Ctrl+C in sloppy.py's terminal would hang the process when a worker of
the shared 4-thread I/O pool was mid-task in user code (e.g. a long-
running Gemini/Anthropic HTTP request). The hang chain:
1. SIGINT delivered to main thread
2. Python raises KeyboardInterrupt (default handler)
3. Exception propagates out of main()
4. Interpreter finalization begins
5. ThreadPoolExecutor.__del__ runs shutdown(wait=True)
6. shutdown(wait=True) joins all worker threads
7. The blocked worker never returns -> hang
An atexit-based fix (mirroring the conftest fix at 8957c9a5) was
attempted first: register pool.shutdown(wait=False) at pool creation.
Verified empirically that this DOES NOT WORK — atexit handlers do not
fire at all when a pool worker is blocked in user code. The hang still
occurs in ThreadPoolExecutor.__del__ -> shutdown(wait=True).
Production fix: a SIGINT handler installed by AppController.__init__
that drains the pool non-blockingly and calls os._exit(0), bypassing
the broken finalization chain. One wire covers all three modes
(GUI/headless/web) since they all create an AppController.
Files:
- src/app_controller.py: new module-level _install_sigint_exit_handler
helper called from __init__; one-line docstring at the function
level documents the rationale.
- tests/test_app_controller_sigint.py: new test file with 2 regression
tests (unit: handler is installed on main thread; subprocess: handler
exits within 2s when invoked with a blocked worker).
- tests/test_io_pool.py: module docstring updated to explain the
reverted atexit approach and point readers at the production fix.
Best-effort: signal.signal may fail on non-main threads (some conftest
warmup paths); failure is swallowed. The conftest's own atexit fix at
8957c9a5 covers the test fixture's normal-exit path.
Mid-session expansion that was left dirty. Adds 3 main-thread phase
markers so the timeline answers 'which phase dominated' instead of
just 'how long total':
New attrs (all Optional[float], stamped lazily):
- _appcontroller_init_done_ts: set by mark_gui_run_started() on its
first call (post-init, pre-anything)
- _gui_run_started_ts: set by mark_gui_run_started() at the start of
App.run() (pre-imgui-bundle C++ init)
New property:
- cold_start_ts: reads sloppy._SLOPPY_COLD_START_TS so the timeline
covers from Python-start to first-frame, not just AppController-init
to first-frame (the gap is the main-thread module import chain)
New method:
- mark_gui_run_started(ts=None): called by App.run() before the
imgui bundle setup. Idempotent (safe to call multiple times).
Lazily captures _appcontroller_init_done_ts on first call.
startup_timeline() now exposes 4 new precomputed deltas:
- appcontroller_init_ms: init → AppController done
- gui_setup_ms: AppController done → gui_run_started (imgui init)
- first_render_ms: gui_run_started → first frame
- module_imports_ms: cold_start → init_start
- cold_start_to_first_frame_ms: full Python-start → first-frame
mark_first_frame_rendered() now also logs the 3-phase breakdown in
the stderr line, e.g.:
[startup] first frame at 1830.2ms after init [init=33ms,
gui_setup=0ms, first_render=1797ms] (rendered 6.5ms AFTER warmup done)
Adds per-AppController startup timing instrumentation to answer
'did the warmup block the first frame?'
AppController.__init__ records _init_start_ts at entry (cold-start anchor).
WarmupManager.on_complete callback stamps _warmup_done_ts.
App.render_main_interface (gui_2.py) calls mark_first_frame_rendered()
on its first call, which stamps _first_frame_ts and logs the timeline.
New public API on AppController:
- init_start_ts (property): float
- warmup_done_ts (property): Optional[float]
- first_frame_ts (property): Optional[float]
- mark_first_frame_rendered(ts=None): idempotent; logs to stderr
- startup_timeline() -> dict with all timestamps + precomputed deltas:
warmup_ms, first_frame_after_init_ms, first_frame_after_warmup_ms
Stderr log on warmup done:
[startup] warmup done in 1186.2ms (first frame rendered Nms BEFORE/AFTER)
Stderr log on first frame:
[startup] first frame at Xms after init (warmup took Yms) (rendered Zms BEFORE/AFTER warmup done)
Hook API:
- GET /api/startup_timeline
- ApiHookClient.get_startup_timeline() -> dict
5 new tests in test_warmup_canaries.py covering all the new methods.
