fix: eliminate backup service I/O from API test lifecycle by Aureliolo · Pull Request #1015 · Aureliolo/synthorg

Aureliolo · 2026-04-02T20:14:05Z

Summary

Fixes a severe test performance regression where the full unit test suite took 10+ minutes with worker crashes and stalls at ~93% progress. Root cause: create_app auto-builds a real BackupService that triggers filesystem I/O (backup creation + retention pruning of tar.gz archives) on every TestClient startup and shutdown. On Windows, each tarfile.open() call gets scanned by Defender (~2s per archive), adding 15-25s per test lifecycle.

Changes

Autouse fixture to disable backup service (tests/unit/api/conftest.py): patches build_backup_service to return None for all API unit tests, eliminating backup filesystem I/O from test setup/teardown
Mock backup service for guard tests (tests/unit/api/controllers/test_backup.py): TestBackupGuards needs a service instance in app_state so the list-backups endpoint responds -- provides a lightweight mock that avoids real I/O
Wall-clock guardrail (tests/conftest.py): fails any unit test exceeding 8s total wall-clock time (setup + call + teardown), preventing future regressions from heavy fixture I/O

Results

Metric	Before	After
Full unit suite	10+ min	1:32
API tests only	2:51 (171s)	1:14 (74s)
test_setup.py	2:36 (156s), 3 crashes	23s, 0 crashes
Worker crashes	3 (gw nodes going down)	0
Slowest test setup	24s	1.7s

Test plan

Full unit suite: 12,269 passed, 5 skipped in 92s
Lint: all checks passed
Type-check: no issues in 1364 source files
Backup-specific tests: 21 passed (guard tests use mock service)

create_app auto-builds a real BackupService from config, which triggers filesystem I/O (backup creation + retention pruning of tar.gz archives) on every TestClient startup and shutdown. On Windows each tarfile.open() call gets scanned by Defender (~2 s per archive), adding 15-25 s per test that uses TestClient. With 8 xdist workers this caused: - 10+ minute unit test runs (should be ~90 s) - Worker crashes (gw nodes going down mid-run) - Stalls at ~93% progress (remaining tests stuck on backup I/O) Changes: - Patch build_backup_service to return None in an autouse fixture in the API test conftest, eliminating all backup filesystem I/O from test setup/teardown - Provide a lightweight mock backup service for TestBackupGuards tests that need the service instance in app_state - Add a wall-clock guardrail (8 s) for unit tests in the root conftest that fails any unit test exceeding the limit, preventing future regressions from heavy fixture I/O

coderabbitai · 2026-04-02T20:14:20Z

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tests/conftest.py

Walkthrough

Adds a pytest wall-clock guard in tests/conftest.py that records test start time and fails unit-marked tests exceeding an 8.0s threshold. Adds an autouse fixture in tests/unit/api/conftest.py that monkeypatches synthorg.api.app.build_backup_service to return None, preventing real BackupService construction during API unit tests. Adds an autouse fixture in tests/unit/api/controllers/test_backup.py that stubs a backup service with async mocks and empty list_backups, removing backup-related filesystem activity from backup controller tests.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'fix: eliminate backup service I/O from API test lifecycle' accurately and concisely summarizes the main change—removing backup service filesystem I/O from API tests to fix performance regressions.
Description check	✅ Passed	The description is comprehensive and clearly related to the changeset, explaining the performance problem, specific fixes applied, and measurable improvements achieved.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 87.50% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 40.00%.

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github-actions · 2026-04-02T20:16:21Z

Dependency Review

✅ No vulnerabilities or license issues or OpenSSF Scorecard issues found.

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⚠️: No snapshots were found for the head SHA 09e08a0.

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Scanned Files

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gemini-code-assist

Code Review

This pull request introduces a wall-clock time limit for unit tests to detect performance regressions caused by heavy I/O and optimizes API unit tests by disabling the backup service by default. It also provides a mock backup service for specific guard tests. A review comment suggests using a more efficient and idiomatic method for checking test markers in the pytest teardown hook.

gemini-code-assist · 2026-04-02T20:16:23Z

tests/conftest.py

+    markers = {m.name for m in item.iter_markers()}
+    if "unit" in markers and elapsed > _UNIT_TEST_WALL_CLOCK_LIMIT:


Using item.get_closest_marker("unit") is more idiomatic and efficient than constructing a set of all marker names for every test teardown, especially in a large suite with 12,000+ tests. This avoids unnecessary set allocations and iterations over all markers (including parametrization markers) for every test.

