Delete the TypeScript re-entry guard; state the store-wait rule once

The AsyncLocalStorage guard refused a store's change handler or timer
writing back to its cache without the store waiting for it, which only
queues, and still missed a wait that escapes the async context. The serial
queue and its own-promise chain stay.

The storePushThatAwaitsItsOwnCacheIsRefusedInsteadOfHanging test is
replaced by storeChangeHandlerWritingBackQueuesAfterTheOperation: a store
push emits an event whose handler puts without being awaited; both writes
land in order and store and cache agree.

The contract's Locking section states the rule for all runtimes: a store
call must not wait for a write to its own cache; unawaited write-backs
queue. Python refuses a same-thread re-entrant mutation; no runtime detects
a wait on another thread or async context. The globals row states the
two-step legacy retirement with compensation, and that a crash or double
failure leaving both records is refused at the next pull.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

packages/cultcache-ts/src/cult-cache.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import { AsyncLocalStorage } from "node:async_hooks";
-
 import { decode, encode } from "@msgpack/msgpack";
 
 import type {
@@ -52,11 +50,6 @@ type HydratedState = {
   readonly legacyGlobals: Map<string, CultCacheEnvelope>;
 };
 
-// The operations running in the current async flow. A queued call from inside one of this cache's
-// own operations would wait on itself, so it is refused at entry.
-type RunningOperation = { readonly cache: CultCache; running: boolean };
-const runningOperations = new AsyncLocalStorage<readonly RunningOperation[]>();
-
 // Lookups for every held record of one type under candidate accessors, derived before anything is installed.
 type DerivedTypeLookups = {
   readonly entryLookups: Array<[HydratedEntry, EntryLookups]>;
@@ -170,34 +163,21 @@ export class CultCache {
   // so validation, the store call and applying to the cache never interleave with another
   // mutation of this cache. Reads are not queued. Observer delivery is not scheduled here.
   // The chain advances on its own promise; the caller gets the operation's promise, untouched, so
-  // an unawaited failure is still an unhandled rejection. Stores, decoders, accessors and updaters
+  // an unawaited failure is still an unhandled rejection. A call made from inside an operation
-  // must not call a queued method of the cache they are serving: that call throws.
+  // queues behind it; a store call that waits for that call waits on itself and never finishes.
   #serial<T>(operation: () => T | Promise<T>): Promise<T> {
-    const outer = runningOperations.getStore() ?? [];
-    if (outer.some((candidate) => candidate.cache === this && candidate.running)) {
-      throw new Error(
-        "CultCache refuses a re-entrant call: an attach, pull, registration, write or delete was started from " +
-          "inside a store call, decoder, accessor or updater of an operation on the same cache, and would wait on itself.",
-      );
-    }
-
-    const current: RunningOperation = { cache: this, running: false };
     let advance!: () => void;
     const previous = this.#tail;
     this.#tail = new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
       advance = resolve;
     });
-    return previous.then(() =>
+    return previous.then(async () => {
-      runningOperations.run([...outer, current], async () => {
+      try {
-        current.running = true;
+        return await operation();
-        try {
+      } finally {
-          return await operation();
+        advance();
-        } finally {
+      }
-          current.running = false;
+    });
-          advance();
-        }
-      }),
-    );
   }
 
   registerDocumentType<TDefinition extends AnyCultCacheDocumentDefinition>(

packages/cultcache-ts/test/cult-cache.test.ts

@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import assert from "node:assert/strict";
 import { exec, execFile } from "node:child_process";
+import { EventEmitter } from "node:events";
 import { existsSync } from "node:fs";
 import { access, mkdtemp, readFile, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { homedir, tmpdir } from "node:os";
@@ -866,37 +867,44 @@ test("unawaitedFailingPutIsAnUnhandledRejection", async () => {
   await assert.rejects(cache.put(itemDocument, "k", { n: "y" }), /disk full/u);
 });
 
