fix(browser): cap managed tab count to prevent renderer buildup by pandego · Pull Request #29724 · openclaw/openclaw

pandego · 2026-02-28T11:50:12Z

Summary

Prevent unbounded renderer growth in the managed openclaw browser profile by enforcing a page-tab cap whenever a new tab is opened.

Root cause

Browser tool usage often opens new tabs (/tabs/open) but there was no automatic cleanup path for stale managed tabs. Over time this leaves many renderer processes alive and memory usage grows without bound.

Changes

Added a managed-profile tab cap (MAX_MANAGED_BROWSER_PAGE_TABS = 8) in server-context.
After successful tab creation, close oldest excess page tabs (best-effort), while keeping the newly opened tab.
Scoped cleanup to driver: "openclaw" profile only (no auto-closing user tabs in Chrome extension relay profile).
Added a regression test to verify excess managed tabs are closed after opening a new tab.

Validation

pnpm vitest src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts
pnpm check
pnpm check:docs
pnpm protocol:check

Fixes #29685

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src/browser/server-context.ts

greptile-apps · 2026-02-28T11:54:37Z

Greptile Summary

This PR successfully addresses unbounded renderer growth by implementing a tab cap (MAX_MANAGED_BROWSER_PAGE_TABS = 8) for the managed openclaw browser profile. The implementation adds an enforceManagedTabLimit function that runs after each tab creation, closing excess tabs while preserving the newly opened one. The solution is scoped appropriately to managed profiles only, uses best-effort cleanup (errors are caught and ignored), and includes a regression test that verifies the cap enforcement.

Confidence Score: 5/5

This PR is safe to merge with minimal risk
The implementation is straightforward, well-tested, and uses defensive programming practices (best-effort cleanup with error handling). The changes are isolated to managed browser profiles, preventing any impact on user-controlled Chrome extension profiles. The test coverage validates the core functionality.
No files require special attention

_{Last reviewed commit: 51587f7}

pandego · 2026-03-01T12:11:22Z

Quick status ping on this PR.

The scope remains unchanged: cap managed browser tab count to prevent renderer buildup, while keeping the behavior isolated to the managed profile path.

If maintainers want any update now (rebase, extra validation, or adjustments), I can do it.

pandego · 2026-03-01T12:15:18Z

Addressed the unresolved review note about cleanup failures making openTab fail.

What changed in 16423d0:

made managed-tab cap enforcement non-fatal when tab listing fails (/json/list errors/timeouts now keep cleanup best-effort)
added a regression test that verifies openTab still succeeds when the cleanup list step fails

Validation run:

corepack pnpm vitest run src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts

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src/browser/server-context.ts

pandego · 2026-03-01T12:42:05Z

Addressed both remaining unresolved review threads in 2f2fd51.

Changes:

restricted managed-tab cap cleanup to local managed profiles only (driver === "openclaw" && cdpIsLoopback), so remote/shared CDP profiles are not affected
made tab-close cleanup non-blocking for openTab latency (/json/close/* calls are detached best-effort)

Also kept prior fix in place:

/json/list failure during cleanup no longer fails openTab

Added coverage:

remote openclaw profile does not run managed tab-cap cleanup
openTab does not block on slow/never-resolving best-effort close calls

Validation run:

corepack pnpm vitest run src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts

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src/browser/server-context.ts

pandego · 2026-03-01T12:55:43Z

Nice catch again. I agree and fixed this in 28c60e7.

What changed:

tab-cap cleanup now skips attach-only mode as well
condition is now: managed local profile and not attach-only

Why:

attach-only can target an already-running user/shared browser, so cleanup must not close unrelated tabs there

Added regression test:

verifies no /json/close/* calls are made when attachOnly=true

Validation:

corepack pnpm vitest run src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts

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src/browser/server-context.ts

pandego · 2026-03-01T13:15:13Z

Good point, I agree. I fixed this in 3091175.

