@vzn/vx 0.0.631 → 0.0.633

package/docs/execution.md

@@ -0,0 +1,708 @@
+# Task execution lifecycle
+
+This document traces what happens between `vx run build` typed at the
+terminal and a task succeeding or failing. Read it alongside
+[`architecture.md`](./architecture.md) (module map) and
+[`caching.md`](./caching.md) (cache mechanics).
+
+## End-to-end timeline
+
+```
+ ┌─ CLI dispatch (src/bin.ts → src/cli/index.ts → src/cli/run.ts)
+ │    1. bin.ts spawns; forwards process.argv to cli.run().
+ │    2. cli/index.ts dispatches by subcommand (run / watch / cache /
+ │       lock / init / upgrade / show / info / why / last / docs /
+ │       completions / help / version); any other verb is asked of the
+ │       workspace's plugins (`commands` seam — `vx mcp` is one).
+ │    3. cli/run.ts:parseRunArgs(argv) → RunArgs (validated; resolves
+ │       the 4-axis cache policy from --cache / --no-cache / --force).
+ │    4. cli/run.ts:runCmd resolves the project scope:
+ │         - bare positionals respect --all / --filter / --affected / cwd
+ │         - anchored positionals (pkg#task) target directly
+ │         - no positionals + TTY → interactive picker → pkg#task
+ │    5. The options map to RunOptions and the run executes IN THIS
+ │       PROCESS — always. (A whole-run `backend` seam existed until
+ │       2026-08; it moved the scheduler server-side, which is why it
+ │       went. Per-task placement is the `executor` capability.)
+ │       --dry / --graph short-circuit into planRun instead.
+ │
+ ├─ Prepare (src/orchestrator/prepare.ts:prepareRun — shared with planRun)
+ │    1. findWorkspaceRoot(cwd) — walks up over pnpm-workspace.yaml,
+ │       package.json with a `workspaces` field (npm/yarn/bun), or a
+ │       bare package.json (single-project mode). The nearest one whose
+ │       package globs CLAIM cwd wins, so running from inside a member
+ │       resolves the declaring root, not the member; the first
+ │       directory holding pnpm-workspace.yaml stops the walk whether
+ │       or not its globs claim cwd (pnpm's rule); when nothing claims
+ │       cwd the nearest candidate wins. An UNSCOPED run (no explicit
+ │       project scope, at least one bare task name) then starts
+ │       step 12's git enumeration over the whole tree, overlapping
+ │       steps 2–11; a scoped run waits, since its pathspecs depend on
+ │       which projects the task graph holds.
+ │    2. loadWorkspace — parses the appropriate manifest. Bun.YAML
+ │       for pnpm; the package.json forms read as bytes (readOnce,
+ │       shared with step 1) and JSON.parse.
+ │    3. loadWorkspacePlugins — loadWorkspaceConfig reads the optional
+ │       vx.workspace.{ts,mts,js,mjs,cts,cjs} at the root (concurrency /
+ │       cacheDir / timeout / cacheRetention / affectedBase / cacheScope /
+ │       rules / plugins),
+ │       then the plugin `config` stage runs on it.
+ │    4. listProjects — globs every workspace member's package.json,
+ │       finds sibling vx.config.* files, detects duplicate package
+ │       names (hard error with both paths).
+ │    5. buildPackageGraph — workspace dep edges from package.json.
+ │    6. Local cache open: new Cache(cacheDir, { read, write }, root)
+ │       with the policy's local slice — BEFORE the configs load,
+ │       because it also holds their cached evaluations. Then
+ │       computeWorkspaceFingerprints: one read of every supported
+ │       lockfile + pnpm-workspace.yaml + .yarnrc.yml + .npmrc + bunfig.toml at the root
+ │       yields `all` (every file; keys the config-evaluation cache),
+ │       `unclaimed` (minus the files a `fingerprint` plugin claims —
+ │       `@vzn/vx-lockfile` keys those per project; reused for every
+ │       task's cache key) and `files` (the bytes, for the mid-run
+ │       fingerprint check).
+ │    7. SCOPED config loading — only in-scope projects plus their
+ │       transitive dependency closure evaluate ('^task' frontier
+ │       expansion never escapes the closure); one staged load,
+ │       loadProjects, shared with every reading verb. Under --frozen,
+ │       configs load from vx-lock.json — no evaluation, no staleness
+ │       check of its own (vx lock --check is the audit), frozen-env
+ │       semantics; a missing lock or entry is a hard UserError.
+ │       Otherwise loadProjectConfigs in one batch: native Bun await
+ │       import() with a content-hash query-string bust, cached
+ │       evaluations served for pure configs; the loader validates
+ │       each TaskConfig shape, and the plugin `project` stage runs
+ │       on each config with a re-validation after every plugin.
+ │    8. computeNestedProjectDirs — set of projects rooted inside each
+ │       project, computed over EVERY config-bearing project (loaded
+ │       or not) for boundary enforcement.
+ │    9. expandRequested (see Task selection below).
+ │   10. Cache layer: an injected RunOptions.remoteCache is composed
+ │       with the local cache into a LayeredCache (it wins); else
+ │       resolveCache lets a plugin's `cache` capability wrap or
+ │       replace it; else bare local.
