Known limits

This page lists the limits that are kept on purpose in the source code. Each one is marked in the code with a ponytail: comment. Each row here states which limit was accepted, and when it should be revisited. Read this page if you want to know "why is this written so simply here", or if you are about to change one of these places.

This is a list of what exists now, not a history of fixed problems. Use this command to find all the current markers:

rg -n "ponytail:" apps packages plugins

IMPORTANT

When you add or remove a ponytail: comment, update this page in the same change. pnpm check:scripts and pnpm test:docs check that each marker has one row in each language, and that entries without a marker have been removed.

Kernel / runtime

Location	Accepted limit	When to reconsider
packages/runtime/src/schedule/effects.ts	Compares the self literal as a string. Effects from different plugins may be taken as the same	False conflicts become frequent enough to justify resolving self to a plugin ID
packages/runtime/src/function-runtime/plugin-runtime-context.ts	Cancellation is checked only when a new call starts. An external effect already sent may finish after the deadline	The primitives need cooperative cancellation, or a worker is needed to isolate late external effects
packages/runtime/src/turn-executor/turn-runtime-execution.ts	A consumer with accepts reloads the output schema declared by the producer every time	Performance analysis shows enough repeated work to justify a per-turn schema cache
packages/shared/src/llm-slots.ts	All LLM providers share one process-wide concurrency limit	Providers that are independent of each other need their own capacity
packages/runtime/tests/scheduling-acceptance-contract.test.ts	Before resume data enters the tool loop, its MediaRefs are not checked. The content to be saved is normalized only at commit time	A resumed runtime operates on a media reference before any proposal carries it
packages/runtime/tests/scheduling-acceptance-contract.test.ts	Scenario 12's plugin version check is implemented. Resume requests have an approval preflight, and new output has schema validation. The saved continuation is not rechecked against current spec and approval versions, nor are its buffered writes rechecked against current effects declarations. Scenarios 19-25 (the plan/confirm enablement flow and persisted approval authorization) remain it.todo	An enablement resolver or persisted approval authorization is scheduled into the implementation plan
packages/events/src/event-bus.ts	The state for receive order is evicted least recently used first. An evicted stream must restart from sequence 1, so its session resets once. If the publish queue drops a session's last frames at the cap and no later frame arrives, the receiver cannot detect the loss and does not reset. The read-only headCursor also creates session tracking state and shares the session cap with subscriptions	Multi-pod deployments keep more live streams than the cap, enough to justify a per-state TTL or a larger cap
packages/create/src/world-writer.ts	World directories are replaced by renaming, with restoration on failure but no crash journal. A crash between renames can leave a .covel-replaced-*/package backup that needs manual restoration	Someone reports a missing world after a crash, or a leftover backup directory
packages/memory/src/archival-search.ts	Every keyword search loads the session's entire searchable archive before ranking it	Enough archive entries accumulate to make keyword search noticeably slow

Storage

Location	Accepted limit	When to reconsider
packages/store/src/media-store/pg.ts	Metadata queries load all assets owned by the session, then compare in JS. Neither PostgreSQL nor SQLite (packages/store/src/media-store/sqlite.ts) pushes this filter into SQL, keeping their results identical	A single session holds thousands of media assets
packages/store/src/common/write-order-ddl.ts	PostgreSQL locks the session counter row until commit whenever it allocates a write sequence. Session deletion fires record-change triggers for each row. record_changes keeps the latest change sequence for every record key for the session's lifetime, including deleted keys	A write path bypasses the session lock, deleting a large session becomes noticeably slow, or the size of record_changes becomes a problem
packages/store/src/sqlite/schema.ts	turn_messages has six secondary indexes in each SQL backend, with unmeasured write cost. PostgreSQL (packages/store/src/postgres/schema.ts) indexes use the database collation, but queries sort by id COLLATE "C". Rows tied on the first three index columns may still need an incremental sort; the actual plan needs EXPLAIN verification. The single-column session_id index is kept even though it is a prefix of the composite indexes	Writes in long sessions slow down, or PostgreSQL EXPLAIN shows a sorting cost

