@genroc/eval-node 0.0.0-edge.51cbf37 → 0.0.0-edge.51f2744b

package/dist/realm.js

@@ -1,81 +1,45 @@
-// The evaluation realm. One Worker per execution: a fresh global object per script, and a
-// thread the host can kill mid-loop — the only thing that bounds a synchronous busy loop.
-// eval.ts owns the budget and does the killing; nothing here knows about time.
-//
-// Everything that touches the script's VALUE lives on this side of the boundary — compiling,
-// classifying, serialising — because this is the only realm the value exists in.
-import { createRequire } from "node:module";
+// The evaluation realm: one Worker per execution, killable mid-loop by eval.ts, which owns the
+// budget. Everything touching the script's VALUE lives here, the only realm it exists in.
+var __rewriteRelativeImportExtension = (this && this.__rewriteRelativeImportExtension) || function (path, preserveJsx) {
+    if (typeof path === "string" && /^\.\.?\//.test(path)) {
+        return path.replace(/\.(tsx)$|((?:\.d)?)((?:\.[^./]+?)?)\.([cm]?)ts$/i, function (m, tsx, d, ext, cm) {
+            return tsx ? preserveJsx ? ".jsx" : ".js" : d && (!ext || !cm) ? m : (d + ext + "." + cm.toLowerCase() + "js");
+        });
+    }
+    return path;
+};
+import { registerHooks } from "node:module";
 import { parentPort } from "node:worker_threads";
-const AsyncFunction = async function () { }.constructor;
-const STRICT = '"use strict";\n';
-// Bundled `node:*` imports survive as `require` calls — the importer externalises builtins and
-// inlines everything else — and a function built by the AsyncFunction constructor has no
-// `require` in scope. Passing one in is what makes an import of a builtin work at runtime rather than at
-// typecheck only. Resolution is anchored here, which is right: only builtins reach it.
-const scriptRequire = createRequire(import.meta.url);
+// IMPORTED under our own URL rather than compiled from a string, so frames carry the author's
+// line numbers and builtin imports resolve normally.
+const SCRIPT_URL = "script:main";
 const STACK_BYTES = 2_048;
-/**
- * Line offset the AsyncFunction preamble adds, measured rather than assumed: the generated
- * wrapper's shape is engine-specific, and a hardcoded number silently misreports every
- * script's error location the day it changes.
- */
-const lineOffset = (async () => {
-    // Same parameter list as a real compile: the preamble is what is being measured.
-    const probe = new AsyncFunction("input", "require", STRICT + "throw new Error('probe');");
-    try {
-        await probe();
-        return 0;
-    }
-    catch (err) {
-        return reportedLine(err) - 1;
-    }
-})();
-// V8 marks a frame compiled by the AsyncFunction constructor with the site that CALLED the
-// constructor, then the script's OWN position:
-//   at inner (eval at run (file:///…/worker.ts:107:10), <anonymous>:6:9)
-// `eval at` is therefore what separates script frames from runner plumbing — matched without
-// the function name, which is whatever encloses the `new AsyncFunction` below. The LAST such
-// frame is the body's top level: frames interleave, since a script can throw inside a native
-// callback.
-const SCRIPT_FRAME = /\(eval at /;
-// The trailing `<anonymous>:LINE:COL` — the script's position, after the host file's own.
-const POSITION = /<anonymous>:(\d+):(\d+)\)?\s*$/;
-// `    at name (` — absent on the top-level frame, which V8 names `eval`.
-const FRAME_NAME = /^\s*at\s+(?:async\s+)?([^\s(]+)\s*\(/;
-/** Line number of the throw as the engine reported it, or 1 if the stack is unreadable. */
-function reportedLine(err) {
-    const stack = err instanceof Error && typeof err.stack === "string" ? err.stack : "";
-    const frame = stack.split("\n").find((l) => SCRIPT_FRAME.test(l)) ?? "";
-    const m = frame.match(POSITION);
-    return m ? Number(m[1]) : 1;
-}
-/** Renumbers each script frame to the line the AUTHOR wrote and drops the runner's own.
- *  Rewriting the whole location is also what keeps the runner's path out of a script's
- *  stack — V8 puts it inside every compiled frame. */
-function scriptStack(err, offset) {
+// The only channel a load hook has to the source. Written per request and read once — a realm
+// evaluates one script and is then discarded, so no second execution can observe it.
+let source = "";
+registerHooks({
+    resolve: (specifier, context, next) => specifier === SCRIPT_URL ? { url: SCRIPT_URL, shortCircuit: true } : next(specifier, context),
+    load: (url, context, next) => url === SCRIPT_URL ? { format: "module", source, shortCircuit: true } : next(url, context),
+});
+/** Keeps the frames that are the script's own. Everything below the last of them is runner
+ *  plumbing the author cannot act on, and V8 puts this file's path in it. */