+ │   11. buildTaskGraph (see below).
+ │   12. Bulk git populate — the enumeration step 1 started is
+ │       awaited, or a scoped run starts it here over the projects
+ │       that own a task (not the dependency closure step 7 loaded,
+ │       which a `lint` of one package does not key). THREE spawns at
+ │       the root, concurrent, and the repository's facts asked while
+ │       they run (`ls-files -s -v -z` for the index: every tracked
+ │       path's OID and its cache-state flag;
+ │       `status --porcelain -z -uall` for
+ │       the dirty AND untracked sets, the one worktree walk; `var -l`
+ │       for core.autocrlf and the attributes files git reads outside
+ │       the tree; the facts — prefix, common dir, object format, index
+ │       file — read off a plain `.git` directory, else one
+ │       `rev-parse --show-prefix --git-common-dir --show-object-format
+ │       --git-path index`,
+ │       memoized per process and shared with the file hasher)
+ │       fill the per-project GitFilesCache with file lists + index
+ │       OIDs. `ls-files --others` is NOT among them — status's
+ │       `-uall` already answers untracked, and asking git twice
+ │       walked the same tree again. A fifth, `check-attr`, runs only
+ │       when an attributes file could rewrite bytes. An index the
+ │       cache holds no blob-size verdict for (keyed by the index
+ │       file's hash, A-60) adds `ls-files --debug` for the recorded
+ │       sizes and `cat-file --batch-check` for the blob sizes
+ │       `blob_sizes` lacks: an OID whose blob is not the recorded size
+ │       is not trusted. The run's HashCache is created
+ │       after it.
+ ├─ Task selection (graph/task-graph.ts:expandRequested)
+ │    Bare task names fan out across the resolved candidate projects
+ │    (every project that declares the task). Anchored entries
+ │    (`pkg#task`) resolve directly. Duplicates are deduped.
+ │    Empty result → run returns `{ ok: false, outcomes: [] }` —
+ │    no task is treated as a CI footgun. The exception: a diff-scoped
+ │    run (--affected) whose task names are all declared by projects
+ │    outside the selection is `none-affected` and returns
+ │    `{ ok: true, outcomes: [] }`.
+ │
+ ├─ Task graph (src/graph/task-graph.ts:buildTaskGraph)
+ │    Starting from the resolved {project, task}[] pairs, walk
+ │    dependsOn:
+ │      - 'name'     → same-project task
+ │      - '^name'    → task in the nearest deps declaring it
+ │                     (frontier walk; non-holders passed through)
+ │      - 'pkg#name' → specific package's task
+ │    Detect cycles — throws with the path. After the graph and key
+ │    stages, excluded edges (per --exclude-dependencies[=names]) leave
+ │    the SCHEDULE; each dropped task is still keyed and folded into
+ │    its dependant (orchestrator/excluded-keys.ts).
+ │    Each node carries: id (`${project}#${task}`), projectName,
+ │    projectDir, taskName, config, sorted deps, `requested: boolean`.
+ │    markSurfacedDeps then flags the display-only `surfaced` tasks a
+ │    requested GROUP stands for (transparent folders).
+ │
+ ├─ Plugins + telemetry (src/orchestrator/run.ts)
+ │      1. installPlugins — always called; each plugin's optional
+ │         setup() hook runs; a throw aborts the run with a clean
+ │         UserError naming it. With no plugins it runs nothing.
+ │      2. Run context capture — always, for the `invocations` row:
+ │         commit + branch read from `.git` directly, `git rev-parse`
+ │         only when that reader does not understand the layout; dirty
+ │         reuses the GitFilesCache's status; CI-env detection,
+ │         host/os/arch. Never fails a run.
+ │      3. Telemetry — only when a plugin has a `telemetry` hook or
+ │         RunOptions.telemetrySinks is passed: the run-context record
+ │         (adding captureWorkspaceIdentity) is built and
+ │         subscribeTelemetry collects the sinks; with ZERO sinks it
+ │         returns undefined and NOTHING subscribes (the no-telemetry
+ │         hot path is byte-identical).
+ │
+ ├─ Run-level state
+ │    • runId   — UUIDv7 stamped once per `vx run` invocation; every
+ │                task in the resulting graph carries it.
+ │    • runStartHrTimeNs — hrtime.bigint() anchor; per-task wallclock
+ │                spans are stored relative to it.
+ │    • persistentRegistry — Map<taskId, Subprocess> of long-running
+ │                children.
+ │    • liveChildren — Set<Subprocess> of in-flight children; the
+ │                runner adds/removes each around its spawn.
+ │    • SIGINT/SIGTERM/SIGHUP handlers (removed in a finally): on
+ │                signal, forward it (SIGHUP as SIGTERM) to everything
+ │                in liveChildren + persistentRegistry (and kill any
+ │                running cache.inputs.runtime probe, C-65), wait
+ │                VX_KILL_GRACE_MS (2 s) for their groups, SIGKILL
+ │                what is still there, let the run finish its own
+ │                end (flush, teardown, cache close), then
+ │                die of the signal (SIGINT → 130, SIGTERM → 143,
+ │                SIGHUP → 129), so a shell script running vx stops
+ │                too; a run that handed a task the terminal exits
+ │                with that code instead, so Bun restores it. SIGHUP is registered because a task
+ │                runs in its own session, so a closing terminal
+ │                reaches vx and nothing else. A second signal
+ │                SIGKILLs and exits at once.
