[nwparker]

	Files	Added	Deleted	Net
Test	2	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​114	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​1	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​113
Prod	9	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​63	$\color{#cf222e}{\Huge{\mathbf{−}}}$​11	$\color{#1a7f37}{\Huge{\mathbf{+}}}$​52

ELI5

When Orca holds a WSL terminal it shouldn't start on its own (a passive restore or main's background start), it runs wsl --list --running to check whether the distro is running. Since #35971 that check ran twice for the same spawn: once early, at the startup target, and again in the terminal provider. Now the provider's check reuses the early answer, but only that same spawn's answer, so one held spawn runs one probe and nothing older can be trusted.

Flag-off: applies to WSL bridge workspaces, which exist with ORCA_INTERNAL_WSL_HOSTS unset too. Non-WSL, SSH and WSL-host (orcad) spawns never reach this check.

User risk: low. Same hold decisions, one fewer wsl.exe per held spawn.

• There's no time-based reuse: an earlier version used a 5 s lease, which this replaces.
• The provider trusts only a read taken during this spawn's own startup-target hold.
• A spawn without one reads fresh, and a stop or wake Orca notes still forces a fresh read.

What Changed

• The startup-target hold (spawn-startup-target.ts): when it holds a spawn with a resolved WSL distro, it takes a read anchor (wslHoldReadAnchor(), performance.now() minus 1 ms of slack) and reads the running list after that anchor. It returns the anchor in its target.
• Carrying the anchor: both preflights (ipc/spawn-preflight.ts, runtime/spawn-preflight.ts) keep it on their spawn state. Both option builders put it on the spawn's options as wslHoldReadAnchor.
• The provider hold: holdPassiveRestoreOfStoppedWslDistro reads with startedAfter: max(opts.wslHoldReadAnchor, now - 2 s) (WSL_HOLD_READ_MAX_AGE_MS). The provider holds are the daemon adapter and the daemon-off local provider, and they pass the spawn's own options unchanged, so they reuse exactly the read made for that spawn, and only while it's under 2 s old. A daemon respawn or a same-session history lock between the two holds therefore can't stretch it.
• No anchor: a spawn that skipped the startup-target hold reads fresh, as before.
• Noted stop or wake: settledWslRunningReadAnchor still raises the floor past any stop or wake Orca noted, which forces a fresh read.

Why

e9-reviewer found the double probe. fix-reviewer then showed that a 5 s lease would let a stop Orca never notices (an external wsl -t or --shutdown, or WSL's idle stop) slip past a background spawn's last check. Anchoring the reuse to the spawn's own read removes the double probe without widening that window. The provider hold stays, as the only guard for spawns that skip the preflight.

Linked Issue

N/A (maintainer change; follow-up to #35971, #35938 and #35865)

Visual Proof

N/A: no UI change.

Testing

• I manually tested these changes locally
• Automated tests:
  • New daemon-wsl-hold-read-anchor.test.ts, driving the real running-list cache with a counting probe:
    • one probe per held spawn, both while running and while stopped;
    • no reuse across two different spawns;
    • no anchor means a fresh probe;
    • a stop noted between the two holds means a fresh probe that holds (fix-reviewer's case);
    • the spawn's own read older than the 2 s cap means a fresh probe (fix-reviewer's respawn tail).
    • Mutation checks: ignoring the anchor fails the one-probe cases, reintroducing a 5 s lease fails the no-reuse and no-anchor cases, and removing the cap fails the cap case.
  • Updated pty-spawn-wsl-passive-restore-hold.test.ts: the provider receives exactly the anchor the startup-target read used.
• Load rule:
  • Pre-existing failures only:
    • tc and typecheck:ci: the one error is structured-agent-session-create-adoption.test.ts:171, which this PR doesn't touch and which test: return a structured command from the adoption test's launch resolver #36081 fixes.
    • typecheck:e2e: errors only in cloud/ and mobile/.
    • tests/e2e unit: 529 passed; relay-region-correction can't load locally because the pg package isn't installed.
  • Touched tests, each run on its own: the new anchor test, the daemon passive-restore hold, local-pty windows-shell-launch, the pty-spawn and spawn-host-env holds, runtime spawn-preflight, and wsl-background-distro-gate.
  • Also: the pty runtime and IPC suites, check:code-quality:changed, oxlint, anti-slop, the ast-grep test and gates, and the five localization verifiers.

