Code Helper (Renderer) 100% CPU load

[nfriedly]

Issue Type: Performance Issue

I've seen this before, but never really spent much time looking at it. Currently, I have one VS Code window open with a handful of .ts files (and a couple of .md). It's been open for at least a day or two, maybe longer.

I recently did a git pull; npm ci to match a co-worker's dependency change, perhaps that triggered the issue?

The bottom of the window has a spinner with the text "You, 6 months ago" - I think that's something related to git history. No idea why it's spinning, though.

Nothing else seems to be happening in VS Code. I had been reading something in a browser and just wanted to know why my fans were spinning.

In the Activity Monitor,

• Code Helper (Renderer) is staying at approximately 100% CPU load
• Window Server is hovering around 30-50%
• Code Helper (GPU) is staying around 15-20%
• coreaudiod is around 10-15%

VS Code version: Code 1.53.2 (622cb03, 2021-02-11T11:45:54.515Z)
OS version: Darwin x64 19.6.0

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-9880H CPU @ 2.30GHz (16 x 2300)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled gpu_compositing: enabled metal: disabled_off multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on oop_rasterization: enabled opengl: enabled_on protected_video_decode: unavailable_off rasterization: enabled skia_renderer: disabled_off_ok video_decode: enabled webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled
Load (avg)	4, 5, 6
Memory (System)	16.00GB (1.73GB free)
Process Argv	--crash-reporter-id c55a4e83-12f2-48d8-9c75-41365abf658a
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Process Info

CPU %	Mem MB	   PID	Process
   16	    82	 11725	code main
   17	    33	 11729	   gpu-process
    0	     0	 11731	   utility
    3	    33	 11801	   shared-process
    0	     0	 77982	     /bin/ps -ax -o pid=,ppid=,pcpu=,pmem=,command=
    4	   197	 63980	   window (viewrender.ts — fullstory (Workspace))
    0	   295	 63981	     extensionHost
    0	     0	 63989	       electron_node tsserver.js 
    0	    16	 63990	       electron_node tsserver.js 
    0	     0	 63997	         electron_node typingsInstaller.js typesMap.js 
    0	     0	 63996	       electron_node server.js 
    0	     0	 64039	       /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper (Renderer).app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper (Renderer) /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/extensions/json-language-features/server/dist/node/jsonServerMain --node-ipc --clientProcessId=63981
   99	   737	 90120	     watcherService
    1	    66	 77980	   window (Issue Reporter)

Workspace Info

|  Window (viewrender.ts — fullstory (Workspace))
|    Folder (fullstory): more than 50295 files
|      File types: go(3444) py(2465) mo(2010) po(2010) png(946) html(644)
|                  svg(422) s(414) a(315) js(296)
|      Conf files: makefile(14) package.json(3) tsconfig.json(3)
|                  webpack.config.js(2) launch.json(1) grunt.js(1)
|      Launch Configs: go(5);

Extensions (19)

Extension	Author (truncated)	Version
rainbow-brackets	2gu	0.0.6
gitlens	eam	11.2.1
prettier-vscode	esb	5.9.2
flatbuffers	gab	0.1.0
github-linker	gim	0.2.3
vscode-peacock	joh	3.9.1
vscode-docker	ms-	1.10.0
remote-containers	ms-	0.158.0
vsliveshare	ms-	1.0.3912
java	red	0.76.0
rust	rus	0.7.8
vscode-vuln-cost	sny	1.4.0
code-spell-checker	str	1.10.2
vscodeintellicode	Vis	1.2.11
vscode-java-debug	vsc	0.31.0
vscode-java-dependency	vsc	0.18.1
vscode-java-pack	vsc	0.13.0
vscode-java-test	vsc	0.28.1
vscode-maven	vsc	0.28.0

A/B Experiments

vsliv368:30146709
vsreu685:30147344
python383cf:30185419
vspor879:30202332
vspor708:30202333
vspor363:30204092
pythonvsdeb440:30248342
pythonvsded773:30248341
vstes627:30244334
pythonvspyt875:30259475
dockersubsetcf:30265999
pythontbcf:30265426
vspre833cf:30267465

[vscodebot]

(Experimental duplicate detection)
Thanks for submitting this issue. Please also check if it is already covered by an existing one, like:

• Issue in code helper (#114079)

[nfriedly]

There are tons of similar issues, but most if not all are closed, and many of them had instructions to file a new bug if I was seeing the same behavior. So I did.

[mjbvz]

@bpasero Starting with you since it looks like the watcher service is causing the high CPU usage

[bpasero]

/duplicate #3998