Level 2

306 points

Continued corespotlightd process CPU overload issues

I am wondering if anyone has discovered any new ideas for stopping the corespotlightd process from hogging the CPU. According to Activity Monitor, the corespotlightd process often occupies more than 100% of the CPU load, sometimes spiking as high as 400% on my M2 Ultra Mac Studio. This problem has become so severe that it often pinwheels under normally non-intensive tasks. It can cause the video to flicker on my Studio Display. In one case it caused my Mac to kernel panic (crash).

I encountered this bug only after installing Sequoia 15.2, but having researched this issue extensively, I find that Mac users have identified it since at least macOS Ventura. So here are some solutions we don't need to hear again:

Reindexing Spotlight by adding and removing volumes in Spotlight Privacy. This provides relief only temporarily. Within hours the process is again grinding the Mac to a halt.

Killing the corespotlightd in Activity Monitor. Again, this is at best only a temporary solution as the process will reinstate itself.

A "clean" install of macOS. First of all, no such process really exists. The OS recovery process simply reinstalls a new copy of the System files. Nobody reports this as a fix. An internal drive wipe and reformat, and restore from Time Machine is also unlikely to help, as it simply returns your Mac to its previous state. If the corespotlightd problem results from a corrupted file, the problem will likely simply be recreated in your reinstall. "Nuke and pave" might solve the problem if it caused by a format or directory issue on your startup volume. This does not seem to be the case, but if anyone has permanently cured the problem by this method, please report it.

What we do need to hear is from anyone who has spent time with Apple Support on this issue and been provided with solutions that actually work, or has new ideas about what causes it. Feels like we're on our own here, since Apple seems to be stumped.

Posted on Dec 19, 2024 11:21 AM

Top-ranking reply

ericmurphysf

Level 2

307 points

Posted on Jan 31, 2025 8:44 AM

Okay, I have a new hypothesis as to what's going on here with corespotlightd. This process is one of at least four that are responsible for macOS's Spotlight functionality. The three others are mds, mdworker, and md_stores. I cribbed the following descriptions of these three processes from the HowToGeek website:

The two processes [mds and mdworker] are part of Spotlight, the macOS search tool. The first, mds, stands for metadata server. This process manages the index used to give you quick search results. The second, mdworker, stands for metadata server worker. This does the hard work of actually indexing your files to make that quick searching possible.

And for md_stores, from the TechNewsToday site:

Mds_stores is the core indexing process of the macOS. On normal days, it usually takes up a noticeable [sic, probably should be un-noticeable] amount of CPU. However, when you reinstall your OS or add new files/directories, your system will automatically start to reindex these new databases, which sees the mds_stores CPU usage skyrocket.

The macOS Spotlight feature makes use of two processes for indexing the system database; mds and mds_stores. The mds (Metadata Server) process is responsible for tracking and recording files and folders in your operating system. md_stores then compiles and manages these mds metadata, which Spotlight later uses for searching certain documents within your OS.

So it may be that corespotlightd is in fact an unwitting victim of other processes' having gone awry. On my two Intel systems, by three months after installing macOS 15.0, metadata associated with Spotlight located at ~/library/metadata had reached half a terabyte on both systems. It sounds like this data was actually written out by either mdworker, mds_stores, or both. And then, corespotlightd has to wade through these gigabytes upon gigabytes of metadata to actually produce search results, and as that task gets harder and harder with more and more metadata being produced, eventually Spotlight search results (which includes search and smart folders through Mail) degrade to the point of uselessness.

While I haven't managed to halt the rapid growth of metadata on these two Intel systems (Apple Silicon Macs still have the issue but to a much milder degree), simply deleting the metadata out of the ~/library/metadata/Corespotlight and ~/library/metadata/SpotlightKnowledgeEvents (while leaving the folders themselves intact) resulted in a near-immediate improvement in three areas: greatly reduced use of storage space; vastly improved search results; and much lower processor utilization by corespotlightd.

As noted, this metadata still continues to pile up (especially if I have a large (>5 MB) Pages file open). But if I have to empty out these two folders once every few weeks until Apple resolves the issue, that's not the end of the world).

View in context

346 replies

KWiPod

Level 2

158 points

Oct 10, 2025 3:01 AM in response to LaurieAstro

Hey LaurieAstro ! Thanks for noting this - it has been quiet here for a while! Maybe, like me, everyone is just awaiting the next update to Pages to see if its Release Notes suggest our issue has been addressed. One thing is certain: there is plenty of non-trivial evidence on this thread if the Pages Team have found their way here.