Suggested change

markers = {m.name for m in item.iter_markers()}

if "unit" in markers and elapsed > _UNIT_TEST_WALL_CLOCK_LIMIT:

if item.get_closest_marker("unit") and elapsed > _UNIT_TEST_WALL_CLOCK_LIMIT:

Copilot

Pull request overview

Removes expensive backup-service filesystem I/O from the API unit-test app lifecycle to fix a major test-suite performance regression, and adds a time-based guardrail to prevent similar fixture regressions.

Changes:

Patch synthorg.api.app.build_backup_service to return None for API unit tests, avoiding backup creation/pruning work during TestClient startup/shutdown.
Add a lightweight mocked backup service for HTTP guard tests that require the backup endpoint to respond without performing real I/O.
Add a global unit-test wall-clock limit (setup + call + teardown) to fail slow unit tests early.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 3 out of 3 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
tests/unit/api/conftest.py	Autouse fixture disables backup service factory for API unit tests to eliminate filesystem I/O.
tests/unit/api/controllers/test_backup.py	Adds an autouse mock backup service for guard tests so backup endpoints don’t crash when the global disable is active.
tests/conftest.py	Adds pytest hooks to enforce an 8s wall-clock limit for tests marked `unit`.

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Copilot · 2026-04-02T20:18:29Z

tests/conftest.py

+
+
+@pytest.hookimpl(trylast=True)
+def pytest_runtest_teardown(item: pytest.Item) -> None:


pytest_runtest_teardown hook has the wrong signature. Pytest calls this hook with (item, nextitem), so defining it as def pytest_runtest_teardown(item: pytest.Item) -> None will raise TypeError during the first teardown and break the entire test run. Update the hook signature to accept nextitem: pytest.Item | None (and ignore it if unused).

Suggested change

def pytest_runtest_teardown(item: pytest.Item) -> None:

def pytest_runtest_teardown(

item: pytest.Item, nextitem: pytest.Item | None

) -> None:

Replaces set comprehension over all markers with the more efficient and idiomatic get_closest_marker API, avoiding unnecessary set allocation on every test teardown.

codecov · 2026-04-02T20:20:40Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 91.67%. Comparing base (43e0707) to head (09e08a0).
⚠️ Report is 3 commits behind head on main.
✅ All tests successful. No failed tests found.

Additional details and impacted files

@@           Coverage Diff           @@
##             main    #1015   +/-   ##
=======================================
  Coverage   91.66%   91.67%           
=======================================
  Files         656      656           
  Lines       35719    35719           
  Branches     3512     3512           
=======================================
+ Hits        32742    32745    +3     
  Misses       2357     2357           
+ Partials      620      617    -3

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Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 2, 2026 20:14

Aureliolo temporarily deployed to ci April 2, 2026 20:14 — with GitHub Actions Inactive

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gemini-code-assist bot reviewed Apr 2, 2026

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coderabbitai bot previously approved these changes Apr 2, 2026

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Copilot AI reviewed Apr 2, 2026

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refactor: use get_closest_marker for unit test guardrail check

09e08a0

Replaces set comprehension over all markers with the more efficient and idiomatic get_closest_marker API, avoiding unnecessary set allocation on every test teardown.

Aureliolo dismissed coderabbitai[bot]’s stale review via 09e08a0 April 2, 2026 20:21

Aureliolo merged commit 08d9183 into main Apr 2, 2026
10 of 11 checks passed

Aureliolo deleted the fix/test-performance-backup-teardown branch April 2, 2026 20:21

Aureliolo temporarily deployed to ci April 2, 2026 20:21 — with GitHub Actions Inactive

Aureliolo mentioned this pull request Apr 2, 2026

chore(main): release 0.5.8 #1002

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fix: eliminate backup service I/O from API test lifecycle#1015

fix: eliminate backup service I/O from API test lifecycle#1015
Aureliolo merged 2 commits intomainfrom
fix/test-performance-backup-teardown

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		markers = {m.name for m in item.iter_markers()}
		if "unit" in markers and elapsed > _UNIT_TEST_WALL_CLOCK_LIMIT:

	markers = {m.name for m in item.iter_markers()}
	if "unit" in markers and elapsed > _UNIT_TEST_WALL_CLOCK_LIMIT:
	if item.get_closest_marker("unit") and elapsed > _UNIT_TEST_WALL_CLOCK_LIMIT:



		@pytest.hookimpl(trylast=True)
		def pytest_runtest_teardown(item: pytest.Item) -> None:

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Aureliolo commented Apr 2, 2026

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