+ │
+ ├─ Cache acceleration (before scheduling)
+ │    • REMOTE PREFETCH (a cache layer with a remote only) — derive every
+ │      stable-key cacheable task's key up front (reusing the run's
+ │      hashCache memo) and fire the remote GETs in the background
+ │      under a bounded pool. Not awaited before scheduling (the
+ │      overlap is the point); drained before cache.close(). At most
+ │      one remote GET per key (shared in-flight map with the lazy
+ │      read-through).
+ │    • LOCAL SHORT-CIRCUIT (no remote layer, local reads on, ≥1
+ │      task) — derive the same stable keys and probe them in ONE
+ │      batched cache.getMany (a layer without getMany: cache.get once
+ │      per task under a bounded pool) → a `preProbed` map (hits AND
+ │      stable misses; execute reuses these probes) + a `restoreTier`
+ │      set (confirmed hits). Awaited before scheduling; never throws
+ │      (degrades to the normal schedule).
+ │
+ ├─ Scheduling (src/graph/scheduler.ts:runGraph — two-tier)
+ │    Two ready queues, each on its own lane:
+ │      - EXEC tier — dep-gated; ready when every dep completed; up
+ │        to N (concurrency) at once.
+ │        Priority: transitive-reverse-dependent count (bitset
+ │        closure), optionally overridden by a `priorities` map.
+ │      - RESTORE tier — confirmed stable local hits; ready
+ │        IMMEDIATELY (no dep gate, no failed-dep→skip check — their
+ │        key is dep-independent) at LOW priority, on a restore lane
+ │        of 2×N. The drain rule: exec-tier first; a restore never
+ │        takes an exec slot and the two lanes never wait on each
+ │        other — except at N = 1, where they share the one slot.
+ │    On failure: exec-tier dependents are marked `skipped` (exit 1,
+ │    durationMs 0, no spawn); independent siblings keep running.
+ │    The scheduler doesn't know about caching; the execute callback
+ │    is the seam. (An embedder running concurrent runs in one process
+ │    may pass a shared `inflight` map; admission.ts then dedupes
+ │    identical-key tasks across them. A plain `vx run` passes none.)
+ │
+ ├─ Per-task execution (src/orchestrator/execute-task.ts:executeTask)
+ │    Each task takes one of three paths:
+ │
+ │    A. GROUP — no `exec`.
+ │       Return success with a derived hash rolled up from upstream
+ │       outcomes. No spawn, no I/O. Wallclock = 0.
+ │
+ │    B. PERSISTENT — `exec.persistent` set.
+ │       1. Build isolated env (essentials + passThrough + define +
+ │          <projectDir>/node_modules/.bin, then
+ │          <workspaceRoot>/node_modules/.bin, prepended to PATH).
+ │       2. runPersistent — Bun.spawn the command; subscribe to
+ │          stdout/stderr chunk-by-chunk.
+ │       3. Resolve `ready` when:
+ │            - no readyWhen → immediately on spawn
+ │            - readyWhen matches the output (complete lines OR the
+ │              trailing partial line) → on that match
+ │            - child exits before the match → reject with
+ │              PersistentReadyError('persistent task exited before
+ │              becoming ready (exit N)'); its output already streamed
+ │              through the logger
+ │            - readyWhen set and the timeout (exec.timeout, else the
+ │              run default) elapses first → fail, SIGTERM, SIGKILL
+ │              after the grace
+ │       4. On ready: stash child in persistentRegistry; return
+ │          success. Downstream tasks unblock.
+ │       Note: cache + persistent is a config error (rejected by the
+ │       project loader). Persistent tasks never write to cache.
+ │
+ │    C. NORMAL — `exec.command` only.
+ │       1. resolveInputs(files, env, runtime)
+ │            - glob inputs.files (git-backed, declared-outputs-
+ │              excluded, nested-projects-excluded)
+ │            - glob inputs.workspaceFiles from the WORKSPACE ROOT
+ │              (git-aware, NO boundary rule — the documented escape
+ │              hatch); resolved paths join the same input list
+ │            - read host process.env values for inputs.env names
+ │            - resolve inputs.runtime / workspaceRuntime command
+ │              output (deduped per run; a non-zero exit throws a
+ │              UserError that fails this task — its dependents skip,
+ │              independent tasks continue)
+ │       2. hashTaskConfig + project package.json hash (both memoized
+ │          per run via HashCache)
+ │       3. filterUpstreamHashes (apply cache.inputs.tasks filter)
+ │       4. cache.key({ taskId, workspaceFingerprint,
+ │                      projectPackageJsonHash, taskConfigHash,
+ │                      forwardArgs, envValues, runtimeValues,
+ │                      workspaceRuntimeValues, upstreamHashes,
+ │                      pluginParts, inputFiles }) → 16-hex xxh3
+ │          (pluginParts is whatever the `key` stage contributed,
+ │          folded between the upstream keys and the input files —
+ │          see caching.md § Cache key derivation for the order.)
+ │          (Skipped when the local short-circuit pre-derived it.)
