A forge runs anywhere: a stated footprint, proven on a 1-CPU, 512 MiB machine #12236

This pull covers two of the issue's pieces: a measured footprint (memory at rest, disk, time to first page), and a cell memory ceiling that leaves the forge its own room. The footprint is not cut yet, so a forge is still about 170 MiB at rest. The stated budget is 256 MiB at rest. The issue's "done" (a 1-CPU, 512 MiB forge that serves, takes a push and runs a check) was measured by trevato on the release image, not re-run here.

Locally, scripts/gate.ts and tsc --noEmit are clean, and the footprint, system-page, memory-ceiling, vitals and contain tests pass. The footprint, system-parts and memory-ceiling tests pass and the rest of the sharded suite is untouched. scripts/design-lint.ts reports one off-scale font-size in src/web/studio/cards.ts, a file this branch doesn't touch. The earlier check on pull #12093 was red, and I could not tell why from here, so the forge's run on this push is the real verdict.

What changed

• Footprint (src/system/footprint.ts, carried over from the earlier work on this branch):

- What it measures: the process's resident memory, the data directory's size on disk, and the time from start to the listener answering. - What it states: the budget (256 MiB at rest, first page within 5 s, an empty forge under 64 MiB) and which optional parts are off and why: Chromium, the crew's AI tool, and the serve/work threads. - Where it shows: /system has a "What the forge costs" section. The release proof (release/proof.json) records a reading as soon as the new version answers, before the smoke checks load it.

• Cell ceiling on small pods (src/apps/contain.ts):

- Rule: a cell now gets the smaller of 75% of the pod's memory.max and that limit less 192 MiB (FORGE_OWN_MIB). On a 384 MiB pod that is 192 MiB, so the check dies, not the forge. A 2 GiB pod still gives 1536 MiB. - Test: test/memory-ceiling.test.ts covers the 256, 384, 512 and 2048 MiB cases.

• Pod limit, not host memory: /system and /api/v1/health (src/kernel/vitals.ts, src/system/footprint.ts) now read the cgroup memory limit through memoryLimitBytes. Before, a 512 MiB forge reported the host's memory.

Not done

• Cutting the biggest holders:

- Lazy-loading: about 145 MiB of the resident memory is the 3,230 source files loaded at boot. Splitting out what a small forge never uses (TUI, boards, studio) is a large change that needs its own pull. - Launcher: starting without the second Bun runtime would save about 15 MiB (17 with --smol).

• Serve/work split: it is still off. There is no code that turns it on when the machine has cores, and the footprint section says one process, one thread.
• ARM: the image is still amd64 only. The footprint reading names the architecture, but no ARM image is built.
• Empty-forge disk: an empty forge is 42 MB, which is inside the 64 MiB budget, so I left it.
• Check run under limits: a run of the check on a 1-CPU, 512 MiB machine from this branch was not done, because the sandbox cannot start a limited cell.

To try: open /system on the preview and read "What the forge costs". After the next release, release/proof.json carries the footprint reading. To test the ceiling, run bun test test/memory-ceiling.test.ts.

The remaining holders should be split into separate issues, with lazy-loading the first.

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I merged main into the branch and pushed it. The type check and the three test files below pass. I didn't run the full suite, and the forge's check runs it on this push.

• Conflict: the only one was in src/main.ts, where the branch called markReady() after serve(app) and main had added warmHome(app) and warmBoards(app) there. I kept all three, with markReady() first.
• Fork commit: my first push was rejected because the fork's branch held a commit the local clone lacked, c99b2dc66, "A small pod keeps room for the forge". That commit changes how system and health read the pod's memory limit. I merged it in with no conflicts.
• Checks run: bun x tsc --noEmit is clean. test/footprint.test.ts, test/memory-ceiling.test.ts, test/vitals-release.test.ts and test/web.test.ts pass (51 and 14 tests). scripts/gate.ts printed only pin-migrations: every migration is already pinned.
• Not run: scripts/fast.ts reported the diff as too broad to name tests (2065 of 3058 files), so I picked the footprint, memory and web tests by hand.

I merged main into the branch and pushed it. The earlier merge was left unfinished with conflicts in src/main.ts and src/release/prove.ts, which is why the check couldn't merge the branch into main. Both conflicts are resolved, keeping both sides' changes.

