[devswha]

Change

#1404 sampled the server's main thread on macOS waiting inside Bun.spawnSync while herdr answered in under a millisecond. #1748 bounded those waits at 1 s, but each one still held every connection while it ran. This change removes the synchronous subprocess calls from the paths that run per request or per status poll:

• macOS process metadata no longer runs ps. process-start.ts (processStartedAt, processStartLowerBound, processStartUpperBound[Async]), gjc-runtime.ts gjcTerminal and hermes.ts hermesTerminalId read the process's start and controlling terminal from the kernel's kinfo_proc (sysctl KERN_PROC_PID, plus devname(3) for the tty), through bun:ffi on libSystem. claude-store.ts already made the same read for Claude on macOS; the helper moves to server/darwin-process.ts. The read takes microseconds and starts no process, so it stays synchronous: no caller changes, and no new "unknown" state reaches OmO resolution or pending input (the reason fix(server): await bounded process metadata probes #1407 was closed). The start is now exact rather than ps's whole seconds, and every comparison keeps its tolerance.
• files.ts filesNamed (opening a file an agent named without its folder) awaits the streaming git listing paneFiles already used, which has the same 3 s deadline, SIGKILL and 16 MiB cap, instead of Bun.spawnSync. file-view.ts locateFile/locateFileInFolder become async; findFile, their only production caller, already was.
• Lookups for one folder that arrive while its git listing runs share that listing, instead of each starting a git (the old synchronous lookup ran them one after another).
• usage.ts: the keychain FIFO's mkfifo is awaited and killed after 5 s.
• CI: the macOS job also runs server/darwin-process.test.ts, the only check that the kernel record's terminal field matches ps. This is a workflow change.

Still synchronous, on purpose, because each runs once at startup or inside the owner guard, not per request: process-owner.ts (owner guard; its persisted lstart birth format is compared across restarts), managed.ts (git rev-parse before the supervisor starts), remote-entry.ts (Windows marker at bridge start), pty/host.ts and pty/sidecar.ts (PTY host detection).

Refs #1404 (it also asks about the reporter's remaining stalls, which #1407's comments tie to a Background LaunchAgent ProcessType; this PR does not claim to close that). Covers the macOS half of #1545's "no spawnSync reachable from currentIdentity".

Validation

• eamac (macOS 27.0.1 arm64, Bun 1.4.3), a fresh clone of origin/main 7ab4bde0b and then the same clone with this patch. A script runs the four metadata reads a status poll makes (processStartedAt, processStartLowerBound, hermesTerminalId, gjcTerminal) in a loop for 4 s. Meanwhile a 2 ms timer measures event-loop gaps and a separate process sends HTTP requests to the same server every 20 ms:

  	one round of reads, p50	longest timer gap	HTTP p50 / max
  main	6.6–6.8 ms	14.6–20.7 ms	2.7–3.0 / 14.5–14.8 ms
  this PR	0.06 ms	2.6 ms	0.2 / 0.7 ms
  main, taskpolicy -b (background QoS, as the reporter's LaunchAgent ran)	27.6–29.6 ms	52.5–53.2 ms	9.9–11.3 / 48–52 ms
  this PR, taskpolicy -b	0.47 ms	11.5 ms (69 ms once)	0.6–0.7 / 10.6 ms (112 ms once)

  The two background-QoS outliers come from the scheduler throttling a busy loop; no subprocess is started.

• New server/darwin-process.test.ts checks the e_tdev offset and the NODEV/short-answer cases. On macOS it also checks that the kernel's start and tty match what ps -o tty= -o lstart= prints for a live child, and that a missing pid gives null. The kinfo_proc layout was checked with clang on eamac: sizeof(struct kinfo_proc) = 648, offsetof(kp_eproc.e_tdev) = 572.

• New files.test.ts case: while a fake git blocks on a FIFO, filesNamed lets a timer run before it answers, and a second lookup of the same folder shares that one git (one Bun.spawn; without the sharing it makes two, checked). Rewiring filesNamed to Bun.spawnSync makes that test fail (checked, then restored). The existing "both inventories" test now asserts that Bun.spawnSync is never called.

