fix(cli): 1.31.1 — reaper no longer blocks the daemon event loop

1.31.0 introduced a session reaper that called execFileSync(ps) once
per registered session every 5s. With many sessions registered, the
daemon's event loop stalled for hundreds of ms — long enough that
incoming /v1/version probes from the CLI timed out against a healthy
daemon and the new service-managed warning fired.

Fix:

- getProcessStartTime is now async (execFile + promisify); never
  blocks the event loop
- New getProcessStartTimes(pids) issues one batched ps for all
  survivors instead of N separate forks. Sweep cost is fixed
  regardless of session count.
- registerSession stays sync; start-time capture is fire-and-forget
- reapDead is now async; the setInterval wrapper voids it so a
  rejected sweep cannot crash the daemon

Behavior is otherwise unchanged from 1.31.0: same 5s cadence, same
PID-reuse guard semantics, same broker-WS teardown via the registry
hook. 83/83 tests still green.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

apps/cli/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,33 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## 1.31.1 (2026-05-04) — hotfix: reaper stops blocking the daemon event loop
+
+1.31.0 shipped a session reaper that called `execFileSync("ps")`
+synchronously, once per registered session, every 5 seconds. With ten
+or more sessions registered the daemon's event loop stalled for
+hundreds of milliseconds at a time — long enough that incoming
+`/v1/version` probes from the CLI failed to return within the 2.5 s
+budget and the new "service-managed daemon not responding within
+8000ms" warning fired against a perfectly healthy daemon.
+
+Fix:
+
+- `getProcessStartTime` is now async (`execFile` + promisify), never
+  blocks the event loop.
+- New `getProcessStartTimes(pids)` issues a single batched `ps -p
+  <p1>,<p2>,...` for every survivor in one fork — sweep cost is fixed
+  regardless of session count.
+- `registerSession` stays synchronous: the start-time capture runs
+  fire-and-forget so the IPC route returns instantly. The reaper falls
+  back to bare liveness for the brief window before the start-time
+  lands.
+- `reapDead` is now async; the setInterval wrapper voids it so a
+  rejected sweep can never crash the daemon.
+
+Behavior is otherwise unchanged from 1.31.0 — same 5 s cadence, same
+PID-reuse guard semantics, same broker-WS teardown via the registry
+hook.
+
 ## 1.31.0 (2026-05-04) — session autoclean, install-time broker verification, no more spurious cold-path warnings under service management
 
 **Three operability changes targeting users who installed the daemon as a launchd / systemd service.**

apps/cli/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "claudemesh-cli",
-  "version": "1.31.0",
+  "version": "1.31.1",
   "description": "Peer mesh for Claude Code sessions — CLI + MCP server.",
   "keywords": [
     "claude-code",

apps/cli/src/daemon/process-info.ts

@@ -9,31 +9,83 @@
  * sweep — if it changed, treat the original process as dead.
  *
  * macOS + Linux both expose `ps -o lstart=` returning a fixed-format
- * timestamp ("Sun May  4 09:14:00 2026"). Equality is the only operation
- * the reaper needs, so we keep the value as an opaque string.
+ * timestamp ("Sun May  4 09:14:00 2026"). Equality is the only
+ * operation the reaper needs, so we keep the value as an opaque string.
+ *
+ * IMPORTANT (1.31.1): every fork / execFile blocks the daemon's event
+ * loop until ps completes (~30-80 ms per call on macOS). The first
+ * 1.31.0 implementation called execFileSync once per registered
+ * session every 5 s, and with 10+ sessions that stalled IPC for hundreds
+ * of milliseconds at a time — long enough that probes against
+ * /v1/version were declared "stale" and the CLI fell back to the cold
+ * path with the misleading "service-managed daemon not responding"
+ * warning. This module now exposes:
+ *
+ *   - `getProcessStartTime(pid)`: async, single-pid, used at register.
+ *   - `getProcessStartTimes(pids)`: async, batched, used by the reaper.
+ *     One ps invocation handles N pids, so the per-sweep cost is fixed
+ *     and tiny regardless of how many sessions are registered.
  */
 