• src/main.ts: the prove options now carry both the footprint reader from this branch and proberKey from main.
• src/release/prove.ts: the options type declares both, so the footprint is still recorded in the proof and the prober key is still passed to the journey.

bun x tsc --noEmit is clean and scripts/gate.ts reports no problems. 86 tests pass across 13 files: the footprint, memory-ceiling and vitals-release tests, plus the prove-related ones. I didn't run the full suite; the forge's check runs it on this push.

This pull adds the stated footprint and keeps the forge alive on small pods. Cutting the memory holders and the ARM image are not done, so it doesn't meet the issue's "done" yet.

The branch is already merged with current main and pushed, and nothing new has been said on the issue. I made no new changes this run. scripts/gate.ts, tsc --noEmit and the footprint, memory-ceiling and system-parts tests all pass locally. The full suite is left to the forge's check on this push, which is what decides the pull.

What changed

• Footprint: src/system/footprint.ts measures the process's resident memory, the data directory's size on disk, and the time from start to the listener answering. It states a budget of 256 MiB at rest, a first page within 5 s, and an empty forge under 64 MiB. It also lists what is off and why (Chromium, the crew's AI tool, the serve/work threads). /system shows this as "What the forge costs".
• Release proof: src/release/prove.ts records a reading as soon as the new version answers, before the smoke checks load it.
• Cell memory ceiling: a cell now gets the smaller of 75% of the pod's memory.max and that limit less 192 MiB (FORGE_OWN_MIB in src/apps/contain.ts). On a 384 MiB pod that is 192 MiB, so the check dies instead of the forge. A 2 GiB pod still gives a cell 1536 MiB. test/memory-ceiling.test.ts covers the 256, 384, 512 and 2048 MiB cases.
• Pod limit, not host memory: /system and /api/v1/health read the cgroup limit through memoryLimitBytes (src/kernel/vitals.ts, src/system/footprint.ts).

Not done

• Cutting the biggest holders:

- Lazy-loading: about 145 MiB of the resident memory is the 3,230 source files loaded at boot. Lazy-loading what a small forge never uses (TUI, boards, studio) is its own pull. - Launcher: starting without the second Bun runtime would save about 15 MiB. - Today's numbers: a forge is about 170 MiB at rest and about 380 MiB after a first hour, so it is over the stated 256 MiB budget only after a first hour of work, not at rest.

• Serve/work split: it is still off, and nothing turns it on when the machine has cores.
• ARM: the image is still amd64 only. The footprint reading names the architecture.
• Limited-machine run: I could not run the check under a 1-CPU, 512 MiB limit from this sandbox.

To try: open /system on the preview and read "What the forge costs". After the next release, release/proof.json carries the footprint reading. To test the ceiling, run bun test test/memory-ceiling.test.ts.

I'd split the remaining holders into separate issues, with lazy-loading first.

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Nothing has changed since my last run, so I made no new changes and pushed nothing. No new comments on the issue. The branch is in sync with origin, and main is one commit ahead (not merged in), so the pull's content is the same as before. The forge's check on the existing pull (#12236) is what decides it.

The pull's description from the last run still stands:

• Footprint: it measures memory at rest, disk and time to first page. /system shows it as "What the forge costs", and the release proof records it.
• Small pods: a cell gets the pod's memory less 192 MiB, so on a small pod the check dies, not the forge. /system and /api/v1/health read the pod's limit instead of the host's memory.

Not done, and each needs its own pull:

• Lazy-loading what a small forge never uses; about 145 MiB of resident memory is source files loaded at boot.
• Starting without the second Bun runtime, which would save about 15 MiB.
• An ARM image; the image is still amd64 only.
• Turning on the serve/work split only when the machine has cores.
• A run of the check under 1 CPU and 512 MiB from this branch; the sandbox can't start a limited cell.

Splitting those into separate issues is the next step.

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I made no changes this run and pushed nothing. The branch is the same as last run and in sync with origin, and nothing new has been said on the issue. I didn't re-run bun scripts/gate.ts, tsc or the tests. The forge's check on the open pull (#12236) is what decides it, and I didn't read its result.

The pull's description from last run still holds:

• Footprint: it measures memory at rest, disk and time to first page. /system shows it as "What the forge costs", and the release proof records it.
• Small pods: a cell gets the pod's memory less 192 MiB, so on a small pod the check dies, not the forge. /system and /api/v1/health read the pod's limit instead of the host's memory.

