diff --git a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs
index 12146c8ce0..9d064ed122 100644
--- a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs
+++ b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/global_state.rs
@@ -560,6 +560,49 @@ impl GlobalState {
     fn send(&self, message: lsp_server::Message) {
         self.sender.send(message).unwrap()
     }
+
+    pub(crate) fn publish_diagnostics(
+        &mut self,
+        uri: Url,
+        version: Option<i32>,
+        mut diagnostics: Vec<lsp_types::Diagnostic>,
+    ) {
+        // We put this on a separate thread to avoid blocking the main thread with serialization work
+        self.task_pool.handle.spawn_with_sender(stdx::thread::ThreadIntent::Worker, {
+            let sender = self.sender.clone();
+            move |_| {
+                // VSCode assumes diagnostic messages to be non-empty strings, so we need to patch
+                // empty diagnostics. Neither the docs of VSCode nor the LSP spec say whether
+                // diagnostic messages are actually allowed to be empty or not and patching this
+                // in the VSCode client does not work as the assertion happens in the protocol
+                // conversion. So this hack is here to stay, and will be considered a hack
+                // until the LSP decides to state that empty messages are allowed.
+
+                // See https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-analyzer/issues/11404
+                // See https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-analyzer/issues/13130
+                let patch_empty = |message: &mut String| {
+                    if message.is_empty() {
+                        " ".clone_into(message);
+                    }
+                };
+
+                for d in &mut diagnostics {
+                    patch_empty(&mut d.message);
+                    if let Some(dri) = &mut d.related_information {
+                        for dri in dri {
+                            patch_empty(&mut dri.message);
+                        }
+                    }
+                }
+
+                let not = lsp_server::Notification::new(
+                    <lsp_types::notification::PublishDiagnostics as lsp_types::notification::Notification>::METHOD.to_owned(),
+                    lsp_types::PublishDiagnosticsParams { uri, diagnostics, version },
+                );
+                _ = sender.send(not.into());
+            }
+        });
+    }
 }
 
 impl Drop for GlobalState {
diff --git a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/main_loop.rs b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/main_loop.rs
index 75635d1c28..54f718479f 100644
--- a/crates/rust-analyzer/src/main_loop.rs
+++ b/crates/rust-analyzer/src/main_loop.rs
@@ -440,40 +440,13 @@ impl GlobalState {
         if let Some(diagnostic_changes) = self.diagnostics.take_changes() {
             for file_id in diagnostic_changes {
                 let uri = file_id_to_url(&self.vfs.read().0, file_id);
-                let mut diagnostics =
-                    self.diagnostics.diagnostics_for(file_id).cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>();
-
-                // VSCode assumes diagnostic messages to be non-empty strings, so we need to patch
-                // empty diagnostics. Neither the docs of VSCode nor the LSP spec say whether
-                // diagnostic messages are actually allowed to be empty or not and patching this
-                // in the VSCode client does not work as the assertion happens in the protocol
-                // conversion. So this hack is here to stay, and will be considered a hack
-                // until the LSP decides to state that empty messages are allowed.
-
-                // See https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-analyzer/issues/11404
-                // See https://github.com/rust-lang/rust-analyzer/issues/13130
-                let patch_empty = |message: &mut String| {
-                    if message.is_empty() {
-                        " ".clone_into(message);
-                    }
-                };
-
-                for d in &mut diagnostics {
-                    patch_empty(&mut d.message);
-                    if let Some(dri) = &mut d.related_information {
-                        for dri in dri {
-                            patch_empty(&mut dri.message);
-                        }
-                    }
-                }
-
                 let version = from_proto::vfs_path(&uri)
-                    .map(|path| self.mem_docs.get(&path).map(|it| it.version))
-                    .unwrap_or_default();
+                    .ok()
+                    .and_then(|path| self.mem_docs.get(&path).map(|it| it.version));
 
-                self.send_notification::<lsp_types::notification::PublishDiagnostics>(
-                    lsp_types::PublishDiagnosticsParams { uri, diagnostics, version },
-                );
+                let diagnostics =
+                    self.diagnostics.diagnostics_for(file_id).cloned().collect::<Vec<_>>();
+                self.publish_diagnostics(uri, version, diagnostics);
             }
         }