Sql-server – tempdb growth and shrinking tempdb

Yes, SQL Server files do not shrink automatically. They remain the same size unless you explicitly shrink them, either through the SQL Server Management Studio or by using the DBCC SHRINKFILE command. While you can set files to autoshrink, this is widely advised against because shrinking/growing files is very resource intensive, especially when you're dealing with log files which don't have instant file initialization.

EDIT: In response to your edit: there is a difference between MAXSIZE and the size a file can get before running out of disk. You can set that in the Files section of the database properties, or with an ALTER DATABASE command.

What is the autogrow model for the TempDB files? Tiny increments will incur many small autogrowths whereas large increments will incur fewer, but more intensive, growth routines.

Presumably TempDB is growing because queries that are running on the server are constructing a lot of temporary tables, table variables, or cursors and so on?

Is it known what queries are running, and do you have historical baseline to compare the autogrowths and sizes to?

If things have suddenly changed, and the organisation has not grown the amount of actual data it uses significantly, I would guess that a developer or reporting user has changed the way in which they run their queries.

I think we need a bit more information from you, regarding the above.