perf(server): cut idle wakeups from the Connect relay and session reaper

[t3dotgg]

Two background loops did work on idle servers that they did not need to do:

• If you never linked T3 Connect, the server checked for a link every 5 s, forever, and read secret files each time.
• Every 5 min, the session reaper read and decoded every provider session row, JSON included, and then skipped the stopped ones. Stopped rows stay for their resume cursors, so long-lived installs hold thousands (one report: 3,129 of 3,176 rows stopped).

Fix

• While there is no link, the awareness relay retry backs off from 5 s to 60 s. Only this server writes the link (web, desktop, and mobile link handlers, and the startup reconcile), and it wakes the relay when it does, so the catch-up publish still happens at once. The preferences handler wakes the relay too.
• A linked server keeps the 5 s retry until the catch-up publish is done. t3 connect publish can turn publishing on from another process, and that path still catches up within 5 s, the same as before.
• Each retry reads the relay URL secret first. With no URL it stops there (1 read). A linked server with publishing off reads 2 secrets per retry (main read 1). The full link config is read only once publishing is on.
• listBindings takes an optional excludeStopped flag that filters stopped rows in SQL. The reaper uses it. Other callers are unchanged.

Verification

• Relay test: an unlinked environment makes 10 checks in a steady 10 minute window (120 before this change), and publishes once the link appears.
• Relay test: while backed off, an in-process link wakes the relay and the catch-up publish happens within 1 s of test clock, not at the next 60 s check.
• Relay test: on a linked environment, publishing turned on from outside the process catches up within 5 s.
• Server test: the relay-config and preferences endpoints each wake the relay once. It fails if either call is removed.
• Directory test: excludeStopped returns only running, starting, and error rows. Without it, all rows come back.
• vp test run on the relay, directory, cloud HTTP, orchestration reactor, and server tests, vp lint, vp fmt --check, and vp run --filter t3 typecheck all pass.

Made by Claude Opus 5.5 (1M context) in Claude Code, running in T3 Code.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Improvements
  • Session cleanup now checks only sessions that have not stopped. Unfiltered session lists continue to include stopped sessions.
  • When relay setup is incomplete, checks for active threads become less frequent over time, up to once per minute. Linking the relay or updating relay settings can trigger an earlier catch-up check. When the relay is already linked, enabling activity publishing is detected within five seconds.

[github-actions]

Thread transfer impact

✅ Thread transfer remains within every enforced ceiling.

Provider	Metric	Main baseline	This PR	Impact	PR ceiling
Codex	Total thread wire	13.5 KiB	13.5 KiB	−1 B (−0.0%)	15.1 KiB	✅
Codex	Thread snapshot wire	7.1 KiB	7.1 KiB	−3 B (−0.0%)	7.3 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn WebSocket wire	6.4 KiB	6.4 KiB	+2 B (+0.0%)	7.8 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn WebSocket decoded	56.2 KiB	56.2 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	66.4 KiB	✅
Codex	Live turn messages	9	9	0 (0.0%)	21	✅
Claude	Total thread wire	13.5 KiB	13.5 KiB	−26 B (−0.2%)	15.1 KiB	✅
Claude	Thread snapshot wire	7.1 KiB	7.1 KiB	+2 B (+0.0%)	7.3 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn WebSocket wire	6.5 KiB	6.4 KiB	−28 B (−0.4%)	7.8 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn WebSocket decoded	57.0 KiB	57.0 KiB	0 B (0.0%)	66.4 KiB	✅
Claude	Live turn messages	9	9	0 (0.0%)	21	✅

Baseline: 92f0af2 · PR result: cafcb01 · Source CI: success

Scenario and decoded snapshot size

10 historical turns, 5 command tools per turn, 878.9 KiB retained MCP result per historical turn, and a 1.05 MiB retained result in the measured turn.

• Codex decoded thread snapshot: 114.0 KiB
• Claude decoded thread snapshot: 114.7 KiB

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• apps/server/src/relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

Provider session listings can exclude stopped rows in SQL, and the reaper uses that option. The relay retry loop supports queued catch-up requests and timed retries. Cloud setting updates request catch-up.

Changes

Provider session filtering

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Listing filter and reaper integration apps/server/src/persistence/ProviderSessionRuntime.ts, apps/server/src/provider/Services/ProviderSessionDirectory.ts, apps/server/src/provider/Layers/ProviderSessionDirectory.ts, apps/server/src/provider/Layers/ProviderSessionReaper.ts, apps/server/src/provider/Layers/ProviderSessionDirectory.test.ts	The repository and directory accept and forward an optional excludeStopped option. When it is true, the SQL query omits stopped rows. The reaper requests non-stopped bindings and reports the returned count as liveBindings. A test checks filtered and unfiltered listings.

