Analysis stops working every hour or so

[gisborne]

Thanks for the feedback! If your issue is related to the Flutter framework itself, please open an issue at github.com/flutter/flutter.

Steps to Reproduce

Edit any of countless dart/flutter projects I've opened with any version of IntelliJ or the Flutter plugin that I've used in the last several years, for an hour or so.

At some point, the Language Server or Analysis or something stops working, and all the Flutter QOL features of IntelliJ stop. No Go to Definition. No hover information. Nothing.

Opening the Dart Analysis pane and clicking the red chasing arrows usually fixes it. Note that I'm doing this every hour or so and it interrupts me for several minutes at a time while I wait for the re-analysis to be done.

Sometimes, this doesn't work and I have to restart IntelliJ.

This has been like this for as long as I can remember now.

Version info

% flutter doctor -v
[✓] Flutter (Channel stable, 3.22.3, on macOS 14.5 23F79 darwin-arm64, locale en-AU)
    • Flutter version 3.22.3 on channel stable at /Users/gisborne/dev/bin/flutter
    • Upstream repository https://github.com/flutter/flutter.git
    • Framework revision b0850beeb2 (8 days ago), 2024-07-16 21:43:41 -0700
    • Engine revision 235db911ba
    • Dart version 3.4.4
    • DevTools version 2.34.3

[!] Android toolchain - develop for Android devices (Android SDK version 33.0.2)
    • Android SDK at /Users/gisborne/Library/Android/sdk
    • Platform android-33, build-tools 33.0.2
    • ANDROID_HOME = /Users/gisborne/Library/Android/sdk
    ✗ Android SDK file not found: /Users/gisborne/Library/Android/sdk/platforms/android-33/android.jar.
    • Try re-installing or updating your Android SDK,
      visit https://flutter.dev/docs/get-started/install/macos#android-setup for detailed instructions.

[✓] Xcode - develop for iOS and macOS (Xcode 15.4)
    • Xcode at /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer
    • Build 15F31d
    • CocoaPods version 1.15.2

[✓] Chrome - develop for the web
    • Chrome at /Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Chrome

[!] Android Studio (not installed)
    • Android Studio not found; download from https://developer.android.com/studio/index.html
      (or visit https://flutter.dev/docs/get-started/install/macos#android-setup for detailed instructions).

[✓] IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate Edition (version 2024.1.4)
    • IntelliJ at /Applications/IntelliJ IDEA.app
    • Flutter plugin version 80.0.2
    • Dart plugin version 241.17890.8

[✓] VS Code (version 1.89.1)
    • VS Code at /Applications/Visual Studio Code.app/Contents
    • Flutter extension version 3.27.0

[✓] Connected device (5 available)
    • Iris (mobile)                   • 00008030-001879541480802E • ios            • iOS 17.5.1 21F90
    • Athena (mobile)                 • 00008103-0008716C216B001E • ios            • iOS 17.5.1 21F90
    • macOS (desktop)                 • macos                     • darwin-arm64   • macOS 14.5 23F79
      darwin-arm64
    • Mac Designed for iPad (desktop) • mac-designed-for-ipad     • darwin         • macOS 14.5 23F79
      darwin-arm64
    • Chrome (web)                    • chrome                    • web-javascript • Google Chrome
      126.0.6478.127

[✓] Network resources
    • All expected network resources are available.

! Doctor found issues in 2 categories.

[deakjahn]

I second that, with the difference that it often exhibits not even after an hour or so but right after opening a project. Closing and reopening also helps. Very frustrating and a very ongoing issue so I guess we might rigthfully expect some change after so much time...

[pq]

Sorry for this inconvenience, and the slow response!

If you're still seeing issues, please chime in and provide any details we can use to reproduce. Thanks!

[github-actions[bot]]

Without additional information we're not able to resolve this issue, so it will be closed at this time. You're still free to add more info and respond to any questions above, though. We'll reopen the case if you do. Thanks for your contribution!

[deakjahn]

@pq You'all and we'all are all developers, we know how things work. There are many possible issues in the world of programming where you rightfully ask us to provide some clear steps to reproduction but this one clearly isn't one of them. There are none. We're working on our programs when a background service that we have no influence on and have no direct information about, stops functioning for some reason. We only see the symptoms, and by definition, not even immediately, just when some interim time elapses and our current changes are not picked up any more.

So, don't ask us for reproduction because the reproduction is just one step: do work in the IDE. You devise some logging instead, if it isn't already in place, maybe something to opt-in for testing if it generates too much noise otherwise and try to find the bug that way. If you start to play games with us about "please, steps to reproduce", it will never be solved.

[pq]

It's frustrating and I do empathize. We've got a number of investigations ongoing to try and understand analysis performance (for example, https://github.com/dart-lang/sdk/issues/55281), so you're not alone. That said, while undeniable in some cases, the issues do not universally reproduce. For example, we don't see similar with devtools which is a pretty big app. if you want to help us, more data would be great. To start, what does flutter doctor -v report?

PS: closing this issue based on lack of input shouldn't suggest that we are not actively working on the problem; just that without more input, there's nothing actionable here; sorry if it felt otherwise!

[github-actions[bot]]

Without additional information we're not able to resolve this issue, so it will be closed at this time. You're still free to add more info and respond to any questions above, though. We'll reopen the case if you do. Thanks for your contribution!