+function scriptStack(err) {
     if (!(err instanceof Error) || typeof err.stack !== "string")
         return undefined;
     const lines = err.stack.split("\n");
-    let boundary = -1;
+    let last = 0;
     for (let i = 0; i < lines.length; i++)
-        if (SCRIPT_FRAME.test(lines[i]))
-            boundary = i;
-    const frames = (boundary >= 0 ? lines.slice(0, boundary + 1) : lines.slice(0, 1))
-        .map((line) => {
-        const pos = line.match(POSITION);
-        if (!pos)
-            return line; // the `Error: message` header and native frames, kept as-is
-        const name = line.match(FRAME_NAME)?.[1];
-        const at = name && name !== "eval" && name !== "anonymous" ? `at ${name} ` : "at ";
-        const indent = line.match(/^\s*/)[0];
-        return `${indent}${at}(script:${Math.max(1, Number(pos[1]) - offset)}:${pos[2]})`;
-    })
-        .join("\n");
-    return frames.length > STACK_BYTES ? frames.slice(0, STACK_BYTES) : frames;
+        if (lines[i].includes(SCRIPT_URL))
+            last = i;
+    const stack = lines.slice(0, last + 1).join("\n");
+    return stack.length > STACK_BYTES ? stack.slice(0, STACK_BYTES) : stack;
 }
-function describe(err, kind, offset) {
+function describe(err, kind) {
     if (err instanceof Error) {
-        return { kind, name: err.name, message: err.message, stack: scriptStack(err, offset) };
+        // A subclass inherits `name` from Error.prototype, so `class LimitExceeded extends Error {}`
+        // would report "Error"; a name the script set still wins.
+        const name = err.name === "Error" && err.constructor.name ? err.constructor.name : err.name;
+        return { kind, name, message: err.message, stack: scriptStack(err) };
     }
     // A script may throw a non-Error (`throw {code: "x"}`), so name/message must not assume one.
     return { kind, name: "Thrown", message: safeText(err) };
@@ -88,23 +52,38 @@ function safeText(v) {
         return String(v);
     }
 }
+/** Unparseable code or an unresolvable import is broken code; anything else the import throws is
+ *  the module's top level running, i.e. the script throwing. */
+function unloadable(err) {
+    const code = err?.code;
+    return err instanceof SyntaxError || (typeof code === "string" && code.startsWith("ERR_MODULE"));
+}
 async function run(req) {
-    const offset = await lineOffset;
-    let fn;
+    source = req.code;
+    let main;
     try {
-        // No compile cache: the realm is discarded after this execution, so a cache in it could
-        // never be hit. Repeated compilation is the price of the fresh global object.
-        fn = new AsyncFunction("input", "require", STRICT + req.code);
+        main = (await import(__rewriteRelativeImportExtension(SCRIPT_URL))).default;
     }
     catch (err) {
-        return { ok: false, failure: describe(err, "compile_error", offset) };
+        return { ok: false, failure: describe(err, unloadable(err) ? "compile_error" : "threw") };
+    }
+    if (typeof main !== "function") {
+        const got = main === undefined ? "no default export" : `a ${typeof main}`;
+        return {
+            ok: false,
+            failure: {
+                kind: "compile_error",
+                name: "NoDefaultExport",
+                message: `a script must export default a function; this one has ${got}`,
+            },
+        };
     }
     let value;
     try {
-        value = await fn(req.input, scriptRequire);
+        value = await main(req.input);
     }
     catch (err) {
-        return { ok: false, failure: describe(err, "threw", offset) };
+        return { ok: false, failure: describe(err, "threw") };
     }
     try {
         // undefined stringifies to undefined, not "undefined"; an empty body is how genroc
@@ -112,11 +91,18 @@ async function run(req) {
         return { ok: true, body: value === undefined ? "" : JSON.stringify(value) ?? "" };
     }
     catch (err) {
-        return { ok: false, failure: describe(err, "nonserializable", offset) };
+        return { ok: false, failure: describe(err, "nonserializable") };
     }
 }
+// eval.ts terminates this thread the moment the reply lands, while stdio may still be in the
+// pipe. An empty write's callback fires once the queue drains, making the reply a barrier.
+function flush(stream) {
+    return new Promise((resolve) => stream.write("", () => resolve()));
+}
 // Non-null because this module only ever runs as a worker entry point; a null port here
 // would mean eval.ts loaded it as a plain module, which nothing does.
 parentPort.on("message", async (req) => {
-    parentPort.postMessage(await run(req));
+    const reply = await run(req);
+    await Promise.all([flush(process.stdout), flush(process.stderr)]);
+    parentPort.postMessage(reply);
 });