-import { execFileSync } from "node:child_process";
+import { execFile } from "node:child_process";
+import { promisify } from "node:util";
+
+const execFileAsync = promisify(execFile);
 
 /**
  * Returns a stable process-start identifier for `pid`, or null if the
- * process is dead or unreachable. Cheap (~1 ms per call) — safe to use
- * inside the 5-second reaper sweep.
+ * process is dead or unreachable. Async — never blocks the event loop.
  */
-export function getProcessStartTime(pid: number): string | null {
+export async function getProcessStartTime(pid: number): Promise<string | null> {
   if (!Number.isFinite(pid) || pid <= 0) return null;
   try {
-    const out = execFileSync("ps", ["-o", "lstart=", "-p", String(pid)], {
+    const { stdout } = await execFileAsync("ps", ["-o", "lstart=", "-p", String(pid)], {
       encoding: "utf8",
       timeout: 1_000,
-      stdio: ["ignore", "pipe", "ignore"],
-    }).trim();
+    });
+    const out = stdout.trim();
     return out.length > 0 ? out : null;
   } catch {
     return null;
   }
 }
 
+/**
+ * Batched form: returns a Map<pid, lstart> for every pid that is still
+ * alive. Pids that ps doesn't return (i.e. dead) are absent from the
+ * map. One ps fork handles all pids — O(1) sweep cost regardless of
+ * session count.
+ */
+export async function getProcessStartTimes(pids: number[]): Promise<Map<number, string>> {
+  const result = new Map<number, string>();
+  const valid = pids.filter((p) => Number.isFinite(p) && p > 0);
+  if (valid.length === 0) return result;
+  // ps -o pid,lstart= -p p1,p2,...  emits one row per live pid:
+  //   "  12345 Sun May  4 09:14:00 2026"
+  // Dead pids are silently omitted.
+  try {
+    const { stdout } = await execFileAsync(
+      "ps",
+      ["-o", "pid=,lstart=", "-p", valid.join(",")],
+      { encoding: "utf8", timeout: 2_000 },
+    );
+    for (const raw of stdout.split("\n")) {
+      const line = raw.trim();
+      if (!line) continue;
+      const m = /^(\d+)\s+(.+)$/.exec(line);
+      if (!m) continue;
+      const pid = Number.parseInt(m[1]!, 10);
+      const lstart = m[2]!.trim();
+      if (Number.isFinite(pid) && lstart.length > 0) result.set(pid, lstart);
+    }
+  } catch {
+    // ps failure (timeout, ENOENT) — treat as "no info available" and
+    // let the reaper fall back to bare liveness for these pids. Better
+    // to keep entries than to nuke them on a transient ps error.
+  }
+  return result;
+}
+
 /** Liveness-only probe (signal 0). Use together with start-time guard. */
 export function isPidAlive(pid: number): boolean {
   if (!Number.isFinite(pid) || pid <= 0) return false;

apps/cli/src/daemon/session-registry.ts

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
  * session have no token to begin with.
  */
 
-import { getProcessStartTime, isPidAlive } from "./process-info.js";
+import { getProcessStartTime, getProcessStartTimes, isPidAlive } from "./process-info.js";
 
 /**
  * Optional per-launch presence material. Carried opaquely through the
@@ -85,7 +85,10 @@ let reaperHandle: NodeJS.Timeout | null = null;
 
 export function startReaper(): void {
   if (reaperHandle) return;
-  reaperHandle = setInterval(reapDead, REAPER_INTERVAL_MS).unref?.() ?? reaperHandle;
+  // The sweep is async (batched ps) — wrap in `void` so setInterval
+  // doesn't try to await us, and so an unexpected throw doesn't crash
+  // the daemon. Errors are swallowed inside reapDead.
+  reaperHandle = setInterval(() => { void reapDead(); }, REAPER_INTERVAL_MS).unref?.() ?? reaperHandle;
 }
 
 export function stopReaper(): void {
@@ -112,18 +115,31 @@ export function registerSession(info: Omit<SessionInfo, "registeredAt">): Sessio
     }
   }
 
