workflow: pin thenable-return semantics as documented async-JS behavior

Codex code-review round 4 flagged the return channel: an async IIFE
Promise-assimilates a returned thenable, so its then() runs past the sync
slice and the RESOLUTION replaces the raw object. Verified against the real
engine and judged behavior, not defect:

- Assimilation is standard JavaScript (an async function's returned thenable
  resolves before the caller sees it) and is load-bearing ergonomics: an
  un-awaited 'return agent(...)' / 'return parallel(...)' resolves to the
  intended value precisely because of it. Rejecting callable-then returns
  would break that; intercepting pre-assimilation is spec-impossible (the
  Get(v,'then') and job enqueue are internal to promise resolution).
- The realm-boundary guard applies to the RESOLUTION (a thenable resolving to
  non-JSON is still RESULT_UNSERIALIZABLE), so nothing crosses unmaterialized.
- A spin inside a returned thenable's then() is the same accepted class as any
  post-slice spin (it runs on the microtask queue, past the vm timeout's
  reach); the docs previously said 'after the first await', which was too
  narrow — reworded to 'past the initial synchronous slice (an await
  continuation, or a thenable's then invoked by promise resolution)'.

Pinned with an engine test (un-awaited return agent(); custom thenable
resolution as the return value; thenable resolving to non-JSON rejects), and
the limitation wording updated in the module doc, README, and RFC.
This commit is contained in:
Tianyi Cui
2026-07-05 20:57:51 +08:00
parent fff2e1f33d
commit 95c8c878e1
4 changed files with 26 additions and 9 deletions

View File

@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ One deliberate strictness DIVERGENCE from CC: hook misuse — unknown or deferre
### The engine (dsh-workflow-vm): in-process node:vm
**Why node:vm and not isolated-vm/worker threads**: isolated-vm is in maintenance mode, needs `--no-node-snapshot` on EVERY consumer process (including the published bins) on Node ≥ 20, and falls back to node-gyp source builds; a worker-thread engine turns every hook into RPC and complicates the per-file coverage gate. Scripts are model-written — the same trust level as the model's existing bash access — so genuine sandboxing is not the current requirement. The interface/implementation split exists precisely so a hardened engine can swap in later. Accepted, documented limitations: vm is not a security boundary, and the vm timeout covers only the initial synchronous slice — a pathological synchronous spin after the first await cannot be killed in-process; `dispose()` cancels, waits a bounded grace for the script to settle and its children to finish disposing, then abandons.
**Why node:vm and not isolated-vm/worker threads**: isolated-vm is in maintenance mode, needs `--no-node-snapshot` on EVERY consumer process (including the published bins) on Node ≥ 20, and falls back to node-gyp source builds; a worker-thread engine turns every hook into RPC and complicates the per-file coverage gate. Scripts are model-written — the same trust level as the model's existing bash access — so genuine sandboxing is not the current requirement. The interface/implementation split exists precisely so a hardened engine can swap in later. Accepted, documented limitations: vm is not a security boundary, and the vm timeout covers only the initial synchronous slice — a pathological synchronous spin in realm code past that slice (an await continuation, or a thenable's `then` invoked by promise resolution — a returned thenable resolves per JavaScript semantics, which is what makes an un-awaited `return agent('x')` work) cannot be killed in-process; `dispose()` cancels, waits a bounded grace for the script to settle and its children to finish disposing, then abandons.
**Meta extraction**: a string/comment-aware brace scanner (template interpolation rejected) finds the literal; it is evaluated ALONE in an empty, timed vm context; the result must materialize to plain JSON data and pass shape validation (unknown fields rejected loud); the statement is blanked line-preservingly so stacks keep script line numbers.