package/dist/worker.js

@@ -1,50 +1,44 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
-// The queue worker: claims parked `external` script tasks from genroc, evaluates each in its
-// own realm, and answers. This is the whole genroc-facing half — eval.ts and realm.ts know
-// nothing about the queue, which is what keeps the containment strategy swappable.
-//
-// See README.md for the contract, and specs/external-task-queue.md for the queue itself.
+// The queue worker: claims parked `external` script tasks, evaluates each in its own realm, and
+// answers. The only genroc-facing half (README.md; specs/external-task-queue.md).
 import { readFileSync } from "node:fs";
-import { evaluate } from "./eval.js";
+import { Cancelled, evaluate } from "./eval.js";
 const SERVER = (process.env.GENROC_SERVER ?? "http://localhost:8448").replace(/\/$/, "");
 const WORKER_ID = process.env.WORKER_ID ?? `evaluator-${process.pid}`;
-// The credential, when the server runs with --auth token. A worker needs exactly the `worker`
-// permission — the four queue verbs plus GET /api/objects — so mint it scoped rather than
-// handing a worker an admin token: this is the credential most likely to sit on a machine you
-// trust least. specs/api-auth.md §5.
-//
-// Sent as a header rather than in the URL because Node's fetch REFUSES a URL carrying
-// credentials ("Request cannot be constructed from a URL that includes credentials"), so the
-// basic-auth-in-the-URL trick that works for genctl is not available here.
-// GENROC_TOKEN_FILE is the mounted-secret shape: a credential in a file rather than an
-// environment variable, so it stays out of `docker inspect` and out of the process environment
-// any child inherits. The inline variable wins when both are set.
+// Needs only the `worker` permission (specs/api-auth.md §5): this credential sits on the machine
+// you trust least. A header, because Node's fetch refuses credentials in a URL. The file form
+// keeps it out of `docker inspect` and child environments; the inline variable wins.
 const TOKEN = process.env.GENROC_TOKEN ??
     (process.env.GENROC_TOKEN_FILE ? readFileSync(process.env.GENROC_TOKEN_FILE, "utf8").trim() : "");
 const authHeaders = TOKEN ? { authorization: `Bearer ${TOKEN}` } : {};
-// Concurrency is the worker's to set, and that is the point of pulling: under the old fetch
-// shape genroc decided how many scripts ran at once (--max-concurrent, default 200) and the
-// evaluator accepted every one of them. Here it claims what it can run and no more, so a
-// backlog is a queue rather than 200 threads fighting over a core.
+// The worker claims only what it can run, so a backlog is a queue rather than threads fighting
+// over a core.
 const CONCURRENCY = Number(process.env.CONCURRENCY ?? 4);
 const POLL_MS = Number(process.env.POLL_MS ?? 250);
 // The visibility timeout. Short, and renewed while work is in flight: a worker that dies
 // should return its task quickly rather than holding it for the whole budget.
 const LEASE_MS = Number(process.env.LEASE_MS ?? 30_000);
 const RENEW_MS = Math.max(1_000, Math.floor(LEASE_MS / 3));
-const PROCESS_FILTER = process.env.PROCESS ?? "";
-const TASK_FILTER = process.env.TASK ?? "";
-// Values too large to ship inline are listed rather than carried, and a bundle is exactly that:
-// one object shared by every instance of a definition version, fetched once instead of copied
-// into each task. A ref is a content hash, so it is immutable — the cache never invalidates.
+// The answer has to land before the task's deadline fires, or a script that overran surfaces as
+// external.timeout ("nobody answered") rather than as its own `timeout`.
+const ANSWER_MARGIN_MS = 250;
+// script-node's names; a renamed copy sets PROCESS. The claim requires both: this worker answers
