Code Helper High CPU Usage

[fishcharlie]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

I thought this might have been due to an extension since I ran disable-extensions and it didn't happen that quickly, but after running Extension Bisect it happened, and gave me a message Extension Bisect is done but no extension has been identified. This might be a problem with Code.. As mentioned below this might have been because it attached to a process and was trying to debug a Node.js process. I noticed after I started Extension Bisect that the debugger attached only when I started Extension Bisect (I had an existing process running before that, that maybe failed to attach???).

• VS Code Version: Version: 1.69.2 (Universal)
• OS Version: 13.0 Beta (22A5311f)

Steps to Reproduce:

Unknown exactly how to reproduce this, but it happens pretty frequently. Shortly after launching VS Code the Code Helper process takes up a lot of CPU usage. It seems like this might be correlated to when I start debugging a Node.js process.

One more note, I'm running 2 processes: tsc --watch & nodemon.

Attached are some screenshots that might be helpful.

Please let me know what additional steps I can do to help debug/troubleshoot this.

[ZrowGz]

I just installed VSCode on a new MacStudio, everything up to date. I'm getting a similar issue, where Code Helper (renderer) is utilizing 100-500% of all 12 M1 Max cores, which seems absurd. The version I had on the macbook pro previously did not do this.

I have not installed any extension yet, nor changed any settings when this first started (as soon as vscode installed). And it has persisted since syncing it with the settings stored from the previous computer's installation.

Image of Activity Monitor:

A close up of the highlighted process in the above image:

A look at the running processes/extensions:

Disabling all installed extensions doesn't change the CPU demand.

[fishcharlie]

@ZrowGz Don't think Code Helper and Code Helper (Renderer) are the same thing. Might want to create a different issue...

[mjbvz]

@fishcharlie Can you yay to get the full arguments of the process that have high cpu usage? You can do this in the terminal by getting the relevant process id (from activity monitory) and running:

ps aux PROCESS_ID | cat

This should print something like:

matb 76561   0.0  1.0 74176948 348152   ??  S     8:03AM  11:28.20 /Applications/Visual Studio Code - Insiders.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code - Insiders Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code - Insiders Helper --ms-enable-electron-run-as-node --max-old-space-size=3072 /Users/matb/projects/vscode/node_modules/typescript/lib/tsserver.js --useInferredProjectPerProjectRoot --enableTelemetry --cancellationPipeName /var/folders/5d/nlg411_s0570wmycdwkgqrf40000gn/T/vscode-typescript501/44b9312a5c2f3d8312ca/tscancellation-ecce3c5a346157b94edc.tmp* --logVerbosity verbose --logFile /Users/matb/Library/Application Support/Code - Insiders/logs/20220803T080057/exthost5/vscode.typescript-language-features/tsserver-log-RbSv7U/tsserver.log --locale en --noGetErrOnBackgroundUpdate --validateDefaultNpmLocation --useNodeIpc

[fishcharlie]

@mjbvz Here you go:

ps aux 74126 | cat
USER          PID  %CPU %MEM      VSZ    RSS   TT  STAT STARTED      TIME COMMAND
charliefish 74126 107.4  0.8 479096624 505648   ??  R     8:49PM 425:32.72 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Frameworks/Code Helper.app/Contents/MacOS/Code Helper --ms-enable-electron-run-as-node --inspect-port=0 /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents/Resources/app/out/bootstrap-fork --type=extensionHost --skipWorkspaceStorageLock

[jrieken]

When this happens please use this guide to profile the extension host: https://github.com/Microsoft/vscode/wiki/Performance-Issues#profile-the-running-extensions

[fishcharlie]

@jrieken Thanks for the reply. As I mentioned in my original post:

I thought this might have been due to an extension since I ran disable-extensions and it didn't happen that quickly, but after running Extension Bisect it happened, and gave me a message Extension Bisect is done but no extension has been identified. This might be a problem with Code.. As mentioned below this might have been because it attached to a process and was trying to debug a Node.js process. I noticed after I started Extension Bisect that the debugger attached only when I started Extension Bisect (I had an existing process running before that, that maybe failed to attach???).

There is some strong evidence that this is not due to an extension.

I'd be curious to hear what evidence you have that it is due to an extension. Really trying to narrow this down, but based on my findings it's not due to an extension.

[jrieken]

First, bisect doesn't blame built-in extensions so it might well be one of those. Second, the extension host process, which you identified, runs not just extensions but also stuff to run them in the first place. It might that. Any of those issues should become visible with the afore mentioned profiling of the extesion host process

[vscodenpa]

This issue has been closed automatically because it needs more information and has not had recent activity. See also our issue reporting guidelines.

Happy Coding!

[fishcharlie]

@jrieken Apologizes for the delay on this. Hopefully this can be reopened.

I have attached a screenshot and the profile. At first glance it looks like this might be due to the JavaScript Debugger.

CPU-20220830T023847.629Z.cpuprofile.txt

[jrieken]

Yeah, looks like it. Reopening and forwarding to @connor4312 for investigation

[fishcharlie]

@connor4312 @mjbvz Is there any chance this could be included in August 2022 Recovery 1 (#160335)?

[connor4312]

This bug has been around for a couple years, so I don't feel it's a recovery candidate. However note you can switch to the nightly extension to get the fix.

[fishcharlie]

@connor4312 Thanks! I'll give that a shot.

[mjbvz]

@connor4312 Can you please provides steps to verify this?

[connor4312]

Getting into this state requires some tricky timing that I wasn't able to hit naturally on my machine. Probably the best way is just debugging js-debug

1. Clone js-debug, npm install, npm run watch in a terminal
2. Run the "extension" launch config
3. Set a breakpoint here: https://github.com/microsoft/vscode-js-debug/blob/d5770afd4a0e7648f4363854d09a845b96bce98a/src/cdp/webSocketTransport.ts#L31
4. Attach to a Node.js process (e.g. run node --inspect in the terminal, and use the "Attach to Node Process") command
5. Once that breakpoint is hit, kill the node process in the terminal
6. Continue
7. This loop should now be spinning (you can set a bp or logpoint to verify)
8. Stop the attach debug config ⏹️
9. Verify that the retry loop has also now topped