• macOS focused suites on eamac (darwin-process, process-start, claude-store, gjc-runtime, files, file-view, hermes, grok, muse-store, usage): 342 pass, 7 skip, 1 fail. The failure is test(claude-store): the #1645 attach-behind-options test fails on macOS #1971, which fails the same way on unchanged main (3 of 3 runs).

• Linux focused suites: 347 pass, 3 skip, 0 fail.

• bun run check fast on the final head (5f8b825, rebased on main after fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986): all pass, unit 7261 pass, 0 fail, 25 skip. On eamac with a real tty, the macOS process tests give 299 pass, 3 skip, 0 fail.

• Reviews: omo-native-code-reviewer: APPROVE, no blockers. Its findings and how each was resolved:

  • MEDIUM: darwin-process.test.ts did not run in the macOS CI job. Fixed: ci.yml runs it.
  • LOW: comments still gave ps's whole seconds as the reason for the macOS start tolerances. Fixed: reworded; the tolerances are unchanged.
  • LOW: concurrent lookups of one folder each started their own git. Fixed: one shared listing per folder.
  • LOW: the offset unit test writes at the offset the code reads, so it cannot catch a wrong offset. Covered by the macOS CI test, which compares with ps.
  • NIT: sysctlCall() makes a closure per call. Kept: negligible.

• Codex Sol review did not run (host stall); the merge pass reviews.

• Astra gate (merge pass) B1, PID reuse could pair one process's terminal with another's start: fixed in 4d5ac0d. darwinTerminal returns the tty and the start from one kinfo_proc, and gjcTerminal and Hermes's breadcrumb lookup take both from it. A new test feeds two records to one lookup and checks that only the first is read; going back to two reads fails it (checked). On eamac with a real terminal (ssh -tt, /dev/ttys001), the tty and start match ps; darwin-process, gjc-runtime, hermes and process-start tests: 56 pass, 3 skip, 0 fail.

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📝 Summary

Summary by CodeRabbit

• Performance
  • On macOS, agent process and terminal details are read from system process records, avoiding pauses caused by running ps.
  • Opening an agent-named file without its folder no longer blocks the server while Git searches a large repository. File lookups can continue while repository listings are in progress.
• Reliability
  • macOS process start-time information is more precise, improving session matching.
  • Keychain access now uses a time-limited asynchronous system command rather than an unbounded synchronous operation.

macOS process start-time and terminal lookups now use kernel process records. File-name lookup now uses asynchronous Git inventory, and keychain FIFO creation now uses a timed asynchronous subprocess.

Changes: macOS Process Identity

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Darwin process-record helpers and Claude store integration server/darwin-process.ts, server/darwin-process.test.ts, server/claude-store.ts, server/claude-store.test.ts	Adds helpers to read process start times and terminal devices from macOS process records. Claude store imports the shared helpers. Tests cover parsing, lookup results, and live and missing processes.
Kernel-based process start times server/process-start.ts, server/process-start.test.ts, server/conversation.test.ts, server/gjc-status.test.ts, server/omo.test.ts, server/muse-store.ts, server/pending-input.ts, server/core/pending.ts, docs/muse-chat.md, .github/workflows/ci.yml, changelog.d/macos-no-sync-subprocess.md	macOS process-start APIs and tested callers use kernel-derived timestamps instead of ps elapsed-time probes. Documentation and timing comments are updated; Linux and Windows behavior is unchanged where noted.
Kernel-based terminal identity server/gjc-runtime.ts, server/gjc-runtime.test.ts, server/hermes.ts	GJC and Hermes obtain macOS terminal identity from Darwin process records instead of ps. Hermes uses terminal identity and start time from one record.

Asynchronous File Lookup

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Asynchronous Git inventory and file lookup server/files.ts, server/files.test.ts, server/file-view.ts, server/file-view.test.ts	filesNamed, locateFile, and related lookups are asynchronous. Concurrent name lookups for one folder share an in-flight Git listing. Tests await lookup results and cover concurrent lookups and blocked Git output.

Asynchronous Keychain FIFO Creation

Layer / File(s)	Summary
Timed asynchronous FIFO creation server/usage.ts	readKeychainInLoginSession runs mkfifo asynchronously with a timeout and SIGKILL.

