aion_server/worker/liminal_liveness.rs
1//! Server half of the liminal connection dead-man switch: the liveness probe.
2//!
3//! # The gap this closes
4//!
5//! The server's connection lease ([`HeartbeatTracker`]) is advanced by frames a
6//! worker SENDS, and an idle worker sends nothing. So on 2026-07-29 a healthy,
7//! connected, idle worker's lease expired 37 seconds after its last activity —
8//! "idle worker connection lease expired; worker deregistered" — the worker was
9//! never told, kept believing it was connected, and the next dispatch parked
10//! forever on a queue nobody was serving. The same absent mechanism cost a live
11//! run 28 minutes of mutual blindness when a link died mid-activity: the server
12//! pushed into a socket nobody was reading and the worker blocked on a socket
13//! nobody was writing.
14//!
15//! # The probe
16//!
17//! [`LivenessProbe`] pushes a [`LivenessPing`] to every liminal-connected worker
18//! on a fixed cadence and waits for the correlated [`LivenessPong`]. One
19//! exchange proves both legs:
20//!
21//! - The PONG proves the worker is alive to the server, and its arrival advances
22//! the worker's connection lease — so an idle-but-alive connection is no
23//! longer "idle" at the lease layer and the idle expiry cannot fire on it.
24//! That is the structural death of the first failure above.
25//! - The PING's arrival proves the server is alive to the worker, whose own
26//! dead-man switch (`aion-worker`'s `liminal_liveness`) declares the link dead
27//! when pings stop. That is the death of the second.
28//!
29//! A ping that is not answered inside the cadence is logged LOUDLY with the
30//! worker's identity and queue, and withdraws the worker's DISPATCH
31//! ELIGIBILITY once the silence outlasts the window.
32//!
33//! # Why eligibility, and not the connection lease
34//!
35//! This module used to claim that an unanswered ping let "a genuinely dead
36//! worker's lease run down" so the expiry sweep would reap it. **That was
37//! false, and run `dfd2117c` proved it**: the server could not push to a worker
38//! for fifteen minutes and the worker never lost its lease, because the
39//! worker-side liveness pump beats from a background task and keeps refreshing
40//! it whatever the worker's serve loop is doing.
41//!
42//! Two different facts were collapsed into one lease:
43//!
44//! - **the worker process is alive** — proven by anything the worker sends,
45//! pump included, on the worker-to-server direction;
46//! - **the server can reach the worker's dispatch path** — proven only by an
47//! answered ping, on the server-to-worker direction.
48//!
49//! Only the second is a dispatch precondition, and
50//! [`LiminalWorkerDelivery::push_payload_with_deadline`] already says why the
51//! ping is the only thing that can prove it: it rides "the exact path a
52//! dispatch would take, not a parallel one that could be healthy while the real
53//! one is not." The pump is exactly such a parallel channel, so it must not
54//! feed the fact the ping exists to establish.
55//!
56//! So the probe advances a SEPARATE reachability clock
57//! ([`HeartbeatTracker::record_dispatch_reachability`]) and publishes an
58//! eligibility verdict the dispatch selector honours. The connection lease and
59//! its expiry sweep are untouched and still own process liveness — there is
60//! still deliberately no second reaper, and an unreachable worker is excluded
61//! from dispatch rather than torn down.
62//!
63//! # No knobs
64//!
65//! Both timings are DERIVED from the operator's existing
66//! `worker.heartbeat_window` — the one place they already declared what silence
67//! means:
68//!
69//! - the ping cadence is [`sweep_interval`] of that window (a quarter of it,
70//! clamped to `[1s, window]`), the identical derivation the expiry sweeper
71//! uses, so a healthy connection is refreshed four times per window and the
72//! idle lease has no chance to expire;
73//! - the window the worker is told to expect is the heartbeat window ITSELF, so
74//! both ends of the link declare death on exactly the same operator contract.
75//!
76//! Nothing here is separately configurable, and the worker holds no copy of the
77//! window: it is carried on every ping.
78//!
79//! # Both transports, one probation (#197)
80//!
81//! This module is named for the transport it was built against, but
82//! [`LivenessProbe`] is no longer liminal-only. A round enumerates liminal
83//! connections AND gRPC-delivered registrations
84//! ([`grpc_liveness`](super::grpc_liveness)), pings each over ITS OWN
85//! transport, and feeds every answer into the SAME
86//! [`HeartbeatTracker`] probation and the SAME
87//! [`publish_reachability_verdict`](LivenessProbe::publish_reachability_verdict)
88//! — one [`DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS`], one eligibility set, one set of
89//! announcement transitions, no per-transport constant and no exemption.
90//!
91//! Only the wire differs: a liminal worker is pinged with the serde
92//! [`LivenessPing`] on its connection, a gRPC worker with the protobuf
93//! [`ProtoLivenessPing`](aion_proto::ProtoLivenessPing) on its task stream. The
94//! fact each establishes is identical, which is why the verdict is.
95//!
96//! The accepted cost of riding the task stream is that stream death is not a
97//! separate signal: a closed stream simply makes the NEXT ping unanswerable, so
98//! withdrawal latency is bounded by the probe cadence rather than being
99//! instantaneous. That is deliberate — a special-case fast path for stream
100//! death would be a second, softer route into the eligibility verdict, and the
101//! registry's own disconnect teardown already owns deregistration.
102
103use std::collections::BTreeSet;
104use std::sync::Arc;
105use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
106
107use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
108use tokio::sync::watch;
109use tracing::{info, warn};
110
111use super::grpc_liveness::{GrpcLivenessTarget, GrpcLivenessWaiters, ping_grpc_worker};
112use super::heartbeat::{
113 DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS, DispatchExclusion, ExcludedWorker, HeartbeatTracker, sweep_interval,
114};
115use super::liminal_transport::{LiminalConnectionNotifier, LiminalWorkerDelivery};
116use super::liveness::{PingFailure, ProbedTransport};
117use super::registry::{ConnectedWorkerRegistry, WorkerDelivery, WorkerId};
118
119/// Wire liveness ping the server pushes on an established liminal connection.