+// one task's contract, so it must never be handed another's.
+const PROCESS_FILTER = process.env.PROCESS ?? "script-node";
+const TASK_FILTER = process.env.TASK ?? "eval_node";
+if (!PROCESS_FILTER || !TASK_FILTER) {
+    console.error("PROCESS and TASK must both name the queue this worker serves; neither may be empty.");
+    process.exit(1);
+}
+// Large values arrive as refs; a bundle is one object per definition version, fetched once.
+// Refs are content hashes, so the cache never invalidates.
 const objectCache = new Map();
 async function fetchObject(ref) {
     const cached = objectCache.get(ref);
     if (cached !== undefined)
         return cached;
-    // Left to throw on purpose: this runs while a task is IN FLIGHT, and a task whose input
-    // cannot be fetched must fail rather than silently run against a missing value. The caller
-    // releases the claim, so the task returns to the queue.
+    // Left to throw: a task whose input cannot be fetched must not run against a missing value.
+    // The caller releases the claim.
     const res = await fetch(`${SERVER}/api/objects/${encodeURIComponent(ref)}`, { headers: authHeaders });
     if (!res.ok)
         throw new Error(`fetch object ${ref}: HTTP ${res.status}`);
@@ -62,15 +56,15 @@ async function fetchObject(ref) {
 /** Put each listed value back where its path says it belongs. Paths are arrays of keys, so this
  *  needs no parser: the whole reason they are not JSON Pointer strings. */
 async function resolveObjects(job) {
-    let input = job.input;
+    let input = job.external_input;
     for (const e of job.objects ?? []) {
         const value = await fetchObject(e.ref);
         if (e.path.length === 0) {
             input = value;
             continue;
         }
-        // The path is rooted at the entry and starts with "input", which is the value being rebuilt.
-        const rest = e.path[0] === "input" ? e.path.slice(1) : e.path;
+        // The path is rooted at the entry and starts with "external_input", the value being rebuilt.
+        const rest = e.path[0] === "external_input" ? e.path.slice(1) : e.path;
         if (rest.length === 0) {
             input = value;
             continue;
@@ -84,10 +78,8 @@ async function resolveObjects(job) {
     return input;
 }
 async function call(path, body) {
-    // A network error is a REPLY, not a throw. A worker outlives the server it polls — a
-    // restart, a rolling deploy, a container coming up before genroc is listening — and an
-    // unhandled rejection here kills it for a condition the next poll would clear. Status 0
-    // says "never reached the server", which is distinct from anything genroc answers.
+    // A network error is a REPLY (status 0, "never reached the server"), not a throw: a worker
+    // outlives restarts and deploys, and an unhandled rejection would kill it.
     let res;
     try {
         res = await fetch(SERVER + path, {
@@ -109,49 +101,39 @@ async function call(path, body) {
     }
     return { ok: res.ok, status: res.status, data };
 }
-/** The task input IS an EvalRequest: `code` required, `input` and `timeout_ms` optional. A task
- *  whose input is not that shape is the definition's fault, not the script's, and is reported
- *  as a compile_error — the nearest permanent kind, since no retry can fix the definition. */
-function asEvalRequest(input) {
+/** A task input that is not an EvalRequest is the definition's fault, reported as compile_error:
+ *  the nearest permanent kind, since no retry fixes the definition. */
+function asEvalRequest(input, timeoutMs) {
     if (typeof input !== "object" || input === null)
         return "the task input is not an object";
     const r = input;
     if (typeof r.code !== "string")
         return "the task input has no `code` string";
-    return {
-        code: r.code,
-        input: r.input,
