How to increase electron max memory limit (--max_old_space_size)

[bu2]

Is it possible to use the V8 option --max_old_space_size=N to increase the max memory limit of the electron process and its BrowserWindow subprocess ?

I tried different commands without success (I am on Mac OS X with node installed with Homebrew and electron installed with npm):

$ electron --max_old_space_size=4096 app/
$ node --max_old_space_size=4096 ~/.brew/bin/electron app/
...

(I also tried --max_old_space_size and --max-old-space-size).

I reach the limit around 1.5~1.7Go of memory when the following error occurs:
[1765:0625/153220:ERROR:atom_bindings.cc(32)] Fatal error in V8: CALL_AND_RETRY_LAST Allocation failed - process out of memory

I am brute testing with following main.js program:

var output = [];
var count = 0;

while (true) {
  output.push(new Object());
  count++;

  if (count % 1000 == 0)
    console.log(process.memoryUsage());
}

Regards,

Bruno.

[zcbenz]

Does --js-flags="--max_old_space_size=4096" work for you?

[bu2]

Sorry but it does not work. I tried:
electron --js-flags="--max_old_space_size=4096" app/
and
node --js-flags='"--max_old_space_size=4096" ~/.brew/bin/electron alpha/

It work correctly for a pure nodejs program with following command:
node --max_old_space_size=4096 alpha/main.js

[bu2]

The option --js-flags="--max_old_space_size=4096" works on electron build from source following instructions: http://electron.atom.io/docs/v0.28.0/development/build-instructions-mac.

I run with following command:
$ ~/lab/atom/electron/out/R/Electron.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron --js-flags="--max_old_space_size=4096" ./app/

My config:
macbook pro 13 early-2015
OS X 10.10.3

From my point of view, you can close this issue.

Thank you.

[zcbenz]

👍

[mgcrea]

Sorry to revive an old thread, but it looks like --js-flags="--max_old_space_size=4096" does not work anymore with latest electron, do you know if it got somehow replaced by another flag in latest electron?

[jrieken]

@zcbenz Can you comment on the differences how this flag behaves when having ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE set? It just seems to be ignored in that case? Given a script that just allocates memory (microsoft/vscode#28112 (comment)) I can see the option nicely when running like this:

./node_modules/electron/dist/Electron.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron --js-flags="--max_old_space_size=2024" ~/Desktop/big.js

but when running it like so it is ignored

 env ELECTRON_RUN_AS_NODE=true ./node_modules/electron/dist/Electron.app/Contents/MacOS/Electron --max_old_space_size=2024 ~/Desktop/big.js

Using the latter variant with nodejs (8.0.0) is working and shows the desired effect. What is different in electron?

[botezatumihaicatalin]

I got it to work like this by inserting this piece of code in Browser.js before ready event:

app.commandLine.appendSwitch('js-flags', '--max-old-space-size=4096')

[Hadatko]

Hello could you address location of that file? I found several Browser.js

[hexianzhi]

In win10, electron 2.0.13, app.commandLine.appendSwitch('js-flags', '--max-old-space-size=4096') is not working.

but you can add --js-flags=--max-old-space-size=500 in packge.json scripts:

{
  "scripts": {
    "start": "electron --js-flags=--max-old-space-size=500 . "
  }
}

Or if you use electron-vue, change two part:
dev-runner.js:

function startElectron () {
  var args = [
    // Add the line below，this for electron.exe
    "--js-flags=--max-old-space-size=500",
    '--inspect=5858',
    path.join(__dirname, '../dist/electron/main.js')
  ]
}

packge.json :

{
  "scripts": {
     // This for node.js
     "dev": "node --max-old-space-size=4096 .electron-vue/dev-runner.js",
  }
}

[Hadatko]

Hi,
i am using this: "node_modules/.bin/electron --js-flags='--max-old-space-size=10192' ."

[Akash9773312]

Hi I am using electron 23.1.1 and I facing an Out Of Memory error can be please address me how can I resolve the same