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codex/codex-rs/core
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Michael Bolin 7134220f3c core: box wrapper futures to reduce stack pressure (#13429)
Follow-up to [#13388](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/13388). This
uses the same general fix pattern as
[#12421](https://github.com/openai/codex/pull/12421), but in the
`codex-core` compact/resume/fork path.

## Why

`compact_resume_after_second_compaction_preserves_history` started
overflowing the stack on Windows CI after `#13388`.

The important part is that this was not a compaction-recursion bug. The
test exercises a path with several thin `async fn` wrappers around much
larger thread-spawn, resume, and fork futures. When one `async fn`
awaits another inline, the outer future stores the callee future as part
of its own state machine. In a long wrapper chain, that means a caller
can accidentally inline a lot more state than the source code suggests.

That is exactly what was happening here:

- `ThreadManager` convenience methods such as `start_thread`,
`resume_thread_from_rollout`, and `fork_thread` were inlining the larger
spawn/resume futures beneath them.
- `core_test_support::test_codex` added another wrapper layer on top of
those same paths.
- `compact_resume_fork` adds a few more helpers, and this particular
test drives the resume/fork path multiple times.

On Windows, that was enough to push both the libtest thread and Tokio
worker threads over the edge. The previous 8 MiB test-thread workaround
proved the failure was stack-related, but it did not address the
underlying future size.

## How This Was Debugged

The useful debugging pattern here was to turn the CI-only failure into a
local low-stack repro.

1. First, remove the explicit large-stack harness so the test runs on
the normal `#[tokio::test]` path.
2. Build the test binary normally.
3. Re-run the already-built `tests/all` binary directly with
progressively smaller `RUST_MIN_STACK` values.

Running the built binary directly matters: it keeps the reduced stack
size focused on the test process instead of also applying it to `cargo`
and `rustc`.

That made it possible to answer two questions quickly:

- Does the failure still reproduce without the workaround? Yes.
- Does boxing the wrapper futures actually buy back stack headroom? Also
yes.

After this change, the built test binary passes with
`RUST_MIN_STACK=917504` and still overflows at `786432`, which is enough
evidence to justify removing the explicit 8 MiB override while keeping a
deterministic low-stack repro for future debugging.

If we hit a similar issue again, the first places to inspect are thin
`async fn` wrappers that mostly forward into a much larger async
implementation.

## `Box::pin()` Primer

`async fn` compiles into a state machine. If a wrapper does this:

```rust
async fn wrapper() {
    inner().await;
}
```

then `wrapper()` stores the full `inner()` future inline as part of its
own state.

If the wrapper instead does this:

```rust
async fn wrapper() {
    Box::pin(inner()).await;
}
```

then the child future lives on the heap, and the outer future only
stores a pinned pointer to it. That usually trades one allocation for a
substantially smaller outer future, which is exactly the tradeoff we
want when the problem is stack pressure rather than raw CPU time.

Useful references:

-
[`Box::pin`](https://doc.rust-lang.org/std/boxed/struct.Box.html#method.pin)
- [Async book:
Pinning](https://rust-lang.github.io/async-book/04_pinning/01_chapter.html)

## What Changed

- Boxed the wrapper futures in `core/src/thread_manager.rs` around
`start_thread`, `resume_thread_from_rollout`, `fork_thread`, and the
corresponding `ThreadManagerState` spawn helpers so callers no longer
inline the full spawn/resume state machine through multiple layers.
- Boxed the matching test-only wrapper futures in
`core/tests/common/test_codex.rs` and
`core/tests/suite/compact_resume_fork.rs`, which sit directly on top of
the same path.
- Restored `compact_resume_after_second_compaction_preserves_history` in
`core/tests/suite/compact_resume_fork.rs` to a normal `#[tokio::test]`
and removed the explicit `TEST_STACK_SIZE_BYTES` thread/runtime sizing.
- Simplified a tiny helper in `compact_resume_fork` by making
`fetch_conversation_path()` synchronous, which removes one more
unnecessary future layer from the test path.

## Verification

- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all
suite::compact_resume_fork::compact_resume_after_second_compaction_preserves_history
-- --exact --nocapture`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all suite::compact_resume_fork --
--nocapture`
- Re-ran the built `codex-core` `tests/all` binary directly with reduced
stack sizes:
  - `RUST_MIN_STACK=917504` passes
  - `RUST_MIN_STACK=786432` still overflows
- `cargo test -p codex-core`
- Still fails locally in unrelated existing integration areas that
expect the `codex` / `test_stdio_server` binaries or hit the existing
`search_tool` wiremock mismatches.
7134220f3c ยท 2026-03-04 05:44:52 +00:00
History
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codex-core

This crate implements the business logic for Codex. It is designed to be used by the various Codex UIs written in Rust.

Dependencies

Note that codex-core makes some assumptions about certain helper utilities being available in the environment. Currently, this support matrix is:

macOS

Expects /usr/bin/sandbox-exec to be present.

When using the workspace-write sandbox policy, the Seatbelt profile allows writes under the configured writable roots while keeping .git (directory or pointer file), the resolved gitdir: target, and .codex read-only.

Network access and filesystem read/write roots are controlled by SandboxPolicy. Seatbelt consumes the resolved policy and enforces it.

Seatbelt also supports macOS permission-profile extensions layered on top of SandboxPolicy:

  • no extension profile provided: keeps legacy default preferences read access (user-preference-read).
  • extension profile provided with no macos_preferences grant: does not add preferences access clauses.
  • macos_preferences = "readonly": enables cfprefs read clauses and user-preference-read.
  • macos_preferences = "readwrite": includes readonly clauses plus user-preference-write and cfprefs shm write clauses.
  • macos_automation = true: enables broad Apple Events send permissions.
  • macos_automation = ["com.apple.Notes", ...]: enables Apple Events send only to listed bundle IDs.
  • macos_accessibility = true: enables com.apple.axserver mach lookup.
  • macos_calendar = true: enables com.apple.CalendarAgent mach lookup.

Linux

Expects the binary containing codex-core to run the equivalent of codex sandbox linux (legacy alias: codex debug landlock) when arg0 is codex-linux-sandbox. See the codex-arg0 crate for details.

All Platforms

Expects the binary containing codex-core to simulate the virtual apply_patch CLI when arg1 is --codex-run-as-apply-patch. See the codex-arg0 crate for details.