+ │       5. If willRead (cache block + a read axis on):
+ │            consume the up-front probe when present, else
+ │            cache.get(hash)
+ │              · hit → up-to-date short-circuit when the on-disk tree
+ │                       already matches; else cleanOutputs →
+ │                       restoreOutputs → replay stored stdout →
+ │                       return cache-hit / cache-hit-remote
+ │              · miss → fall through; cleanOutputs first (when
+ │                       willWrite) so a stale prior build can't
+ │                       survive the fresh exec
+ │       6. Build isolated env. For a cacheable task,
+ │          describeTaskInputs({ captureInto }) then describes the input
+ │          set ONCE, before the spawn: the executor gets the input
+ │          values and the save reuses the captured per-component input
+ │          fingerprint (a re-fold over the memos, no I/O).
+ │       7. runCommand (or runSandboxed when `sandbox` is declared) →
+ │          Bun.spawn shell with `command` + forwardArgs
+ │          (shell-quoted). Buffer chunks via onStdout/onStderr.
+ │          exec.timeout SIGTERMs an overrun → real `failed`, never
+ │          cached. An attempt that ends while the run is STOPPING
+ │          (Ctrl-C teardown) classifies as `aborted` instead, whatever
+ │          its exit — not counted, not recorded, not retried.
+ │       8. On exit 0 + willSave (willWrite, no tainted upstream):
+ │            keyStillTrue() — if the workspace fingerprint or an
+ │              input moved since the key was taken, the result stands
+ │              but the save is withheld (said on the status line).
+ │            saveMiss — in the slot: resolveOutputs(outputs) +
+ │              resolveWorkspaceOutputs → file lists, and the
+ │              project's git snapshot notes the written output paths
+ │              so a same-project downstream task doesn't re-spawn git
+ │              unless its globs overlap. Deferred onto the run's save
+ │              lane (2×concurrency wide): cache.save(...) — pack
+ │              <hash>.tar.zst with stdout + outputs/<rel>
+ │              (+ workspace-outputs/<rel-to-root>), upsert entries +
+ │              output_files + entry_inputs rows in one transaction.
+ │              The slot frees at once; dependents wait on the save's
+ │              `landed` promise (the scheduler's settledOf). Under a
+ │              LayeredCache with remote writes on, the remote upload
+ │              fires in the BACKGROUND (drained at end of run).
+ │       9. Return TaskOutcome { node, status, exitCode, durationMs,
+ │            hash, cpuMs?, peakRssBytes?, restored?,
+ │            wallclockStartNs, wallclockEndNs }.
+ │
+ └─ End-of-run
+    1. SIGTERM dependency-only persistent children; persistent tasks
+       the user REQUESTED, those a requested group stands for (through
+       nested groups, not through a one-shot), and the persistent tasks
+       they depend on, are kept alive (see below).
+    2. Run summary footer (projects / tasks / cache meters + info +
+       time + result) — counts only real tasks (with `exec`); group tasks
+       don't pollute the totals; failure frames replay just above it.
+    3. Optional --summarize JSON (default <cacheDir>/runs/<run_id>.json)
+       and --profile Chrome-trace JSON (default profile.json).
+    4. recordRunBundle — one transaction writing a `runs` row per real
+       task plus the `invocations` header row (command, git/CI/host
+       context, tags, counts). Group + aborted tasks skipped; a run
+       a signal stopped records nothing.
+    5. Telemetry: emit the RunSummaryRecord to every active sink +
+       await their flush (crash-isolated; skipped when no sink).
+    6. Drain background remote prefetches/uploads; cache.close();
+       sandbox teardown when any task was sandboxed.
+    7. Return { ok, outcomes }; ok = every task ended success or a
+       cache hit (any failed/skipped/aborted → ok = false → exit 1),
+       and no persistent child exited on its own before the run
+       stopped it.
+    8. FOREGROUND ONLY: if the user requested persistent tasks (dev
+       servers) and nothing else failed (or under `--continue=always`),
+       the process now blocks until ONE of them, or a persistent task they
+       depend on, exits — the
+       summary is already printed, `▸ <id> running` rows list what's
+       alive, Ctrl-C reaps the process group. That first exit ends the
+       session: the others are torn down (SIGTERM, grace, SIGKILL) and
+       a non-zero exit makes the run exit 1, so a script's `vx run dev`
+       fails when the server it started fell over. That server then reads
+       `failed` with its own exit in the rewritten `--summarize` and in the
+       report `--report-file` writes; one a Ctrl-C stopped does not. The
+       stdout `--report` prints above the footer, so it reads as the
+       footer does, before the wait. Under
+       `holdPersistent` (the watch loop) run() instead returns them on
+       `RunSummary.persistent`, still running, for the caller to stop;
+       one that dies on its own after that is said, its `stop()` is not.
+```
+
+## One command per task
+
+`exec.command` is a single shell command — there's no multi-step
+sequence. Three ways to chain:
+
+- **Shell composition** — `&&`, `;`, pipes. The shell is the API.
