fix(gc): re-arm the idle reclaimer on elapsed idle — a declined compaction currently parks the heap 221 MB high - #9860
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Issue PerryTS#9831 measured the ArenaBytes arm firing 51 times in one 66-delta claude-code reply, each collection freeing a median 131 KB, while the adaptive step sat saturated at 1 GiB. The issue located the discarded backoff in the arm's own re-arm arithmetic; correcting that (the issue's refuted branch) bought -10.8 % CPU for +22 % settled footprint and was rightly rejected. The arm's re-arm is not what re-fires it. Between two consecutive firings the arena grows a few hundred KB, against a trigger armed 16 MB (and below the ceiling, up to 128 MB) above the post-collection total. What pulls the trigger back down is the tiny-parse pressure guard: after every `JSON.parse` that grew the arena by <= 1 MB, `gc_bump_malloc_trigger` (and `gc_schedule_parse_boundary_collection_ if_pressure`, and the boundary collector they arm) tests the absolute `arena_in_use_bytes() >= 48 MB` and, if so, sets the trigger to "now". That threshold is a quantity no collection can lower below the live set, so on a program whose live set never drops under it every small parse -- one per SSE delta -- forced a minor at the next safepoint. The step those minors doubled was consulted by nothing. The guard now also requires the arena to have grown, since the last collection of any kind ended, by a headroom priced from the step: the step rescaled so that its power-on value (128 MB, the ceiling) buys the 16 MB floor, and each doubling the arm's ceiling clamp discards buys the guard one more doubling, bounded by the same ceiling. A productive collection halves the step and the guard keeps the cadence it always had; an unproductive one earns it room. The boundary collector re-prices a pending request so a collection that already satisfied it is not followed by a second one. Measured on the compiled claude-code TUI (cli_2.1.112.js, Linux, same perry binary, runtime-only A/B, 7 interleaved rounds, 3300-char streamed reply, chunk 50): turn CPU base 30.2-41.5 s (mean 35.1) fix 27.8-29.2 s (mean 28.6) post-turn RSS base 754-1057 MB (mean 803) fix 733-855 MB (mean 786) post-idle RSS base 527-1073 MB (mean 736) fix 517-843 MB (mean 722) peak RSS 1964-2062 MB both arms The fix wins CPU in every pair (-8 % to -30 %); footprint is flat within the base's own spread. The base arm is bimodal in both, which is what an absolute in-use threshold does. PERRY_GC_DIAG on one reply: copying minors 104 -> 84 (ArenaBytes 41 -> 13), old-gen fulls 19 -> 7, and the guard forced exactly one collection, after a genuine 16 MB of growth (`[gc-tiny-parse]` is the new witness line). test_memory_json_churn -- the guard's motivating shape -- is byte-identical in output and RSS in all four GC modes; 48/48 test_gap_gc_* and 8/8 test_gap_json_* pass. The arm's own arithmetic is left as it was and now says why. Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_015kqVkH6rHzfvXskGAj3tRv
…ctions A declined idle compaction is currently a terminal state. The reducer's activity gate wants `2^backoff` collections it did not start, and `external_collections()` subtracts only its own — so a COMPACTION is what registers as external. When the compactor's residue gate declines, no compaction runs, nothing registers, `since_attempt` never reaches 1, and the reducer never runs again. The decision removes the only event that could revisit it. Measured on the claude-code TUI, 400-char turn then 120 s idle, quiet host, both rounds of each arm: A settles 757/759 -> 512/527 MB; R ends the turn 19 MB BETTER at 738/742 and finishes at 748/748 — 221 MB worse. R's residue ratio is 23.68/23.67 % against a 25 % gate and starts zero compactions; A is at 25.94/25.95 % and starts two. Within-arm spread is 0.01-0.02 points, so this is a stable operating point just under a threshold, not a coin-flip. The largest piece of the loss is downstream: A right-sizes arena capacity 182.45 -> 81.79 MB across three observations, R holds 168.82 MB on one. This adds `StartReason::IdleElapsed`, extending the exemption that already sits twelve lines above it for the identical deadlock — `ArenaRightSize` bypasses the same gate because arena blocks need a second full observation an idle mutator will never produce (PerryTS#9709). A requirement denominated in mutator collections cannot be met by a heap whose mutator is idle, which is exactly when the reducer is wanted. The constant was not the fix, and that is