Priority: Normal

Estimated code review effort: 4 (Complex) | ~45 minutes

Change: Bug fix

Possibly related issues

• devswha/ovis#1985 — The issue describes remaining macOS ps callers for process start times; this change replaces several process metadata reads with kernel records, though the issue notes some scope may remain.
• devswha/herdr-web-ui#1545 — The issue concerns synchronous macOS ps reads in process identity flows; this change replaces shared macOS process metadata reads with kernel-record reads.

Suggested reviewers: kilhyeonjun, 345ml, rikisanjayaa

Merge Risk: Low · up to 5f8b8

File lookup may briefly reuse stale results after cache invalidation. This is a bounded issue to fix or accept before merging.

Pre-merge checks: 5

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title names the two main changes: macOS process start times and terminals now come from the kernel, and name lookups await git. The title is long and joins two topics, but it matches the changeset…
Description check		The description follows the template. It has a Change section that explains the problem (synchronous ps and spawnSync calls blocking the event loop), the resulting behavior, and the affected paths. It…
Docstring Coverage		Docstring coverage is 88.57% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 35 functions across 20 files. (3 skipped: 3…
Linked Issues check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.
Out of Scope Changes check		Check skipped because no linked issues were found for this pull request.

Full details: Title check

Explanation

The title names the two main changes: macOS process start times and terminals now come from the kernel, and name lookups await git. The title is long and joins two topics, but it matches the changeset. The title is also written in the conventional-commit form.

Full details: Description check

Explanation

The description follows the template. It has a Change section that explains the problem (synchronous ps and spawnSync calls blocking the event loop), the resulting behavior, and the affected paths. It has a Validation section that lists the macOS and Linux suites, the benchmark, the review findings, and the regression tests. It does not link an issue for a feature, but this is a fix, so that is not required. The description is long and dense, but it covers the required content.

Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 88.57% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff. Analyzed 35 functions across 20 files. (3 skipped: 3 unsupported.)

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[devswha]

Merge pass note: this PR conflicts with #1980 (macOS process metadata read from the kernel). Both are open maintainer PRs, and git merge-tree of the two heads conflicts in server/process-start.ts and server/process-start.test.ts. Each one merges cleanly into main on its own.

Whichever is approved and green first merges first, and the other one then needs a rebase. Both touch server/, so neither can merge until the 0.4.18 Release run is done. Astra is reviewing both.

[devswha]

Merge pass review of 5d29885. The Astra gate (omo-native-gate-reviewer, gpt-6-astra) rejects it on one blocker.

What holds:

• The subprocess waits it targets are gone from the per-request and per-poll paths.
• Focused tests pass on Linux and on native macOS. Locally I got 180/180. TypeScript is clean, and the arm64/x64 SDK struct layouts check out.
• The ci.yml change only adds the new test file.
• A macOS Claude test that fails also fails on the base, so it predates this PR.

BLOCKER B1: under PID reuse, the macOS terminal lookup can mix two processes (server/gjc-runtime.ts:149-151)

• Cause: the controlling terminal and the birth time come from two separate kernel queries. Nothing checks that both answers describe the same process.
• Reproduction: a deterministic native probe returned process A's terminal (ttys001) together with process B's birth time (1793006597493). The code accepted that mixed identity. The gate report has a runnable version.
• Effect: a pane can be tied to the wrong process. The constraint is that a wrong answer must fail closed.
• Fix: read both fields from one kernel snapshot. Alternatively, read the birth time before and after and reject the result if it changed. Add a regression test for that transition.

This PR touches server/ and conflicts with #1986 (see the note above). It merges only after the 0.4.18 Release run. The re-review will cover only the new commits.

[devswha]

Astra B1 is fixed in 4d5ac0d (only that commit is new; the branch was rebased on main). On macOS the terminal and the process start now come from one kernel record (darwinTerminal returns both), and gjcTerminal and Hermes's breadcrumb lookup take both from it. The regression test feeds two different records to one lookup and checks that only the first is read; a two-read version fails it. Native check on eamac with a real tty: tty and start match ps, 56 pass, 0 fail. bun run check fast: all pass. If a CI job fails as a known flake, I leave the rerun to the merge pass.