+  ```ts
+  exec: {
+    command: 'gen && tsc && cp -r assets dist/'
+  }
+  ```
+- **Separate tasks** linked by `dependsOn`:
+  ```ts
+  codegen: { exec: { command: 'gen' }, ... },
+  build:   { exec: { command: 'tsc' }, dependsOn: ['codegen'], ... },
+  ```
+- **Group task** that fans out:
+  ```ts
+  release: {
+    dependsOn: ['build', 'test', 'package']
+  }
+  ```
+
+Per-task caching is the right granularity for invalidation. Splitting
+gives you per-step caching naturally; combining with `&&` gives you
+one cache slot for the whole chain.
+
+A task is over when its command's own process exits. What a descendant
+writes after that — one the command detached with `setsid … &`, or
+daemonized — is not the task's output: the save has already run, and a
+later hit's restore removes it ([caching](./caching.md#cache-write)).
+`wait` for what the command backgrounds.
+
+## Env isolation
+
+The child process gets, in priority order (lowest first):
+
+1. **Essential allowlist** (`PATH`, `HOME`, `SHELL`, `USER`, `LOGNAME`,
+   `TMPDIR`, `TEMP`, `TMP`, `LANG`, `LC_ALL`, `LC_CTYPE`, `TERM`,
+   `COLORTERM`, `FORCE_COLOR`, `NO_COLOR`, `CI`, `NODE_OPTIONS`,
+   `COREPACK_HOME`, `PNPM_HOME` — the list is
+   `ESSENTIAL_ENV` in `src/exec/env.ts`).
+2. **`exec.env.passThrough`** names → values from host `process.env`.
+3. **`exec.env.define`** literal name/value pairs.
+4. **PATH augmentation** — `<projectDir>/node_modules/.bin`, then
+   `<workspaceRoot>/node_modules/.bin`, are prepended so installed
+   tools (`oxlint`, `vite`, etc.) work without `npx`. Never a sibling
+   project's bin; those stay invisible. A bin directory whose path holds
+   PATH's delimiter (`:`) is left out: PATH cannot name it, and split it
+   became two entries, one relative to the task's cwd. A task whose shell exits 127 or 126 gets one more frame line
+   (`orchestrator/shell-verdict.ts`): for a bare word, that 127 is the
+   shell's "command not found", the word (when the command is a plain
+   `word args…`), the two bin directories vx puts first, and that a
+   sibling project's bin is never visible (or, when a bin directory was
+   left out for its `:`, that directory and the fix: move the
+   workspace), and on 126 `chmod +x`; for
+   a word with a slash, what the file says — missing (the resolved
+   path), a directory, not executable by this user, a `#!` interpreter that does
+   not exist (a CRLF line ending is named as such), or no `#!` line.
+   An exit above 128 gets the same line for its signal: which one, and
+   what sends it (the OOM killer, a crash in native code, an abort, a
+   reader that left a pipe, a ulimit, a seccomp refusal); vx's own
+   timeout and a shutdown's SIGTERM keep their own lines, and a task the
+   run's stop killed (the SIGKILL past the grace too) gets none.
+
+Anything not in these four layers is invisible to the child, except
+the two vx sets itself — `VX_RUN_WORKSPACE` and `VX_RUN_TASK` — so a
+task that shells out to `vx run` in its own workspace is refused
+before it forks without bound, and `npm_execpath`, the workspace's
+package manager (unkeyed; `schema.md` § `env`). A sandboxed task also gets the sandbox's own
+proxy, CA and `TMPDIR` values
+([`modules/sandbox-runtime.md`](./modules/sandbox-runtime.md#the-environment-srt-sets)). This prevents incidental env leakage
+between machines and gives reproducible runs.
+
+The allowlist + isolation contract lives in
+[`modules/env.md`](./modules/env.md) and is the only field the
+contract assumes for "what every command needs to function" on
+Linux and macOS (Windows is WSL, which is Linux). Adding to the allowlist would be a deliberate
+schema-extending change (consumer code expects a particular set;
+broader access has cache-stability implications).
