IDE freezes and goes offline when large folder is present in sketchbook

[leonardocavagnis]

Describe the problem

I'm experiencing an issue with Arduino IDE version 2.3.3 running on macOS Sonoma 14.6.1 on a MacBook Pro 2023 with an Apple M2 Pro chip. After launching the IDE, it enters "offline mode" within a few seconds and becomes completely unresponsive. I'm unable to compile or upload sketches, and the IDE does not respond to any commands. The only way to close it is by forcing quit.

The development console shows the following error: net:ERR_CONNECTION REFUSED (screenshot attached).

I am also attaching the logs generated when launching the IDE from the command line.

To reproduce

1. Launch Arduino IDE 2.3.3 on macOS Sonoma 14.6.1.
2. Wait a few seconds until the IDE reports being in "offline mode."
3. The IDE becomes unresponsive and needs to be force quit.

Expected behavior

The IDE should remain in "online mode" and allow the user to compile and upload sketches without freezing.

Arduino IDE version

2.3.3

Operating system

macOS

Operating system version

Sonoma 14.6.1 and Sequoia 15.1

Additional context

I attempted reinstalling the IDE following this guide, but the issue persists.

Issue checklist

• I searched for previous reports in the issue tracker
• I verified the problem still occurs when using the latest nightly build
• My report contains all necessary details

[leonardocavagnis]

Workaround

I bisected the issue to the presence of one specific folder in my sketchbook.

The structure of my sketchbook was as follows:

• hardware
• sketches
• libraries
• other: contains a large number of diverse files, including libraries, core files, documents, Python source files, and more. (approx. 35GB)

When I remove the other folder, the issue does not occur. However, when I re-add the folder the problem reappears. I am able to reproduce this consistently.