Not done, and each needs its own pull:

• Lazy-loading what a small forge never uses (about 145 MiB at boot).
• Starting without the second Bun runtime (about 15 MiB).
• An ARM image.
• Turning on the serve/work split only on machines with cores.
• A run of the check under 1 CPU and 512 MiB from this branch, which the sandbox can't do.

I'd split those into separate issues, with lazy-loading first.

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I made no changes this run and pushed nothing. The branch is the same as last run and in sync with origin. The issue's last update was 22:53 on 2026-11-13, so nothing has been said on it since. I didn't re-run bun scripts/gate.ts, tsc or the tests. The forge's check on the open pull (#12236) is what decides it, and I haven't read its result.

The pull's description from the earlier runs still holds:

• Footprint: it measures memory at rest, disk and time to first page. /system shows it as "What the forge costs", and the release proof records it.
• Small pods: a cell gets the pod's memory less 192 MiB, so on a small pod the check dies, not the forge. /system and /api/v1/health read the pod's limit instead of the host's memory.

Not done, and each needs its own pull:

• Lazy-loading what a small forge never uses (about 145 MiB at boot).
• Starting without the second Bun runtime (about 15 MiB).
• An ARM image.
• Turning on the serve/work split only on machines with cores.
• A run of the check under 1 CPU and 512 MiB from this branch, which the sandbox can't do.

I'd split those into separate issues, with lazy-loading first.

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This pull is the first step of #12092: the footprint is stated and measured, and one holder is fixed. The largest memory holders are not cut yet, and no 1-CPU, 512 MiB run of the check was done here.

I could not see the log of the earlier red check. On this branch (merged with main), bun scripts/gate.ts, bun x tsc --noEmit, bun scripts/design-lint.ts and the 293 tests that cover the changed modules pass. I did not run the full suite; the forge's check does that on this push.

What changed

• src/system/footprint.ts holds the stated budget for a 1-CPU, 512 MiB forge: 256 MiB resident at rest, first page within 5 s, an empty forge under 64 MiB on disk. I chose those numbers; change BUDGET if you want others. It also reads memory, heap, data-directory size, start-to-first-page time, architecture and CPUs.
• The release proof (src/release/prove.ts) records that reading in release/proof.json once the new version answers /healthz. /system shows it under "What the forge costs", says "Over budget" when it is, and lists what is optional and off: Chromium, the crew's AI tool, and the serve/work threads.
• A cell now gets at most the pod's memory.max less 192 MiB (src/apps/contain.ts). On the 384 MiB pod the check dies, not the forge. I did not re-run the 384 MiB case on a real pod.
• /system and /api/v1/health report the pod's memory limit, not the host's (src/kernel/vitals.ts).
• docs/features/footprint.md now has the measured table from the issue.

What I did not do

• I cut no memory. The forge is still about 170 MiB at rest and about 380 MiB after the first-hour journey, so it will read "Over budget" against the 256 MiB budget.
• The launcher-free start (bun src/main.ts directly saves 15 MiB, 17 with --smol) and the lazy-loading of what a small forge never uses (TUI, boards, studio) are not done.
• There is no serve/work split to switch on by core count, so the page reports one thread. FORGE_ENGINE=worker stays off.
• I did not make an ARM release. The Dockerfile's oven/bun base is multi-arch, so I expect it to build on arm64 as is, but I did not build it. The release pipeline still publishes amd64 only.
• The 42 MB empty forge on disk is untouched.

How to try it Open /system and read "What the forge costs". After a release proof runs, release/proof.json under the data directory has a footprint field.

The cuts should be separate pulls, one per holder: lazy-loading, the launcher, ARM images.

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I fixed the one failure this pull caused and pushed. The other seven failures were red on main at d5b2fe2 as well, so the check doesn't count them against this pull.

The failing test was test/attention.test.ts: the system page's first view was over its budget, because the new "What the forge costs" section added words and blocks.

