VSCode : Extension Slow - Extension Host Error

[SirWayN3]

Hey,

i am experiencing on a big script workspace (something around 50k Lines compiled and stripped, multiple includes, recursively mapped, around 25 includes) a very slow to not working intellisense and function jump (F12).

I am aware, that the language server might take a moment to get all the links properly with this amount of code.
Saving is also ultra slow ( > 2 seconds for a 10kb script file).

This may or may not have something to do with my setup of virus software, access control ect... could not verify this on another pc yet.

When i disable the extension, saving is fast.
Thats why i have a question:

• Is it possible to store the information from the language server somewhere file-related, to prevent the language server to analyze the files over and over?

And i found an error in the output console of extension host:

`2026-03-12 15:30:12.677 [error] [Damien.autoit] provider FAILED

2026-03-12 15:30:12.684 [error] SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: /;\s*(?:Parameters\s*.+:)?\s*(?:$UBOUND_ROWS) -1))\s+-\s(?.+)/: Unmatched ')'

at new RegExp (<anonymous>)

at Object.parameterDoc (c:\Users\__USER__\.vscode\extensions\damien.autoit-1.4.0\dist\extension.js:3817:3)

at extractParamDocumentation (c:\Users\__USER__\.vscode\extensions\damien.autoit-1.4.0\dist\extension.js:4396:37)

at c:\Users\__USER__\.vscode\extensions\damien.autoit-1.4.0\dist\extension.js:4431:24

…`

Autoit Version: Installed, 3.3.18.0
Scite Version: Installed
Plugin Version: 1.4

[sven-seyfert]

Hi @SirWayN3,

did you test the following: deactivate all other extensions and only use this AutoIt VSCode extension? Does it change the timing behavior drastically maybe?

I am asking because there are several VSCode extensions out there which case issues regarding performance. Maybe you can find an issues step by step which this analysis.

Besides that: I also recognized a performance issue regarding the "Go to Definition" (F12) functionality. It is very slow in comparison to older versions like v1.1.0 or v1.2.0.

Best regards
Sven

FYI: @loganch

[loganch]

Technically the extension provides all of the functionality through programmatic language features and not a language server, and I tried to make sure anything that could gather and hold to a large amount of data that changes uses a cache. Then again, these issues could be highlighting the possibility that a lot this needs to be moved to a language server.

Thanks for bringing these issues to my attention.

[loganch]

@sven-seyfert @SirWayN3, this just occurred to me, but could you play with the autoit.maps settings and tell me if that has any difference on performance?

[SirWayN3]

I will try this asap.

If i switch to version 1.0.14 (i think something like this), the Go to Definition ist fast, but wont take me to Standard UDF Functions (Like _Array.... ect).
Currently i am not working with maps at all, so deactivating this wont change anything.

For the Additional Plugins: I tried to deactivated every VS Code plugins, then activate Autoit again. This didnt change anything significantly.

[SirWayN3]

Version 1.4.0
Checks were done with a goto function in a UDF file, located in other folder then main. Folder is added via JSON: "autoit.includePaths"

Result: Very Slow, takes about more then 5 Seconds to go to function defintion

Restarted VS Code. Result (same function goto): no changes.

Deactivated every other Extension: nothing changed.

Went to different, way smaller project:

tested with the same function go to.
Works fine with deactiated autoit.maps in settings.
Works fine with Standard settings for autoit.maps.

it seems like its the size of the data to parse...

[SirWayN3]

Additionally i changed the value of "autoit.symbolMaxLines": 500000 to 500k, since my current project is, stripped, 49.1k lines...

But this didnt change anything, its still as slow as before.

I think i forgot to mention, that the Error described on top happens directly after running the "GoTo Function" command.

[sven-seyfert]

Hi folks,

I was also playing around with the settings (especially with the map settings). No behavior change for the good, unfortunately.

Nice to know: I do not use the "Include Paths" setting to include folders. I use a modified version of the extension to ensure "src" and "lib" (my projects are structured like that) will be searched too.

BUT: This doesn't change anything regarding the behavior. It's still very slow (3 to 5 seconds) to find the function definition. Both ways, your provided origin way or my modified approach don't matter for this performance aspect.

I guess the language server approach would be very promising 🤘 .

Best regards
Sven

@loganch , @SirWayN3

[SirWayN3]

Thanks for releasing V 1.5.0

I just tested this within the workspace.

The F12 Function is working as intended, but it is still very slow (takes ~ 5 Second for a function directly related (same folder) as file.

Same goes for my library functions, located in global includes.

I am going back to use 1.0.14. This may not include many new functions, but for me, the most important is the GoTo Function F12. This is working as intended and fast here.

What can I do to provide you with further information?

[sven-seyfert]

but for me, the most important is the GoTo Function F12

I understand exactly your pain @SirWayN3 . The most comfortable things are done by AI (GitHub Copilot) in my case and I only need a quick "jump" function (F12). The rest is sugar to me.

I really appreciate your work @loganch and I enjoy some of the newer functions since v1.0.14, but this "Go to Definition" feature is really essential and still doesn't work fast enough to enjoy the work in VSCode like for other languages (Go, C# etc.).

What can I do to provide you with further information?

That's a really good point and question, but as far as I understood Logan, by ...

Then again, these issues could be highlighting the possibility that a lot this needs to be moved to a language server.

... it's clear what should be done. But this approach is beyond my current knowledge of how it should be done. Perhaps you know more about it?

Best regards
Sven

[loganch]

Do you notice a delay or any slowness with the extension filling in the Outline panel when in that big project? I'm realizing similar type of work is being done to generate the symbols of the files for searching and providing the Outline, and it maintains a map that updates based on changes in files, but Go to Definition does its own processing fresh from the function call every time.