-  // Capture start-time at register so the reaper can detect PID reuse.
-  // Caller may pre-fill info.startTime (tests do this); only probe ps
-  // when the field is absent so we don't fork shell subprocesses in
-  // unit tests for fake pids.
-  const startTime = info.startTime ?? getProcessStartTime(info.pid) ?? undefined;
-  const stored: SessionInfo = { ...info, startTime, registeredAt: Date.now() };
+  // Caller may pre-fill info.startTime (tests do this for determinism).
+  // For the real path we fire-and-forget an async ps probe — register
+  // stays sync and microsecond-fast, and the start-time lands on the
+  // entry within a few ms. Until it lands, the reaper falls back to
+  // bare liveness for this entry, which is fine for the common case
+  // (PID reuse is rare; the brief window without the guard is
+  // tolerable).
+  const stored: SessionInfo = { ...info, registeredAt: Date.now() };
   byToken.set(info.token, stored);
   bySessionId.set(info.sessionId, info.token);
   try { hooks.onRegister?.(stored); } catch { /* see above */ }
+  if (stored.startTime === undefined) {
+    void captureStartTimeAsync(info.token, info.pid);
+  }
   return stored;
 }
 
+async function captureStartTimeAsync(token: string, pid: number): Promise<void> {
+  const lstart = await getProcessStartTime(pid);
+  if (lstart === null) return;
+  const entry = byToken.get(token);
+  if (!entry || entry.pid !== pid) return; // entry was replaced; skip
+  entry.startTime = lstart;
+}
+
 export function deregisterByToken(token: string): boolean {
   const entry = byToken.get(token);
   if (!entry) return false;
@@ -147,26 +163,52 @@ export function listSessions(): SessionInfo[] {
   return [...byToken.values()];
 }
 
-function reapDead(): void {
+async function reapDead(): Promise<void> {
+  // Snapshot first; the second (async) phase calls ps and we must not
+  // mutate the registry mid-iteration.
+  const entries = [...byToken.entries()];
+
+  // Phase 1 — TTL + bare liveness. Sync, microsecond-fast.
   const dead: string[] = [];
-  for (const [token, info] of byToken.entries()) {
+  const survivors: Array<[string, SessionInfo]> = [];
+  for (const [token, info] of entries) {
     if (Date.now() - info.registeredAt > TTL_MS) { dead.push(token); continue; }
     if (!isPidAlive(info.pid)) { dead.push(token); continue; }
-    // PID reuse guard: process is alive, but if its start-time changed
-    // since register the original is gone and the OS recycled the pid
-    // for an unrelated program. Skip when we never captured a start-
-    // time (best-effort fallback to bare liveness above).
-    if (info.startTime !== undefined) {
-      const live = getProcessStartTime(info.pid);
-      if (live !== null && live !== info.startTime) { dead.push(token); continue; }
+    survivors.push([token, info]);
+  }
+
+  // Phase 2 — PID-reuse guard for survivors that have a captured
+  // start-time. Single batched ps call: O(1) forks regardless of
+  // session count. Survivors without a start-time keep the bare-
+  // liveness verdict from phase 1 (their captureStartTimeAsync may
+  // still be in-flight from a recent register).
+  const guardedPids = survivors
+    .filter(([, info]) => info.startTime !== undefined)
+    .map(([, info]) => info.pid);
+  if (guardedPids.length > 0) {
+    try {
+      const live = await getProcessStartTimes(guardedPids);
+      for (const [token, info] of survivors) {
+        if (info.startTime === undefined) continue;
+        const lstart = live.get(info.pid);
+        // ps may transiently miss a pid that was alive when isPidAlive
+        // ran — treat absence as "racing", let the next sweep decide.
+        if (lstart === undefined) continue;
+        if (lstart !== info.startTime) dead.push(token);
+      }
+    } catch {
+      // ps failure here is non-fatal: survivors keep their phase-1
+      // verdict. Logging is the daemon's responsibility — the
+      // registry deliberately stays log-free.
     }
   }
+
   for (const t of dead) deregisterByToken(t);
 }
 
