diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/build.gradle.kts b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/build.gradle.kts
index 8172aff262b069..c55c53d7b91cdd 100644
--- a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/build.gradle.kts
+++ b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/build.gradle.kts
@@ -29,8 +29,16 @@ repositories {
 }
 
 dependencies {
-    implementation(project(":supervisor-api"))
-    implementation(project(":gitpod-protocol"))
+    implementation(project(":supervisor-api")) {
+        artifact {
+            type = "jar"
+        }
+    }
+    implementation(project(":gitpod-protocol")) {
+        artifact {
+            type = "jar"
+        }
+    }
     implementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-core:1.5.2")
     implementation("org.jetbrains.kotlinx:kotlinx-coroutines-guava:1.5.2")
     implementation("io.ktor:ktor-client-core:1.6.3")
@@ -82,6 +90,10 @@ tasks {
         jvmTarget = "11"
     }
 
+    buildSearchableOptions {
+        enabled = false
+    }
+
     test {
         useJUnitPlatform()
     }
diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/listeners/MyApplicationActivationListener.kt b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/listeners/MyApplicationActivationListener.kt
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..e7ac71b82f854e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/listeners/MyApplicationActivationListener.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// Copyright (c) 2021 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+// Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+// See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+
+package io.gitpod.ide.jetbrains.backend.listeners
+
+import com.intellij.ide.ApplicationInitializedListener
+import com.intellij.openapi.application.ApplicationActivationListener
+import com.intellij.openapi.components.ServiceManager
+import io.gitpod.ide.jetbrains.backend.services.HeartbeatService
+import com.intellij.openapi.wm.IdeFrame
+import com.intellij.openapi.components.service
+
+internal class MyApplicationActivationListener : ApplicationActivationListener {
+    override fun applicationActivated(ideFrame: IdeFrame) {
+        service<HeartbeatService>() // Services are not loaded if not referenced
+    }
+}
diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/AuthTokenService.kt b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/AuthTokenService.kt
similarity index 100%
rename from components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/AuthTokenService.kt
rename to components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/AuthTokenService.kt
diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/ControllerStatusProvider.kt b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/ControllerStatusProvider.kt
similarity index 94%
rename from components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/ControllerStatusProvider.kt
rename to components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/ControllerStatusProvider.kt
index d87216c12c8cc6..dbc7ee043b4176 100644
--- a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/ControllerStatusProvider.kt
+++ b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/ControllerStatusProvider.kt
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@ import io.ktor.client.HttpClient
 import io.ktor.client.features.HttpTimeout
 import io.ktor.client.features.json.JsonFeature
 import io.ktor.client.request.get
+import io.ktor.client.features.json.JacksonSerializer
 
 class ControllerStatusProvider {
     private val logger = logger<ControllerStatusProvider>()
@@ -19,7 +20,9 @@ class ControllerStatusProvider {
             @Suppress("MagicNumber")
             requestTimeoutMillis = 2000
         }
-        install(JsonFeature)
+        install(JsonFeature) {
+            serializer = JacksonSerializer()
+        }
     }
     private val cwmToken = System.getenv("CWM_HOST_STATUS_OVER_HTTP_TOKEN")
 
diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/HeartbeatService.kt b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/HeartbeatService.kt
similarity index 87%
rename from components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/HeartbeatService.kt
rename to components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/HeartbeatService.kt
index 0bb66546ddc569..c28e60d7f1c444 100644
--- a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/services/HeartbeatService.kt
+++ b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/services/HeartbeatService.kt
@@ -19,13 +19,13 @@ import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicReference
 import kotlin.concurrent.thread
 import kotlin.random.Random.Default.nextInt
+import java.lang.Thread
 
 @Service
-class HeartbeatService(
-    private val fetchToken: suspend () -> String = { AuthTokenService.fetchToken() },
-    private val controllerStatusProvider: ControllerStatusProvider = ControllerStatusProvider(),
-) : Disposable {
+class HeartbeatService() : Disposable {
     private val logger = logger<HeartbeatService>()
+    private val fetchToken: suspend () -> String = { AuthTokenService.fetchToken() }
+    private val controllerStatusProvider = ControllerStatusProvider()
 
     @Suppress("MagicNumber")
     private val intervalInSeconds = 30
@@ -44,8 +44,10 @@ class HeartbeatService(
     private val closed = AtomicBoolean(false)
 
     init {
+        logger.info("Service initiated")
+
         @Suppress("MagicNumber")
-        thread(name = "gitpod-heartbeat") {
+        thread(name = "gitpod-heartbeat", contextClassLoader = this.javaClass.classLoader) {
             runBlocking {
                 while (!closed.get()) {
                     checkActivity(intervalInSeconds + nextInt(5, 15))
@@ -56,7 +58,7 @@ class HeartbeatService(
     }
 
     private suspend fun checkActivity(maxIntervalInSeconds: Int) {
-        logger.debug("Checking activity")
+        logger.info("Checking activity")
         val status = controllerStatusProvider.fetch()
         val previousStatus = this.status.getAndSet(status)
 
@@ -85,7 +87,7 @@ class HeartbeatService(
             try {
                 val s = server.get()!!
                 s.sendHeartBeat(SendHeartBeatOptions(instanceId, wasClosed)).await()
-                logger.debug("Heartbeat sent with wasClosed=$wasClosed")
+                logger.info("Heartbeat sent with wasClosed=$wasClosed")
             } catch (e: Exception) {
                 // If connection fails for some reason,
                 // remove the reference to the existing server.
@@ -98,10 +100,10 @@ class HeartbeatService(
     /**
      * @throws DeploymentException
      * @throws IOException
-     * @throw IllegalStateException
+     * @throws IllegalStateException
      */
     private suspend fun createServer(): GitpodServer {
-        logger.debug("Creating GitpodServer")
+        logger.info("Creating GitpodServer")
         val token = fetchToken()
         val server = ConnectionHelper().connect(uri, origin, token).server()
         return server
diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/utils/Retrier.kt b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/utils/Retrier.kt
similarity index 100%
rename from components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/intellij/backend/utils/Retrier.kt
rename to components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/kotlin/io/gitpod/ide/jetbrains/backend/utils/Retrier.kt
diff --git a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml
index c7191a32406e9f..21426023c1907a 100644
--- a/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml
+++ b/components/ide/jetbrains/backend-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/plugin.xml
@@ -7,4 +7,9 @@
     <!-- Product and plugin compatibility requirements -->
     <!-- https://plugins.jetbrains.com/docs/intellij/plugin-compatibility.html -->
     <depends>com.intellij.modules.platform</depends>
+
+    <applicationListeners>
+        <listener class="io.gitpod.ide.jetbrains.backend.listeners.MyApplicationActivationListener"
+                  topic="com.intellij.openapi.application.ApplicationActivationListener" />
+    </applicationListeners>
 </idea-plugin>