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The memory allocated to the Looker application on customer-hosted instances is specified in the Looker startup script.
You can download the latest startup script, looker, at the looker-open-source GitHub repo. When you download the startup script, move it into the same directory as the looker.jar file (generally /home/looker/looker). For more information, see the Installing the Looker application documentation page.
The startup script automatically determines how much java memory to allocate to Looker. However, if you would like to customize this value manually, you can follow these instructions.
Changing Looker's memory allocation
To change the memory allocated to Looker, edit these lines for Java heap and metaspace memory allocation in the startup script:
JAVAMEM="2300m"
METAMEM="800m"
Then, restart the application:
./looker restart
For smaller instances dedicated to Looker, the memory allocated should be approximately two thirds of the available memory. On larger instances this ratio can be increased.
If too much memory is allocated:
Looker may fail to start
The system generally may suffer performance issues
If too little memory is allocated:
Looker may fail to start
Looker specifically may suffer performance issues
Common instance types
The following table lists the recommended memory settings for a number of common instance sizes:
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Hard to understand","hardToUnderstand","thumb-down"],["Incorrect information or sample code","incorrectInformationOrSampleCode","thumb-down"],["Missing the information/samples I need","missingTheInformationSamplesINeed","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],["Last updated 2025-07-22 UTC."],[],[],null,["# Recommended Java memory settings\n\nThe memory allocated to the Looker application on customer-hosted instances is specified in the Looker startup script.\n\nYou can download the latest startup script, `looker`, at the [looker-open-source GitHub repo](https://github.com/looker-open-source/customer-scripts/tree/master/startup_scripts). When you download the startup script, move it into the same directory as the `looker.jar` file (generally `/home/looker/looker`). For more information, see the [Installing the Looker application](/looker/docs/installing-looker-application#install_the_looker_application) documentation page.\n\nThe startup script automatically determines how much java memory to allocate to Looker. However, if you would like to customize this value manually, you can follow these instructions.\n\nChanging Looker's memory allocation\n-----------------------------------\n\nTo change the memory allocated to Looker, edit these lines for Java heap and metaspace memory allocation in the startup script: \n\n JAVAMEM=\"2300m\"\n METAMEM=\"800m\"\n\nThen, restart the application: \n\n ./looker restart\n\nFor smaller instances dedicated to Looker, the memory allocated should be approximately two thirds of the available memory. On larger instances this ratio can be increased.\n\nIf too much memory is allocated:\n\n- Looker may fail to start\n- The system generally may suffer performance issues\n\nIf too little memory is allocated:\n\n- Looker may fail to start\n- Looker specifically may suffer performance issues\n\nCommon instance types\n---------------------\n\nThe following table lists the recommended memory settings for a number of common instance sizes:"]]