120///
121/// Field-for-field mirror of `aion-worker`'s `liminal_liveness::LivenessPing`
122/// (same serde field names), the same cross-crate contract the
123/// dispatch/response and intervention pairs pin. `liveness_ping` is also the
124/// worker's demux discriminator: no other pushed frame carries it, and a ping
125/// carries none of the fields a dispatch or intervention requires.
126#[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Eq)]
127pub struct LivenessPing {
128 /// Monotonic ping sequence within this connection, echoed on the answer.
129 pub liveness_ping: u64,
130 /// How long the worker may hear NOTHING on this connection before it must
131 /// declare the link dead — this server's `worker.heartbeat_window`, carried
132 /// on the wire so the worker never holds a second copy of it.
133 pub silence_window_ms: u64,
134}
135
136/// Wire answer the worker replies with, echoing the ping's sequence.
137///
138/// Field-for-field mirror of `aion-worker`'s `liminal_liveness::LivenessPong`.
139#[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, PartialEq, Eq)]
140pub struct LivenessPong {
141 /// The sequence of the ping being answered, echoed verbatim.
142 pub liveness_pong: u64,
143}
144
145/// One connection the probe pings on a round: the connection pid, the worker it
146/// registered, and the push leg to reach it.
147#[derive(Clone, Debug)]
148pub struct LivenessTarget {
149 /// Liminal connection process id the worker is addressed on.
150 pub pid: u64,
151 /// Registry identity of the worker that registered on this connection.
152 pub worker_id: WorkerId,
153 /// Push leg used to deliver the ping and await its answer.
154 pub delivery: LiminalWorkerDelivery,
155}
156
157/// The production driver of the liminal connection dead-man switch.
158///
159/// Shares the server's shutdown watch, so it drains with the transports exactly
160/// like [`HeartbeatSweeper`](super::HeartbeatSweeper) and the outbox dispatcher.
161pub struct LivenessProbe {
162 /// The liminal connection census, or `None` on a boot that hosts no liminal
163 /// listener. `None` is not "no liveness": the gRPC half below still runs.
164 notifier: Option<Arc<LiminalConnectionNotifier>>,
165 /// The gRPC answer-correlation registry, or `None` when this probe has no
166 /// channel to receive gRPC answers on.
167 ///
168 /// Structural rather than a flag: a probe with no correlation registry
169 /// cannot hear a gRPC answer, so it must not push gRPC pings either — every
170 /// one would time out and hold healthy workers off dispatch. The production
171 /// wiring
172 /// ([`ServerState::spawn_liminal_liveness_probe`](crate::ServerState::spawn_liminal_liveness_probe))
173 /// always supplies one; [`LivenessProbe::new`] is the liminal-only
174 /// construction for callers with no gRPC fleet.
175 grpc: Option<GrpcLivenessWaiters>,
176 tracker: HeartbeatTracker,
177 registry: ConnectedWorkerRegistry,
178 cadence: Duration,
179 silence_window: Duration,
180}
181
182impl std::fmt::Debug for LivenessProbe {
183 fn fmt(&self, formatter: &mut std::fmt::Formatter<'_>) -> std::fmt::Result {
184 formatter
185 .debug_struct("LivenessProbe")
186 .field("cadence", &self.cadence)
187 .field("silence_window", &self.silence_window)
188 .finish_non_exhaustive()
189 }
190}
191
192impl LivenessProbe {
193 /// Build a probe over the notifier that owns the liminal connections, the
194 /// shared liveness tracker whose leases a pong refreshes, and the registry
195 /// the WARN lines resolve a worker's queue through.
196 ///
197 /// Both timings derive from `heartbeat_window` (see the module docs); there
198 /// is no separate configuration surface.
199 /// This construction probes the LIMINAL transport only: it carries no gRPC
200 /// answer-correlation registry, so it does not enumerate gRPC deliveries.
201 /// Use [`Self::across_transports`] for the production probe.
202 #[must_use]
203 pub fn new(
204 notifier: Arc<LiminalConnectionNotifier>,
205 tracker: HeartbeatTracker,
206 registry: ConnectedWorkerRegistry,
207 heartbeat_window: Duration,
208 ) -> Self {
209 Self::across_transports(Some(notifier), None, tracker, registry, heartbeat_window)
210 }
211
212 /// Build the probe that covers EVERY transport a worker may be delivered
213 /// over (#197).
214 ///
215 /// `notifier` is `None` on a boot with no liminal listener; `grpc` is the
216 /// correlation registry the gRPC stream handler delivers answers into, and
217 /// is `None` only for a probe that must not push gRPC pings it could never
218 /// hear the answers to.
219 ///
220 /// There is exactly ONE probe per server. Two would each publish a whole
221 /// eligibility set over the other's — the verdict is a replacement, not a
222 /// merge — so the last writer would silently erase the other transport's
223 /// findings every cadence.
224 #[must_use]
225 pub fn across_transports(
226 notifier: Option<Arc<LiminalConnectionNotifier>>,
227 grpc: Option<GrpcLivenessWaiters>,
228 tracker: HeartbeatTracker,
229 registry: ConnectedWorkerRegistry,
230 heartbeat_window: Duration,
231 ) -> Self {
232 Self {
233 notifier,
234 grpc,
235 tracker,
236 registry,
237 cadence: sweep_interval(heartbeat_window),
238 silence_window: heartbeat_window,
239 }
240 }
241
242 /// The interval between probe rounds.
243 #[must_use]
244 pub const fn cadence(&self) -> Duration {
245 self.cadence
246 }
247
248 /// The silence window this probe declares to every worker it pings.
249 #[must_use]
250 pub const fn silence_window(&self) -> Duration {
251 self.silence_window
252 }
253
254 /// Run the probe until `shutdown` flips to `true`.
255 ///
256 /// Rounds never overlap: each tick's pings are awaited to completion (each
257 /// bounded by the cadence) before the next round starts, and a missed tick
258 /// is skipped rather than queued.
