Knowledge Base

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====== User Limit On Inotify Instances ======

===== Error Message =====

Example:

<WRAP prewrap>
<code>
The configured user limit (128) on the number of inotify instances has been reached
</code>
</WRAP>

This message means your system-wide limit for inotify instances (Linux file-watchers) is too low for what’s running (often IDEs, file indexers, dev servers, Docker, etc.). Fix it by raising the limits and/or stopping the process that’s consuming them.

===== Quick fix (temporary until reboot) =====

<code bash>
sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_instances=1024
sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288
sudo sysctl -w fs.inotify.max_queued_events=65536
</code>

===== Make it permanent =====

Create a sysctl config file:

<code bash>
sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-inotify.conf >/dev/null <<'EOF'
fs.inotify.max_user_instances=1024
fs.inotify.max_user_watches=524288
fs.inotify.max_queued_events=65536
EOF
</code>

Apply:

<code bash>
sudo sysctl --system
</code>