measured rather than asserted: the same R binary in a 5 s window DID clear the residue gate at 25.81 %, compacted, and released 0 (`kept_promise=false`). A's own second compaction releases 0 at 54.6 % residue. Half of A's compactions in that capture released nothing, aborting ~4x earlier on what looks like a pause budget. Lowering 25 -> 23 % would have bought a compaction that releases nothing and a `backoff_shift` bump. Anti-spin needs no new rule: the wait is `IDLE_RECLAIM_REARM_MS << backoff_shift`, the SAME shift that prices the activity arm, so an unproductive full doubles it — 15 s, 30 s, 60 s, 120 s, 240 s — and the arm is DISARMED at `IDLE_RECLAIM_MAX_BACKOFF_SHIFT` rather than merely slowed, so a heap with nothing to give is asked five bounded times and then not again until real activity resets the shift. A productive full resets it, so a heap still giving memory back keeps being asked every 15 s. Tests, both sabotage-proved and each failing on its own named assertion: `a_parked_heap_is_re_armed_by_elapsed_idle_alone` (no external collection anywhere in the test; asserts the REASON via a counter, not the attempt count) and `an_unproductive_elapsed_streak_doubles_the_wait_and_then_disarms`. Removing the arm fails the first; removing the backoff scaling fails "must not re-arm before the doubled wait"; removing the disarm fails "at the maximum shift the elapsed arm is disarmed". `cargo test -p perry-runtime --lib -- gc:: arena::` is green at 1,143 passed / 0 failed. NOT addressed here, and measured rather than assumed: after R's single reclaim, `[gc-general-reclaim] examined=66 released=0 has_live=39 aging=22` — 39 of 66 arena blocks hold a live object, against 3 of 65 in A. Only an evacuation can consolidate those, and whether an idle young evacuation is also needed is a separate change. Refs PerryTS#9831.
📝 WalkthroughWalkthroughThe PR adds elapsed-idle rearming for memory reclaim and productivity-priced tiny-parse pressure checks. It updates diagnostics, public exports, tests, changelogs, and GC root-holder metadata. ChangesElapsed-idle reclaim rearming
Tiny-parse pressure pricing
Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~45 minutes Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to Published release notes would describe the idle-reclaim retry timing incorrectly. Correct the schedule before merge so operators receive accurate behavior documentation. Sequence Diagram(s)sequenceDiagram
participant IdleReclaim
participant IdleTimer
participant ReducerFull
participant IdleElapsedCounter
IdleReclaim->>IdleTimer: check backoff-scaled elapsed interval
IdleTimer-->>IdleReclaim: report elapsed idle
IdleReclaim->>ReducerFull: start with IdleElapsed
ReducerFull->>IdleElapsedCounter: increment elapsed-idle starts
sequenceDiagram
participant JSONParse
participant ParseTrigger
participant TinyParsePressure
participant GCCollection
JSONParse->>ParseTrigger: report arena growth
ParseTrigger->>TinyParsePressure: evaluate trigger and priced headroom
TinyParsePressure-->>ParseTrigger: return due state
ParseTrigger->>GCCollection: schedule collection when due
GCCollection->>TinyParsePressure: store post-collection baseline
🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3 | ❌ 2❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)
✅ Passed checks (3 passed)
Full details: Description checkExplanation The description provides detailed technical context, measurements, test results, and the related issue, but it does not follow the required template structure. The Summary, Changes, Related issue, Test plan, and Checklist sections are not provided as sections, and the required checkbox statuses are missing. Resolution Reorganize the existing content under the repository template headings. Add explicit Summary, Changes, Related issue with Full details: Docstring CoverageExplanation Docstring coverage is 76.47% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 34 functions across 6 files. (3 skipped: 3 unsupported.)
✨ Finishing Touches 💡 1⚔️ Resolve merge conflicts 💡
🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)
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In `@crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/idle_reclaim.rs`:
- Around line 143-149: Update the anti-spin schedule documentation in
idle_reclaim.rs and the corresponding changelog entry so unproductive completion
retries are described as 30 s, 60 s, 120 s, and 240 s after backoff_shift is
incremented; reserve the 15 s interval for shift 0, such as after a productive
full.