[devswha]

#1986 merged as 1f8bb08. This PR conflicts with it in and its test, so please rebase onto main and push once. Only the rebase range will be re-checked; the approved commits stay approved. It is next in the solo merge order once its CI is green.

[devswha]

Rebased onto main after #1986 (1f8bb08) and pushed once. Head 5f8b825. The first three commits are the approved ones, rebased. The only conflict, server/process-start.ts and its test, keeps #1986's processStartedAtAsync API and has it return the kernel read. New commit 5f8b825 moves #1986's four macOS tests (omo, conversation, gjc-runtime, gjc-status) from a mocked awaited ps to the kernel record: the start comes from darwinStartTime, no ps reads it, and nothing synchronous runs. bun run check fast passes in full; on eamac with a real tty the macOS process tests give 299 pass, 0 fail.

[devswha]

Merge pass review of the rebase onto #1986 (5f8b825, Astra gate). The production side is correct. One adapted test stopped checking anything.

What holds:

• The rebase keeps both changes.
• Native checks on macOS confirm that processStartedAtAsync reads the kernel directly, starts no subprocess, and returns null when the kernel read fails.
• fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986's foreground checks before paste and before Enter are intact, and its race tests pass.
• Locally, 410 tests pass and typecheck is clean.

B2 (test only): the adapted OmO test no longer detects a broken kernel read (server/omo.test.ts:508-532)

• Problem: the test still passes when processStartedAtAsync is replaced with async () => null, which skips the kernel entirely. The other three adapted tests do fail on that same fault.
• Cause: commit 4 removed the OmO test's positive assertion on the birth query. It now checks only that the pane is there and that no subprocess ran.
• Fix: assert that the expected kernel birth reaches the OmO result, and keep the no-subprocess assertions.

The re-review will cover only the test fix.

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

---

• 🪄 Fix comments: Fix CodeRabbit comments on this PR

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Inline comments:
Review comments at @server/files.ts:
- Line 213: Update clearFileCache and the filesNamed listing lifecycle to use a
cache generation: increment it on invalidation, and allow a pending listing to
write to walked or delete its listing entry only if its captured generation is
still current. Preserve the existing behavior for listings in the current
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• Source mode: Auto
• Repository: devswha/ovis
• Branch: fix/macos-sync-subprocess
• File: .coderabbit.yaml
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Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 1f8bb08 and 5f8b825.

Files selected for processing: 23

• .github/workflows/ci.yml
• changelog.d/macos-no-sync-subprocess.md
• docs/muse-chat.md
• server/claude-store.test.ts
• server/claude-store.ts
• server/conversation.test.ts
• server/core/pending.ts
• server/darwin-process.test.ts
• server/darwin-process.ts
• server/file-view.test.ts
• server/file-view.ts
• server/files.test.ts
• server/files.ts
• server/gjc-runtime.test.ts
• server/gjc-runtime.ts
• server/gjc-status.test.ts
• server/hermes.ts
• server/muse-store.ts
• server/omo.test.ts
• server/pending-input.ts
• server/process-start.test.ts
• server/process-start.ts
• server/usage.ts

Included review availability: This review used your included allowance. Your plan provides up to 4 included reviews per hour; 0 remain after this review.

[devswha]

B2 fixed in 03c41b2 (test only, plus one comment): the adapted OmO test now checks that the kernel's start reaches the pane's OmO result (startedAt 1000) and that the kernel was asked about pid 4242, and still checks that nothing is spawned. With processStartedAtAsync answering null, all four adapted tests now fail (OmO, Claude, both GJC). omo.ts's comment no longer says each macOS read runs ps. bun run check fast passes in full.

[devswha]

Merge pass: the Astra gate already approved 03c41b2, the B2 test fix. No further review is needed.

• The test now catches the fault: with processStartedAtAsync replaced by async () => null, the OmO test fails ("Expected: 1000; Received: null"). It passes on the real code.
• No production change: the server/omo.ts diff is a comment only.
• The rebase holds up: in the rebase onto fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986, native macOS checks confirmed the async birth read takes the kernel record with no subprocess, and fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986's foreground checks stay intact.

This PR is in the solo merge queue after #1983 and #1989.

