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Phase 4.0 Cache Checkpoint - Summary

Status

Phase 4.0 checkpoint: ✅ Complete

Decision: No runtime cache change proposed

Production workload closure: ✅ #123 accepts shallow replay backing plus lazy Markdown publication; no core cache/renderer/virtual-scroll change justified


Core Decision

No per-style Cell cache capacity or eviction change is justified by the currently measured synthetic workloads.

Keep unchanged:

  • MAX_CACHED_CELLS_PER_STYLE = 128
  • Clear-all eviction policy
  • No LRU/LFU implementation

Rationale: Insufficient evidence to justify modification, not proof of optimality.


What Was Measured

  • 8 synthetic profiler workloads
  • Cell cache hit rates and bucket distribution
  • Text cache behavior (limited coverage)
  • Wrap cache width-bucket behavior
  • Grapheme timing (advisory, single-run)

Key Findings

Per-Style Cell Capacity

  • Decision: No change justified
  • Data: Repeated CJK 99.98% hit, Mixed 37.49% hit, 0 clears
  • Limitation: Mixed uses fresh Style per line (sharded), doesn't validate reused styles

Eviction Strategy

  • Decision: Inconclusive
  • Limitation: No post-clear reuse workload

Text Cache Sizing

  • Decision: Inconclusive
  • Limitation: 1000 < MAX 1024, capacity not exercised

Wrap Cache

  • Decision: Per-width capacity not measured
  • Data: Outer width-bucket instrumentation validated

Grapheme

  • Decision: Not measured with decision-grade timing
  • Conclusion: Inconclusive (counter coverage confirmed; no isolated segmentation benchmark)

Long Text / inlineLineCache

  • Decision: Not measured

Style Cardinality

  • Decision: Not measured (registered ≠ live)

Critical Limitations

Measurement Issues

  • Heap measurements invalid for retained-memory analysis (excluded from decisions)
  • Registered buckets ≠ live production buckets
  • Mixed workload artificially sharded (fresh Style per line)

Coverage Gaps

  • No reused style with >128 characters
  • No eviction-sensitive workload
  • No capacity threshold testing
  • No long text scenarios
  • No production traces

What Is NOT Claimed

❌ Current cache is validated ❌ Current cache performs well (globally) ❌ 90%+ safety margin for reused styles ❌ Segmentation is cheap ❌ Text/wrap sizing is adequate ❌ All gates failed ❌ Cache work complete


Next Steps

Completed: Phase 3 Production Overhead Validation

#122 removed instrumentation from production artifacts and passed built-dist/consumer validation; #119 is closed. #123 completed the production Agent Console profile and accepted two contained Agent Console optimizations: mutable shallow replay-history backing and lazy Markdown-block publication in Log mode. Cache/long-text/provider/renderer-architecture/virtual-scroll remain no-change for the measured workload.


Optional: Phase 4.1 Cache Workload Validation

Phase 4.1 is optional only if cache optimization is explicitly deferred.

Required before:

  • Claiming cache strategy is validated
  • Changing cache capacity or eviction
  • Closing cache evaluation as complete

If pursued, add:

  • Stable style + high diversity + multiple passes
  • Eviction-sensitive patterns
  • Capacity threshold tests
  • Long text scenarios
  • Production traces

Conclusion

Phase 4.0 is a checkpoint, not comprehensive validation.

Engineering decision: Keep implementation unchanged due to insufficient evidence for change.

Not a validation that current cache is optimal or adequate for all scenarios.

Final workload status

Agent Console production profiling completed in #123. The measured replay-history optimization is accepted. Cache, long-text, provider, renderer architecture, and virtual-scroll changes remain unjustified by the measured workload. The current performance initiative is closed.

Bug reports, feature requests, and documentation issues are tracked on GitHub Issues.