-test("storePushThatAwaitsItsOwnCacheIsRefusedInsteadOfHanging", async () => {
+test("storeChangeHandlerWritingBackQueuesAfterTheOperation", async () => {
   const itemDocument = defineDocumentType({ type: "item", schema: z.object({ n: z.string() }) });
-  const storePath = join(await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "cultcache-reentrant-")), "generic.cc");
+  const storePath = join(await mkdtemp(join(tmpdir(), "cultcache-writeback-")), "generic.cc");
   const inner = new SingleFileMessagePackBackingStore(storePath);
-  let cache!: CultCache;
+  const changes = new EventEmitter();
+  const pushed: string[] = [];
   const store: CacheBackingStore = {
     pullAll: () => inner.pullAll(),
     delete: (entry) => inner.delete(entry),
     push: async (entry) => {
-      await cache.put(itemDocument, "side", { n: "side" });
       await inner.push(entry);
+      pushed.push(entry.key);
+      changes.emit("pushed", entry.key);
     },
   };
-  cache = CultCache.builder()
+  const cache = CultCache.builder()
     .withRegistry(defineDocumentRegistry(itemDocument))
     .withGenericStore(store)
     .build();
+  // The handler writes back and the store does not wait for it: that write queues behind the put.
+  const writeBacks: Promise<unknown>[] = [];
+  changes.on("pushed", (key: string) => {
+    if (key === "k") {
+      writeBacks.push(cache.put(itemDocument, "side", { n: "side" }));
+    }
+  });
 
-  const outcome = await Promise.race([
+  await cache.put(itemDocument, "k", { n: "x" });
-    cache.put(itemDocument, "k", { n: "x" }).then(() => "resolved", (error: unknown) => error),
+  await Promise.all(writeBacks);
-    new Promise((resolve) => setTimeout(() => resolve("timed out"), 2000)),
-  ]);
 
-  assert.ok(outcome instanceof Error, `expected a refusal, got ${String(outcome)}`);
+  assert.equal(writeBacks.length, 1);
-  assert.match(outcome.message, /re-entrant call/u);
+  assert.deepEqual(pushed, ["k", "side"]);
-  assert.deepEqual(await inner.pullAll(), []);
+  assert.deepEqual(cache.get(itemDocument, "k"), { n: "x" });
-  assert.deepEqual(cache.snapshot(), []);
+  assert.deepEqual(cache.get(itemDocument, "side"), { n: "side" });
-  // Concurrent callers outside the operation are still queued, not refused.
+  assert.deepEqual(
-  const plain = CultCache.builder().withRegistry(defineDocumentRegistry(itemDocument)).build();
+    (await inner.pullAll()).map((entry) => entry.key).sort(),
-  await Promise.all([plain.put(itemDocument, "a", { n: "a" }), plain.put(itemDocument, "b", { n: "b" })]);
+    cache.snapshot().map((entry) => entry.key).sort(),
-  assert.equal(plain.getAll(itemDocument).length, 2);
+  );
 });
 
 test("legacyKeyGlobalLoadsWithoutWritingAndFirstWriteLeavesOneGlobal", async () => {

src/GameCult.Caching/Contracts/cultcache-store-composition.md

@@ -102,6 +102,13 @@ which route wrote it.
 - Direct calls on an attached store (`Push`, `Delete`, `PushAll`, `CommitBatch`,
   `PullAll`) take the same gate, so they wait for that cache's pull, flush or
   commit, and the cache's flush on dispose runs under it.
+- In every runtime, a store call must not wait for a write to its own cache to
+  finish: that write queues behind the operation that is waiting for it, a
+  cycle. A handler or subscriber that writes back without the store waiting for
+  it is fine; its write queues and lands after the operation. Python refuses a
+  mutation started on a thread already inside one of that cache's mutations
+  with an error; no runtime detects a wait that escapes to another thread or
+  async context.
 
