        exec("PRAGMA journal_mode = WAL")
+                        // Reduce fsync calls (safe with WAL mode)
+                        exec("PRAGMA synchronous = NORMAL")
+                    }
+                }
             } else {
                 null
             }