corespotlightd using high CPU on a Mac: apps feeding Spotlight
corespotlightd indexes what apps hand to Spotlight: mail, notes, messages and more. It idled at 5 MB on our Mac. Why it spikes and how to stop one app feeding it.
What is corespotlightd?
Spotlight indexes files through mds and mdworker. Apps can also hand Spotlight their own content, emails, notes, messages, documents inside a database, through Core Spotlight. corespotlightd takes those items and indexes them. It runs as you, from the Metadata framework in CoreServices, and used 5 MB and no CPU on our Mac.
Why is corespotlightd using CPU?
- A large mail account syncing for the first time.
- An app re-indexing everything it holds after an update.
- A new Mac restoring Messages or Notes history.
How do I stop an app feeding Spotlight?
Open System Settings, Spotlight, and turn off the categories you never search, or turn off Siri and Spotlight learning for that app under Siri settings. The index it builds lives in ~/Library/Metadata/CoreSpotlight; see the CoreSpotlight folder.
See it live
Free Mac's System tab ranks every process by processor use and energy impact, once a second, and marks the ones macOS will not let you quit as protected. See also mds_stores.
Related: triald and knowledge-agent.
Common questions
What is corespotlightd on a Mac?
The process that indexes content apps hand to Spotlight, such as mail, notes and messages.
Why is corespotlightd using CPU?
An app is giving Spotlight a lot of content, often a mail account syncing or an app re-indexing after an update.
Is corespotlightd the same as mds_stores?
No. mds_stores indexes files; corespotlightd indexes content that apps provide.