Repository navigation
MCP stdio server can remain running after parent process exits #406
Description
Summary
When the MCP stdio server is launched by an agent/runtime and the parent process exits unexpectedly, the child codebase-memory-mcp process can keep running. That orphaned process may continue holding memory and contribute to out-of-memory conditions over time.
Expected behavior
The stdio MCP server should terminate when its launching parent process dies, matching the lifecycle of the agent/runtime that owns the stdio session.
Actual behavior
If the parent process dies without cleanly closing stdio, the server can remain alive as an orphaned process.
Proposed fix
Add a POSIX parent-process watchdog for the stdio MCP server and cover it with a regression script that kills the parent wrapper and verifies the child exits. Windows should remain explicitly skipped until a Windows-specific parent-death mechanism is added.
Validation plan
scripts/test.shscripts/lint.sh --ciscripts/build.sh CC=cc CXX=c++make -f Makefile.cbm security
Activity
Distill PR #407 (#406) and PR #414 (#413): parent-death watchdog + CB…
Add smoke test: stdio server leaves no orphan after shutdown (#406)
Apply clang-format to the distilled watchdog in main.c (#406)
Trigger the #406 orphan smoke test via stdin EOF, not a FIFO writer-c…
DeusData commentedon Jun 7, 2026
Fixed on
main. The stdio server now exits when its launching parent dies, via a POSIXgetppid()watchdog (distilled from @nvt-pankajsharma's PR #407 inde1d58a), plus a smoke-test guard (e83bd73, Phase 16) that verifies a shut-down instance leaves no orphan process.Thanks for the report and the clear
$PPIDanalysis. 🙏fix(cli): keep config follow-roots off the static TLS block (#2110)
fix(cli): keep config follow-roots off the static TLS block (DeusData…
fix(cli): keep config follow-roots off the static TLS block (DeusData…