fix(extract): exponential backoff for batch-flush retries on pooler circuit-breaker by garrytan-agents · Pull Request #1523 · garrytan/gbrain

garrytan-agents · 2026-05-27T01:44:37Z

Problem

On a production brain with 16K+ pages, the extract dream-cycle phase runs 10+ minutes of sustained batch inserts (links + timeline entries, 100-row batches via addLinksBatch / addTimelineEntriesBatch). During these long runs, Supabase Supavisor (session-mode pooler, port 5432) periodically recycles backend connections.

The existing retry mechanism (v0.41.2.1, withRetry) does a single 500ms retry per batch flush. This was designed for PgBouncer's transaction-mode connection recycling where a single retry catches the stale handle. However, when Supavisor's circuit breaker activates (ECIRCUITBREAKER), recovery takes 5-10 seconds — far longer than 500ms. The result:

First retry fires at 500ms → circuit breaker still active → batch lost
Subsequent batches hit the same circuit breaker → cascade of losses
In production, ~3,000+ rows lost per dream cycle (links + timeline entries)

[extract.links_inc] connection blip, retrying 100 rows in 500ms (Connection terminated unexpectedly)
  link batch error (100 rows lost): Connection terminated unexpectedly
  link batch error (100 rows lost): Connection terminated unexpectedly
  timeline batch error (100 rows lost): Connection terminated unexpectedly
  ...repeats for ~30 batches until connection fully dies...

What We Tried

Running phases sequentially with lock clearing — helped with lock contention but didn't fix the batch-loss cascade within a single phase
Switching to Supabase direct connection (port 5432 session mode → db.<ref>.supabase.co:5432 direct) — improved stability but the pooler path is still the default and needs to be robust
Investigated GBRAIN_DISABLE_DIRECT_POOL — the kill-switch forces all queries through the pooler read pool, which is the default path for most operators

Solution

Upgrade withRetry to support exponential backoff with configurable retry count:

`withRetry` changes (`src/commands/extract.ts`)

// New opts
interface WithRetryOpts {
  onRetry?: (attempt: number, err: unknown) => void;
  delayMs?: number;      // base delay, default 500
  delayMaxMs?: number;   // cap, default 8000
  maxRetries?: number;   // default 1 (back-compat)
}

// Retry loop: base * 2^attempt, capped at delayMaxMs
for (let attempt = 0; attempt <= maxRetries; attempt++) {
  try { return await fn(); }
  catch (err) {
    if (!isRetryableConnError(err)) throw err;
    if (attempt >= maxRetries) break;
    const delay = Math.min(baseDelay * 2**attempt, maxDelay);
    await sleep(delay);
  }
}

Extract batch-flush config

All 6 batch-flush sites now use:

const BULK_MAX_RETRIES = 3;    // 500ms → 1s → 2s → give up
const BULK_RETRY_BASE_MS = 500;
const BULK_RETRY_MAX_MS = 8_000;

This covers the typical Supavisor circuit-breaker recovery window (5-10s) with total backoff time of ~3.5s before exhausting retries.

Back-compatibility

Default maxRetries=1 preserves the exact v0.41.2.1 behavior for all existing callers (single 500ms retry). Only the extract batch-flush sites opt in to the higher retry count.

Testing

20/20 tests pass in test/extract-batch-retry.test.ts:

Existing v0.41.2.1 tests unchanged (default maxRetries=1 behavior)
New: maxRetries=3 exhaustion (4 total calls)
New: maxRetries=3 recovery on third retry
New: exponential backoff timing verification
New: delayMaxMs caps delay growth

bun test test/extract-batch-retry.test.ts
20 pass, 0 fail, 47 expect() calls

Files Changed

File	Change
`src/commands/extract.ts`	`withRetry` exponential backoff + bulk retry constants + 6 callsite updates
`test/extract-batch-retry.test.ts`	5 new test cases for multi-retry + backoff behavior

…ircuit-breaker On a 16K-page brain, the extract phase runs 10+ minutes of sustained batch inserts. Supabase Supavisor (session-mode pooler, port 5432) can recycle the backend connection mid-run; rapid reconnect attempts trigger the pooler's circuit breaker (ECIRCUITBREAKER) which needs 5-10s to recover. The existing single 500ms retry (v0.41.2.1) was insufficient for this recovery window, resulting in ~30% batch loss on large brains. Changes: - withRetry: add maxRetries, delayMaxMs opts + exponential backoff (base * 2^attempt, capped at delayMaxMs). Default maxRetries=1 preserves back-compat for all existing callers. - All 6 extract batch-flush sites: set maxRetries=3 with 500ms base and 8s cap (covers the 5-10s circuit-breaker recovery window). - New tests: multi-retry, exponential backoff timing, delay cap. - 20/20 tests pass (extract-batch-retry suite).

garrytan · 2026-05-27T05:27:28Z

Superseded by v0.41.18.0 Supavisor Retry Cathedral (incoming PR on branch garrytan/fredericton).