-        timeout_ms: typeof r.timeout_ms === "number" ? r.timeout_ms : undefined,
-    };
+    return { code: r.code, input: r.input, timeout_ms: timeoutMs };
 }
 const inFlight = new Map();
 let running = true;
-// Whether the last claim reached genroc. A worker polls several times a second, so an
-// unreachable server would otherwise emit a line per poll — thousands during a restart, which
-// buries the one line that mattered. Announce the TRANSITIONS instead: going away, and coming
-// back. Silence in between is the report that nothing changed.
+// Announce reachability TRANSITIONS only: polling several times a second would otherwise emit
+// thousands of lines during a restart.
 let serverReachable = true;
 async function claim(n) {
     const { ok, status, data } = await call("/api/external-tasks/claim", {
         worker_id: WORKER_ID,
         limit: n,
         lease_ms: LEASE_MS,
-        ...(PROCESS_FILTER ? { process: PROCESS_FILTER } : {}),
-        ...(TASK_FILTER ? { task: TASK_FILTER } : {}),
+        process: PROCESS_FILTER,
+        task: TASK_FILTER,
     });
     if (!ok) {
-        // A credential problem is not transient, and polling through it looks like a healthy
-        // worker that never picks anything up — the worst shape for an operator to debug. Exit
-        // instead, so a supervisor restarts it and the failure is visible where it happened.
+        // A credential problem is not transient, and polling through it looks like a healthy idle
+        // worker. Exit, so a supervisor restarts it visibly.
         if (status === 401 || status === 403) {
             console.error(`claim rejected (${status}): ${JSON.stringify(data)}\n` +
                 `The server requires authentication. Set GENROC_TOKEN to a token with the 'worker' ` +
                 `permission — mint one with: genctl token create --perms worker --label evaluator -q`);
             process.exit(1);
         }
-        // status 0 is "never reached the server" (see call): a restart, a rolling deploy, a
-        // network blip. Not an error to act on — the next poll clears it — so it is reported once
-        // and then waited out.
+        // status 0 (see call): a restart or blip the next poll clears, so it is reported once.
         if (status === 0) {
             if (serverReachable) {
                 serverReachable = false;
@@ -174,10 +156,8 @@ async function release(token) {
     if (!ok)
         console.error(`release failed: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`);
 }
-/** answer submits the outcome. A refusal is NOT retried with a different one: the definition
- *  declared a contract this worker does not satisfy (an undeclared code, a payload that does
- *  not fit `raises`), and guessing again would only pick a second wrong answer. Release it, so
- *  the task returns to the queue and an operator sees it waiting rather than silently gone. */
+/** A refused outcome is not retried with another: the worker does not satisfy the declared
+ *  contract. Released, so an operator sees the task waiting rather than gone. */
 async function answer(token, outcome) {
     const { ok, data } = await call("/api/external-tasks/resolve", { token, ...outcome });
     if (ok)
@@ -185,7 +165,10 @@ async function answer(token, outcome) {
     console.error(`genroc refused the outcome for ${token}: ${JSON.stringify(data)}`);
     await release(token);
 }
-async function run(job) {
+async function run(job, signal) {
+    // The task's own timeout is the script's budget, moved onto the monotonic clock so a wall-clock
+    // step mid-run cannot stretch it. Fetching the objects below spends the same deadline.
+    const due = job.deadline === undefined ? undefined : performance.now() + (Date.parse(job.deadline) - Date.now());
     let resolved;
     try {
         resolved = await resolveObjects(job);
