[Jean-François Gagné (JeanFrancoisGagne)]

Summary

In a VS Code window opened on the user's home folder (for example C:\Users\<name>), three actions start file searches that walk the whole profile, AppData and tool caches included, and take minutes:

• opening the package install picker for a venv, which searches before it can offer Install project dependencies
• creating a venv with Quick Create
• Auto Find Projects when adding a Python project

Until ripgrep finishes, the Searching for dependencies notification stays up or Auto Find shows nothing, and ripgrep keeps the CPU and disk busy the whole time.

Cause

workspace.findFiles runs ripgrep with --no-ignore and, by default, --follow. The excludes these callers pass leave most of a profile in scope, and none of the calls passes maxResults:

• src/managers/builtin/pipUtils.ts:459-462 (before this PR) runs four searches in parallel in getProjectInstallable.
• src/features/creators/autoFindProjects.ts:94 (before this PR) runs one search in AutoFindProjects.create.

Fix

• src/common/workspaceSearch.ts:42 adds findFilesInWorkspace({ label, include, exclude, maxResults, neededFolders, token }):
  • If no workspace folder is os.homedir() or one of its parents, it makes the same single findFiles call as before, plus maxResults. The caller's token goes to findFiles unchanged.
  • It never searches such a folder whole. In its place it searches each of the caller's neededFolders inside it, one RelativePattern each, and skips a needed folder that is itself home or a parent of home. The check uses isSameOrParentPath, so separators, a trailing separator and case on Windows do not matter. traceLog names the folder, the reason and the folders searched instead.
  • It skips a needed path that is a file or does not exist, because ripgrep cannot start there and a failed start fails the whole findFiles call. Projects can be single .py files. A folder inside another needed folder is searched once.
  • The other workspace folders of a multi-root workspace are searched whole, as before.
  • It has no time limit. A cancelled findFiles resolves to an empty list, not to the matches found so far: searchService.ts races the provider against the token, mainThreadWorkspace.ts returns null on cancel, and extHostWorkspace.ts maps null to []. A limit would turn a slow search into "nothing found".
  • traceWarn records a search that reached its cap.
• pipUtils.ts:431,464-484: each of the four dependency searches goes through the helper with maxResults 10,000 per pattern and the project folders as neededFolders. getProjectInstallable already keeps only files under those projects, so in a home folder workspace it finds the same files as before without walking the rest of the profile. Quick Create installs from every match under the project, so this cap sits far above what a large monorepo holds. The progress notification and the caller's token still cancel every search.
• autoFindProjects.ts:20,101: the marker search goes through the helper with maxResults 1,000 and no neededFolders. Each folder with a marker becomes one item in a multi-select picker, and a picker with 1,000 items is already too long to use.

In a home folder workspace:

• Quick Create and the package picker search each project folder inside home and find its dependency files, without the profile walk.
• A project that is the home folder itself is not searched, so it gets no workspace dependency files.
• Auto Find reports No projects found. Opening the project folder itself, or adding it as a second workspace folder, searches it as before.

Not changed:

• src/features/views/workspacePythonContext.ts:31 already passes maxResults 1, and Avoid a full workspace search per Python file event #1999 adds its token.
• src/features/inlineScript/setupEnvironment.ts:288 already passes maxResults 1,000 (MAX_INLINE_SCRIPT_FILES) but no token. A follow-up could move it to the helper.

Testing

Windows 11, Node 24.21.0.

• npm ci, then npx tsc -p . --outDir out (the compile-tests command): exit 0.
• npx eslint --config=eslint.config.mjs on the seven touched files: exit 0.
• The touched unit test files, with the options from build/.mocha.unittests.json:
  npx mocha --no-config --ui tdd --require source-map-support/register --require out/test/unittests.js --timeout 180000 out/test/common/workspaceSearch.unit.test.js out/test/managers/builtin/pipUtils.unit.test.js out/test/features/creators/autoFindProjects.unit.test.js
  Result: 88 passing. out/test/managers/common/packageWatcher.unit.test.js, which also builds RelativePattern through the vscode mock: 39 passing.
• Each change failed its tests first:
  • Caps and home folder: the five call-site tests failed (66 passing, 5 failing): no result cap at either site, the home folder searched at both sites, and the other folder of a multi-root workspace not scoped. The helper tests failed to compile until the module existed.
  • No time limit: with a findFiles fake that returns [] once its token cancels, as VS Code does, the tests for a search that runs for minutes failed for the helper, getProjectInstallable and Auto Find, and so did the tests that check the caller's token reaches findFiles (73 passing, 9 failing).
  • Project folders: a project at ~/code/app in a home folder workspace got no dependency files, and the helper searched no needed folder (85 passing, 3 failing).
• The new tests check:
  • each findFiles call's maxResults and token
  • that a search that runs for minutes keeps every match
  • which folders are searched: a home folder workspace, a parent of home, and the home path with another case or a trailing separator are not searched whole; a folder inside home is searched; needed folders inside a home workspace folder are searched once each; a needed folder that is home, a file or a missing path is not searched
• Changed tests:
  • Both getProjectInstallable suites now stub getWorkspaceFolders, which the helper reads.
  • The vscode mock's RelativePattern accepts a Uri base, as VS Code's does.
• Not run on this change: the full unit suite, and a running VS Code.

Context

#1989 reports a VS Code window opened on the home folder that froze a Windows laptop. #1999 fixes the workspaceHasPython watcher behind that report. Reviewing #1999 turned up these unbounded findFiles calls, which #1999 does not touch. They run on user actions rather than on file events, so each action starts one walk instead of one per changed file, but each walk still covers the whole profile.

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