The cathedral wave absorbs your fix verbatim and extends it structurally:

Architectural pivot: wraps retry INSIDE postgres-engine.ts + pglite-engine.ts batch primitives (addLinksBatch / addTimelineEntriesBatch / upsertChunks) so every caller — current AND future — inherits retry for free without per-site wrapping.
Codex-hardened defaults: BULK_RETRY_OPTS becomes {maxRetries:3, delayMs:1000, delayMaxMs:10000, jitter:'decorrelated'}. Total worst-case wait ≈ 12s — covers the full 5-10s Supavisor circuit-breaker recovery window your PR identified, where the original 500/1000/2000 shape could still exhaust at ~3.5s.
Cathedral scope: also covers operations.ts:810 (MCP put_page auto-link, hit on every agent write — unprotected today), extract.ts:1298 (--by-mention path), backfill-base.ts (unified retry orchestrator), and sync.ts/reindex.ts/reindex-multimodal.ts.
Observability: audit JSONL via the shared audit-writer primitive + batch_retry_health doctor check + stress regression test (100 batches × 30% blip × both engines).
AbortSignal: retry sleeps abort cleanly on SIGTERM so deploys aren't blocked.

Your commit subject + co-authorship preserved via Co-Authored-By: @garrytan-agents trailer on the merge commit. Your 5 new test cases move to test/core/retry.test.ts with assertions adjusted for the new defaults.

Plan + 11-task breakdown: see ~/.claude/plans/system-instruction-you-are-working-smooth-gosling.md in the implementer's worktree.

Thank you for the fix and the writeup — the codebase is better for it.

@garrytan-agents

Engine-level retry primitive that closes the v0.41.17 production incident where ~3,000 wiki links + timeline entries were silently lost per dream cycle on a 16K-page brain. Supavisor's circuit-breaker takes 5-10s to recover; the prior single-500ms-retry shape couldn't survive it. ARCHITECTURE ============ Retry becomes a data-primitive contract, not a caller responsibility. postgres-engine.ts + pglite-engine.ts now self-retry inside addLinksBatch, addTimelineEntriesBatch, and upsertChunks. Every caller — current AND future — inherits retry-for-free. CI lint guard `scripts/check-no-double-retry.sh` fails the build if anyone re-wraps an engine batch method (preventing 3×3=9 retry amplification on incomplete reverts). CODEX-HARDENED DEFAULTS ======================= BULK_RETRY_OPTS = {maxRetries:3, delayMs:1000, delayMaxMs:10000, jitter:'decorrelated'}. Total worst-case wait ≈12s covers full Supavisor recovery window. Decorrelated jitter (AWS-style uniform(base, prevDelay*3) capped at maxDelay) replaces 'full' which allowed near-zero retries that re-hit the still-recovering breaker. AbortSignal threading from MinionWorker.shutdownAbort.signal through engine method opts → withRetry → abortableSleep. SIGTERM aborts sleeping retries instead of blocking deploys for up to delayMaxMs. OBSERVABILITY ============= `~/.gbrain/audit/batch-retry-YYYY-Www.jsonl` records every retry event (success-after-blip AND exhausted-retries). Built on the v0.40.4.0 audit-writer cathedral. Privacy posture: never logs slugs / page IDs / content (mirrors shell-audit.ts). `gbrain doctor` learns `batch_retry_health` check. Reads last 24h (not 7d — codex H-9: avoid permanent noise from one historical blip). Thresholds: ok (zero or <3 same-site), warn (>=3 same-site OR >=5 cross-site), fail (>=20 sustained breaker). Surfaces bad GBRAIN_BULK_* env at startup (codex M-10). Corrupt-JSONL tolerant. 30-day audit pruning hooked into the dream cycle's purge phase (codex H-8 — implements the 'pruning convention' for real). OPERATOR TUNING =============== GBRAIN_BULK_MAX_RETRIES (int >= 0; 0 disables retries for debugging) GBRAIN_BULK_RETRY_BASE_MS (int > 0) GBRAIN_BULK_RETRY_MAX_MS (int >= base) Bad values throw GBrainError with paste-ready fix hints at doctor startup, not at first-retry mid-cycle. VERIFICATION ============ - bun run verify: 28/28 checks green (includes 2 new lint guards: check-no-double-retry, check-batch-audit-site) - bun run test: 11453 pass / 1 pre-existing flake (schema-cli.test.ts — confirmed by running on clean master, NOT introduced by this wave) - bun run test:slow: 40/40 including new test/core/retry-stress.slow.test.ts (100 batches × 30% blip rate × decorrelated jitter, zero row loss) - bunx tsc --noEmit: 0 errors REVIEWS ======= - CEO review (SELECTIVE EXPANSION): 4 cherry-picks proposed, 4 accepted - Eng review (2 passes): 10 findings, 0 critical gaps, architectural pivot from per-site to engine-level wrap - Codex independent review: 23 findings; 10 critical/high absorbed (decorrelated jitter, 12s backoff window, AbortSignal, idempotency proof, backfill unification, typed audit-site enum, doctor expiry thresholds, audit pruning, env validation at doctor startup) PR #1523 closed and absorbed (@garrytan-agents original extract.ts fix preserved via co-author trailer; 5 test cases moved to test/core/retry.test.ts with assertions adjusted for the v0.41.19.0 BULK_RETRY_OPTS defaults). Co-Authored-By: garrytan-agents <noreply@anthropic.com> Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 <noreply@anthropic.com>