259 ///
260 /// That bounds the concurrent WAITS to one per connection. It was once
261 /// claimed to bound the outstanding PUSHES to one as well, "so it can never
262 /// crowd out real dispatches against liminal's per-connection pending-push
263 /// cap." **That claim was false and the failure it denied is exactly what
264 /// happened** on run `dfd2117c`: a push slot is not released by the caller
265 /// giving up, only by a consumed reply, a deadline expiry, or a connection
266 /// close. Awaiting a round to completion ends the wait, not the slot. So
267 /// abandoning one unanswered no-deadline ping per round leaked one slot per
268 /// round — 32 of them, then total refusal of every push on that connection.
269 ///
270 /// The bound is now real because
271 /// [`LiminalWorkerDelivery::push_payload_with_deadline`] attaches the
272 /// cadence as the push's own reply deadline, so an unanswered ping's slot
273 /// expires and RELEASES its cap admission instead of accumulating.
274 pub async fn run(self, mut shutdown: watch::Receiver<bool>) {
275 info!(
276 cadence_ms = self.cadence.as_millis(),
277 silence_window_ms = self.silence_window.as_millis(),
278 "worker liveness probe started (liminal + grpc)"
279 );
280 let mut sequence = 0_u64;
281 let mut ticks = tokio::time::interval(self.cadence);
282 ticks.set_missed_tick_behavior(tokio::time::MissedTickBehavior::Skip);
283 loop {
284 tokio::select! {
285 _ = ticks.tick() => {
286 if *shutdown.borrow() {
287 break;
288 }
289 sequence = sequence.saturating_add(1);
290 self.probe_once(sequence).await;
291 }
292 changed = shutdown.changed() => {
293 // A receive error means every sender dropped; treat that as
294 // a shutdown request rather than spinning.
295 if changed.is_err() || *shutdown.borrow() {
296 break;
297 }
298 }
299 }
300 }
301 info!("worker liveness probe stopped");
302 }
303
304 /// Ping every reachable worker once — liminal connections and gRPC task
305 /// streams alike, concurrently — apply each answer to the worker's dispatch
306 /// probation, and publish ONE verdict for the round.
307 ///
308 /// The two transports are pinged over their own wires, CONCURRENTLY with
309 /// each other, and are otherwise indistinguishable from here down: the same
310 /// probation, the same tracker, the same single
311 /// [`Self::publish_reachability_verdict`] call. A round with
312 /// no target of either kind publishes nothing — there is no verdict to form
313 /// about an empty fleet, and publishing an empty exclusion set would be
314 /// indistinguishable from clearing one.
315 ///
316 /// Public because it is the whole unit of work: [`Self::run`] is a timer
317 /// around it and adds nothing but the schedule. Driving rounds directly is
318 /// how a test states a probation in ROUNDS rather than in wall-clock
319 /// sleeps, which is the difference between asserting the law and asserting
320 /// this machine's timing.
321 ///
322 /// `sequence` must advance between rounds: it is the echo a worker's answer
323 /// is matched against, and repeating one would let a previous round's late
324 /// answer satisfy this round's ping.
325 pub async fn probe_once(&self, sequence: u64) {
326 let liminal = self
327 .notifier
328 .as_ref()
329 .map_or_else(Vec::new, |notifier| notifier.liveness_targets());
330 let grpc = self.grpc_targets();
331 if liminal.is_empty() && grpc.is_empty() {
332 return;
333 }
334 let silence_window_ms = u64::try_from(self.silence_window.as_millis()).unwrap_or(u64::MAX);
335 // Joined, not sequenced. Each half bounds its own pings by the cadence,
336 // so awaiting them in turn would let a round of unanswered gRPC pings
337 // push the NEXT liminal ping a full cadence late — stretching the gap
338 // between a healthy liminal connection's refreshes toward three
339 // quarters of the heartbeat window and eroding the four-refreshes-per-
340 // window margin this module's timings are derived to guarantee. The
341 // halves share no state until their answers are applied, so there is
342 // nothing to serialize.
343 tokio::join!(
344 self.probe_liminal(sequence, silence_window_ms, liminal),
345 self.probe_grpc(sequence, silence_window_ms, grpc),
346 );
347 self.publish_reachability_verdict(sequence);
348 }
349
350 /// This round's gRPC targets, or none when this probe carries no answer
351 /// channel (see [`Self::grpc`]). A registry read failure is LOUD and yields
352 /// no targets: the alternative is pinging a fleet the probe cannot describe.
353 fn grpc_targets(&self) -> Vec<GrpcLivenessTarget> {
354 let Some(_) = self.grpc.as_ref() else {
355 return Vec::new();
356 };
357 match self.registry.grpc_liveness_targets() {
358 Ok(targets) => targets,
359 Err(error) => {
360 warn!(
361 %error,
362 "could not enumerate gRPC-delivered workers for this liveness round; they \
363 go unprobed and will therefore not clear their dispatch probation"
364 );
365 Vec::new()
366 }
367 }
368 }
369
370 /// Push the serde ping to every liminal connection concurrently.
371 async fn probe_liminal(
372 &self,
373 sequence: u64,
374 silence_window_ms: u64,
375 targets: Vec<LivenessTarget>,
376 ) {
377 if targets.is_empty() {
378 return;
379 }
380 let ping = LivenessPing {
381 liveness_ping: sequence,
382 silence_window_ms,
383 };
384 let payload = match serde_json::to_vec(&ping) {
385 Ok(payload) => payload,
386 Err(error) => {
387 // Structurally unreachable (two integers), but a probe that
388 // cannot encode its own ping must say so rather than silently
389 // stop being a dead-man switch.