+
+## Failure handling
+
+| Failure                                                                                                                                                          | Behavior                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
+| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
+| Exec exits non-zero                                                                                                                                              | Task is `failed`; cache NOT written; output streamed live + the failure frame replays at run end                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
+| `exec.timeout` overrun                                                                                                                                           | SIGTERM to the task's group, SIGKILL for whoever is left after the grace; task is `failed` (timed out), exit 143 (137 when the SIGKILL took it, and the line says so), never cached                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| Child killed by Ctrl-C teardown (SIGINT/SIGTERM/SIGHUP), or by an embedder's `RunOptions.signal` abort — which also completes every never-started task `aborted` | Task is `aborted` — not counted, not recorded. An attempt that ends while the run is stopping is `aborted` whatever its exit: a trap that exits 0 is not cached, and a failure is not retried (item 962). What it printed still shows in its frame. A child killed by a signal while the run is NOT stopping (a supervisor's SIGTERM, a `kill` from another shell) is `failed (exit 143, 128 + SIGTERM)`: retried, shown, and fail-fast trips (item 1100) |
+| `execute()` throws (internal error)                                                                                                                              | Task marked `failed`; stderr written `[vx] internal error in <id>` (a `UserError` reports plainly); a plugin executor's throw reports plainly as `plugin '<p>' (executor '<e>') failed in execute: <reason>` (C-63, C-85)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
+| Persistent task exits before ready                                                                                                                               | Task marked `failed` with `exited before becoming ready (exit N)`; its output already streamed live; `aborted` when the run's stop killed it (C-62)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       |
+| Upstream task fails                                                                                                                                              | Under the default `--continue=deps-ok`, dependents marked `skipped` (exit 1, durationMs 0); no command runs — EXCEPT a restore-tier task, whose confirmed cache hit still restores (its key is dep-independent). `--continue=never` stops dispatch; `--continue=always` runs dependents, never saved                                                                                                                                                      |
+| Sandbox violation (macOS monitor / Linux structural)                                                                                                             | Task is `failed`; violations render in the frame; nothing cached                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
+| Remote-cache error (500, timeout, corrupt artifact)                                                                                                              | Degrades to a cache miss; never fails the run                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
+| No pnpm-workspace.yaml or package.json in cwd or any parent                                                                                                      | `findWorkspaceRoot` throws (UserError); `vx run` exits 1                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
+| Same-project task referenced in `dependsOn` not declared                                                                                                         | `buildTaskGraph` throws with the offending edge                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           |
+| Duplicate workspace package name                                                                                                                                 | `listProjects` throws with both paths                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
+| Cycle in task graph                                                                                                                                              | `detectCycle` throws with the cycle path                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  |
+| Malformed config                                                                                                                                                 | `loadProjectConfigs` throws (UserError) with file + field                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 |
+| `cache.inputs.runtime` command exits non-zero                                                                                                                    | UserError naming the command + exit code; that task is `failed`, dependents skip                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
+
+By default (`--continue=deps-ok`) failures don't kill the scheduler —
+independent tasks already in flight finish, and unrelated tasks not yet
+started still run. `--continue=never` stops dispatch at the first
+failure; `--continue=always` runs dependents too
+([`cli.md` § Failure propagation](./cli.md#failure-propagation----continue)). The
+overall exit code is 1 if any task ended in `failed`, `skipped` or
+`aborted` status, or a persistent child exited before the run stopped
+it.
+
+## Output capture and rendering
+
+The orchestrator emits `RunEvent`s through an in-process bus; the
+terminal renderer is the always-on subscriber (plugins, telemetry, and
+wire forwarders attach beside it). What renders:
+
+- **Flow-aware policy.** What gets rendered depends on the run's
+  intent: FOCUSED (no selection flag) streams the requested task's
+  output raw and live and silences successful dependencies; BROAD
+  (`--all` / `--filter` / `--affected`) prints news only — one grid
+  one-liner per executed task, failure frames replayed at run end,
+  silence for cache hits; truthy `CI` env (and the programmatic
+  default) keeps full grouped output. `--output-logs` overrides
+  everything. Full table in [`cli.md`](./cli.md#output).
+- **The glyph grid.** Reported task lines share one column grid —
+  `<glyph> <time> <status> <cache> <name>`. Glyph SHAPE = cache axis
+  (`⏺` miss / `►` fresh / `⇢` local / `⇣` remote / `◼` failed / `⊘`
+  skipped, plus `▸` for a pinned persistent row; a live worker row has
+  no glyph — its ticking elapsed time leads instead); glyph COLOR + the
+  status word = task axis
+  (success / failed / skipped / running); the cache word (miss /
+  fresh / local / remote) spells it out.
+- **Buffered, framed (non-focused paths).** `runCommand` listens to
+  the child's stdout/stderr and calls `onStdout` / `onStderr` per
+  chunk. Outside focused streaming, the default logger buffers the
+  chunks per-task and dumps the full body as a framed block on task
+  completion. No per-line prefix, no interleaving between concurrent
+  tasks.
+- **Cache write.** The captured stdout — its first and last 8 MiB,
+  the cut middle named — is stored in the entry; replay is stdout-only.
+- **Cache hit replay.** The stored stdout is fed through the same
+  logger path, so it renders per the active flow (streamed raw for a
+  focused requested task, framed in full mode, silent in broad).
+- **Live stream for failures.** Even though cached output is not
+  written for failures, the live stream means the user sees the
+  failure as it happens; the full frames replay together at run end,
+  right above the summary.
+- **Status region.** On TTY stdout outside CI, a multi-row region
+  tracks the run live: a blank separator, pinned `▸` persistent rows,
+  one row per worker slot (the ticking elapsed time IS the motion —
+  no spinner), and the live summary section (the same meters as the
+  final footer). Redrawn in place; forced redraws coalesce under a
+  30 ms floor; erased before the summary prints. All default-logger
+  writes serialize through one writer so content and the region never
+  interleave.
+- **GitHub Actions.** With `GITHUB_ACTIONS` truthy in full mode, task
+  blocks collapse under `::group::` commands; failures stay open and
+  emit `::error` annotations.
+
+A task's stdout and stderr are pipes, so `echo x > /dev/stdout` and
+`cmd | tee /dev/stderr` work as in a terminal or under Turbo. Bun's own
+`'pipe'` is a socketpair, which Linux will not open by path, and they
+failed with "No such device or address" until X-113
+(`tests/runner.test.ts` › "a task's stdout and stderr are pipes it can
+open by path"; sandboxed in `tests/sandbox-runtime.unsafe.test.ts`).
+
+There is no special handling for binary output. Stdin is never the
+terminal unless the task declares `exec.interactive` and vx's stdin is
+a TTY (schema.md § `interactive`): then the task gets vx's stdin,
+stdout and stderr, runs alone, and nothing of it passes through vx.