 ## Dirtiness: loading never writes
 
@@ -241,11 +248,11 @@ no serialization; a CultMath encoding, if added, uses this shape.
 | Zero stores is in memory | implemented | implemented | implemented | implemented |
 | Home cannot move after admission | implemented | implemented (`add_backing_store` returns `Err` and attaches nothing) | implemented (`addBackingStore` rejects and attaches nothing; it runs in the cache's serial queue, so it cannot move a write that is in flight) | implemented (`add_backing_store`/`add_generic_store` raise and attach nothing; they hold the cache's lock, so they cannot move a write that is in flight) |
 | Refused at load when not home | implemented | implemented (`pull_all_backing_stores` returns `Err` naming key and both stores; `load_soa` returns `Err` for a type with no home once a store is attached; both admit nothing and leave the prior view intact) | implemented (`pullAllBackingStores` throws naming key and both stores; admits nothing) | implemented (`pull_all_backing_stores` raises naming key and both stores; admits nothing) |
-| Refused write changes neither store nor cache | implemented | implemented (`put`, `put_envelope`, `put_raw_envelope`, `put_prepared_batch` and `delete` validate before the store call and apply infallibly after it; there are no user accessors) | implemented (home, `__global__` key and name and index accessors run before the store call; overwrite and delete use lookup values stored at admission; attach, pull, registration, writes and deletes run through one per-cache promise queue; one of those started from inside a store call, decoder, accessor or updater of the same cache's operation throws instead of waiting on itself, so stores must not await their cache) | implemented (same validation order and stored lookup keys as TypeScript; attach, pull, registration, writes, deletes, name and index resolution and snapshots hold one lock per cache; a mutation started on a thread already inside one of that cache's mutations raises, reads stay reentrant) |
+| Refused write changes neither store nor cache | implemented | implemented (`put`, `put_envelope`, `put_raw_envelope`, `put_prepared_batch` and `delete` validate before the store call and apply infallibly after it; there are no user accessors) | implemented (home, `__global__` key and name and index accessors run before the store call; overwrite and delete use lookup values stored at admission; attach, pull, registration, writes and deletes run through one per-cache promise queue; one of those started from inside an operation queues behind it, so a store that waits for it never finishes (see Locking)) | implemented (same validation order and stored lookup keys as TypeScript; attach, pull, registration, writes, deletes, name and index resolution and snapshots hold one lock per cache; a mutation started on a thread already inside one of that cache's mutations raises, reads stay reentrant; a wait on another thread is not detected (see Locking)) |
 | Attach hydrates; loading never writes | implemented | attach does not read (call `pull_all_backing_stores`); pull loads without writing | attach does not read (call `pullAllBackingStores`); pull loads without writing | attach does not read (call `pull_all_backing_stores`); pull loads without writing |
 | Runtime type decides schema | implemented | n/a (explicit type ids) | n/a | n/a |
 | Assignable lookups and watches | implemented | exact type ids | exact type ids | exact type ids |
-| Globals never invented, singleton | implemented | no globals | single `__global__`; a write under any other key is refused before any store is touched; replacing writes `__global__` in place; a second persisted global (any keys) is refused on pull; invents nothing; load compatibility: a pull adopts a global stored under another key as `__global__` without writing, and the first write or delete of it removes that record in the same call; removed once no store holds a non-`__global__` global | single `__global__`; `put`, `put_envelope` and `put_envelopes` refuse any other key before any store is touched; a second persisted global (any keys) is refused on pull; invents nothing; load compatibility: a pull adopts a global stored under another key as `__global__` without writing, and the first write or delete of it removes that record in the same call; removed once no store holds a non-`__global__` global |
+| Globals never invented, singleton | implemented | no globals | single `__global__`; a write under any other key is refused before any store is touched; replacing writes `__global__` in place; a second persisted global (any keys) is refused on pull; invents nothing; load compatibility: a pull adopts a global stored under another key as `__global__` without writing, and the first write of it pushes `__global__`, then deletes the legacy record, deleting `__global__` again if that delete fails (a delete of it removes only the legacy record). A crash between the two steps, or a failed compensation, leaves both records on disk, and the next pull refuses them loudly as a second global. Removed once no store holds a non-`__global__` global | single `__global__`; `put`, `put_envelope` and `put_envelopes` refuse any other key before any store is touched; a second persisted global (any keys) is refused on pull; invents nothing; load compatibility: a pull adopts a global stored under another key as `__global__` without writing, and the first write of it pushes `__global__`, then deletes the legacy record, deleting `__global__` again if that delete fails (a delete of it removes only the legacy record). A crash between the two steps, or a failed compensation, leaves both records on disk, and the next pull refuses them loudly as a second global. Removed once no store holds a non-`__global__` global |
 | Explicit batch commit | implemented | `put_prepared_batch`: staged records must share one home; that store receives one `push_all` of its own held records plus the batch; empty key or `stored_at` refused first; all-or-nothing on stores whose `push_all` is atomic, which the trait requires of every store: `push_all` has no default, and the bundled single-file and redb stores replace in one step | not implemented | `put_envelopes`, one type per call; every record validated before one `push_all`, applied only after the store accepts; atomicity on disk is the store's `push_all` |
 | Conditional commit | implemented | store-level `compare_exchange` family | not implemented | not implemented |
 | Per-assembly options, value-type arrays | contract | n/a | n/a | n/a |