All 18 canary tests + 10 api_hooks tests + 6 gui_indicator tests pass.
Script scripts/apply_startup_timeline.py is included as a reference
for the multi-edit pattern (the proper MCP-equivalent tools will be
added later per the edit_workflow doc).
Adds a canary record for each module submitted to the warmup, tracking:
canary_id, module, thread_name, thread_id, submit_ts, start_ts,
end_ts, elapsed_ms, status, error.
Surface:
- WarmupManager.canaries() returns list[dict] (defensive copy)
- AppController.warmup_canaries() returns list[dict] (delegation)
- GET /api/warmup_canaries Hook API endpoint
- ApiHookClient.get_warmup_canaries() returns list[dict]
Example: the warmup of google.genai records a 1187ms canary on
thread controller-io_0 with thread_id 50420, canary_id 1.
11 new tests (8 unit in test_warmup_canaries + 3 in test_api_hooks_warmup).
All pass; live_gui smoke test confirms endpoint returns real data.
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).
Phase 8 of startup_speedup_20260606 track.
Part 1: app_controller.py cleanup
- Removed 'import requests' (was used in 2 places - lazy import added inside)
- Removed 'import tomli_w' (dead import; never referenced in app_controller)
- Migrated 2 threading.Thread spawns to use self.submit_io (the do_post
closures in _handle_approve_ask and _handle_reject_ask)
Part 2: Main thread purity enforcement test
- tests/test_main_thread_purity.py: 7 tests verify that the 6 refactored
files (ai_client, app_controller, commands, theme_2, markdown_helper,
gui_2) have ZERO top-level imports from the heavy denylist:
{google.genai, anthropic, openai, requests, google.genai.types,
fastapi, fastapi.security.api_key, src.command_palette,
src.theme_nerv, src.theme_nerv_fx, src.markdown_table, numpy,
tkinter, tomli_w}
This is the static enforcement (the runtime audit-hook test using
sys.addaudithook is a follow-up).
The test is RED before each refactor phase, GREEN after. If a future
commit re-introduces a heavy import in one of these files, the test
fails immediately in CI.
TESTS:
- 7/7 main thread purity tests PASS
- 15/15 log + app controller tests still PASS (no breakage from
removing requests/tomli_w imports)
Phase 6 (partial) of startup_speedup_20260606 track.
Added AppController.submit_io(fn, *args, **kwargs) as the public API
for submitting fire-and-forget background work. Returns a
concurrent.futures.Future for lifecycle tracking. The _io_pool is
the shared 4-worker pool from src/io_pool.py.
Migrated 2 ad-hoc threading.Thread spawns to use submit_io:
- _manual_prune_logs() spawn: manual log pruning (cb)
- _prune_old_logs() spawn: startup log pruning (startup)
Both were threading.Thread(target=fn, daemon=True).start() calls. The
spawn cost (~1-5ms per thread creation) is eliminated; both jobs now
share the 4-worker _io_pool.
REMAINING AD-HOC THREADS (documented in state.toml as follow-up):
- app_controller.py: ~13 more threading.Thread() spawns (models fetch,
project switch, fetch workers, post workers, MMA spawn workers, etc.)
- gui_2.py: 2 spawns (stats worker, secondary worker)
- api_hooks.py: 2 spawns (HookServer and WebSocketServer threads - these
are domain-specific, NOT migrated per the spec exemption)
- multi_agent_conductor.py: 1 spawn (WorkerPool - domain-specific)
- performance_monitor.py: 1 spawn (CPU monitor - continuous sampling)
The remaining ad-hoc thread migrations could be a follow-up sub-track.
The architectural pattern is now established (submit_io); the migration
of the remaining cases is mechanical and lower-risk.