Review

Agent skill upstream boundary

• Not applicable, or this change copies or mechanically translates no upstream skill-installer source, tests, fixtures, registry entries, path tables, comments, or documentation.

Notes

• Mixed versions: nothing changes on the wire. The anchor lives only in main's spawn options.

Checklist

• This PR is small and focused
• I explained what changed and why (ELI5, the user-facing before/after, the mechanism, and why over the alternatives)
• Before/after screenshots or videos attached for UI changes, or N/A with reason
• Self-reviewed for correctness, security, and performance
• Cross-platform, SSH/remote, and path/shortcut impact considered (or N/A)
• pnpm lint, pnpm typecheck, pnpm test, and pnpm build pass (or CI will cover; local preferred)

[greptile-apps]

Confidence Score: 4/5

[Low impact] The change is limited to held WSL spawn checks in the main process.

The PR should preserve the provider's ability to catch an external WSL stop before merging.

Findings

1.  Background spawns undo WSL shutdown ▶

Summary

Reuses the startup WSL running-list read during the provider hold.

• Held WSL spawns reuse their own recent running-list check.

Diagram

sequenceDiagram
  participant S as Startup target
  participant C as Running-list cache
  participant P as Provider
  S->>C: Read after spawn anchor
  C-->>S: Running
  Note over S,P: Spawn preparation
  P->>C: Read after same anchor, capped at two seconds
  C-->>P: Reuse qualifying answer or probe again
  Note over C,P: Recorded stop or wake forces a newer read

Loading

_{Reviews (4) · Last reviewed commit: "Merge branch 'main' into nwparker/wsl-ho..." · Reviewed by Greptile}

[coderabbitai]

Important

Review skipped

Review was skipped as selected files did not have any reviewable changes.

Run configuration

• Source mode: Auto
• Repository: Unavailable
• Branch: Unavailable
• File: No configuration file from this repository applied
• Commit: Unavailable
• Layers: Repository UI
• Review profile: CHILL
• Plan: Advanced
• Run ID: 7410aa3a-931d-4db8-a325-baed2399cd35

Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between c6eb855 and 78bd8a2.

You can disable this status message by setting the reviews.review_status to false in the CodeRabbit configuration file.

Use the checkbox below for a quick retry:

• 🔍 Trigger review

Walkthrough

The startup target captures a WSL hold read anchor and passes it to the passive-restore hold. The hold applies a startedAfter filter bounded by the configured maximum read age when an anchor is provided. The anchor then passes through IPC and runtime spawn state into provider spawn options. Tests cover shared reads, fresh reads, and provider receipt of the anchor.

Priority: Low

Merge Risk: Low · previous review 7cb06

Closely timed WSL restores can share a running-state check and miss an external stop. This narrow risk should be fixed or accepted before merging.

Pre-merge checks: 4 · 1

Failed checks: 1 warning

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage		Docstring coverage is 33.33% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff with cyclomatic complexity of at least 2. Documenta…	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

Passed checks: 4 passed

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check		The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: reusing the WSL running-list read for a held spawn while limiting reuse to that spawn.
Description check		The description covers the required sections, explains the before and after behavior, gives the rationale, documents testing and known pre-existing failures, and marks visual proof as not applicable. …
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: Description check

Explanation

The description covers the required sections, explains the before and after behavior, gives the rationale, documents testing and known pre-existing failures, and marks visual proof as not applicable. The maintainer-specific Linked Issue exception is used appropriately.

Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

Docstring coverage is 33.33% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%. Docstring coverage is scoped to functions touched by this diff with cyclomatic complexity of at least 2. Documentation-only edits and deletions within surviving functions are included; unchanged diff context and fully deleted functions are excluded. Analyzed 6 functions across 11 files.

