zara-avatar: stop idle Electron renderer CPU burn and gate it in CI #83

New issue

Closed

opened 2026-09-08 02:02:56 +00:00 by nsaspy · 0 comments

nsaspy commented

2026-09-08 02:02:56 +00:00

Owner

Observed on Linux/NixOS: the installed zara-avatar Electron renderer (~/.local/share/zara/renderer/node_modules/electron/dist/electron) can consume ~100% of one CPU core. Killing Zara dropped whole-system CPU/load from roughly 20%+ to ~4%, strongly isolating the renderer as the culprit.

Current renderer code starts THREE.WebGLRenderer.setAnimationLoop(() => update()) unconditionally, including while the BrowserWindow is hidden and while no avatar is loaded.

Acceptance:

hidden renderer with no avatar does not continuously render;
visible renderer with no avatar does not continuously render;
showing a loaded avatar resumes animation; hiding/minimizing pauses it; restoring/showing resumes without a huge time-step;
CI launches the real Electron renderer under Xvfb, samples the entire Electron process tree through Linux /proc, and fails on sustained idle CPU regression;
CPU measurements are uploaded as CI artifacts;
existing plugin/registry checks remain green.

Observed on Linux/NixOS: the installed zara-avatar Electron renderer (`~/.local/share/zara/renderer/node_modules/electron/dist/electron`) can consume ~100% of one CPU core. Killing Zara dropped whole-system CPU/load from roughly 20%+ to ~4%, strongly isolating the renderer as the culprit. Current renderer code starts `THREE.WebGLRenderer.setAnimationLoop(() => update())` unconditionally, including while the BrowserWindow is hidden and while no avatar is loaded. Acceptance: - hidden renderer with no avatar does not continuously render; - visible renderer with no avatar does not continuously render; - showing a loaded avatar resumes animation; hiding/minimizing pauses it; restoring/showing resumes without a huge time-step; - CI launches the real Electron renderer under Xvfb, samples the entire Electron process tree through Linux `/proc`, and fails on sustained idle CPU regression; - CPU measurements are uploaded as CI artifacts; - existing plugin/registry checks remain green.

nsaspy closed this issue

2026-09-08 02:02:56 +00:00

nsaspy referenced this issue

2026-09-08 02:03:40 +00:00

zara-shell: constrained local command execution tools #5