TESTS:
- tests/test_log_pruner.py, test_log_pruning_heuristic.py,
test_logging_e2e.py, test_app_controller_mcp.py,
test_app_controller_offloading.py,
test_app_controller_no_top_level_fastapi.py: 15/15 PASS
Phase 4 T4.1-T4.4 of startup_speedup_20260606 track.
DEVIATION FROM ORIGINAL SPEC: spec.md said fastapi was in src/api_hooks.py
but it was actually in src/app_controller.py (lines 17, 21). api_hooks.py
uses stdlib http.server. Phase 4 target corrected to app_controller.
LIFTED _require_warmed TO SHARED MODULE: created src/module_loader.py to
avoid duplicating the lookup logic and the cross-module import smell
(app_controller -> ai_client). src/ai_client.py re-exports it so the
T3.1 test (which asserts hasattr(src.ai_client, '_require_warmed'))
continues to work.
src/app_controller.py changes:
- Added 'from __future__ import annotations' (enables lazy type annotations;
-> FastAPI return type now a forward reference)
- Removed 'from fastapi import FastAPI, Depends, HTTPException' (line 17)
- Removed 'from fastapi.security.api_key import APIKeyHeader' (line 21)
- Added 'from src.module_loader import _require_warmed' (cross-module via
shared utility, not via ai_client)
- create_api(): added lookups at top of function body
- 7 _api_* helper functions (_api_get_key, _api_generate, _api_stream,
_api_confirm_action, _api_get_session, _api_delete_session,
_api_get_context): added 'HTTPException = _require_warmed(...).HTTPException'
at top of each function body
EFFECTIVENESS:
- import src.app_controller no longer triggers fastapi import (saves ~470ms
in main thread; only loaded when --enable-test-hooks is set)
- When --enable-test-hooks is set, the AppController's warmup pre-loads
fastapi on the _io_pool, so create_api()'s lookup is O(1)
TESTS:
- tests/test_app_controller_no_top_level_fastapi.py: 4/4 PASS (was 3 RED + 1 pass)
- tests/test_ai_client_no_top_level_sdk_imports.py: 9/9 still PASS (re-export works)
- tests/test_app_controller_mcp.py, test_app_controller_offloading.py: pass
- tests/test_headless_service.py: 10/11 PASS (1 pre-existing failure
test_generate_endpoint is a circular-import issue in google.genai,
reproduces identically on stashed pre-Phase-4 state - NOT a regression
from this change)
- tests/test_hooks.py: pass
NEXT: Phase 5 (feature-gated GUI module imports - command palette, NERV
theme, markdown table), then Phase 6 (ad-hoc threads -> _io_pool).
Phase 2 Task T2.5 of the startup_speedup_20260606 track.
In AppController.__init__, right after the lock init (and before the
heavy subsystem construction that follows), create the shared _io_pool
and WarmupManager, then submit the warmup list. The warmup runs
concurrently with the rest of __init__, so by the time __init__
returns, the heavy modules are loaded (or in flight).
Changes:
- Add imports: from src.io_pool import make_io_pool,
from src.warmup import WarmupManager
- In __init__, after the locks block, add:
self._io_pool = make_io_pool()
self._warmup = WarmupManager(self._io_pool)
self._warmup.submit(self._compute_warmup_list())
- Add _compute_warmup_list() method: returns ['google.genai',
'anthropic', 'openai', 'requests', 'src.command_palette',
'src.theme_nerv', 'src.theme_nerv_fx', 'src.markdown_table',
'numpy'] always, plus ['fastapi', 'fastapi.security.api_key']
if self.test_hooks_enabled
- Add public delegation methods: warmup_status(), is_warmup_done(),
wait_for_warmup(timeout), on_warmup(callback)
- In shutdown(), add self._io_pool.shutdown(wait=False)
The warmup currently is a no-op for the heavy modules already imported
at the top of app_controller.py (fastapi, requests, etc. are
already in sys.modules). The infrastructure is in place; Phase 3 will
remove the top-level imports so the warmup actually does work.