390 warn!(%error, "liminal liveness probe could not encode its ping; skipping round");
391 return;
392 }
393 };
394 let deadline = self.cadence;
395 let answers = targets.into_iter().map(|target| {
396 let payload = payload.clone();
397 async move {
398 let outcome = tokio::task::spawn_blocking(move || {
399 ping_one(&target.delivery, payload, deadline)
400 })
401 .await;
402 (target.pid, target.worker_id, outcome)
403 }
404 });
405 for (pid, worker_id, outcome) in futures::future::join_all(answers).await {
406 self.apply_answer(pid, worker_id, sequence, outcome);
407 }
408 }
409
410 /// Push the protobuf ping down every gRPC task stream concurrently.
411 async fn probe_grpc(
412 &self,
413 sequence: u64,
414 silence_window_ms: u64,
415 targets: Vec<GrpcLivenessTarget>,
416 ) {
417 let (Some(waiters), false) = (self.grpc.as_ref(), targets.is_empty()) else {
418 return;
419 };
420 let deadline = self.cadence;
421 let answers = targets.iter().map(|target| async move {
422 let outcome = ping_grpc_worker(
423 waiters,
424 target,
425 aion_proto::ProtoLivenessPing {
426 liveness_ping: sequence,
427 silence_window_ms,
428 },
429 deadline,
430 )
431 .await;
432 (target.worker_id, outcome)
433 });
434 for (worker_id, outcome) in futures::future::join_all(answers).await {
435 self.apply_grpc_answer(worker_id, sequence, outcome);
436 }
437 }
438
439 /// Publish this round's reachability verdict to the registry, so dispatch
440 /// selection skips workers the server cannot reach.
441 ///
442 /// Runs after every round, including rounds where every ping succeeded —
443 /// that is what RESTORES eligibility to a worker whose pings have started
444 /// answering again. Recovery must not need a separate trigger.
445 ///
446 /// This is the half that makes the switch able to fire at all. A worker's
447 /// connection lease is refreshed by anything it sends, including its own
448 /// background liveness pump, so a worker whose dispatch path is completely
449 /// dead can look perfectly alive indefinitely. Reachability is tracked
450 /// separately and only an answered ping advances it, so the pump can no
451 /// longer hold dispatch eligibility open against failing pings.
452 ///
453 /// # What this says out loud, and why it changed
454 ///
455 /// Until 2026-08-05 this announced exactly one transition — the withdrawal
456 /// — in one sentence that was FALSE in the commonest case. Every healthy
457 /// worker start logged `WITHDRAWING DISPATCH ELIGIBILITY … the server has
458 /// not been able to reach its dispatch path within the window`, because
459 /// registration opens an unserved probation and the first round after it
460 /// always finds the probation unserved. At that instant the server had
461 /// reached the worker — one answer was already banked — and the window had
462 /// nothing to do with it. The remedy sentence was wrong too: it promised
463 /// eligibility back after "one ping", when
464 /// [`DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS`](super::heartbeat::DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS)
465 /// consecutive answers are required and one was already in hand.
466 ///
467 /// The restoration a few seconds later was silent, so an operator saw the
468 /// alarm and never the all-clear. On Tom's server that read as a broken
469 /// worker and was reported to him as a caveat on a fix that was in fact
470 /// working. An alarm that fires on every ordinary connect carries no
471 /// information; a resolution nobody announces cannot cancel it.
472 ///
473 /// So the three transitions are now distinguished and all three are said:
474 /// the probation opening (ordinary, INFO), the loss of eligibility that was
475 /// actually held (an incident, WARN), and the recovery (INFO).
476 ///
477 /// # A KNOWN FALSE RED IN THE WITHDRAWAL, STATED PLAINLY
478 ///
479 /// A gRPC worker running at its full concurrency stops reading its task
480 /// stream: the worker runtime's receive loop waits for a concurrency permit
481 /// before it reads the next frame, so a ping already on the wire is not
482 /// answered until a permit frees. A worker saturated for longer than one
483 /// probe cadence therefore LOOKS silent while it is in fact working, and
484 /// this WARN will say its dispatch path is unreachable when the truth is
485 /// that it is busy. The line is honest about what was measured — no answer
486 /// arrived — and wrong about what that means.
487 ///
488 /// It is bounded and self-healing, and no operator action is required:
489 /// eligibility is withdrawn, so no further dispatch is sent to that worker;
490 /// the worker finishes its in-flight activities and its permits free; it
491 /// reads and answers the next ping; it serves its two-ping probation and
492 /// returns to the eligible set with the INFO all-clear. In-flight work is
493 /// untouched throughout — this verdict governs who may be SELECTED, never
494 /// what happens to work already dispatched.
495 ///
496 /// The fix is on the admission path (the receive loop must read a frame
497 /// before it waits for a permit), which is a change to how work is
498 /// ACCEPTED, not to how liveness is measured, and it is board item #206.
499 /// This paragraph is struck by the change that lands it.
500 ///
501 /// It is written here rather than left to the reviewer's notes because a
502 /// verdict must not lie about what it measured: an operator reading a
503 /// withdrawal for a saturated worker deserves to find, at the place the
504 /// reason is minted, that this case is known, is not their fault, and needs
505 /// nothing from them.
506 fn publish_reachability_verdict(&self, sequence: u64) {
507 let now = Instant::now();
508 let unreachable = match self.tracker.unreachable_workers(now) {
509 Ok(workers) => workers,
510 Err(error) => {
511 warn!(
512 %error,
513 liveness_ping = sequence,
514 "could not read liminal worker reachability; leaving the previous dispatch \
515 eligibility verdict in place rather than guessing"
516 );
517 return;
518 }
519 };
520 let excluded_now: BTreeSet<WorkerId> = unreachable
521 .iter()
522 .map(|excluded| excluded.worker_id)
523 .collect();
524 // The previous verdict is what makes a transition a transition. If it
525 // cannot be read the announcements are SKIPPED rather than guessed —
526 // assuming an empty previous set would re-announce every standing
527 // exclusion as though it had just happened. The verdict itself still
528 // publishes below: gating dispatch is the load-bearing half, and it
529 // must not be dropped because the narration failed.
