microsoft
Error EMFILE: too many open files, open...
Type: Bug
2025-05-28 20:13:05.423 [error] Error: EMFILE: too many open files, open '%USERS%.vscode\extensions\github.copilot-chat-0.27.2\dist\tikTokenizerWorker.js'
at Object.readFileSync (node:fs:451:20)
at t.readFileSync (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:10175)
at getMaybeCachedSource (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1568:18)
at Module._extensions..js (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1580:19)
at Module.load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1282:32)
at Module._load (node:internal/modules/cjs/loader:1103:12)
at c._load (node:electron/js2c/node_init:2:16955)
at Function.executeUserEntryPoint [as runMain] (node:internal/modules/run_main:179:12)
at MessagePort.
Extension version: 0.27.2 VS Code version: Code 1.100.2 (848b80aeb52026648a8ff9f7c45a9b0a80641e2e, 2025-05-14T21:47:40.416Z) OS version: Windows_NT x64 10.0.26100 Modes:
System Info
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| CPUs | 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i9-13900HX (32 x 2419) |
| GPU Status | 2d_canvas: enabled canvas_oop_rasterization: enabled_on direct_rendering_display_compositor: disabled_off_ok gpu_compositing: enabled multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled raw_draw: disabled_off_ok skia_graphite: disabled_off video_decode: enabled video_encode: enabled vulkan: disabled_off webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled webgpu: enabled webnn: disabled_off |
| Load (avg) | undefined |
| Memory (System) | 63.71GB (31.75GB free) |
| Process Argv | --crash-reporter-id 68380c84-2cbe-45e4-ae46-31fd9420912b |
| Screen Reader | no |
| VM | 0% |
A/B Experiments
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vspor879:30202332
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pythonrstrctxt:31112756
nativeloc2:31192216
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dwcopilot:31170013
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dwoutputs:31242946
customenabled:31248079
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pylancecolor:31314202
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I see this error on Windows 11 Enterprise when the GitHub Copilot Chat extension for VS Code is in Agent mode and runs end-to-end tests that generate and process many files.
Configuring .vscode/settings.json using the following pattern seems to help.
{
// Reduce file watcher load (helps avoid EMFILE on large transient trees)
"files.watcherExclude": {
"**/tmp/**": true,
"**/dist/**": true,
"**/node_modules/**": true
},
// Exclude from search index / quick open to speed up operations
"search.exclude": {
"**/tmp/**": true,
"**/dist/**": true,
"**/node_modules/**": true
},
// Hide transient tmp folders from the Explorer view
"files. Exclude": {
"**/tmp/**": true
}
}
In my case, dist is the build output directory and tmp is the directory used for generating and processing test files.
The models have improved a lot recently, and we've made lots of changes. If you still see this issue we're happy to re-open. Please see https://github.com/microsoft/vscode/wiki/Copilot-Issues for how to provide an actionable Copilot issue.