+Otherwise the rule splits on `exec.persistent`:
+
+- **A one-shot task** gets `'ignore'`: it sees EOF at once, so a task
+  that reads stdin finishes instead of hanging CI
+  (`tests/runner.test.ts` › "a task that reads stdin sees EOF at once,
+  never a hang"). A task that needs TTY input declares
+  `exec.interactive`.
+- **A persistent task** gets a pipe vx holds and never writes: it stays
+  open while vx lives and ends when vx does. A dev server that exits on
+  stdin EOF — esbuild `--watch`, the Vite case in turborepo#8915 —
+  became ready and exited 0 under `'ignore'`, and `vx run dev` ended
+  green (fixed 2026-09-24, `tests/keep-alive.test.ts` › "a server that
+  exits on stdin EOF stays up while vx runs"). Each task has its own
+  pipe, so several persistent tasks never compete for keystrokes; none
+  receives any, so a server's keyboard shortcuts (Vite's `h`, `r`) do
+  not reach it unless it declares `exec.interactive`. Not the terminal, because
+  several servers would steal each other's input, and a CI's
+  `/dev/null` stdin is the same EOF. Turbo's stream mode draws the same
+  line: its pin is named `nonpersistent_task_sees_eof_on_stdin`.
+
+A one-shot task ends when its shell exits, not when its pipes close. A
+process the task left running (`server & echo up`) keeps stdout and
+stderr open, so vx reads on for 250 ms after the shell exits and then
+stops. That bound is what keeps a leftover server from hanging the run.
+What the leftover writes after it is not captured — not in the frame,
+not in the cache entry — and the frame says so with one line on stderr:
+`[vx] output after the task's shell exited was cut: a process it left
+running still held its stdout/stderr 250 ms later`. Until 2026-09-24 the
+cut was silent (nx#35302 reproduced on vx; `tests/runner.test.ts` ›
+"output a backgrounded child writes after the drain bound is cut, and
+the frame says so"). A task whose output matters waits for what it
+starts (`wait`).
+
+Every surface uses one outcome vocabulary: task axis `success` /
+`failed` / `skipped` / `aborted` (+ `running` live), cache axis
+`miss` / `up-to-date` (fresh) / `local` / `remote`. The `--verbosity 1`
+table spells the combinations out as `success` / `restored-local` /
+`restored-remote` / `up-to-date`; `--report` keeps the two axes as its
+Status and Cache columns.
+
+The colors / framing modules:
+
+- `orchestrator/colors.ts` — ANSI truecolor (`ansi-16m`), gated by
+  `NO_COLOR` / `FORCE_COLOR` / `isTTY`. Programmatic-logger callers
+  always see plain text.
+- `orchestrator/framed-output.ts` — the `┌─` frames, the glyph grid
+  (`formatTaskRow`), one-liners, persistent markers.
+- `orchestrator/status-line.ts` — the serialized writer + the worker
+  region.
+- `orchestrator/logger.ts` — composes them; resolves the output view
+  and applies the per-flow visibility policy.
+- `orchestrator/summary.ts` — the closing footer (wordmark rule,
+  projects/tasks/cache meters, info, time and result rows).
+
+## Concurrency
+
+- **Default** — the cores this process may use: `navigator.hardwareConcurrency`
+  capped by the cgroup CPU quota a container runs under (`cpu.max` on v2,
+  `cpu.cfs_quota_us` on v1, an ancestor's quota binding too; a 1.5-core
+  quota is two workers, never below one — `util/cgroup.ts`), or
+  `vx.workspace.ts`'s `concurrency` field when set. Inside a container the
+  raw count is the HOST's, and eight workers on a two-core quota is
+  oversubscription by four; `--concurrency <n>%` is a percentage of the
+  same capped count.
+- **Override** — `--concurrency N` (CLI). CLI wins over workspace
+  config.
+- **`concurrency: 1`** serializes everything while still respecting
+  topo order: execs and restores share the one slot.
+- The scheduler never exceeds the cap; tasks queue. Above 1,
+  restore-tier tasks run on their own lane, `2 × concurrency` wide,
+  and never take an exec slot.
+- Failure of a task doesn't pause the scheduler — independent
+  siblings continue running and starting (unless `--continue=never`).
+
+### Executor pools
+
+`concurrency` counts LOCAL worker slots. An executor that runs its tasks
+somewhere else declares its own `capacity`, and the tasks placed on it are
+admitted against that number instead — so a 64-wide worker pool is not
+throttled by a 10-core laptop, and a `--concurrency 1` run still keeps the
+pool full. A `capacity` that is not a positive integer is refused:
+`plugin '<p>' returned executor '<e>' with capacity <v>: it must be a
+positive integer`.
+
+- **Placement is decided once per task, before scheduling.** `run()` asks
+  the declared executors, in order, which one takes each task (see
+  [`schema.md` § `remote`](./schema.md#remote-optional) for what pins a
+  task here); the scheduler then knows which pool every task will occupy.
+- **A pooled task holds nothing on this machine.** The `admit` stage is
+  asked only for tasks about to run here, with the tasks running here; a
+  task on an executor pool is never asked and never counted, so it can
+  never park behind a local reservation.
