Cypress 10.3.1: System limit for number of file watchers reached

Current behavior

Hello, I’m trying to run Cypress in GitLab CI using the cypress/base:16 image.

I run my tests with the following command:

cypress run --headless --component --config watchForFileChanges=false

Additionally I have disabled file watching in vite.config.js, however I’m getting the following error on every run:

  (Run Starting)
  ┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │ Cypress:        10.3.1                                                                         │
  │ Browser:        Electron 100 (headless)                                                        │
  │ Node Version:   v16.14.2 (/usr/local/bin/node)                                                 │
  │ Specs:          21 found (app-banner.cy.js, todo.cy.js, actions.cy.js, aliasing.cy.js, asserti │
  │                 ons.cy.js, connectors.cy.js, cookies.cy.js, cypress_api.cy.js, files.cy.js, lo │
  │                 cal_storage.cy.js, location.cy.js, misc.cy.js, navigation.cy.js, network_reque │
  │                 sts.cy.js, querying.cy....)                                                    │
  │ Searched:       **/*.cy.{js,jsx,ts,tsx}                                                        │
  └────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
                                                                                                    
  Running:  app-banner.cy.js                                                               (1 of 21)
Your configFile threw an error from: cypress.config.js
We stopped running your tests because your config file crashed.
Error: ENOSPC: System limit for number of file watchers reached, watch '/builds/technical-design/ripe-app-webcomponents/cache/Cypress/10.3.1/Cypress/resources/app/packages/data-context/src/codegen/index.js'
    at FSWatcher.<computed> (node:internal/fs/watchers:244:19)
    at Object.watch (node:fs:2251:34)
    at createFsWatchInstance (file:///builds/technical-design/ripe-app-webcomponents/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-71eb12cb.js:47466:17)
    at setFsWatchListener (file:///builds/technical-design/ripe-app-webcomponents/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-71eb12cb.js:47513:15)
    at NodeFsHandler$1._watchWithNodeFs (file:///builds/technical-design/ripe-app-webcomponents/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-71eb12cb.js:47668:14)
    at NodeFsHandler$1._handleFile (file:///builds/technical-design/ripe-app-webcomponents/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-71eb12cb.js:47732:23)
    at NodeFsHandler$1._addToNodeFs (file:///builds/technical-design/ripe-app-webcomponents/node_modules/vite/dist/node/chunks/dep-71eb12cb.js:47974:21)

This is similar to #22054 and #17173 for example

Desired behavior

Not throw an error and disable file watching

Test code to reproduce

I might get around to this later

Cypress Version

10.3.1

Other

No response

[TommasoAmici]

Thanks for the tip, but as explained above, I already found a workaround

Following this suggestion #17173 (comment), I have added CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=1 to my environment and it works

However my understanding is that file watching should be disabled if I pass --config watchForFileChanges=false so this shouldn’t be happening at all.

Is it possible that this option is not being picked up by Cypress?

[AtofStryker]

Thanks for the tip, but as explained above, I already found a workaround

Following this suggestion #17173 (comment), I have added CHOKIDAR_USEPOLLING=1 to my environment and it works

Oh yeah that’s right 🤦🏻 . Sorry about that!

However my understanding is that file watching should be disabled if I pass --config watchForFileChanges=false so this shouldn’t be happening at all.

Is it possible that this option is not being picked up by Cypress?

Definitely possible. I’ll give https://github.com/TommasoAmici/cypress-repro-23061 a clone and do some debugging to see what’s going on.