maxBuffer exceeded 🟩 Node.js

RangeError [ERR_CHILD_PROCESS_STDIO_MAXBUFFER]: stdout maxBuffer length exceeded

child_process.exec/execSync produced more output than its buffer allows (default 1 MB).

Seen on: Node.js

Meaning

exec buffers all output in memory. Commands with large output (git log, find, builds) exceed it.

Common causes

  • Large command output with exec/execSync
  • Verbose tools logging a lot

⚡ Quick fix

  1. Use spawn and stream output
  2. Increase maxBuffer: exec(cmd, { maxBuffer: 50 * 1024 * 1024 })

Detailed fix by platform

Node.js

  1. const child = spawn('git', ['log']); child.stdout.on('data', d => process.stdout.write(d));

How to diagnose

  1. Output — How large?
  2. API — exec or spawn?

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