[devswha]

Merge pass: this PR is approved and CLEAN, but it can't merge yet because one review thread is unresolved. CodeRabbit (Minor, server/files.ts:213): if clearFileCache() runs while filesNamed() is waiting on Git, the old listing can still write to walked, and its finally can delete a newer listing. Please either fix it with a cache generation plus a test, or reply with the reason it doesn't apply, and resolve the thread. A fix commit gets a delta-only re-review. #1980 merges in the next slot once the thread is resolved.

[devswha]

The CodeRabbit thread on server/files.ts is fixed in 15728c6 and resolved; that commit is the only new one. Each listing now carries the cache generation it began in, so a listing begun before clearFileCache() neither fills the cleared cache nor removes a newer listing. A regression test fails without the generation check. bun run check fast passes in full. Any CI flake rerun is yours.

[devswha]

Fast checks on 15728c6 fail only in server/core/status.test.ts ('the status hub's OpenCode subagents', 3 tests). The same 3 tests fail on plain origin/main afdf3a7, right after #1987, so the failure is in main, not in this PR. I'm not rerunning; once main is fixed, a rerun of Fast checks here should pass.

[devswha]

Merge pass: this PR is approved (15728c6 included) with 0 unresolved threads, but its Fast checks keep failing on main's old break. A re-run reuses the same merge ref (15728c6 into afdf3a7), and that base still has the devices.onPaired stub break, now fixed on main by #2040 (364d3c0). Please rebase onto the current main and push once, so CI runs on the fixed base. Only the rebase range will be re-checked.

[devswha]

Rebased onto main 364d3c0 (#2040) and pushed once; the head is 6cd2d28. The rebase applied cleanly with no new code. The three status hub tests pass on this head, and bun run check fast passes in full.

[devswha]

Merge pass review report. Overall: PASSED. This PR changes server behaviour and edits a CI workflow file (.github/workflows/ci.yml). It was reviewed by an Astra gate (omo-native-gate-reviewer, gpt-6-astra), which rejected 5d29885 and approved 4d5ac0d on re-review. After the rebase onto #1986 it approved 03c41b2.

What changes:

• On the per-request and per-poll paths, synchronous subprocess calls are gone.
• On macOS, process start time and controlling terminal are read from the kernel (server/darwin-process.ts) instead of ps.
• Name lookups now await git.
• The ci.yml change only adds ./server/darwin-process.test.ts to the existing macOS test step. No permissions, triggers or secrets change.

B1 (5d29885), fixed in 4d5ac0d:

• The bug: under PID reuse, the macOS terminal lookup read the terminal and the start time in two separate kernel queries. A native probe returned process A's terminal (ttys001) together with process B's start time.
• The fix: both now come from one kernel record. The native probe on eamac saw exactly one kernel read per lookup: first A's complete terminal and start time, then B's complete pair. They never mixed.
• Struct layout: unchanged, so the arm64/x64 layout checked earlier still applies.
• Regression test: a deterministic transition test in server/darwin-process.test.ts, which macOS CI runs.

Tests:

• Focused tests pass on Linux (58) and native macOS (56).
• All 3 kernel-record tests pass under a real controlling PTY.
• Locally 181/181 pass, and typecheck is clean.
• A macOS Claude test that fails also fails on the base, so it predates this PR.

Rebase onto #1986 (5f8b825, then 03c41b2):

• Rebase: commit 1 changed only in the conflict resolution with fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986 in server/process-start.ts. Commits 2-3 are unchanged.
• Both changes survive: native macOS checks confirm that fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986's async birth read, processStartedAtAsync, reads the kernel record directly, starts no subprocess, and returns null if the kernel read fails. fix(pending): bind a queued message to the agent process as command outcomes do, and read its birth without blocking #1986's foreground checks before paste and before Enter are intact, and its race tests pass.
• Test commit 5f8b825: adapts four tests. Astra found that the OmO test no longer failed when the kernel was bypassed (B2).
• B2 fix (03c41b2): the OmO test now asserts the kernel start reaches the result (startedAt === 1000) and that the kernel read is called. With the birth read stubbed to return null it fails ("Expected: 1000; Received: null"). The server/omo.ts change is a comment only.
• Local check: 410 tests pass and typecheck is clean.

Because this PR touches a workflow file (ci.yml), it merges on its own.