What changed:

tab-cap cleanup now requires managed runtime ownership (profileState.running) in addition to local managed profile checks
this prevents cleanup from running when OpenClaw is attached to an already-running loopback browser that it does not own

Added test updates:

cleanup-positive tests now mark the profile as managed/running
ownership-negative paths remain covered by attach-only and remote-profile guards

Validation:

corepack pnpm vitest run src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts

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src/browser/server-context.ts

pandego · 2026-03-01T13:53:17Z

Agreed, this was still on the return path. Fixed in eaba23d.

What changed:

openTab no longer awaits managed-tab cap work
cleanup now runs in detached best-effort mode via triggerManagedTabLimit
this removes /json/list latency from the tab-open return path

I also adjusted tests to assert cleanup behavior asynchronously.

Validation:

corepack pnpm vitest run src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts

@pandego

…(thanks @pandego)

steipete · 2026-03-02T13:55:20Z

Landed via temp rebase onto main.

Gate:
- pnpm check (fails on pre-existing TS errors in src/process/exec.windows.test.ts and src/slack/monitor/events/messages.ts)
- pnpm test -- src/browser/server-context.remote-tab-ops.test.ts src/browser/server-context.ensure-browser-available.waits-for-cdp-ready.test.ts
Land commit: 24022f6
Merge commit: 1184d39

Thanks @pandego!

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chatgpt-codex-connector · 2026-03-02T14:00:54Z

src/browser/server-context.ts

+    if (
+      profile.driver !== "openclaw" ||
+      !profile.cdpIsLoopback ||
+      state().resolved.attachOnly ||


Gate managed-tab cleanup by profile attachOnly setting

The cleanup guard uses state().resolved.attachOnly (global) instead of profile.attachOnly (per-profile), so attach-only overrides are ignored in this path. That creates inconsistent behavior with ensureBrowserAvailable (which already respects profile.attachOnly): in a mixed config like global attachOnly: true plus profiles.openclaw.attachOnly: false, OpenClaw can launch/manage the profile but tab-cap cleanup is silently disabled, and the inverse override can incorrectly permit cleanup for attach-only profiles. The guard should key off the resolved profile flag.

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pandego and others added 7 commits March 2, 2026 13:53

fix(browser): cap managed profile tabs to prevent renderer buildup

7a70ee7

fix(browser): keep tab-cap cleanup best-effort on list errors

5ca182f

fix(browser): scope tab cap to local profile and detach cleanup closes

29171bb

fix(browser): skip tab cap cleanup for attach-only profiles

b973fb3

fix(browser): require managed runtime ownership for tab cap cleanup

ea8bee6

fix(browser): detach tab-cap listing from openTab return path

2ecfc0d

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

24022f6

…(thanks @pandego)

steipete force-pushed the fix/29685-browser-tab-cap branch from eaba23d to 24022f6 Compare March 2, 2026 13:55

steipete merged commit 1184d39 into openclaw:main Mar 2, 2026

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openclaw-barnacle bot added size: L trusted-contributor labels Mar 2, 2026

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github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Mar 2, 2026

📡 Upstream Digest — 2026-03-02 14:38 UTC curtismercier/openclaw-mods#163

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hanqizheng pushed a commit to hanqizheng/openclaw that referenced this pull request Mar 2, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

a98416d

…(thanks @pandego)

obviyus pushed a commit that referenced this pull request Mar 2, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (#29724) (thanks @…

b8c63c5

…pandego)

Linux2010 pushed a commit to Linux2010/openclaw that referenced this pull request Mar 2, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

784ba2d

…(thanks @pandego)

execute008 pushed a commit to execute008/openclaw that referenced this pull request Mar 2, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

33bb43e

…(thanks @pandego)

dawi369 pushed a commit to dawi369/davis that referenced this pull request Mar 3, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

5c74f98

…(thanks @pandego)

OWALabuy pushed a commit to kcinzgg/openclaw that referenced this pull request Mar 4, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

7729792

…(thanks @pandego)

zooqueen pushed a commit to hanzoai/bot that referenced this pull request Mar 6, 2026

fix: extend managed-tab cap regressions + changelog (openclaw#29724) …

1c01e70

…(thanks @pandego)

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pandego commented Feb 28, 2026

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Confidence Score: 5/5

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