macOS Spotlight

Stale or missing search results, or mds/mdworker pinning the CPU → rebuild the index. Reindexing runs in the background; expect CPU/fan noise until it finishes.

sudo mdutil -E /            # erase and rebuild the index for the boot volume
sudo mdutil -E -a           # ...for all volumes
 
# Heavier reset: toggle indexing off and on first
sudo mdutil -a -i off && sudo mdutil -a -i on && sudo mdutil -E -a

mdutil -s /                 # index status
mdfind "query"              # Spotlight search from the CLI
mdls file                   # a file's Spotlight metadata

Exclude node_modules, caches, and build dirs under System Settings → Spotlight → Search Privacy.