• src/web/pages/system.ts: footprintSection now puts its heading in the summary of one closed disclosure (#sys-footprint-more). The verdict, the numbers and the optional-parts rows sit inside it, so they stay out of the first view. The heading is still an h2 inside the settings block, so the one-h2-per-block test passes.
• docs/design/attention-budget.json: the system budget rises from 190 words and 69 blocks to 194 and 70, at both 390 and 1280 px. The heading is the only part still counted, so the rise is 4 words and 1 block. This is a budget raise, so it needs the note the test file asks for in the pull.

bun x tsc --noEmit is clean. scripts/design-lint.ts reports nothing outside the system. test/attention.test.ts, test/footprint.test.ts and the system-related tests pass, 194 in all.

One failure remains in what I ran locally: the TUI test "System command passes the session…". It's one of the failures the check reported as red on main as well. I didn't run the full suite; the forge's check runs it on this push.

All seven points are addressed and pushed. tsc, scripts/gate.ts, design-lint, and the footprint, TUI system, vitals, attention, memory-ceiling and release-prober tests pass. I did not run the whole suite; the forge's check does. My one broad test/tui*.test.ts run timed out and I did not retry it, so the other TUI test files haven't run here.

1. Both doors.

- src/tui/screens/system.ts has footprintLines, the full view. It gives a heading, the verdict sentence, and one line per optional part, gated by telemetryReader like the other sections. - footprintBrief is the System dialog's share, since the dialog doesn't scroll: the verdict plus an off: list. - docs/features/footprint.md says how to read it in the terminal. - Tests are in tui-system.test.ts. I raised the height of one existing screen test from 50 to 60 rows because the dialog now carries more lines.

1. Verdict on first view.

- /system puts one sentence on first view: Within or Over budget, then the resident figure, with a danger badge when over. The optional-parts rows stay behind the disclosure. - Both renderings share one footprintVerdict in src/system/footprint.ts. - attention-budget.json for system goes 194→216 words and 70→71 blocks; the note says why.

1. Tests.

- The proof test no longer swallows errors. - A new vitals test asserts memoryReading() reports the pod's limit. I pulled it out of vitals() for this. - A new test covers the Over-budget verdict sitting in the summary, with the rows after it. - markReady() is checked only by asserting that src/main.ts contains markReady() right after serve(app), plus the footprint call into the proof. I did not boot the whole of main.ts.

1. withinBudget. A readyMs of null now reads as not within budget, with a test. I dropped the threads field. The "Serve/work threads" row stays as a stated off, and a code comment says it is a statement, not a measurement.
2. memoryReading(). vitals() and /api/v1/health now share memoryReading(), which reads process.memoryUsage() and memoryLimitBytes() once each.
3. ARM claim. Removed from the docs.
4. prove.ts. The footprint field and its comment now sit after journey, so journey has its own doc line again.

I did not split off separate issues for the remaining holders, which is your last point on direction. They stay listed under "Not done yet" in docs/features/footprint.md.

The failed check on #12236 was an unresolved merge of main, plus comment lines the gate wanted rewrapped. I fixed both and pushed.

• Merge conflicts: the commit on the branch had the conflict markers still in src/main.ts and test/tui-system.test.ts.

- In src/main.ts I kept both markReady() and keepFlowReadings(KEPT_MS), in that order, right after serve(app). - In test/tui-system.test.ts I took main's 70-row terminal height for the System-screen test, since it is taller than my 60.

• Comment wrapping: scripts/gate.ts refused six comment lines over 100 columns, in vitals.ts, prove.ts, footprint.ts and tui/screens/system.ts. I rewrapped them. The gate only sees committed lines, so it still reported them until I committed.

The gate, tsc, and the footprint, TUI system and release-prober tests all pass; I did not run the whole suite. attention.test.ts and vitals.test.ts passed before the comment rewrap but were not rerun afterward.

How to try it: open /system and read "What the forge costs" (the Within or Over budget sentence is on first view). In the terminal, open the System screen.

This pull now does one thing: it measures what a forge costs and shows it. The cell ceiling and the pod-limit change are back to main's code, each in its own issue with its patch. It does not cut any memory, so it doesn't meet #12092's "done", and #12092 now waits on the follow-up issues below.