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changelog.d/9831-idle-reclaim-elapsed-rearm.mdchangelog.d/9838-tiny-parse-pressure-pricing.mdcrates/perry-runtime/src/gc/idle_reclaim.rscrates/perry-runtime/src/gc/mod.rscrates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rscrates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/idle_reclaim.rscrates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/mod.rscrates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/tiny_parse_pressure.rsscripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json
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| /// This is the whole of the anti-spin argument and it needs no new rule: an | ||
| /// unproductive full doubles the wait, so a heap with nothing to give is asked | ||
| /// at 15 s, 30 s, 60 s, 120 s, 240 s and then — because the arm is disarmed at | ||
| /// [`IDLE_RECLAIM_MAX_BACKOFF_SHIFT`] — **not again until real mutator activity | ||
| /// resets the shift**. Five bounded attempts over ~8 minutes, then silence. A | ||
| /// PRODUCTIVE full resets the shift to zero, so a heap that is still giving | ||
| /// memory back keeps being asked every 15 s, which is the case this exists for. |
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📐 Maintainability & Code Quality | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win
Correct the unproductive elapsed-retry schedule. note_cycle_completed raises backoff_shift before the elapsed arm evaluates IDLE_RECLAIM_REARM_MS << backoff_shift. Therefore, the first elapsed retry after an unproductive full waits 30 s, followed by 60 s, 120 s, and 240 s. The 15 s wait applies only at shift 0, such as after a productive full. Update both cited entries; the changelog fragment is folded into GitHub Release notes.
crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/idle_reclaim.rs#L143-L149changelog.d/9831-idle-reclaim-elapsed-rearm.md#L50-L55
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In `@crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/idle_reclaim.rs` around lines 143 - 149, Update
the anti-spin schedule documentation in idle_reclaim.rs and the corresponding
changelog entry so unproductive completion retries are described as 30 s, 60 s,
120 s, and 240 s after backoff_shift is incremented; reserve the 15 s interval
for shift 0, such as after a productive full.
After applying the fix, consider running `coderabbit review --agent` for local
review. Visit https://docs.coderabbit.ai/cli.
…he LIFO handle stack Four gate failures the assembled tree produced, and the rooting bug the suite caught: - The runtime handle stack is strictly LIFO (`Drop` truncates to the scope's base), so rooting into an OUTER scope while an inner one is live has the inner scope's drop discard the handle. #9869's `visited.push(&scope, ..)` sat inside #9864's per-level scope and hit "runtime handle used after its scope was dropped". The per-level scope now closes before the push. Caught by gc::tests::rooted_for_in::for_in_grown_result_and_receiver_survive_prototype_collection. - shape_descriptor_census asserted `gc_malloc(.. GC_TYPE_REGEXP)` at `js_regexp_new`; #9845 deliberately moves that birth to the nursery, so the assertion now accepts either allocator. What it checks is unchanged and is the point: RegExp is born with its OWN GcHeader kind, never as a generic object something later re-identifies by payload magic. Verified the updated gate still fails when the birth kind is blunted. - #9853's page-class table pushed arena/page_meta.rs to 2559 lines. Split into page_meta/{mod,page_class,tests}.rs; the page-class tests move next to their subject. Both feature configurations build. - That split also stranded six frontier entries in gc_runtime_root_holders.json on the old path, and the PASS1_MARKED census pin needed its re-audit for #9860's and #9845's gc/mod.rs re-export additions before the hash could move.
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Landed on |
The problem: a declined idle compaction is a terminal state
Measured on the compiled claude-code TUI, one 400-char turn then a 120 s idle
window, quiet host (load < 0.1), both rounds of each arm:
R ends the turn 19 MB better than A and finishes 221 MB worse. The
reclaimer's own diagnostic says why, and it is a closed loop.
M1 — the compactor's residue gate declines, narrowly and reproducibly
idle_compact.rs::compaction_owedgate 1 isresidue < 8 MB || residue < occupancy / 100 * 25:[gc-idle-compact] startWithin-arm spread across rounds is 0.01–0.02 points. This is a stable
operating point 1.3 points under a threshold, not a coin-flip, and A clears it
by 0.94.
M2 — the decline removes the only event that could revisit it
idle_reclaim.rs::start_reasonwants2^backoffcollections the reducer didnot start, and
external_collections()subtracts only the reducer's owncompletions — so a compaction is what registers as external. A's trace shows
each one contributing exactly +1:
The loop closes on itself: gate 1 declines → no compaction → no external
collection →
since_attemptstays 0 → the reducer never runs again → nothingmoves the ratio gate 1 reads.
M3 — the young half, which this change does NOT address
arena/reset.rsrejects a block withDeallocReject::HasLive:39 of R's 66 arena blocks hold a live object against 3 of 65 in A. Only an
evacuation consolidates those. Stated plainly: this PR does not touch that,
and a second change may follow — see "What is not addressed" below.
Where the 221 MB actually is
From the
[gc-idle-reclaim] startlines' ownarena_capacity/arena_live:A releases 100.7 MB of arena capacity across three observations; R releases
none on one. Decomposition: arena capacity ~87 MB (168.8 − 81.8) + young
blocks ~57 MB + old-gen ~38 MB (17.7 compacted + 21.0 reclaimed) ≈ 182 of the
221 MB, the rest being malloc and side tables.
arena_right_size::owed()needsmultiple full observations, so the largest single piece sits downstream of M2.