@@ -197,7 +180,16 @@ async function run(job) {
         await release(job.token);
         return;
     }
-    const req = asEvalRequest(resolved);
+    let timeoutMs;
+    if (due !== undefined) {
+        timeoutMs = Math.floor(due - performance.now() - ANSWER_MARGIN_MS);
+        if (timeoutMs <= 0) {
+            // Too late to run anything: the deadline fires as external.timeout, which is the truth.
+            await release(job.token);
+            return;
+        }
+    }
+    const req = asEvalRequest(resolved, timeoutMs);
     if (typeof req === "string") {
         await answer(job.token, {
             error: { code: "compile_error", message: req, data: { name: "BadTaskInput" } },
@@ -206,13 +198,18 @@ async function run(job) {
     }
     let result;
     try {
-        result = await evaluate(req);
+        result = await evaluate(req, signal);
     }
     catch (err) {
-        // The RUNNER faulted, not the script — the one class where a retry can help. There is no
-        // error code for it on purpose: releasing the claim is how a queue spells "retryable", and
-        // it puts the task in front of a different worker instead of burning the definition's
-        // on_error budget on this one's bad day.
+        // Cancelled is not a fault. Still released: the row is terminal so nothing re-claims it,
+        // but the release stops it waiting out a lease nobody serves.
+        if (err instanceof Cancelled) {
+            console.log(`cancelled: ${job.token}`);
+            await release(job.token);
+            return;
+        }
+        // The RUNNER faulted, the one retryable class. Releasing is how a queue spells "retryable",
+        // and it reaches another worker without spending the definition's on_error budget.
         console.error(`evaluator fault on ${job.token}: ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}`);
         await release(job.token);
         return;
@@ -245,11 +242,18 @@ async function renewLoop() {
             tokens,
             lease_ms: LEASE_MS,
         });
-        // A short count means a claim lapsed and was taken over. Nothing to do about it — the work
-        // continues and its answer will be refused — but say so, because it is the signal that
-        // LEASE_MS is too short for what these scripts actually take.
-        if (ok && data?.renewed < tokens.length) {
-            console.error(`renewed ${data.renewed}/${tokens.length} claims; a lease lapsed under load`);
+        if (!ok)
+            continue;
+        // Abort first rather than let a stopped script burn a core; the release rides run()'s
+        // catch, so nothing is released twice.
+        for (const token of (data?.cancelled ?? [])) {
+            inFlight.get(token)?.abort.abort();
+        }
+        // Lost: another worker holds it now and our answer will be refused; logged as the sign that
+        // LEASE_MS is too short. NOT released: that would bump the epoch out from under the holder.
+        const lost = (data?.lost ?? []);
+        if (lost.length) {
+            console.error(`lost ${lost.length}/${tokens.length} claims; a lease lapsed under load`);
         }
     }
 }
@@ -258,8 +262,9 @@ async function pollLoop() {
         const free = CONCURRENCY - inFlight.size;
         const jobs = free > 0 ? await claim(free) : [];
         for (const job of jobs) {
-            inFlight.set(job.token, job);
-            void run(job).finally(() => inFlight.delete(job.token));
+            const abort = new AbortController();
+            inFlight.set(job.token, { job, abort });
+            void run(job, abort.signal).finally(() => inFlight.delete(job.token));
         }
         // Only idle when there was nothing to take: a full queue should be drained at the speed the
         // realms allow, not at the poll interval.

