cpptools uses 200GB ram?

[mfide]

Environment

• OS and Version: Microsoft Windows 11 [Version 10.0.26200.7171]
• VS Code Version: 1.106.2
• C/C++ Extension Version: Version 1.28.3: October 16, 2025
• If using SSH remote, specify OS of remote machine: Ubuntu 24.04 and Kernel 6.8.0-87

Bug Summary and Steps to Reproduce

Bug Summary:
Hello,

From my Windows machine, I connect to my Ubuntu server, which has 256 GB of RAM, to work on my Yocto project folder that contains several BitBake files in the meta layers. I noticed that as soon as I open VS Code, cpptools starts using a huge amount of RAM. I'm not sure if this is normal. The memory usage of cpptools keeps increasing over time:

What shall I do about it?

Thank you.

Configuration and Logs

{
    "configurations": [
        {
            "name": "Linux",
            "includePath": [
                "/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/c++/5",
                "/usr/include/c++/5",
                "/usr/local/include",
                "/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu",
                "/usr/include",
                "${workspaceRoot}/include",
                "${workspaceRoot}/include/syscommon",
                "${workspaceRoot}/include/archcommon",
                "${workspaceRoot}/include/websocket_srv",
                "${workspaceRoot}"
            ],
            "defines": [],
            "intelliSenseMode": "clang-x64",
            "browse": {
                "path": [
                    "/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu/c++/5",
                    "/usr/include/c++/5",
                    "/usr/local/include",
                    "/usr/include/x86_64-linux-gnu",
                    "/usr/include",
                    "${workspaceRoot}"
                ],
                "limitSymbolsToIncludedHeaders": true,
                "databaseFilename": ""
            },
            "compilerPath": "/usr/bin/gcc",
            "cStandard": "c11",
            "cppStandard": "c++17"
        }
    ],
    "version": 4
}

[sean-mcmanus]

@mfide It is not normal. Are you able to give us any more repro info and/or find a case where it doesn't repro and determine what difference is triggering the repro? Are you able to set C_Cpp.loggingLevel to "Debug" and check the C/C++ logging to see what might be happening when the memory usage is increasing, and/or attaching/breakinging a debugger to get the call stacks that are doing work?

[sean-mcmanus]

@mfide Your machine only has 256 MB of RAM? That might be lower than we require. That could be the cause. Are you able to. try the repro with a machine that has more RAM?

UPDATE: Oops, read it wrong. You said 256 GB not MB.