ow to resolve 'BackgroundShortcutRunner' CPU hogging issue on 2020 MacBook Pro running macOS 26.1 Tahoe?

Question

ow to resolve 'BackgroundShortcutRunner' CPU hogging issue on 2020 MacBook Pro running macOS 26.1 Tahoe?

I have a 2020 MacBook Pro. Even though it has become 5 years old, there should still be no problems using it for less demanding tasks. Turns out the OS (26.1 Tahoe) itself might be a too demanding task.

The Shortcuts app takes one CPU and runs it to the max. This is quite severe as there seems to be no way of turning that application off. I have never used shortcuts, and I've made sure there isn't a single shortcut lingering in the application. After doing some googling, I've found that this issue is at least three months old: https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/1n11bau/backgroundshortcutrunner_hogging_the_cpu_any_tips/

Will this bug be patched soon - it's been going on for at least three months? There is no way for the end user to actually fix this - there is nothing we can do (except switch OS). I initially moved from Linux to Mac to reduce the amount of general OS work, but it seems it might be time to move back if severe bugs like this aren't fixed...

[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Original Title: BackGroundShortcutRunner hogging the CPU

MacBook Pro 16″

Posted on Dec 6, 2025 4:15 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 6, 2025 6:45 AM in response to siggystardust

Clear Shortcuts containers

Disable automations

Remove Siri suggestions

Kill the daemon periodically

Create an empty (“placeholder”) Shortcut

Turn off iCloud Shortcuts sync

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Answer 2

Dec 6, 2025 7:09 AM in response to siggystardust

First: Did you confirm in Activity Monitor that this process was actually using that much CPU?

Second: if it is indeed using this much CPU, select it in the Activity Monitor and force quit it - press the X button at the top, and click the Force Quit button.

What happens then? It may be that the process is spawn again, but behaves; that it is spawn and again takes a lot of CPU; or it is not spawn back at all.

Third: in case there is some conflict causing this, Please run Etrecheck and post its full report here. Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

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