package/eval.ts

@@ -1,22 +1,18 @@
-// Evaluation core: run a code string in its OWN realm and classify every outcome into one of
-// the failure kinds in README.md. Nothing here knows about genroc — worker.ts is the only
-// thing that talks to the queue — so this stays testable and the containment stays swappable.
-//
-// The containment is a Worker per execution (realm.ts). It is what makes the budget real:
-// a synchronous busy loop never yields, so no in-process timer can interrupt it, and only a
-// thread the host can kill bounds it.
+// Imports a script module in its own realm (a Worker per execution, realm.ts), calls its default
+// export, and classifies every outcome (README.md). Only a killable thread bounds a synchronous
+// busy loop, which is what makes the budget real. Knows nothing of genroc; worker.ts does.
 
 import { Worker } from "node:worker_threads";
 
 export type EvalRequest = {
+  /** An ES module whose default export is the function to run; `input` is its argument. */
   code: string;
   input?: unknown;
   timeout_ms?: number;
 };
 
-/** Every kind here is PERMANENT: a retry re-runs the same code on the same input and fails
- *  identically. The retryable class has no kind because it is not an outcome — a runner that
- *  faults releases its claim and lets another worker take the task. */
+/** Every kind is PERMANENT: a retry fails identically. A faulting runner is not an outcome; it
+ *  releases its claim. */
 export type FailureKind = "compile_error" | "threw" | "timeout" | "nonserializable" | "exited";
 
 export type EvalFailure = {
@@ -26,9 +22,8 @@ export type EvalFailure = {
   stack?: string;
 };
 
-/** `body` is JSON TEXT, not a value: serialising in the realm is what makes a nonserializable
- *  return a script fault rather than a 500 thrown out of the response path. It is also what
- *  crosses the worker boundary — structured clone would refuse a different set of values. */
+/** JSON TEXT serialised in the realm, so a nonserializable return is a script fault, not a 500,
+ *  and structured clone (which refuses a different set of values) never sees the value. */
 export type EvalResult =
   | { ok: true; body: string }
   | { ok: false; failure: EvalFailure };
@@ -45,9 +40,8 @@ const REALM_URL = new URL(
   import.meta.url,
 );
 
-/** Thrown, not returned: a realm that fails to start is the RUNNER faulting, which worker.ts
- *  answers by releasing the claim rather than by reporting an outcome. A script fault is a
- *  return value. */
+/** Thrown, not returned: a realm that fails to start is the runner faulting, which worker.ts
+ *  answers by releasing the claim. */
 class RealmFault extends Error {
   constructor(message: string) {
     super(message);
@@ -55,24 +49,41 @@ class RealmFault extends Error {
   }
 }
 
-export async function evaluate(req: EvalRequest): Promise<EvalResult> {
+/** Thrown when `signal` aborts: the answer is no longer wanted, so worker.ts releases rather
+ *  than answers. Not a RealmFault: nothing is wrong. */
+export class Cancelled extends Error {
+  constructor() {
+    super("cancelled");
+    this.name = "Cancelled";
+  }
+}
+
+export async function evaluate(req: EvalRequest, signal?: AbortSignal): Promise<EvalResult> {
   const budget = typeof req.timeout_ms === "number" ? req.timeout_ms : DEFAULT_TIMEOUT_MS;
 
   const worker = new Worker(REALM_URL);
   let timer: ReturnType<typeof setTimeout> | undefined;
+  let onAbort: (() => void) | undefined;
   try {
     return await new Promise<EvalResult>((resolve, reject) => {
       timer = setTimeout(() => resolve(timedOut(budget)), budget);
+      // The abort is wired to the same promise as the budget, so both settle through the one
+      // finally below -- which is what guarantees the thread is gone before either returns.
+      if (signal) {
+        if (signal.aborted) reject(new Cancelled());
+        onAbort = () => reject(new Cancelled());
+        signal.addEventListener("abort", onAbort, { once: true });
+      }
       worker.once("message", (reply: WorkerReply) => resolve(reply));
-      // A script may end its own realm (`process.exit()`), which is not a throw and would
-      // otherwise present as a hang until the budget expired. Our own terminate() raises
-      // this too, by which time the promise has settled and the first result stands.
+      // A script may `process.exit()`, which would otherwise look like a hang until the budget.
+      // Our own terminate() fires this too, after the promise has settled.
       worker.once("exit", (code: number) => resolve(exited(code)));
       worker.once("error", (err: Error) => reject(new RealmFault(errorText(err))));
       worker.postMessage({ code: req.code, input: req.input } satisfies WorkerRequest);
     });
   } finally {
     clearTimeout(timer);
+    if (signal && onAbort) signal.removeEventListener("abort", onAbort);
     // Awaited, and the whole point: on the timeout path a thread is still burning a core, and
     // resolving before it is gone would report an evaluation the machine is still running.
     await worker.terminate();