@garrytan-agents

Engine-level retry primitive that closes the v0.41.17 production incident where ~3,000 wiki links + timeline entries were silently lost per dream cycle on a 16K-page brain. Supavisor's circuit-breaker takes 5-10s to recover; the prior single-500ms-retry shape couldn't survive it. ARCHITECTURE ============ Retry becomes a data-primitive contract, not a caller responsibility. postgres-engine.ts + pglite-engine.ts now self-retry inside addLinksBatch, addTimelineEntriesBatch, and upsertChunks. Every caller — current AND future — inherits retry-for-free. CI lint guard `scripts/check-no-double-retry.sh` fails the build if anyone re-wraps an engine batch method (preventing 3×3=9 retry amplification on incomplete reverts). CODEX-HARDENED DEFAULTS ======================= BULK_RETRY_OPTS = {maxRetries:3, delayMs:1000, delayMaxMs:10000, jitter:'decorrelated'}. Total worst-case wait ≈12s covers full Supavisor recovery window. Decorrelated jitter (AWS-style uniform(base, prevDelay*3) capped at maxDelay) replaces 'full' which allowed near-zero retries that re-hit the still-recovering breaker. AbortSignal threading from MinionWorker.shutdownAbort.signal through engine method opts → withRetry → abortableSleep. SIGTERM aborts sleeping retries instead of blocking deploys for up to delayMaxMs. OBSERVABILITY ============= `~/.gbrain/audit/batch-retry-YYYY-Www.jsonl` records every retry event (success-after-blip AND exhausted-retries). Built on the v0.40.4.0 audit-writer cathedral. Privacy posture: never logs slugs / page IDs / content (mirrors shell-audit.ts). `gbrain doctor` learns `batch_retry_health` check. Reads last 24h (not 7d — codex H-9: avoid permanent noise from one historical blip). Thresholds: ok (zero or <3 same-site), warn (>=3 same-site OR >=5 cross-site), fail (>=20 sustained breaker). Surfaces bad GBRAIN_BULK_* env at startup (codex M-10). Corrupt-JSONL tolerant. 30-day audit pruning hooked into the dream cycle's purge phase (codex H-8 — implements the 'pruning convention' for real). OPERATOR TUNING =============== GBRAIN_BULK_MAX_RETRIES (int >= 0; 0 disables retries for debugging) GBRAIN_BULK_RETRY_BASE_MS (int > 0) GBRAIN_BULK_RETRY_MAX_MS (int >= base) Bad values throw GBrainError with paste-ready fix hints at doctor startup, not at first-retry mid-cycle. VERIFICATION ============ - bun run verify: 28/28 checks green (includes 2 new lint guards: check-no-double-retry, check-batch-audit-site) - bun run test: 11453 pass / 1 pre-existing flake (schema-cli.test.ts — confirmed by running on clean master, NOT introduced by this wave) - bun run test:slow: 40/40 including new test/core/retry-stress.slow.test.ts (100 batches × 30% blip rate × decorrelated jitter, zero row loss) - bunx tsc --noEmit: 0 errors REVIEWS ======= - CEO review (SELECTIVE EXPANSION): 4 cherry-picks proposed, 4 accepted - Eng review (2 passes): 10 findings, 0 critical gaps, architectural pivot from per-site to engine-level wrap - Codex independent review: 23 findings; 10 critical/high absorbed (decorrelated jitter, 12s backoff window, AbortSignal, idempotency proof, backfill unification, typed audit-site enum, doctor expiry thresholds, audit pruning, env validation at doctor startup) PR #1523 closed and absorbed (@garrytan-agents original extract.ts fix preserved via co-author trailer; 5 test cases moved to test/core/retry.test.ts with assertions adjusted for the v0.41.19.0 BULK_RETRY_OPTS defaults). Co-authored-by: garrytan-agents <noreply@anthropic.com>

garrytan closed this May 27, 2026

garrytan mentioned this pull request May 27, 2026

v0.41.19.0 feat: Supavisor Retry Cathedral (engine-level retry primitive) #1537

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fix(extract): exponential backoff for batch-flush retries on pooler circuit-breaker#1523

fix(extract): exponential backoff for batch-flush retries on pooler circuit-breaker#1523
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garrytan-agents commented May 27, 2026

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garrytan-agents commented May 27, 2026

Problem

What We Tried

Solution

withRetry changes (src/commands/extract.ts)

Extract batch-flush config

Back-compatibility

Testing

Files Changed

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garrytan commented May 27, 2026

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`withRetry` changes (`src/commands/extract.ts`)