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Docusaurus slow on a monorepo site due to globbing node_modules #12128
Description
Have you read the Contributing Guidelines on issues?
- I have read the Contributing Guidelines on issues.
Prerequisites
- I'm using the latest version of Docusaurus.
- I have tried the
npm run clearoryarn clearcommand. - I have tried
rm -rf node_modules yarn.lock package-lock.jsonand re-installing packages. - I have tried creating a repro with https://new.docusaurus.io.
- I have read the console error message carefully (if applicable).
Description
The issue seems to be globby scanning all node_modules folders which was the main reason for slowness.
Before fixing log:
[PERF] CLI start > Load site > Load plugins > Load plugins content > Load docs@default > contentLoaded() - 39.57 ms - (Heap 115mb -> 117mb / Total 272mb)
[PERF] CLI start > Load site > Load plugins > Load plugins content > Load docs@default - 34.38 seconds! - (Heap 87mb -> 117mb / Total 272mb)
After fixing:
[PERF] CLI start > Load site > Load plugins > Load plugins content > Load docs@default > contentLoaded() - 41.76 ms - (Heap 101mb -> 104mb / Total 222mb)
[PERF] CLI start > Load site > Load plugins > Load plugins content > Load docs@default - 329.71 ms - (Heap 94mb -> 104mb / Total 222mb)
[PERF] CLI start > Load site > Load plugins > Load plugins content - 329.90 ms - (Heap 94mb -> 104mb / Total 222mb)
async function readCategoriesMetadata(contentPath) {
const categoryFiles = await (0, utils_1.Globby)('**/_category_.{json,yml,yaml}', {
cwd: contentPath,
ignore: ['**/node_modules/**', '**/dist/**'], --> fix
});Need to add ignore to globby to fix the slowness
Reproducible demo
No response
Steps to reproduce
Have a monorepo with node_modules linked to each packages.
Expected behavior
Docusaurus should start within seconds.
Actual behavior
Docusaurus is very slow to start
Your environment
- Public source code:
- Public site URL:
- Docusaurus version used:
- Environment name and version (e.g. Chrome 89, Node.js 16.4):
- Operating system and version (e.g. Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS):
Self-service
- I'd be willing to fix this bug myself.
Activity
beanscg commentedon Jun 9, 2026
slorber commentedon Jun 12, 2026
Could you please tell us more, giving an example tree of what your monorepo looks like? I'd like to understand better before applying a fix.
[-]Docusaurus is too slow on a monorepo site[/-]hariabinesh-l-4219 commentedon Jun 15, 2026
@slorber
Our MonoRepo consists of below pnpm-workspace.yaml config.
|packages
|--buttons
|----node_modules
|------icons-svg
|--------1k+ files
|--icons-svg
|----1k+files though symlinked
|--accordion
|----node_modules
|------icons-svg
|--------1k+ files
|------buttons
|--------button files again
We have around 180+ packages. Some packages like svg icons have around 1k+ files ( individual tsx files ). Since linked deeply, majority of packages will be dependencies of other packages.
Lokesh2704soni commentedon Jul 13, 2026
slorber commentedon Jul 16, 2026
It's still not clear enough to me. I see a monorepo with packages in it, but I don't see:
Your original issue only mentions the
readCategoriesMetadata()docs plugin function.But wouldn't you also need to prevent the plugins from scanning node_modules searching for md/mdx files?
Are you using the existing plugin's
excludesoptions? Would it work if we wired thatexcludeoption to thereadCategoriesMetadata()globbing?Jashvanthan commentedon Sep 29, 2026
Hi maintainers,
I’d like to investigate this performance issue and contribute a fix.
I understand that Docusaurus can become significantly slower on monorepo sites because globbing operations can scan
node_modulesunnecessarily.I’d like to reproduce the performance issue, identify the relevant globbing calls, and evaluate whether adding targeted ignore patterns or narrowing the search scope can eliminate unnecessary filesystem traversal without changing the expected behavior.
I’ll also add regression/performance coverage where appropriate and keep the change scoped to the affected code path.
Could you please confirm the preferred implementation direction before I start?
Thanks!