Why the gate constant was not the fix — measured, not a matter of principle
Lowering
IDLE_COMPACT_MIN_RESIDUE_PCTfrom 25 to 23 would have let R start acompaction. The same R binary in a 5 s idle window did clear the gate, at
25.81 %, ran the compaction, and released 0 (
kept_promise=false,reusableunchanged,backoff_shift 0→1). Nor is that peculiar to R — A's ownsecond compaction releases 0 at 54.6 % residue:
Half of A's compactions in this capture released nothing. The successful and
failed selections are near-identical (selected 1859 / 1852 / 2080; selected_live
1.16 / 1.15 / 1.07 MB), but the failures stop ~4x earlier (
pause_us107k and161k against 442k), which looks like a budget abort. The knob is not merely
forbidden by the directive; on this binary's own evidence it does not work.
The fix extends an exemption that already exists twelve lines above it
StartReason::ArenaRightSizealready bypasses this same gate, with a commentnaming the identical deadlock:
A's attempt 3 fires on exactly that reason (
reason=arena_right_size). This addsStartReason::IdleElapsedon the same reasoning: a requirement denominated inmutator collections cannot be met by a heap whose mutator is idle, which is
precisely when the reducer is wanted.
Anti-spin needs no new rule
The wait is
IDLE_RECLAIM_REARM_MS << backoff_shift— the same shift thatprices the activity arm — so an unproductive full doubles it: 15 s, 30 s, 60 s,
120 s, 240 s. And the arm is disarmed entirely at
IDLE_RECLAIM_MAX_BACKOFF_SHIFTrather than merely slowed, because exponentialspacing alone still means a whole-heap mark every eight minutes on a permanently
idle process, which does not meet "no new collection in a heap with nothing to
give". Five bounded attempts, then silence until a productive full resets the
shift — bounded-while-unproductive by construction, unbounded while the heap is
still returning memory, which is the case this exists for.
IDLE_RECLAIM_REARM_MS(15 s) is deliberately larger thanIDLE_RECLAIM_MIN_INTERVAL_MS(10 s), so the rate floor is never the bindingconstraint on this arm and the two gates cannot be mistaken for one another when
reading a diag.
Tests and sabotage matrix
cargo test -p perry-runtime --lib -- gc:: arena::— 1,143 passed, 0 failed.All 12 pre-existing
idle_reclaimtests still pass, including the two mostexposed to this change
(
sustained_arena_slack_gets_one_bounded_followup_without_mutator_activity,idle_reclaim_backs_off_after_an_unproductive_full).a_parked_heap_…an_unproductive_streak_…IdleElapsedarm<< backoff_shifton the waitbackoff_shift < MAXdisarmRemoving the arm fails both, and that is not separable: every follow-up in the
streak test is elapsed-driven, so deleting the arm deletes both tests' subject.
The other two guards fail exactly one test each.
The first test asserts which arm started the full, via a dedicated
idle_reclaim_elapsed_startscounter rather than the attempt count — the attemptcount alone cannot distinguish the three start reasons, which is exactly the
ambiguity that would let the test pass for the wrong reason. It also runs with
no external collection anywhere after the first, which is the production
condition.
Falsifier — registered before the arm is priced
On perrymaster, rotated against R, both lengths, 120 s idle rows:
(25.94 → 54.61 → 54.97 %), and the arena-capacity release must follow.
If the ratio does not climb, this change is inert and the young-evacuation
route is the only fix.
[gc-idle-compact] start≥ 1 in R.reason=idle_elapsedpresent in[gc-idle-reclaim] start— confirming thenew arm is what started them, not activity and not arena debt.
has_liveon the general-reclaim census falling toward A's 3.collection in a heap that is genuinely quiet with nothing to give.
Measured (perrymaster, idle rows, load < 0.3)
R =
86fa23d97(#9845 alone), RA =c9b98b8f0(#9845 + this change), one base644b9d362, 120 s idle window, two rounds per arm rotated,PERRY_GC_DIAG=1.RSS in MB, CPU in seconds:
idle_elapsed)has_liveendarena_capacityendSettled 453 vs 751 MB at 400 — the parked case is gone, and RA sits below the
base arm's own 512–527 (A's single-turn rows in "The problem" above) and below
A's session-then-settle 620/633.