530 match self.registry.dispatch_ineligible() {
531 Ok(previously_excluded) => {
532 self.announce_transitions(
533 sequence,
534 &previously_excluded,
535 &unreachable,
536 &excluded_now,
537 );
538 }
539 Err(error) => warn!(
540 %error,
541 liveness_ping = sequence,
542 "could not read the published liminal dispatch eligibility set; this round's \
543 eligibility changes go UNANNOUNCED, though the verdict itself is still published"
544 ),
545 }
546 if let Err(error) = self.registry.set_dispatch_ineligible(excluded_now) {
547 warn!(
548 %error,
549 liveness_ping = sequence,
550 "could not publish liminal worker dispatch eligibility; selection keeps the \
551 previous verdict"
552 );
553 }
554 }
555
556 /// Say what changed this round — and only what changed, so a persistently
557 /// excluded worker does not re-log every cadence.
558 fn announce_transitions(
559 &self,
560 sequence: u64,
561 previously_excluded: &BTreeSet<WorkerId>,
562 unreachable: &[ExcludedWorker],
563 excluded_now: &BTreeSet<WorkerId>,
564 ) {
565 for excluded in unreachable {
566 let Some(announcement) = transition(
567 previously_excluded.contains(&excluded.worker_id),
568 Some(excluded.exclusion),
569 ) else {
570 continue;
571 };
572 self.say(sequence, excluded.worker_id, announcement);
573 }
574 for worker_id in previously_excluded.difference(excluded_now) {
575 // A worker that DEPARTED is not a worker that recovered. The
576 // registry read is the discriminator: an entry no longer in it left
577 // the fleet, and announcing its recovery would be a fabrication.
578 let Some(task_queue) = self.task_queue_of(*worker_id) else {
579 continue;
580 };
581 let Some(announcement) = transition(true, None) else {
582 continue;
583 };
584 self.say_with_queue(sequence, *worker_id, &task_queue, announcement);
585 }
586 }
587
588 /// Emit one announcement, resolving the worker's queue for the line.
589 fn say(&self, sequence: u64, worker_id: WorkerId, announcement: Announcement) {
590 let task_queue = self
591 .task_queue_of(worker_id)
592 .unwrap_or_else(|| "<unregistered>".to_owned());
593 self.say_with_queue(sequence, worker_id, &task_queue, announcement);
594 }
595
596 /// Emit one announcement against an already-resolved queue.
597 fn say_with_queue(
598 &self,
599 sequence: u64,
600 worker_id: WorkerId,
601 task_queue: &str,
602 announcement: Announcement,
603 ) {
604 let transport = self.transport_of(worker_id);
605 match announcement {
606 Announcement::ProbationOpened { answers } => info!(
607 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
608 task_queue,
609 transport,
610 liveness_ping = sequence,
611 answers_banked = answers,
612 answers_required = DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS,
613 "worker is SERVING ITS DISPATCH PROBATION: it has answered {answers} of \
614 {DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS} consecutive liveness pings since it connected, and is \
615 not selected for dispatch until the run is complete. This is the ordinary cost of \
616 connecting — every healthy worker start passes through it, on every transport — \
617 not a fault, and not a statement that anything is unreachable"
618 ),
619 Announcement::EligibilityWithdrawn => warn!(
620 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
621 task_queue,
622 transport,
623 liveness_ping = sequence,
624 answers_required = DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS,
625 silence_window_ms = self.silence_window.as_millis(),
626 "WITHDRAWING DISPATCH ELIGIBILITY from worker: it had PROVED its dispatch path \
627 reachable on this connection and the server can no longer prove it — either a \
628 liveness ping failed or the last proof aged out of the window. It stays \
629 registered and keeps its in-flight work, and becomes eligible again after \
630 {DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS} consecutive answered pings"
631 ),
632 Announcement::EligibilityRestored => info!(
633 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
634 task_queue,
635 transport,
636 liveness_ping = sequence,
637 "DISPATCH ELIGIBILITY RESTORED to worker: it has answered a full run of \
638 consecutive liveness pings, so the server can again prove it reaches this \
639 worker's dispatch path. Dispatch selection includes it from now"
640 ),
641 }
642 }
643
644 /// The transport a worker is delivered over, for the announcement line.
645 ///
646 /// `"<unregistered>"` when the worker has left the registry or the registry
647 /// cannot be read — a departed worker's transport is genuinely unknowable
648 /// here, and naming one would be a fabrication.
649 fn transport_of(&self, worker_id: WorkerId) -> &'static str {
650 match self.registry.worker_by_id(worker_id) {
651 Ok(Some(handle)) => match handle.delivery() {
652 WorkerDelivery::Grpc(_) => ProbedTransport::Grpc.name(),
653 #[cfg(feature = "liminal-transport")]
654 WorkerDelivery::Liminal(_) => ProbedTransport::Liminal { pid: 0 }.name(),
655 },
656 Ok(None) | Err(_) => "<unregistered>",
657 }
658 }
659
660 /// Apply one connection's ping outcome: a correct answer advances dispatch
661 /// reachability, anything else is logged LOUDLY, proves nothing, and RESETS
662 /// the probation — proof of reachability must be a consecutive run.
663 fn apply_answer(
664 &self,
665 pid: u64,
666 worker_id: WorkerId,
667 sequence: u64,
668 outcome: Result<Result<LivenessPong, PingFailure>, tokio::task::JoinError>,
669 ) {
670 let failure = match outcome {
671 Err(join_error) => {
672 PingFailure::Unanswered(format!("ping task failed to run: {join_error}"))
673 }
674 Ok(Err(failure)) => failure,
675 Ok(Ok(pong)) if pong.liveness_pong != sequence => PingFailure::Unanswered(format!(
676 "worker answered with mismatched sequence {}",
677 pong.liveness_pong
678 )),
679 Ok(Ok(_)) => {
680 self.record_reachable(ProbedTransport::Liminal { pid }, worker_id);
681 return;
682 }
683 };
684 self.record_unreachable(
685 ProbedTransport::Liminal { pid },
686 worker_id,
687 sequence,
688 failure,
689 );
690 }
691
692 /// The gRPC counterpart of [`Self::apply_answer`] (#197).
