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fix(gc): price the tiny-parse pressure guard by the productivity backoff (#9831) - #9838

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fix(gc): price the tiny-parse pressure guard by the productivity backoff (#9831)#9838
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@proggeramlug proggeramlug commented Sep 6, 2026

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Fixes #9831.

What the arm was actually re-firing on

#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, and located the discarded backoff in gc_finish_arena_trigger_collection's ceiling clamp. Correcting that clamp (the issue's refuted/arena-trigger-pricing branch) was measured at −10.8 % CPU for +22 % settled footprint and rightly rejected.

The clamp is not what re-fires the arm. In the captures, consecutive ArenaBytes minors are separated by a few hundred KB of arena growth, against a trigger armed 16 MB above the post-collection total (128 MB, the ceiling, while the arena is below it). Nothing in that arithmetic can be due again after 500 KB. What pulls the trigger 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 both arm) tests the absolute arena_in_use_bytes() >= 48 MB and, if it holds, sets GC_NEXT_TRIGGER_BYTES to "now" and asks for a collection. That threshold is a quantity no collection can lower below the live set, so on a program whose live set never drops under it — claude-code holds 59–297 MB through one reply — every small parse, one per SSE delta, forced a minor at the next safepoint. The step those minors doubled was computed, stored, and consulted by nothing. This is the #9589 shape one trigger over: an absolute threshold on a number the collection cannot move.

The fix

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 (tiny_parse_pressure_headroom_bytes): the step rescaled so that its power-on value (128 MB, which equals the ceiling) buys the 16 MB headroom 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. gc_collect_pending_suppressed_parse re-prices a pending request, so a collection that already satisfied it is not followed by a second one. The base is arena_in_use_bytes() recorded at note_collection_finished_arena_occupancy, the funnel every cycle finishes through, in the guard's own units (bump offsets, so swept holes never read as growth).

PERRY_GC_DIAG=1 gains a [gc-tiny-parse] forced collection site=… in_use=… base=… headroom=… step=… line — the witness that the guard, and not the arm's arithmetic, was the thing firing.

The arm's own re-arm is left exactly as it was, with a comment recording the measured reason (the forbidden trade) and where the step is consumed instead.

Measured (perrymaster, Linux, cli_2.1.112.js, same perry binary, runtime-only relink, 7 interleaved rounds, 3300-char streamed reply, chunk 50)

base fix
turn CPU 30.2–41.5 s, mean 35.1 27.8–29.2 s, mean 28.6
RSS after turn 754–1057 MB, mean 803 733–855 MB, mean 786
RSS after 30 s idle 527–1073 MB, mean 736 517–843 MB, mean 722
peak RSS (VmHWM) 1964–2062 MB 1969–2002 MB

The fix wins CPU in every pair (−8 % to −30 %); footprint is flat within the base's own spread, never above it. The base arm is bimodal in both CPU and RSS, which is what an absolute in-use threshold does when the live set sits near it. 400-char reply: CPU 5.19 → 4.57 s median, RSS unchanged.

Diag run of one 3300-char reply: copying minors 104 → 84 (ArenaBytes 41 → 13, MallocCount 63 → 71), old-gen fulls 19 → 7, [gc-step] lines freeing ≤ 1 % 33 → 3, and the guard forced one collection in the whole reply, after a genuine 16 MB of growth.

Tests

  • gc::tests::tiny_parse_pressure (new, 9 tests): the pricing (power-on step buys the floor; productive steps keep it; each discarded doubling doubles it; bounded by the ceiling), the predicate (below the in-use trigger never due; the measured shape — a few KB past a collection that freed nothing — not due; growth of exactly the headroom due, one byte short not), the live cells, and that a finished js_gc_collect() moves the base to the post-collection arena_in_use_bytes() reading. Sabotage-proved: restoring the absolute guard fails the measured-shape test and the boundary halves; pricing at the raw floor.max(step.min(ceiling)) fails the power-on test.
  • test_memory_json_churn.ts (the guard's motivating shape), test_memory_string_churn.ts, test_memory_long_lived_loop.ts: byte-identical output and RSS within noise on both arms in all four GC modes (default / PERRY_GEN_GC=0 / =1 / force-evac+verify).
  • 48/48 test_gap_gc_*, 8/8 test_gap_json_* pass on the fix build; 42/42 gc::tests::triggers + new tests pass.
  • cargo fmt, cargo check/clippy -p perry-runtime (no findings in the new code), check_thread_locals.py (the cell lives in an existing block), gc_runtime_root_holders.py (researched not_a_gc_pointer verdict for the new byte-count cell; PASS1_MARKED's window re-audited and re-pinned — the only in-cycle touch is one Cell store in the Publish subphase, after the sweep consumed the snapshot).

No version bump (maintainer bumps at merge).

https://claude.ai/code/session_015kqVkH6rHzfvXskGAj3tRv

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Bug Fixes

    • Improved garbage collection pressure handling during tiny parses by adapting collection thresholds to recent allocation growth.
    • Reduced redundant minor collections by rechecking pending collection requests before execution.
    • Added optional diagnostics when a collection is forced.
  • Tests

    • Added regression coverage for adaptive thresholds, trigger boundaries, growth-based decisions, and collection state updates.
  • Documentation

    • Documented the updated tiny-parse pressure behavior, performance results, and validation findings.

