fix(server): background git status fetches no longer fill the disk with failed repacks

[t3dotgg]

One of our machines lost 688 GB to tmp_pack_* files in .git/objects/pack. T3 Code's background status fetch was the main trigger.

Every git fetch also starts git gc --auto. The repo had 120 packs (the auto-gc limit is 50), so gc tried a full repack each time. The repack failed on missing objects, which left a ~245 MB partial pack behind. Git never records that failure when gc runs under git maintenance run --auto --detach, so the next fetch tried again. The status poller fetches about every 15s, so the leak never stopped.

The fix: the status poller now runs git fetch --no-auto-gc. A background poll should not start maintenance on the user's repo. Fetches, pulls, and commits that users start themselves still run git's normal auto-gc. --no-auto-gc is the older synonym of --no-auto-maintenance, so older Git accepts it too.

Tested with a new test: a repo where auto-gc is due. It fails without the flag (2 packs repacked into 1) and passes with it.

Related: #3525 and #4338 cover a different leak, where the 5s fetch timeout kills index-pack. This PR does not change that.

Created with Claude Opus 5.5 in Claude Code.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Bug Fixes
  • Background status checks no longer trigger Git’s automatic cleanup of repository pack files.

[macroscopeapp]

Approvability

Verdict: Approved at d6bc76e

Macroscope's review found this PR approvable — This is a focused server bug fix that prevents background status fetches from triggering failed automatic repacks, while leaving user-initiated fetch behavior unchanged. A targeted integration test covers the new behavior, with no schema, security, deployment, or configuration-default changes.

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ℹ️ Recent review info

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 295d7cb and d6bc76e.

📒 Files selected for processing (2)

• apps/server/src/vcs/GitVcsDriverCore.test.ts
• apps/server/src/vcs/GitVcsDriverCore.ts

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📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The status fetch command now passes --no-auto-gc. A test checks that statusDetailsRemote leaves two pack files in place when automatic garbage collection thresholds are configured.

Changes

Status fetch garbage collection

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Disable automatic garbage collection for status fetches apps/server/src/vcs/GitVcsDriverCore.ts, apps/server/src/vcs/GitVcsDriverCore.test.ts	The status fetch command passes --no-auto-gc. The test verifies that the pack count remains two after statusDetailsRemote.

Priority: ➖ Normal

Estimated code review effort: 2 (Simple) | ~10 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Suggested reviewers: juliusmarminge

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to d6bc7

Status polling will avoid triggering automatic repository maintenance, preventing repeated failed repacks from accumulating temporary pack files. No actionable merge risk remains.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 5

✅ Passed checks (5 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly identifies the server-side fix and its purpose: preventing failed repacks from consuming disk space during background Git status fetches.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description explains the problem, root cause, fix, expected behavior, test coverage, and out-of-scope issues. It does not reproduce the template headings or checklist, but it provides the required…
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 0 functions across 2…
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.

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