Server

Location	Accepted limit	When to reconsider
apps/server/src/routes/api/turn-control.ts	Records in an in-process map. Steer and abort work only on the pod that is running that turn	A multi-pod deployment needs turn control across pods
apps/server/src/lib/pg-event-transport.ts	NOTIFY has no timeout or query cancellation path. A half-open connection stalls the send in postgres.js, and later frames wait in the event bus's bounded queue; a full queue drops frames and logs a warning. Timing out only the wait would move the backlog into the client's queue	postgres.js can actually cancel the query, or a half-open connection occurs in production
apps/server/src/routes/api/session/delete-route.ts	When session deletion succeeds but releasing its media claims fails, the claims keep protecting the files and the failure is only logged. No route retries the release for a deleted session	Release failures become frequent in the logs, or the retained files fill the disk

Web UI

Location	Accepted limit	When to reconsider
apps/web/src/components/session/stage/StageSprites.tsx	Up to four portraits animate layout properties such as left and width	More characters appear, or they appear more often, so it is worth switching to transform-based animation
apps/web/src/components/session/chat-messages/message-primitives.tsx	Markdown soft line breaks are handled by rewriting strings	Edge cases of code blocks or other conversions become frequent enough to justify a parser plugin
apps/web/src/theme-system/token-schema.ts	The atmosphere background accepts only URLs and gradients. It cannot upload a local image	Upload needs become frequent enough to justify storing images outside the settings data

Oversized modules

Below are the non-test source files over 800 lines. 800 lines is only the threshold for this inventory. AGENTS.md asks for splits by responsibility and maintenance cost, without a line limit.

• Split a file only when its responsibilities or its maintenance cost really require it. Length by itself is not a defect.
• Line counts change. Measure again with wc -l before you start.
• The table counts only TypeScript source files under apps/ and packages/. It excludes tests, and it also excludes the test suite shared by the storage backends in packages/store/src/contract/.

File	Lines
apps/server/src/routes/api/actions.ts	1594
packages/runtime/src/agent-loop/turn-agent-tool-loop.ts	1496
apps/server/src/world-data/validate-world-package.ts	1359
packages/runtime/src/commit/finalize-execution.ts	1295
packages/ai-provider/src/gateway.ts	1266
packages/shared/src/schemas/plugin-schemas.ts	1246
packages/runtime/src/turn-executor/turn-executor.ts	1082
apps/server/src/routes/api/bootstrap.ts	1028
packages/store/src/types.ts	1026
apps/server/src/routes/api/plugin-rpc/runtime-job-worker.ts	1025
apps/server/src/world-data/session-import.ts	1009
packages/settings/src/store.ts	996
apps/web/src/stores/session-store/actions.ts	992
packages/events/src/event-bus.ts	982
packages/plugin-handlers-utils/src/plugin-api.ts	980
apps/server/src/world-data/session-import/planning.ts	926
apps/web/src/stores/session-store/reducer.ts	915
packages/runtime/src/retry/llm-retry.ts	903
packages/plugin-loader/src/load.ts	898
packages/shared/src/types/protocol.ts	872
apps/server/src/routes/api/plugin-rpc/jobs.ts	867
packages/runtime/src/interaction/interaction-submission.ts	863
apps/server/src/routes/api/plugin-rpc/runtime-turn.ts	861
packages/plugin-handlers-utils/src/dimension-schemas.ts	852
packages/create/src/create-world.ts	849
apps/server/src/routes/api/ai.ts	841
apps/server/src/routes/api/bootstrap/plugin-entry.ts	838
apps/desktop/src/main.ts	820
packages/runtime/src/turn-executor/turn-runtime-execution.ts	816

This list follows the comments in the current source. Historical counts and line numbers are not the current contract.