693 ///
694 /// Deliberately the same two outcomes fed into the same two recorders: the
695 /// only gRPC-specific step is that a mismatched echo cannot reach here at
696 /// all, because the correlation registry
697 /// ([`GrpcLivenessWaiters::answer`](super::grpc_liveness::GrpcLivenessWaiters::answer))
698 /// refuses to match one — so an echo that arrives is by construction the
699 /// sequence that was sent.
700 fn apply_grpc_answer(
701 &self,
702 worker_id: WorkerId,
703 sequence: u64,
704 outcome: Result<u64, PingFailure>,
705 ) {
706 match outcome {
707 Ok(echoed) if echoed == sequence => {
708 self.record_reachable(ProbedTransport::Grpc, worker_id);
709 }
710 Ok(echoed) => self.record_unreachable(
711 ProbedTransport::Grpc,
712 worker_id,
713 sequence,
714 PingFailure::Unanswered(format!(
715 "worker answered with mismatched sequence {echoed}"
716 )),
717 ),
718 Err(failure) => {
719 self.record_unreachable(ProbedTransport::Grpc, worker_id, sequence, failure);
720 }
721 }
722 }
723
724 /// Bank one answered ping: the ONE thing that proves the server can reach
725 /// this worker's DISPATCH path.
726 ///
727 /// Only an answer advances reachability — an inbound frame proves the
728 /// opposite direction and cannot stand in for it. A `false` return from the
729 /// tracker means the worker was already deregistered (an answer racing a
730 /// reap); an answer must never resurrect it.
731 fn record_reachable(&self, transport: ProbedTransport, worker_id: WorkerId) {
732 if let Err(error) = self
733 .tracker
734 .record_dispatch_reachability(worker_id, Instant::now())
735 {
736 warn!(
737 %error,
738 connection_pid = transport.pid(),
739 transport = transport.name(),
740 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
741 "failed to record worker dispatch reachability from a liveness answer"
742 );
743 }
744 }
745
746 /// Record one FAILED ping and say which of the two failures it was.
747 ///
748 /// A probation is CONSECUTIVE, so any failure resets it to zero. Without
749 /// this the counter would be cumulative, and a link that answers one probe
750 /// in three would still accrue its way to eligibility and then flap in and
751 /// out of it forever — which is exactly the defect the probation exists to
752 /// stop. Both failure classes reset: whether we could not ask or the worker
753 /// did not answer, the run of answers is broken either way. `Ok(false)`
754 /// means the worker was already deregistered; nothing to reset.
755 fn record_unreachable(
756 &self,
757 transport: ProbedTransport,
758 worker_id: WorkerId,
759 sequence: u64,
760 failure: PingFailure,
761 ) {
762 if let Err(error) = self.tracker.record_dispatch_unreachable(worker_id) {
763 warn!(
764 %error,
765 connection_pid = transport.pid(),
766 transport = transport.name(),
767 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
768 "failed to reset worker dispatch probation after a failed liveness ping; \
769 its eligibility may outlive the proof that earned it"
770 );
771 }
772 // The two failures are DIFFERENT FACTS and the operator must be able to
773 // tell them apart: one is about the worker, the other is about us.
774 let task_queue = self
775 .task_queue_of(worker_id)
776 .unwrap_or_else(|| "<unregistered>".to_owned());
777 let transport_name = transport.name();
778 match failure {
779 PingFailure::Unaskable(reason) => warn!(
780 connection_pid = transport.pid(),
781 transport = transport_name,
782 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
783 task_queue = %task_queue,
784 liveness_ping = sequence,
785 reason = %reason,
786 silence_window_ms = self.silence_window.as_millis(),
787 "THE SERVER COULD NOT ASK this {transport_name} worker for liveness — the push \
788 itself was refused, so nothing was sent and the worker has no idea it was probed. \
789 A dispatch would be refused by the same channel for the same reason. This says \
790 nothing about whether the worker is healthy; it says this server cannot currently \
791 reach it. Its dispatch eligibility is withdrawn NOW and it must answer a full run \
792 of consecutive pings to earn it back"
793 ),
794 PingFailure::Unanswered(reason) => warn!(
795 connection_pid = transport.pid(),
796 transport = transport_name,
797 worker_id = worker_id.value(),
798 task_queue = %task_queue,
799 liveness_ping = sequence,
800 reason = %reason,
801 silence_window_ms = self.silence_window.as_millis(),
802 "{transport_name} worker did not answer its liveness ping; the server could not \
803 prove it can reach this worker's dispatch path, so its dispatch eligibility is \
804 withdrawn NOW and it must answer a full run of consecutive pings to earn it back \
805 — an unanswered probe is direct evidence about the push leg, not mere silence. \
806 NOTE: the worker's connection lease may still be fresh — its liveness pump beats \
807 from a background task and keeps proving the process is alive — so do NOT expect \
808 an expiry sweep to reap it"
809 ),
810 }
811 }
812
813 /// The task queue a worker is registered on, for the WARN line. `None` when
814 /// the worker is no longer in the registry (already reaped).
815 fn task_queue_of(&self, worker_id: WorkerId) -> Option<String> {
816 self.registry
817 .worker_by_id(worker_id)
818 .ok()
819 .flatten()
820 .map(|handle| handle.task_queue().to_owned())
821 }
822}
823
824/// Push one ping and block for its correlated answer, bounded by `deadline`.
825///
826/// Runs on a blocking thread: the liminal push/await pair is thread-based, not
827/// async. Every failure is rendered as a reason string, because at this layer
828/// the distinction that matters is "answered" vs "did not answer" — the typed
829/// error text rides into the WARN verbatim.
830/// A change in one worker's dispatch standing that the operator must be told
831/// about — never the standing state itself, so a persistently excluded worker
832/// does not re-log every cadence.
833#[derive(Clone, Copy, Debug, PartialEq, Eq)]
834enum Announcement {
835 /// A freshly connected worker began serving its probation. Ordinary.