-/** Test helper: run a single reaper pass synchronously. */
-export function _runReaperOnce(): void {
-  reapDead();
+/** Test helper: run a single reaper pass. */
+export async function _runReaperOnce(): Promise<void> {
+  await reapDead();
 }
 
 /** Test helper. */

apps/cli/tests/unit/session-reaper.test.ts

@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ afterEach(() => {
 });
 
 describe("session reaper", () => {
-  test("drops entry when pid is dead", () => {
+  test("drops entry when pid is dead", async () => {
     const onDeregister = vi.fn();
     setRegistryHooks({ onDeregister });
 
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ describe("session reaper", () => {
     });
     expect(listSessions()).toHaveLength(1);
 
-    _runReaperOnce();
+    await _runReaperOnce();
 
     expect(listSessions()).toHaveLength(0);
     expect(onDeregister).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
@@ -55,15 +55,14 @@ describe("session reaper", () => {
     expect(arg.sessionId).toBe("sess-dead");
   });
 
-  test("keeps entry when pid is alive and start-time matches", () => {
+  test("keeps entry when pid is alive and start-time matches", async () => {
     const onDeregister = vi.fn();
     setRegistryHooks({ onDeregister });
 
     // Use the test runner's own pid (process.pid is always alive here)
     // and capture its real start-time so the start-time guard sees a
-    // match. Without pre-seeding startTime, registerSession would
-    // probe ps and we'd race with that — explicit value keeps the
-    // test deterministic.
+    // match. Pre-seed startTime so registerSession's async ps probe
+    // doesn't race the test.
     const { execFileSync } = require("node:child_process");
     const realStart = execFileSync("ps", ["-o", "lstart=", "-p", String(process.pid)], {
       encoding: "utf8",
@@ -78,13 +77,13 @@ describe("session reaper", () => {
       startTime: realStart,
     });
 
-    _runReaperOnce();
+    await _runReaperOnce();
 
     expect(listSessions()).toHaveLength(1);
     expect(onDeregister).not.toHaveBeenCalled();
   });
 
-  test("drops entry when pid is alive but start-time mismatched (PID reuse)", () => {
+  test("drops entry when pid is alive but start-time mismatched (PID reuse)", async () => {
     const onDeregister = vi.fn();
     setRegistryHooks({ onDeregister });
 
@@ -99,27 +98,30 @@ describe("session reaper", () => {
       startTime: "Sat Jan  1 00:00:00 1980",
     });
 
-    _runReaperOnce();
+    await _runReaperOnce();
 
     expect(listSessions()).toHaveLength(0);
     expect(onDeregister).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1);
   });
 
-  test("keeps entry when start-time wasn't captured (best-effort fallback)", () => {
+  test("keeps entry when start-time wasn't captured (best-effort fallback)", async () => {
     const onDeregister = vi.fn();
     setRegistryHooks({ onDeregister });
 
     // Register without startTime → reaper falls back to bare liveness.
-    // process.pid is alive, so the entry must survive.
+    // process.pid is alive, so the entry must survive. (The fire-and-
+    // forget capture inside registerSession will eventually populate
+    // startTime, but it does so after a real fork — for this test we
+    // rely on the synchronous reaper pass not seeing it yet.)
     registerSession({
       token: "d".repeat(64),
-      sessionId: "sess-no-start",
+      sessionId: "sess-no-start-" + Math.random().toString(36).slice(2),
       mesh: "m",
       displayName: "x",
       pid: process.pid,
     });
 
-    _runReaperOnce();
+    await _runReaperOnce();
 
     expect(listSessions()).toHaveLength(1);
     expect(onDeregister).not.toHaveBeenCalled();