Brainy 7.30.0 introduced a memory-derived synchronous cap on `find({ limit })`
to prevent OOM. The cap was sound in intent but ~4x too conservative in
calibration: assumed 100 KB per result while typical entity footprint is 7-10 KB
(384-dim float32 vector ≈ 1.5 KB + standard fields + metadata). On a 900 MB
free-memory box the cap derived to 9000 — breaking common safety-cap patterns
like `find({ type, where, limit: 10_000 })` that typically return 10-500
entities. Surfaced as a runtime regression with cascading 500s degrading
production dashboards.
Three concurrent fixes:
A. RECALIBRATE THE FORMULA
- src/utils/paramValidation.ts:175,196,212 — the three memory-derived priorities
(reservedQueryMemory / containerMemory / freeMemory) all divided by
100 * 1024 * 1024 (100 KB per result, ~10-15x over conservative). Replaced
with a new MAX_LIMIT_KB_PER_RESULT = 25 constant that matches observed
entity size.
- Result: 4 GB container cap goes 10_000 → 40_000; 2 GB cap goes 5_000 →
20_000; 900 MB free-memory cap goes 9_000 → ~36_000. 100k hard ceiling
unchanged. `maxQueryLimit` / `reservedQueryMemory` constructor overrides
unchanged in behavior.
B. TWO-TIER ENFORCEMENT (warn-then-throw)
- Below cap (limit <= maxLimit): silent pass, unchanged.
- Soft tier (maxLimit < limit <= 2 * maxLimit): NEW — one-time warning per
call site (dedup keyed on caller stack frame + limit value), query
proceeds. Pre-7.30.2 code that relied on the cap silently allowing typical
safety-cap limits keeps working; the warning teaches the recipe so consumers
can fix it intentionally.
- Hard tier (limit > 2 * maxLimit): throw with the same teaching message
format. Real OOM territory; the cap stops being a recommendation and becomes
a guardrail.
- The 2x soft margin absorbs typical safety-cap patterns (limit: 10_000
against a 9 K-cap box) without disabling OOM protection. Real OOM territory
on a JS in-memory brain is hundreds of thousands of results, not 10x the
safety cap.
C. IMPROVED ERROR / WARNING MESSAGE
- Same shape as the 7.30.1 enforcement-error messages: state the problem,
name the three escape valves (maxQueryLimit / reservedQueryMemory /
pagination), include caller location, link to docs.
- Extracted findCallerLocation() helper from brainy.ts to a new
src/utils/callerLocation.ts so both the subtype enforcement (7.30.1) and
the limit enforcement (7.30.2) share one implementation without circular
imports.
DOCS
- New docs/guides/find-limits.md (public: true) — full reference: why the cap
exists, the four memory sources the auto-config considers, the three escape
valves with when-to-use-which guidance, and an explicit "pagination is the
future-proof pattern" callout (8.0 may tighten the cap further; pagination
keeps working unchanged).
- docs/api/README.md find() entry gets a one-paragraph `limit` tip + pointer
to the new guide.
- RELEASES.md v7.30.2 entry.
TESTS
- New tests/integration/find-limits.test.ts (9 tests): below-cap silent pass;
soft-tier warns once per call site (dedup verified by exercising same vs.
different source lines via wrapper closures); soft-tier message format
(names all three escape valves + docs link); soft-tier message includes
caller location; hard-tier throws; hard-tier message format same as
soft-tier; consumer maxQueryLimit override raises the cap and shifts both
tiers accordingly; pre-7.30.2 regression scenario explicitly covered.
- tests/unit/utils/memoryLimits.test.ts — 4 tests updated for the recalibrated
cap values (hardcoded expected numbers bumped 4x to match new 25 KB/result
assumption).
- tests/unit/utils/paramValidation.test.ts — auto-limit test extended to cover
the three-tier semantics (below-cap pass / soft-tier silent / hard-tier
throw).
- Existing suites unchanged: subtype-and-facets 26/26, verb-subtype-and-
enforcement 30/30, strict-mode-self-test 13/13. Unit 1468/1468.
CORTEX COMPATIBILITY
- Zero Cortex changes required. Every change is JS-side: formula recalibration
runs in ValidationConfig.constructor(), two-tier enforcement runs in
validateFindParams(), both fire before any storage / index / Cortex call.
- The new guide notes that Brainy 8.0's Datomic-style Db.find() may tighten
per-call limits to keep snapshot semantics cheap; pagination remains the
pattern that's guaranteed to keep working.
REPO-WIDE CLEANUP
Brainy is the only Soulcraft project that is open source. This commit also
scrubs closed-source product names and product-specific class/field references
from every tracked file in the repo (src/, docs/, tests/, RELEASES.md,
CHANGELOG.md). Consumer-reported bugs, regression scenarios, and release
notes now refer to "a consumer", "a downstream application", "a production
deployment", or "an internal report" — never to the named product. Two
product-named test files renamed to neutral diagnostic names. CLAUDE.md gains
a project-level guard rule documenting the policy and an example list of the
identifiers that may not appear in tracked code.
Verification
- npx tsc --noEmit: clean
- npm test: 1468 / 1468 unit
- All four integration subtype + verb + strict + find-limits suites: 78/78
- npm run build: clean
- Closed-source product reference audit: clean
David Snelling
9e307e457f