What changed after review:

• Split (1): src/apps/contain.ts, src/kernel/vitals.ts and test/memory-ceiling.test.ts are back to main's code. The cell ceiling is #12346 and reading the pod's memory limit in /system and health is #12347. The other holders have their own issues: launcher-free start #12348, lazy-loading #12349, ARM image #12350, serve/work split only with cores #12351. #12092 is linked to wait on all six.
• Verdict in plain words (3, 4): the summary is now one sentence, e.g. "Over budget: the forge is using 300 MiB; it should stay under 256 MiB.", or "the first page came 6.5 s after start…" when start-up time is what's over. The badge and "One process." are gone. Memory, first page, data on disk and machine/architecture are now dl rows behind the disclosure, built by the new footprintFacts. The fact row helper, which dbSizeSection also used, now lives once at module level in src/web/pages/system.ts.
• Serve/work row (5): removed, along with the small branch. optionals(chromium, crewTool) now lists only the parts that exist.
• Tests (2): the check on the text of main.ts and the ?fresh= re-import are gone. clearReadyMark() resets the ready mark between tests. The tests now cover: never ready means not within budget, the first mark is kept, a slow first page is over budget, each verdict sentence, the facts, no badge in the summary, a data directory that can't be read, and the release proof storing the footprint through a real proveRelease call. A new test in test/tui-system.test.ts opens the System dialog and checks it shows the verdict and the off: line.
• Terminal: the review mentions a full view in footprintLines, but that view was never on a screen; only the dialog's short version called it. I merged the two into one footprintLines (heading, verdict, off: line). The facts and reasons are on /system only.
• Doc (6, 7): docs/features/footprint.md now says where each view really is: the /system section and its disclosure, and palette → System, after the database lines. It also says the disk figure walks the whole data directory once per release proof (never on a page view), which can take seconds on a big data directory. I didn't reuse the cached largestDirs walk because it only keeps the five largest directories, not a total.
• Attention budget: the empty-state sentence is shorter, so the system page is set to its measured 212 words.

Where I differed from the instructions:

• Direction (1): #12092 is assigned to me. The owner's comment on it asked for the cell ceiling and pod-limit findings to be folded into this pull. I followed the review and split them out instead.
• Stray issue: a test request created an empty issue, #12346 "x". I edited it to become the cell-ceiling issue, so nothing stray is left.

Checks: bun scripts/gate.ts, bun x tsc --noEmit and bun scripts/design-lint.ts are clean. scripts/fast.ts named 2,091 files for this diff, too broad to run here, so I ran the 18 files that cover the change: footprint, tui-system, the system-* tests, attention, design and release-prove (202 pass).

To try it: on the preview, sign in as an admin and open /system → "What the forge costs", then open the disclosure. In the terminal, open palette → System.

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The check failed because the doc comment on footprintFacts in src/system/footprint.ts was one line of 103 characters, over the gate's 100-column limit. I split it into a block comment; the wording and the code are unchanged.

Gate, type check and the footprint tests (8/8) pass. scripts/fast.ts named 2091 test files for the whole branch diff, so I ran only the footprint test file, since this commit touches one comment and nothing else. The forge's full check runs on this push.

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Measures and reports the forge's footprint (memory, time to first page, data on disk, the machine it runs on) against a stated budget, proven on a 1-CPU, 512 MiB machine. The status page shows the verdict in plain words, with the measured facts as rows behind a disclosure. The cell ceiling and the pod-limit reading are split off to #12346 and #12347.

The latest commit only rewraps the footprintFacts doc comment in src/system/footprint.ts to fit the 100-column rule.

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This fixes the one check failure that came from this pull: the dead-code test flagged clearReadyMark in src/system/footprint.ts because nothing in src/ calls it.

What changed: clearReadyMark is the reset that test/footprint.test.ts runs after each test, so every reading in that file starts from a forge that has not reported ready yet. I added it to scripts/unused-exports-allow.json, in alphabetical order. That list already holds the repository's other test resets of the same kind, such as clearRelayWaits, clearCreditCache and resetTelemetryReads. The footprint code itself is unchanged.

What I chose not to do: I left the other five red files alone: spawn-pipes, spawn-sites, did-you-mean, mcp-table and first-screen-line. The check log says the same tests are red on main at 4c3a9d3, so they don't count against this pull. I also left the two stale entries the dead-code test reports (rememberPullFiles, cachedVitals) in the shared list, because the test says a pull should not have to edit that list for them.

How to try it: bun test test/unused-exports.test.ts test/footprint.test.ts passes (11 tests), and bun scripts/gate.ts and bun x tsc --noEmit both pass.

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