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fix: deduplicate concurrent session-start hydration with an in-flight guard - #45

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cr8ivecodesmith wants to merge 4 commits into
plastic-labs:mainfrom
cr8ivecodesmith:fix/hydration-fan-out
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cr8ivecodesmith wants to merge 4 commits into
plastic-labs:mainfrom
cr8ivecodesmith:fix/hydration-fan-out

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@cr8ivecodesmith

@cr8ivecodesmith cr8ivecodesmith commented Sep 15, 2026 •

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Problem

On session start, two hooks can trigger stable-context hydration concurrently:
the session.created event and the first experimental.chat.system.transform.
Both check !state.stableContext before hydrating, but that flag is only set
after hydration completes — so a second trigger arriving while the first
hydration is still in flight starts a full second hydration of its own.

Each hydration includes two dialectic peer chats (user + agent), so the
duplicate fan-out doubles that work. Measured on a live fresh session with a
stock setup:

API calls (hydration) tokens
before ~6 ~37,000
after ~2 ~10,300

Follow-up turns are unaffected (no hydration calls either way).

Fix

Track the in-flight hydration per session state instead of letting each
trigger start its own:

  • Add SessionState.stableContextHydration: Promise<boolean> | null.

  • Add ensureStableContextHydration(): returns early when a stable context
    already exists; otherwise starts hydration only if none is in flight and
    returns the shared promise, so concurrent triggers await one hydration.

  • The marker is cleared in .finally(), so a failed hydration is retried
    by the next trigger rather than cached.

  • Both session.created and system.transform now go through the wrapper.

Tests

Two regression tests in tests/context-injection.test.js:

  1. Overlapping triggers share one fan-out — session.created and
    system.transform are started while the first hydration is still in
    flight (chat responses deferred within the test); asserts exactly 2
    dialectic chat calls. Fails with 4 calls on unpatched main.

  2. Failed hydration is retried, not cached — with hydration forced to
    fail, the second trigger re-attempts instead of inheriting the failed
    in-flight promise.

Full suite: 27 pass / 0 fail (25 existing + 2 new).

Summary by CodeRabbit

  • Bug Fixes

    • Prevented overlapping session setup and system prompt updates from repeating stable context requests.
    • When stable context setup fails, the system prompt remains unsealed, and a later attempt can retry rather than being blocked by the failure.
    • After successful setup, session creation and system prompt updates use the same stable context.
  • Tests

    • Added coverage for overlapping requests, failed setup retries, and recovery after a failed attempt.

…an in-flight guard

* Share one hydration promise per session state across session.created and system.transform triggers (4 dialectic chat calls -> 2)
* Clear the in-flight marker in finally so a failed hydration is retried by the next trigger, not cached
* Add regression tests: overlapping triggers share one dialectic fan-out, and a failed hydration is retried instead of cached (27/27 in container)
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coderabbitai Bot commented Sep 15, 2026 •

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📒 Files selected for processing: 5
  • src/core.ts
  • src/honcho-client.ts
  • src/import.ts
  • src/index.ts
  • tests/context-injection.test.js

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  • tests/context-injection.test.js

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Walkthrough

Session state now tracks in-progress stable-context hydration. Session initialization and system-prompt transformation share that hydration. Failed hydration leaves the snapshot unsealed and allows a later trigger to retry. Successful hydration seals the snapshot for reuse.

Changes

Stable hydration coordination

Layer / File(s) Summary
Hydration state and guard
src/index.ts
Session state tracks the active hydration promise. ensureStableContextHydration shares concurrent hydration and clears the promise when hydration settles.
Event integration and validation
src/index.ts, tests/context-injection.test.js
Session initialization and system-prompt transformation use the guard. Tests cover concurrent hydration deduplication, retries after failure, and reuse after successful hydration.

Priority: ➖ Normal

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

Change: Bug fix

Suggested reviewers: hkattelu

Merge Risk: ⚪ Minimal · up to f18af

Concurrent session triggers now share hydration work, and a fully failed attempt can be retried without sealing the prompt. No material PR-introduced risk remains; the change is ready for normal checks.

Security architecture risk: 🔵 Low · up to f18af

The change reduces duplicate memory retrieval while preserving existing configuration and identity checks. No new security boundary bypass was identified. Remaining uncertainty concerns interruption and cleanup behavior around in-progress requests.

Retained concerns
No architecture-level concerns identified.

Security review details

Security Blast Radius

  • inferred — The changed coordination affects memory retrieval and prompt content for callers sharing a SessionState within one runtime-core instance. The inspected comparison does not expand that ownership scope or add credentials, workspace access, or tool authority.

Trust Boundaries and Controls

  • observed — Hook input supplies session identity, while configured settings determine the remote client, workspace, and peer identities. Existing configuration checks and runtime error handling remain before hydration; the promise guard does not introduce an alternative authorization path.

Resilience and Maintainability Implications

  • observed — The in-flight marker clears on settlement, including rejection. Session deletion still removes the map entry without cancelling outstanding hydration. Existing callers retain the detached state, while subsequent lookup allocates fresh state; this cleanup model predates the PR.
Pre-merge checks: Passed 5
Check name Status Explanation
Description Check Passed Check skipped - CodeRabbit’s high-level summary is enabled.
Title check Passed The title clearly and concisely describes the main change: preventing duplicate concurrent session-start hydration by using an in-flight guard.
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.
Full details: Docstring Coverage

Explanation

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 files.

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A rabbit watched the prompts take shape
While shared requests ran side by side
When one attempt could not complete
Another tried; the snapshot waited
Then success made stable context stay
And the rabbit hopped away<style>

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Actionable comments posted: 1

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Inline comments:
In `@src/index.ts`:
- Line 1588: Update the flow around ensureStableContextHydration so its
hydration result is captured instead of discarded. When hydration fails and
stableContext remains null, do not seal systemContext as an empty snapshot;
preserve the unsealed state so a later system transform can retry hydration,
while retaining the existing sealing behavior after successful hydration.

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Comment thread src/index.ts Outdated
@utajum

utajum commented Oct 15, 2026

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same problem

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2 participants