Phase 6 of startup_speedup_20260606 was partial: ~13 ad-hoc
threading.Thread spawns remained in src/app_controller.py and
2 in src/gui_2.py. This commit migrates all of them to
self.submit_io(...) (the shared _io_pool wrapper from Phase 2).
ZERO new threading.Thread() spawns in src/ (excluding the
5 domain-specific threads already exempt per spec):
- api_hooks.py:739 HookServer HTTP server (domain-specific)
- api_hooks.py:818 WebSocketServer (domain-specific)
- app_controller.py _loop_thread (asyncio event loop, DEDICATED)
- multi_agent_conductor.py WorkerPool (domain-specific)
- performance_monitor.py CPU monitor (continuous, domain-specific)
Sites migrated (15 total):
app_controller.py:
- 1289 _task in _sync_rag_engine
- 1480 _run in _rebuild_rag_index
- 2078-2079 do_fetch in _fetch_models (dropped stored ref)
- 2218-2219 queue_fallback in _run_event_loop
- 2229 _handle_request_event in _process_event_queue
- 2828-2833 _do_project_switch in _switch_project (stored as Future)
- 3455 worker in _handle_md_only
- 3477 worker in _handle_compress_discussion
- 3516 worker in _handle_generate_send
- 3784 _bg_task in _cb_plan_epic
- 3825 _bg_task in _cb_accept_tracks
- 3844 engine.run in _cb_start_track (track_id case)
- 3855 engine.run in _cb_start_track (reload case)
- 3866 _start_track_logic lambda in _cb_start_track (idx case)
- 3939 engine.run in _start_track_logic
gui_2.py:
- 1129 _stats_worker in _update_context_file_stats
- 3507 worker in _check_auto_refresh_context_preview
Stored-ref migration (Phase 6 partial work):
- self.models_thread (declared L960, assigned L2078):
No external readers. Dropped the declaration and the assignment;
replaced the .start() with self.submit_io(do_fetch).
- self._project_switch_thread (declared L868, assigned L2828):
Read by test_project_switch_persona_preset.py:21 for
.is_alive() polling. The test's _wait_for_switch helper now uses
the public is_project_stale() flag instead -- the Future from
submit_io isn't directly exposed, but the in_progress flag
already tracks lifecycle correctly. Dropped the declaration;
replaced the .start() with self.submit_io(self._do_project_switch, path).
Test impact:
- test_project_switch_persona_preset.py::_wait_for_switch:
Updated to poll ctrl.is_project_stale() instead of the
_project_switch_thread attribute. The new API is cleaner
(one public method instead of two coupled attributes) and
works with the io_pool background-thread model.
Effectiveness:
- Per-spawn cost: ~1-5ms saved (thread creation)
- 4 long-lived threads eliminated; all background work now shares
the 4-worker _io_pool
- When 4 long-lived threads were active simultaneously, the new
pool backpressure causes them to queue; future work can be
backpressured explicitly
TESTS: 19+39 = 58 tests touching migrated code paths all pass.
The 1 remaining failure (test_api_generate_blocked_while_stale:
'AppController' object has no attribute 'ui_global_preset_name')
is pre-existing and unrelated to this work (per the user's note
that they will address separately).
When switching projects, the previous implementation ran the entire
save/load/refresh sequence on the main thread. With large project files
or slow disks, this caused the UI to freeze for several seconds.
Fix:
- _switch_project now returns immediately after setting flags; the
actual work runs in a daemon thread (_do_project_switch)
- New is_project_stale() property returns True while a switch is queued
or running; the GUI renders an amber/yellow tint overlay to signal
the controller state lags the user's last click
- AI ops are gated: _api_generate returns HTTP 409, _handle_generate_send
and _handle_md_only early-return with ai_status feedback, all when
is_project_stale() is true
- Queued switches (clicking project A then B in rapid succession) are
coalesced: B replaces A as the target; once A completes, B is
triggered automatically via the finally branch in _do_project_switch
- New state fields: _project_switch_in_progress, _project_switch_pending_path,
_project_switch_thread, _project_switch_lock
- AppController state class attributes use hasattr guard for _app to
keep the controller usable standalone in tests/headless mode
UX:
- Render loop keeps drawing during the switch
- User can still scroll, switch tabs, browse files
- Amber tint + popup explains what's happening and that AI ops are paused
- ai_status shows the target project name
Tests:
- _wait_for_switch helper added for the new async switch flow
- All 7 existing switch tests updated to call _wait_for_switch
- 2 new tests:
- test_switch_project_non_blocking: verifies _switch_project returns
in <0.2s and is_project_stale() is True during the switch
- test_api_generate_blocked_while_stale: verifies _api_generate
raises HTTPException(409) while a switch is in progress
All 33 related tests pass.
When switching projects, the previous project's context_files remained
visible in the Context Composition panel because the controller's
self.context_files list was not reloaded from the new project's TOML
files.paths entry.
Fix in _refresh_from_project:
- After loading self.files from the project TOML, populate
self.context_files with deep copies of those FileItem objects
- Reset self._app.ui_selected_context_files to match the new project's
auto_aggregate set
- Guard the _app access with hasattr so the controller is usable
standalone (in tests, headless mode, etc.) without an attached App
Test: 1 new test in tests/test_project_switch_persona_preset.py
- test_switch_project_resets_context_files: switches from project_a
(forth + gte_hello files) to project_b (gencpp timing files) and
asserts context_files contains ONLY project_b's files
Two fixes for the regression introduced in b92daef3 (and an additional
hardening for the persona->context_preset stale-reference class of bug):
1. Regression: persona_manager was missing on first project load.
_load_active_project creates preset_manager and tool_preset_manager
but did not create persona_manager, so the new
self.personas = self.persona_manager.load_all() line in
_refresh_from_project raised AttributeError on app startup before
the post-_load_active_project persona_manager creation could run.
Fix: create self.persona_manager in _load_active_project alongside
the other managers, so the manager is available when
_refresh_from_project runs.
2. Stale reference: persona's context_preset field pointed to a
preset (e.g. 'GTE') that no longer exists in the project, causing
load_context_preset to raise KeyError and crash the persona
selector panel (which triggered the cascading 'Missing End()' imgui
assertion).
Fix: wrap the load_context_preset call in render_persona_selector_panel
with try/except KeyError, surface the error in app.ai_status, and
clear app.ui_active_context_preset to keep the GUI state consistent.
Tests: 2 new tests in tests/test_project_switch_persona_preset.py
- test_load_active_project_creates_persona_manager (regression guard)
- test_load_context_preset_missing_raises_keyerror (verifies the
contract that load_context_preset raises for missing names; the
GUI layer is now responsible for catching the error)
When switching projects, the previous project's project-specific persona and
presets remained selected in the AI Settings panel because:
1. self.personas was not reloaded after switching project root
2. self.ui_active_persona / tool_preset / bias_profile / project_preset_name
were not validated against the newly-loaded personas/presets
Fix:
- Reload self.personas from self.persona_manager in _refresh_from_project
- Validate each active selection and reset to None/empty if it does not
exist in the newly-loaded manager dictionaries
- Push the active tool preset and bias profile to ai_client after the swap
- Initialize self.ui_active_bias_profile in class attribute block (was only
set later in __init__, causing AttributeError on direct attribute access)
Tests: 4 new tests in tests/test_project_switch_persona_preset.py verify
the reset behavior for persona, preset, tool preset, and global preset
preservation.