PolyRod

Level 1

32 points

Oct 10, 2025 5:05 AM in response to KWiPod

I'm using Pages version 14.4 (7043.0.93) on Tahoe 26.0.1.

Since installing Tahoe I have not experienced any issues with Pages (nor Numbers). Hesitant to say that because I haven't been using either very much - but previously even current usage would have seen a few issues.

Indeed, not only have I not had the issues discussed in this thread, nor have had the problem when scrolling up or down when Pages has suddenly crashed. The advantage of this issue being I'd be asked whether to allow a report to be sent to Apple - I always said that was OK.

Bets

Level 1

68 points

Oct 25, 2025 2:05 PM in response to Mitch Stone

Update: I am not having ANY problems with Pages. Running 15.6.1 on an M2 Mac Air. I used the empty folder solution through April. Then only opened Pages rarely to make a small update and close right away. But gradually I have started using it more, and leaving multiple documents open. I won't say I've returned to my full use yet. Mostly it's text editing, and a few images right now. But the CoreSpotlight folder is holding around 9 and even decreasing WHILE Page is open. Feeling optimistic! Thanks for this thread - which saved my sanity, if not my ability to use Pages over the last year.

skipc56

Level 1

19 points

Oct 26, 2025 3:50 PM in response to ericmurphysf

They need to take all that stuff and throw it out. All it’s doing is turning Mac’s into windows. All needless. It’s bogging down Macs!!!! There is process that’s running away with the Mac. I’ve have talked to Apple support and they are telling me it’s a third party process. No it is not!! My wife has a newer Mac with the same file names.it is an Apple problem. Need to fix it before Sequoia OS support runs out. Maybe give us the option to remove it. Needless!!!

skipc56

Level 1

19 points

Nov 17, 2025 7:31 PM in response to Mitch Stone

My problem was pointing to Backgroundshortcutrunner process according to Ertecheck. This app called it a runaway process. I have a 27” iMac after I log in, my wallpaper goes away for 20 seconds and it takes the system about 5-6 minutes to calm down so I can use it. I doubt Apple is going to fix it, it seems the remaining updates are focus on security. I’m diappointex with that macOS is turning into Windows 10 with all these features .

LAWM0N

Level 1

38 points

Nov 18, 2025 8:18 PM in response to Mitch Stone

Next month will be a one year anniversary of my CPU Overload issue. Sometimes the problem is better, sometimes worse. But, it never goes away. I’m fed up with taking the temporary steps to fix what is obviously an Apple issue. I’m convinced Apple is not going to fix this. They just want me to go away, buy some new product that does not have the problem.

I’m going to do that, but I’m going to make Apple provide the new CPU that won’t have that problem. Ten new Apple computers would not compensate me for my time and frustration, including/especially APPLE experts saying I need to save all my data to external hard drive, delete hard drive, and replace data. Apple Support did that remotely for me. Of course, it did not solve the problem, because there was no virus causing the problem. It was Apple. They should have known. (I continue to suffer additional problems for that data removal and replacement.)

Apple had a problem. Their solution was to make it my problem. I’m mad as **** and not going to take it any more. Thoughts?

I have iMac 27” Retina. Apple does not make this any more. Hmmm... Connection? Don’t know. Don’t care. This problem is an Apple problem, and Apple needs to make it right.

Nov 19, 2025 10:23 AM in response to fronesis47

fronesis47 wrote:

The big question for me is what is the situation with Tahoe, 26.1?

Multiple posters here have asked about Tahoe, but I get the sense that most of us on this thread with the problem have not updated to Tahoe. I have yet to see multiple reports from users running Tahoe that the problem persists. And that's the only thing that gives me a glimmer of hope...

I've been running Tahoe on the systems that support it (my iMac Pro does not) since a few weeks after it came out. So far I have not observed any discernible difference in this particular problem, or bug, or whatever it is.

revpilot

Level 1

9 points

Nov 22, 2025 2:39 PM in response to Mitch Stone

I’m sick of Apple not fixing this. I’ve started using MS Word instead of Pages and I have no problem, BUT I prefer Pages over Word. I sent my MacBook Pro back and forth 4 times to them and on the 5th time, they sent me a new MacBook Pro, but within weeks it started have the Corespotlightd problem using 200-300% CPU. It is clear this multi-billion dollar company plans to do nothing. I have been telling people to buy Dell instead. This will probably be my last MacBook Pro.