+- **Restore-tier tasks always use the restore lane**, even when placed
+  on an executor with a `capacity`: a restore is local disk work.
+- **No pooled executor declared = the legacy path.** With every task on
+  the local pool the admission gate is byte-identical to before pools
+  existed.
+
+## Cache control flags
+
+`--no-cache` turns all four cache axes off: every task runs, nothing
+is read or written, and `cleanOutputs` is skipped — the user is
+debugging and managing the tree themselves; silently wiping `dist/`
+mid-debug would be hostile.
+
+`--force` turns only the READ axes off: every task re-executes, but
+fresh artifacts are still written (outputs ARE cleaned so the saved
+snapshot is clean). `--cache=<spec>` gives per-layer control. Full
+semantics: [`cli.md` § Cache control](./cli.md#cache-control---cache---no-cache---force)
+and [`caching.md` § Cache policy](./caching.md#cache-policy-readwrite-axes).
+
+## Planning paths (`--dry`, `--graph`)
+
+Both short-circuit execution. The planner (`orchestrator/plan.ts`)
+runs the same setup steps — workspace discovery, config load, package
+graph, task graph — and the same per-task hash derivation, then
+probes the cache. The probe is read-only; against a remote layer it
+is an existence check only (no artifact download, no ingest). The one
+deliberate side effect: `cache.inputs.runtime` / `workspaceRuntime`
+probe commands DO run, because predicting a key requires resolving
+them — keep runtime inputs side-effect-free.
+
+The two flags differ only in output format:
+
+- `--dry[=text|json]` → text (default) or JSON list of predicted
+  outcomes per task: `hit-local`, `hit-remote`, `miss`, `no-cache`,
+  `group`. Formatter: `cli/plan-format.ts:formatPlanText` /
+  `formatPlanJson`. When the workspace declares more than one executor,
+  each line also names the executor the task would be PLACED on — the only
+  surface that makes `exec.remote` checkable before the run. Resolving the
+  executors is a plugin-factory call, the same class the cache capability
+  already makes at plan time; a plugin that throws costs the label, never
+  the plan.
+- `--graph[=<path>]` → Graphviz DOT, colored by predicted status.
+  Pipe to `dot` for SVG/PNG render. Formatter:
+  `formatGraphDot`.
+
+Mutually exclusive: `--dry` and `--graph` together is a parse error.
+Combining either with `--summarize`, `--profile`, `--report` or
+`--report-file` is a parse error (those need a real run; the last two
+were accepted and wrote nothing until item 992).
+
+## Run artifacts
+
+- **`--summarize[=<path>]`** — per-run JSON to
+  `<cacheDir>/runs/<run_id>.json` by default (or the explicit path).
+  Mirrors the `runs` table shape — one task entry per real task, hits
+  included, with status, hash, duration, cpu_ms, peak RSS, hrtime spans
+  (bigint serialized as strings to preserve ns precision).
+- **`--profile[=<path>]`** — Chrome-trace JSON of every task's
+  wallclock span. Default path: `profile.json` (cwd-relative). One
+  `tid` per project so concurrent tasks render on distinct lanes.
+  Open with `chrome://tracing` or https://ui.perfetto.dev.
+- **`--report[=markdown]`** — a markdown table to stdout
+  above the footer (CI step summaries), through `RunOptions.beforeFooter`.
+- **`--report-file <path>`** — the same report APPENDED to `<path>`
+  (`$GITHUB_STEP_SUMMARY`).
+
+Writers live in `orchestrator/run-artifacts.ts:writeRunSummary` /
+`writeRunProfile` and `orchestrator/run-report.ts`. A `--summarize` or
+`--profile` write error is surfaced via `log.status`, a `--report-file`
+one on stderr (`cli/run.ts`); neither changes the run's exit code — the
+run already happened.
+
+## Why each rule
+
+- **Cache failures are never cached.** Caching a failure prevents
+  retry flows. The next run gets the same failure even after the
+  user fixes the cause.
+- **Group tasks are silent in the summary.** Including them in the
+  count is confusing — "3 of 4 cached" when one was a group that
+  ran nothing isn't informative.
+- **Project scope defaults to cwd.** Most invocations are "build/
+  test the thing I'm working on". `--all` / `--filter` exist for
+  the workspace-wide case.
+- **The scheduler doesn't bail on first failure by default.** A flaky
+  test failing shouldn't stop an unrelated build. Independent siblings
+  continue; only dependents are skipped. `--continue=never` opts into
+  fail-fast.
+- **Misses own the worker pool.** A miss is the critical path, so
+  the exec lane is `concurrency` wide and only executions take it.
+  Restores run on their own lane, so warm work never queues behind
+  ordering it doesn't need and never takes a slot from real work.
+- **Forwarded args don't reach upstream tasks.** Otherwise
+  `vx run build -- --watch` would set `--watch` on every upstream's
+  build, and upstream cache keys would partition by CLI args that
+  don't change their behavior.
+- **`recordRunBundle` skips group tasks.** They aren't real runs;
+  analytics queries that sum duration would double-count without it.
+- **A requested persistent task keeps the run alive.** The dev server
+  IS the point of the run; tearing it down the instant it became
+  ready would make `vx run dev` useless.