Relay catch-up wake

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Retry loop and catch-up requests apps/server/src/relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.ts, apps/server/src/relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.test.ts	The retry loop distinguishes unlinked, disabled, failed, and published outcomes. Unlinked attempts use exponential backoff starting at five seconds and capped at 60 seconds. requestCatchUp can wake the loop during its wait. Tests check retry and catch-up behavior.
Cloud wiring and test services apps/server/src/cloud/http.ts, apps/server/src/cloud/http.test.ts, apps/server/src/server.test.ts, apps/server/src/orchestration/Layers/OrchestrationReactor.test.ts, apps/server/integration/OrchestrationEngineHarness.integration.ts	Cloud HTTP requests catch-up after persisting relay settings and cloud preferences. Test services and mocks provide the new relay method.

Priority: ⬇️ Low

Estimated code review effort: 3 (Moderate) | ~20 minutes

Change: Refactor

Sequence Diagram(s)

sequenceDiagram
  participant CloudHttp
  participant AgentAwarenessRelay
  participant RetryLoop
  CloudHttp->>AgentAwarenessRelay: requestCatchUp after persisting settings
  AgentAwarenessRelay->>RetryLoop: offer wake to capacity-one queue
  RetryLoop->>RetryLoop: race queued wake against retry delay

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Suggested reviewers: juliusmarminge

Merge Risk: 🔵 Low · up to 79ef7

A transient secret-store read failure can delay relay catch-up by up to 60 seconds. This is bounded, but owners should be aware of the slower retry.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 1 functions across 12 files.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and concisely describes the primary performance improvement to the Connect relay and session reaper.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description clearly explains the problem, the implemented changes, and verification results. It covers the required What Changed and Why information, although it does not include the template chec…

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[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Not approved

Macroscope's review found this PR not approvable — This production optimization changes relay retry and catch-up scheduling across link and publishing transitions. Unresolved comments identify missed activity catch-up after re-enabling publishing and overly long backoff after secret-store failures, so the runtime behavior needs human review.

Not approved because:

• 1 blocking correctness issue found at or above your repo's Minimum Blocking Severity

No code changes detected at cafcb01. Prior analysis still applies.

^{Adjust the Minimum Blocking Severity for this repo — including turning it Off — in Settings. You can add or adjust custom eligibility rules. Learn more.}

[macroscopeapp]

🟡 Medium relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.ts:672

After the first successful snapshot, toggling publishing off and back on leaves activity changes uncaught up: requestCatchUp() only enqueues a wake, while activeSnapshotPublishedRef remains true and the catch-up loop has already exited. Reset the ref and restart the catch-up loop when publishing is re-enabled.

Also found in 1 other location(s)

apps/server/src/cloud/http.ts:1356

requestCatchUp() only offers to catchUpRequests; it does not reset activeSnapshotPublishedRef. After the relay has completed one snapshot, publishActiveThreadsOnceWhenConfigured has exited because that ref is true, so toggling publishing off and back on in the same server process leaves the new request unconsumed and never republishes activity changes that occurred while publishing was disabled.

🚀 Reply "fix it for me" or copy this AI Prompt for your agent:

In file @apps/server/src/relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.ts around line 672:

After the first successful snapshot, toggling publishing off and back on leaves activity changes uncaught up: `requestCatchUp()` only enqueues a wake, while `activeSnapshotPublishedRef` remains `true` and the catch-up loop has already exited. Reset the ref and restart the catch-up loop when publishing is re-enabled.

Also found in 1 other location(s):
- apps/server/src/cloud/http.ts:1356 -- `requestCatchUp()` only offers to `catchUpRequests`; it does not reset `activeSnapshotPublishedRef`. After the relay has completed one snapshot, `publishActiveThreadsOnceWhenConfigured` has exited because that ref is `true`, so toggling publishing off and back on in the same server process leaves the new request unconsumed and never republishes activity changes that occurred while publishing was disabled.

[t3dotgg]

Note

🤖 Claude Opus 5.5 responding on behalf of Theo

Not a regression from this PR, so I left it out. On main, publishActiveThreadsOnceWhenConfigured also exits after the first successful snapshot, so turning publishing off and on again never re-ran the catch-up. This PR only changes how the pending startup catch-up waits: it backs off while unlinked, and in-process links and preference changes wake it early. requestCatchUp is documented as waking a pending catch-up. After that has run, the queued wake is never taken, which is harmless. A new catch-up on re-enable would be a separate behavior change, not part of this perf fix.

[macroscopeapp]

The new link/preference wake-up path changes backend behavior, but the selected changes do not add a focused test for enabling publication via the HTTP handlers and observing the catch-up request. Please add a test using service test layers that covers this path (including the wake during backoff).

^{Posted via Macroscope — Effect Service Conventions}

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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In `@apps/server/src/relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.ts`:
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In `@apps/server/src/relay/AgentAwarenessRelay.ts`:
- Line 545: Update the `readRelayConfig` error handling in the retry loop so a
secret-store read failure is classified as `failed`, preserving the 5-second
retry delay instead of being treated as `unlinked`. Keep the existing `unlinked`
behavior for a successful read that finds no configuration.

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