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
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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The GC tiny-parse pressure guard now prices arena growth using the adaptive GC step. It tracks post-collection occupancy, rechecks pending collections, emits optional diagnostics, and adds regression tests for pricing and baseline updates.

Changes

Tiny-parse pressure control

Layer / File(s) Summary
Pressure pricing and growth predicate
crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs, changelog.d/9838-tiny-parse-pressure-pricing.md
The policy derives growth headroom from the adaptive step, applies floor and ceiling limits, and tracks arena growth after collections. The changelog records the root cause and fix.
Collection scheduling and diagnostics
crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/policy.rs, scripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json
Post-parse and parse-boundary paths use the growth-aware predicate. Pending collections are revalidated. Forced collections can emit diagnostics. Root-holder metadata records the new byte-count cell.
Regression test coverage
crates/perry-runtime/src/gc/tests/*, changelog.d/9838-tiny-parse-pressure-pricing.md
Tests cover pricing floors, doubling, ceiling clamping, trigger boundaries, live state, and baseline rebasing. The changelog records validation results.

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~25 minutes

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to 6685b

The change updates GC pressure pricing and collection baselines; no unresolved current merge-readiness risk is recorded.

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant ParseBoundary
  participant GCPolicy
  participant Collection
  ParseBoundary->>GCPolicy: evaluate tiny-parse pressure
  GCPolicy-->>ParseBoundary: schedule or skip collection
  ParseBoundary->>GCPolicy: recheck pending pressure
  GCPolicy->>Collection: force collection when pressure remains due
  Collection-->>GCPolicy: complete collection and rebase baseline
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🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 4 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name Status Explanation Resolution
Docstring Coverage ⚠️ Warning Docstring coverage is 78.26% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 23 functions across 3 files. (1 skipped: … Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.
✅ Passed checks (4 passed)
Check name Status Explanation
Title check ✅ Passed The title clearly identifies the main change: pricing the tiny-parse pressure guard by the productivity backoff.
Description check ✅ Passed The description is complete in substance. It explains the cause, fix, measured results, tests, diagnostics, and related issue. It does not use every template heading or checklist item, but the require…
Linked Issues check ✅ Passed The PR addresses the requirements in [#9831] by preventing repeated tiny-parse collections when the live set remains above the absolute threshold. It adds growth-based headroom priced from the adaptiv…
Out of Scope Changes check ✅ Passed The changes remain within scope. The runtime logic, regression tests, diagnostics, changelog entry, and GC root-holder metadata directly support the tiny-parse pressure fix and its validation.
Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 78.26% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 23 functions across 3 files. (1 skipped: 1 unsupported.)

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@proggeramlug
proggeramlug marked this pull request as ready for review September 6, 2026 04:42
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Coordination note from the cc-perf campaign (session 014UZWia6L37DpA93VLtNK9m): a companion defect fix is in progress in the same area — gc_finish_malloc_trigger_collection never re-baselines GC_NEXT_TRIGGER_BYTES (the doc says it is bumped after each collection; the asymmetry predates the budgeted split, 9d3bd2e), which is what makes the ArenaBytes arm fire on an ~856-byte nursery at the safepoint after a promoting MallocCount minor. That fix factors the threshold re-baseline out of the arena finisher and calls it from the malloc finisher, so it lands adjacent to note_collection_finished_arena_occupancy here. We will rebase onto this PR and write the factoring against your funnel rather than trusting a clean merge — flagging so the overlap is deliberate on both sides. Phase-split evidence: this PR removes ~28 of 41 ArenaBytes firings per long reply (trigger lowered, not crossed); the companion removes the ~8 that cross during promotion. They compose but overlap, and neither's cc number is quotable without stating whether the other was in the binary.

https://claude.ai/code/session_014UZWia6L37DpA93VLtNK9m

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
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Comment thread changelog.d/9838-tiny-parse-pressure-pricing.md Outdated
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Landing note for whoever merges this: main (35c36f425) has since dropped the SHAPE_CACHE_YOUNG holder (#9756), and this branch's scripts/gc_runtime_root_holders.json still carries that entry. Do not merge the two JSONs — start from main's inventory, add only this PR's GC_TINY_PARSE_PRESSURE_BASE_BYTES verdict, and re-pin policy.rs in the PASS1_MARKED window from the merged file. Details and the separate stale-pin failure that main itself has right now: #9873.

proggeramlug pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Sep 6, 2026
proggeramlug pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Sep 6, 2026
…rs change

The structural JSON merge recomputed the census-window pin from the tree
but did not carry the author's written re-audit. A pin whose hash tracks
the tree while its justification lags is exactly the gap the pin exists
to catch: the gate stays green and nobody has re-argued the window.
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Landed on main via merge train #9875. Validated as a tree: 64/64 lint gates, and perry-runtime/codegen/hir/stdlib all green (5,891 tests, 0 failures). Thanks!

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gc: the ArenaBytes productivity backoff is computed and then discarded above the trigger ceiling

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