Resolution

Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

Finishing Touches: 💡 2

📝 Generate docstrings: 💡

• Commit to this branch
• Create a new PR

🛠️ Fix failing CI checks: 💡

• Commit to this branch
• Create a new PR

• Autofix · Keep fixing CodeRabbit findings and required CI, and resolving merge conflicts

Thanks for using CodeRabbit! It's free for OSS, and your support helps us grow. If you like it, consider giving us a shout-out.

❤️ Share

• X
• Mastodon
• Reddit
• LinkedIn

_{Comment @coderabbitai help to get the list of available commands.}

[coderabbitai]

🔇 Additional comments: 1

src/main/daemon/daemon-wsl-passive-restore-hold.ts-30-30: 1

30-30: Major · Functional Correctness · Heavy lift

⚠️ Unverified finding
Verification ran but could not confirm this finding. It is shown for review, not as a verified issue.

Keep a fresh final check when an unobserved stop is possible.

If WSL stops after a confirmed running probe without emitting a stop note, this five-second cutoff lets the provider hold reuse the old running result. The running-list cache accepts that result without another probe. A passive spawn can then start a stopped distro, although a fresh provider read would have blocked it. WSL idle stops are specifically identified as stops that may go unreported. Preserve the fresh final check unless a reliable stop observation can invalidate the lease. (raw.githubusercontent.com)

---

Review info

Run configuration

• Source mode: Auto
• Repository: Unavailable
• Branch: Unavailable
• File: No configuration file from this repository applied
• Commit: Unavailable
• Layers: Repository UI
• Review profile: CHILL
• Plan: Advanced
• Run ID: 17e3d04f-b495-4987-9eed-589bff2d9530

Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 8a4bc55 and b9248b9.

Files selected for processing: 6

• src/main/daemon/daemon-pty-adapter-wsl-passive-restore-hold.test.ts
• src/main/daemon/daemon-pty-session-spawn.ts
• src/main/daemon/daemon-wsl-hold-probe-lease.test.ts
• src/main/daemon/daemon-wsl-passive-restore-hold.ts
• src/main/providers/local-pty-provider-windows-shell-launch.test.ts
• src/main/providers/local-pty-spawn.ts

Included review availability: This review used your included allowance. Your plan provides up to 10 included reviews per hour; 6 remain after this review.

[coderabbitai]

Actionable comments posted: 1

---

Review info

Run configuration

• Source mode: Auto
• Repository: Unavailable
• Branch: Unavailable
• File: No configuration file from this repository applied
• Commit: Unavailable
• Layers: Repository UI
• Review profile: CHILL
• Plan: Advanced
• Run ID: 8288f429-9deb-4717-b5fa-df7252523991

Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between b9248b9 and 7cb0673.

Files selected for processing: 11

• src/main/daemon/daemon-wsl-hold-read-anchor.test.ts
• src/main/daemon/daemon-wsl-passive-restore-hold.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/ipc/spawn-options.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/ipc/spawn-preflight.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/ipc/spawn-state.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/pty-spawn-wsl-passive-restore-hold.test.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/runtime/spawn-options.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/runtime/spawn-preflight.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/runtime/spawn-state.ts
• src/main/ipc/pty/spawn-startup-target.ts
• src/main/providers/pty-provider-contract.ts

Included review availability: This review used your included allowance. Your plan provides up to 10 included reviews per hour; 2 remain after this review.

[coderabbitai]

Minor · Functional Correctness · Quick win

Do not let the anchor accept another spawn’s read.

If a second held spawn starts within 1 ms of the first probe, subtracting the slack places its anchor before that probe. The running-list cache can then return the first spawn’s result instead of reading again. This breaks the per-spawn read guarantee and can miss an unnoted distro stop between the spawns. Capture an anchor that excludes earlier probes, and adjust the frozen-clock tests to verify closely spaced spawns. (raw.githubusercontent.com)

[greptile-apps]

Background spawns undo WSL shutdown

If an external wsl --shutdown stops the distro after the startup read, without an Orca stop note, the provider can reuse the earlier running answer for up to two seconds. It then allows the background spawn to start the distro again instead of holding it. The provider previously requested a fresh read and could catch that stop.

Restricting reuse to the same spawn does not close this gap. Keep a fresh check before the provider starts WSL, or otherwise preserve the stop decision.