Identify CPU-intensive tasks, optimize code, and consider moving heavy operations to a separate process or server.

High CPU usage in a Node.js application often indicates CPU-intensive operations that are overwhelming the event loop and slowing down responsiveness. To address this, begin by profiling your app using tools like Node’s built-in profiler, Chrome DevTools, or performance monitoring tools like New Relic; these will help pinpoint areas where the app is consuming more CPU than expected, such as during complex calculations, frequent database queries, or repeated parsing and data manipulation. Once identified, optimize these operations by simplifying logic, reducing the frequency of repetitive tasks, or even using native Node.js modules to enhance performance. Additionally, consider offloading resource-heavy functions to separate worker threads, especially for computationally expensive tasks; this allows the main thread to remain responsive while the workload is handled in a more isolated, efficient manner. Alternatively, for highly CPU-bound processes, deploying a microservice architecture where heavy operations are processed by a separate server can further alleviate the load on the main Node.js application, improving overall performance and responsiveness.