Fix MacOS mds_stores taking 100% cpu
When mds_stores takes 100% of cpu it means it’s scanning and indexing a directory with a lot of files in it. In programming, typically node_modules is the culprit.
See what Spotlight is doing/indexing
Use this if you aren’t a JavaScript developer and you know it’s not node_modules folders.
sudo fs_usage -w -f filesys mds_stores
Create exclusions for node_modules
This will create .metadata_never_index in the root of all node_modules folders to exclude them from spotlight.
find . -type d -path './.*' -prune -o -path './Pictures*' -prune -o -path './Library*' -prune -o -path '*node_modules/*' -prune -o -type d -name 'node_modules' -exec touch '{}/.metadata_never_index' \; -print
Using the alias option
If you find yourself doing it frequently you can create a bash alias like so:
alias fix-spotlight="find . -type d -path './.*' -prune -o -path './Pictures*' -prune -o -path './Library*' -prune -o -path '*node_modules/*' -prune -o -type d -name 'node_modules' -exec touch '{}/.metadata_never_index' \; -print"
fix-spotlight