836 ProbationOpened {
837 /// Consecutive answers banked when the probation was announced.
838 answers: u32,
839 },
840 /// A worker that HELD eligibility lost it. An incident.
841 EligibilityWithdrawn,
842 /// A worker that was excluded is dispatchable again.
843 EligibilityRestored,
844}
845
846/// The whole truth table for one worker's standing between two rounds.
847///
848/// Pure and total on purpose: the four inputs are exhaustively enumerated in
849/// the tests, which is the only way to be sure the alarming half and the
850/// reassuring half are both reachable. The old code had no such function — the
851/// decision was inlined and only ever produced one of the three lines, so the
852/// missing two were invisible.
853const fn transition(
854 was_excluded: bool,
855 now_excluded: Option<DispatchExclusion>,
856) -> Option<Announcement> {
857 match (was_excluded, now_excluded) {
858 // Newly excluded. WHICH exclusion decides whether this is news.
859 (false, Some(DispatchExclusion::OpeningProbation { answers })) => {
860 Some(Announcement::ProbationOpened { answers })
861 }
862 (false, Some(DispatchExclusion::ReachabilityLost)) => {
863 Some(Announcement::EligibilityWithdrawn)
864 }
865 // Left the exclusion set: the all-clear.
866 (true, None) => Some(Announcement::EligibilityRestored),
867 // No CHANGE in standing, by either route: a worker still excluded (its
868 // exclusion was announced when it began, and repeating it every cadence
869 // is how a log stops being read), or one that was eligible and stayed
870 // eligible. Both are silence, for different reasons.
871 (true, Some(_)) | (false, None) => None,
872 }
873}
874
875fn ping_one(
876 delivery: &LiminalWorkerDelivery,
877 payload: Vec<u8>,
878 deadline: Duration,
879) -> Result<LivenessPong, PingFailure> {
880 // The deadline is attached to the PUSH, not just to the wait. Without it the
881 // reply slot is reclaimed only by a consumed reply or a connection close, so
882 // abandoning an unanswered ping every cadence leaks one slot per round until
883 // the connection's push cap is exhausted and nothing — ping, dispatch or
884 // intervention — can be pushed to that worker again.
885 let awaiter = delivery
886 .push_payload_with_deadline(payload, deadline)
887 .map_err(|error| PingFailure::Unaskable(error.to_string()))?;
888 let reply = awaiter
889 .receive(deadline)
890 .map_err(|error| PingFailure::Unanswered(format!("no answer arrived: {error}")))?;
891 serde_json::from_slice(&reply)
892 .map_err(|error| PingFailure::Unanswered(format!("answer could not be decoded: {error}")))
893}
894
895#[cfg(test)]
896mod tests {
897 use std::sync::Arc;
898 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
899
900 use super::super::heartbeat::{DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS, HeartbeatTracker};
901 use super::super::liminal_transport::LiminalConnectionNotifier;
902 use super::super::registry::{ConnectedWorkerRegistry, WorkerId};
903 use super::{
904 Announcement, DispatchExclusion, LivenessPing, LivenessPong, LivenessProbe, PingFailure,
905 transition,
906 };
907
908 /// The WHOLE truth table, enumerated. Four inputs, and every one of them is
909 /// asserted here — which is the only way to be sure both the alarming and
910 /// the reassuring outcomes are reachable.
911 ///
912 /// The version of this logic that shipped until 2026-08-05 could emit
913 /// exactly one of these lines. The other two were not wrong; they did not
914 /// exist, so an operator saw the withdrawal on every healthy worker start
915 /// and never saw the recovery that followed seconds later.
916 #[test]
917 fn every_standing_change_has_exactly_one_announcement() {
918 assert_eq!(
919 transition(
920 false,
921 Some(DispatchExclusion::OpeningProbation { answers: 1 })
922 ),
923 Some(Announcement::ProbationOpened { answers: 1 }),
924 "a fresh connection serving its probation is ORDINARY and must not be announced as a \
925 worker the server cannot reach"
926 );
927 assert_eq!(
928 transition(false, Some(DispatchExclusion::ReachabilityLost)),
929 Some(Announcement::EligibilityWithdrawn),
930 "losing eligibility that was actually held is the incident the WARN exists for"
931 );
932 assert_eq!(
933 transition(true, None),
934 Some(Announcement::EligibilityRestored),
935 "the all-clear must be said out loud — an alarm nobody cancels is read as ongoing"
936 );
937 assert_eq!(
938 transition(true, Some(DispatchExclusion::ReachabilityLost)),
939 None,
940 "a standing exclusion must not re-log every cadence"
941 );
942 assert_eq!(
943 transition(
944 true,
945 Some(DispatchExclusion::OpeningProbation { answers: 0 })
946 ),
947 None,
948 "including while a still-excluded worker is still serving its probation"
949 );
950 assert_eq!(
951 transition(false, None),
952 None,
953 "an eligible worker that stayed eligible is not news"
954 );
955 }
956
957 /// The ping/pong pair round-trips with stable field names — the cross-crate
958 /// wire contract with `aion-worker`'s mirror of these types. A drift here is
959 /// a wire break, so the exact JSON is pinned.
960 #[test]
961 fn the_liveness_pair_round_trips_through_json() -> Result<(), serde_json::Error> {
962 let ping = LivenessPing {
963 liveness_ping: 7,
964 silence_window_ms: 30_000,
965 };
966 let encoded = serde_json::to_string(&ping)?;
967 assert_eq!(encoded, r#"{"liveness_ping":7,"silence_window_ms":30000}"#);
968 assert_eq!(serde_json::from_str::<LivenessPing>(&encoded)?, ping);
969
970 let answer = LivenessPong { liveness_pong: 7 };
971 let encoded = serde_json::to_string(&answer)?;
972 assert_eq!(encoded, r#"{"liveness_pong":7}"#);
973 assert_eq!(serde_json::from_str::<LivenessPong>(&encoded)?, answer);
974 Ok(())
975 }
976
977 /// A ping decodes as NEITHER of the other two frames that share the push
978 /// channel, and neither of them decodes as a ping — the demux contract the
979 /// worker's serve loop relies on.