And after a four-turn session, not just an isolated turn
Same host, four 400-char turns in one process with 5 s gaps, then 120 s idle,
order R/RA/RA/R:
idle_elapsed) / compactions / fulls / idle CPUBoth R draws park this time (737 / 752 MB) — an earlier capture had one R
run settle at 616 because its idle loop happened to produce a collection, and
that was the lucky draw, not the typical one. With this change the same session
settles at 557–574 MB, below the base arm's own 620/633. Six of the eight
attempts start on
reason=idle_elapsed; the laterdonelines readreclaimed_old=0with reusable ~62 MB againstold_in_use~92 MB (67 %), i.e.the reducer converges and the elapsed arm stops. Price: ~2.3 s of CPU inside
the 120 s window against 0.02 s parked — level with what the base arm's own
attempts cost.
Raw: perrymaster
/root/rig9831/multi_idle_ra.jsonl,multi_idle_ra_{R,RA}_{1..4}.diag.The five registered clauses, one by one
arena-capacity release must follow; if the ratio does not climb, this change
is inert." — PASSES. R parks at 23.7 % after its single attempt; RA's
later attempts read 18.1/46.3 = 39 % and 20.4/49.8 = 41 %.
arena_capacityfollows: 170.9 → 54.5 and 168.8 → 57.7 MB.[gc-idle-compact] start≥ 1 in R." — PASSES. 3 per run against0.
reason=idle_elapsedpresent in[gc-idle-reclaim] start." — PASSES.Attempts 5, 6 and 8 in both RA runs. Attempts 2–4 read
reason=activity, because once the first elapsed re-arm has run, its owncollections count as external and the activity arm carries the next few —
which is the intended interaction, not a second mechanism.
has_liveon the general-reclaim census falling toward A's 3." —PASSES. 37–39 of 66 → 2 and 1.
quiet with nothing to give." — PASSES. At 3300 the same mechanism runs with
a smaller gap, because R already earns 2 attempts from its own collections:
arena_capacity237–247 → 82 MB, settled 521/644 vs 628/623, and RA'sidle CPU is lower (12.9/13.6 vs 14.6/15.2 s). Bounded-while-unproductive
holds: by attempt 8 the elapsed arm sits at
backoff_shift2 withold_in_useunchanged — it converges and stops, as designed. At 400 theattempts do cost idle CPU (3.0 vs 1.1 s per 120 s), which is level with
the base arm's own 2.6 s.
The compactor is not what settles it
Every compaction RA ran was unproductive —
released=0,kept_promise=false,backoff_shift 0→1→2. The 298 MB comes from thereclaimer's repeated sweeps, general-block aging, and arena right-sizing,
not from compaction. What the compaction contributes is the external
collection that used to be the only way to re-arm the reducer, which is the
loop M2 describes; this PR supplies that re-arm directly, so the release no
longer depends on a compaction being productive. The same reading held on the
A/R session-then-settle rows, where both arms' single compaction was
kept_promise=falseas well.Turn CPU is unchanged — the change does not touch it
The 3300 turn-CPU column above (RA 9.97/9.90 against R 11.46/10.91) looked like
a win and is noise. A dedicated sanity rotation, 3 rounds, load 1.3–1.8:
The sign changes between pairs at 3300 and the 400 rows are flat. Turn CPU is
unchanged; this change does not touch it. No CPU claim is made here — the
claim is the settled-memory and reclaim-schedule columns.
The 400 settle does not need the full 120 s
Same arms, a 30 s idle window: RA settles to 529–574 MB against R's
745–748 — −174…−216 MB in every pair — while post-turn RSS (739–743 vs
740–743) and peak RSS are identical. The re-arm acts early in the window, not
only at the end of a long one.
Raw: perrymaster
/root/rig9831/idleRA.jsonl,idleRA_{R,RA}_{3300,400}_r{1,2}.diag, andcombRA.jsonlfor the sanityrotation and the 30 s rows.
What is not addressed
The young half.
has_live=39of 66 arena blocks is evacuation-bound and thischange does nothing for it. Whether an idle young evacuation (a copying minor at
an idle safepoint when the young generation holds few live objects across many
blocks) is also needed is a separate question and would be a separate
change. The session-then-settle rows now answer it: when the reclaimer gets its
second attempt, the young blocks age out and release on their own
(
has_live37–39 of 66 → 2 and 1 with this change), so a dedicated idle youngevacuation is likely not needed — but nothing here evacuates them, and that
statement stands.
Provenance:
secret-tests/cc-perf-campaign/COUNTER_idle_reclaim_parked.md;captures
perrymaster:/root/rig9831/idle400_{A,R,C}_r{1,2}.diagandidle400.jsonl. Refs #9831.https://claude.ai/code/session_014knX724SYDogwzsXybCGxp
Summary by CodeRabbit
Bug Fixes
Performance