Verified: all 18 tests pass (test_io_pool + test_warmup + existing
test_app_controller_mcp + test_app_controller_offloading).
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.
Previously, context (files, screenshots) was always sent with every message,
even on subsequent messages where the AI provider already had the context
from the first message via its history mechanism.
This change:
- Detects if the discussion has any AI responses already
- Only sends md_content (stable_md) on the first message
- Subsequent messages pass empty string for md_content to avoid redundant sending
- Context now properly goes in md_content parameter, not crammed into user_message
The fix is in _api_generate() in src/app_controller.py
- AppController.__init__: public vendor_quota: Dict[str,Any], last_error: Optional[Dict[str,str]], token_tracker: Dict[str,Any]
- set_vendor_quota(provider, remaining_pct, reset_at): public API for ai_client quota paths
- clear_last_error(): reset hook
- _refresh_api_metrics: read vendor_quota and error from payload, populate state
ai_client per-provider quota wire-up deferred to a future track (per-provider
signals differ; this commit establishes the state shape and read path).
- Update test_gui_symbol_navigation.py and test_gui_text_viewer.py to assert against show_windows['Text Viewer'] instead of the deprecated show_text_viewer attribute.
- Increase synchronization wait time in test_visual_sim_gui_ux.py to ensure the GUI loop accurately reflects the mocked MMA status.
- Display token metrics (input/output/cache) per response in Discussion Hub.
- Add total Discussion Token usage in the panel header.
- Implement 'Compress' feature to intelligently summarize and replace exhausted discussion histories using an AI subagent.
- Improved AppController.ai_status to prevent overwriting 'sending...' with 'models loaded'.
- Enhanced est_rag_phase4_stress.py with robust polling and increased timeout.
- Synchronized App and AppController history objects to ensure consistent view.
- Added import sys to src/api_hook_client.py.
- Fixed App.__getattr__ to use direct attribute access on controller to avoid recursion.
- Simplified _get_app_attr and _has_app_attr in src/api_hooks.py.
- Centralized RAG and symbol enrichment in AppController._handle_request_event.
- Updated ests/test_symbol_parsing.py to match the new enrichment flow.
- Removed redundant task appending from i_status and mma_status setters.
- Improved _sync_rag_engine to only set 'ready' status after indexing is confirmed.
- Updated est_status_encapsulation.py to reflect setter changes.
- Corrected GeminiEmbeddingProvider model name to gemini-embedding-001.
- Prevented _fetch_models from overwriting active i_status (sending/done/error).
- Updated est_rag_engine.py to correctly patch the lazy-loaded chromadb getter.
- Adjusted RAG simulation tests to account for the new initializing... status and automatic initial indexing.
- Fixed typo in est_z_negative_flows.py.
- Fixed circular import in chromadb by using lazy imports in
ag_engine.py.
- Moved RAG engine initialization to background threads in AppController to avoid blocking UI.
- Added _rag_engine_lock to prevent race conditions during engine re-initialization.
- Updated Gemini embedding model to gemini-embedding-001 (available) from ext-embedding-004 (not found).
- Fixed _rebuild_rag_index to use fresh
ag_engine instance from self in every iteration.
- Optimized est_rag_phase4_final_verify.py and est_rag_phase4_stress.py to wait for RAG sync before continuing.
- Added dummy embedding fallback in LocalEmbeddingProvider if sentence-transformers fails to load.
RAG engine initialization (including chromadb import and index loading)
now happens in a background thread, allowing the GUI to show immediately.
The app was blocking for 5+ seconds during init_state() because RAG was
enabled in config. Now RAG loads asynchronously.
Before this change, app_controller imported rag_engine at module level which
pulled in chromadb (~0.45s). Now rag_engine is only imported when RAG is
actually enabled and needed. This improves startup time significantly.
The class was only accessible inside function scopes, causing
AttributeError when app_controller tried to instantiate it
at module level via ai_client.GeminiCliAdapter().
- Wrap discussions.items() with list() in takes_panel to prevent
RuntimeError when dictionary changes during iteration
- This was causing crashes when switching discussions
ed
r00tz