980 #[test]
981 fn a_liveness_ping_is_disjoint_from_the_other_pushed_frames() -> Result<(), serde_json::Error> {
982 let ping = serde_json::to_vec(&LivenessPing {
983 liveness_ping: 1,
984 silence_window_ms: 1_000,
985 })?;
986 assert!(
987 serde_json::from_slice::<super::super::liminal_transport::DispatchRequest>(&ping)
988 .is_err(),
989 "a liveness ping must never decode as a dispatch"
990 );
991 assert!(
992 serde_json::from_slice::<super::super::liminal_transport::InterventionRequest>(&ping)
993 .is_err(),
994 "a liveness ping must never decode as an intervention"
995 );
996 Ok(())
997 }
998
999 /// Both timings derive from the operator's heartbeat window, with no
1000 /// separate knob: the cadence is the sweeper's quarter-window derivation and
1001 /// the declared silence window is the heartbeat window itself.
1002 #[test]
1003 fn probe_timings_derive_from_the_heartbeat_window() {
1004 let window = Duration::from_secs(30);
1005 assert_eq!(super::sweep_interval(window), Duration::from_millis(7_500));
1006 // The declared window IS the operator's window; the cadence divides it,
1007 // so a healthy connection is refreshed four times per window.
1008 assert!(super::sweep_interval(window) * 4 <= window);
1009 }
1010
1011 /// 🔴 THE WIRING PIN. The probation lives in the tracker, but only the probe
1012 /// can tell it a ping FAILED — and a probe that recorded successes and
1013 /// dropped failures would compile, log its WARN lines exactly as it does
1014 /// now, and leave the probation permanently unreset. The eligibility bug
1015 /// would be silently back with every test in `heartbeat` still green,
1016 /// because those tests drive the tracker directly and never go through this
1017 /// seam.
1018 ///
1019 /// Every failure class is asserted individually. The fourth arm — a
1020 /// `JoinError` from the ping task — converges on the same
1021 /// `PingFailure::Unanswered` path these two take, one line above the reset.
1022 #[test]
1023 fn every_failed_probe_class_withdraws_dispatch_eligibility() {
1024 let window = Duration::from_secs(30);
1025 let worker = WorkerId::from_value(1);
1026 let start = Instant::now();
1027
1028 // Each class gets its own probe and its own served probation, so a class
1029 // cannot pass by inheriting the withdrawal an earlier class performed.
1030 let failures = [
1031 (
1032 "the push was refused, so nothing was even asked",
1033 Ok(Err(PingFailure::Unaskable("push refused".to_owned()))),
1034 ),
1035 (
1036 "the ping was sent and no answer came back",
1037 Ok(Err(PingFailure::Unanswered("no answer arrived".to_owned()))),
1038 ),
1039 (
1040 "an answer came back carrying the wrong sequence",
1041 Ok(Ok(LivenessPong { liveness_pong: 99 })),
1042 ),
1043 ];
1044
1045 for (class, outcome) in failures {
1046 let registry = ConnectedWorkerRegistry::default();
1047 let tracker = HeartbeatTracker::new(window);
1048 let probe = LivenessProbe::new(
1049 Arc::new(LiminalConnectionNotifier::new(registry.clone())),
1050 tracker.clone(),
1051 registry,
1052 window,
1053 );
1054
1055 assert!(
1056 tracker.register_connection(worker, start).is_ok(),
1057 "tracker registration must succeed for {class}"
1058 );
1059 for _ in 0..DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS {
1060 assert!(
1061 tracker
1062 .record_dispatch_reachability(worker, start)
1063 .is_ok_and(|tracked| tracked),
1064 "the worker serves its probation before {class}"
1065 );
1066 }
1067 assert!(
1068 tracker
1069 .is_dispatch_reachable(worker, start)
1070 .is_ok_and(|reachable| reachable),
1071 "precondition: the worker is eligible before {class}"
1072 );
1073
1074 // Sequence 1 is the ping that was sent; the mismatched-answer case
1075 // deliberately answers 99.
1076 probe.apply_answer(7, worker, 1, outcome);
1077
1078 assert!(
1079 tracker
1080 .is_dispatch_reachable(worker, start)
1081 .is_ok_and(|reachable| !reachable),
1082 "the probe must withdraw dispatch eligibility when {class} — otherwise the \
1083 probation never resets and a one-way link keeps its eligibility forever"
1084 );
1085 }
1086 }
1087
1088 /// The control for the pin above: the SUCCESS path through the same seam
1089 /// must keep eligibility. Without it, a probe that withdrew eligibility on
1090 /// every outcome — including healthy answers — would satisfy every
1091 /// assertion above and strand every worker on the fleet.
1092 #[test]
1093 fn an_answered_probe_keeps_dispatch_eligibility_through_the_same_seam() {
1094 let window = Duration::from_secs(30);
1095 let worker = WorkerId::from_value(1);
1096 let start = Instant::now();
1097 let registry = ConnectedWorkerRegistry::default();
1098 let tracker = HeartbeatTracker::new(window);
1099 let probe = LivenessProbe::new(
1100 Arc::new(LiminalConnectionNotifier::new(registry.clone())),
1101 tracker.clone(),
1102 registry,
1103 window,
1104 );
1105
1106 assert!(tracker.register_connection(worker, start).is_ok());
1107 for sequence in 1..=u64::from(DISPATCH_PROBATION_PINGS) {
1108 probe.apply_answer(
1109 7,
1110 worker,
1111 sequence,
1112 Ok(Ok(LivenessPong {
1113 liveness_pong: sequence,
1114 })),
1115 );
1116 }
1117
1118 assert!(
1119 tracker
1120 .is_dispatch_reachable(worker, start)
1121 .is_ok_and(|reachable| reachable),
1122 "answered probes must EARN eligibility through the probe seam, not merely fail to \
1123 withdraw it"
1124 );
1125 }
1126}