fix: isolate PDF parse in a subprocess so a bad file can't OOM the pod

The document processor crash-looped on one pathological PDF: pymupdf4llm's
table/graphics detection over a page with ~1M vector path items ballooned past
the 2 GiB pod limit. The parse ran in a thread, so nothing could interrupt or
memory-bound it -- a single bad file OOM-killed the whole pod.

Run the parse in an isolated worker subprocess (anyio.to_process, cancellable)
with an RLIMIT_AS memory cap and a wall-clock timeout, so a pathological file
fails THAT document instead of the pod (new document_processors/_isolation.py).
Also pass graphics_limit (default 5000) to to_markdown -- validated to cut the
known trigger page from 112 s to 23 s with bounded memory.

On a permanent parse failure the processor returns success=False (instead of
raising, which would retry 3x); vector/processor.py marks the placeholder
"failed" and skips indexing, and the scanner stops re-queuing failed placeholders
until the file changes -- so a doomed file no longer churns.

New per-tenant (per-pod env) settings: DOCUMENT_PDF_GRAPHICS_LIMIT,
DOCUMENT_PARSE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, DOCUMENT_PARSE_MEM_LIMIT_MB. New metric
astrolabe_document_parse_failed_total{reason=timeout|oom|error} surfaces hard
failures that previously killed the process before any except ran.

First PR of the tiered document-processor effort (Deck #199); tier 0/1/3
pipeline tracked separately.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Chris Coutinho
2026-06-04 22:32:34 +02:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 4.8
parent 09e84783e5
commit 7db8d3e301
7 changed files with 450 additions and 19 deletions
+22
View File
@@ -132,6 +132,10 @@ _DEFAULTS: dict[str, Any] = {
# Document chunking
"document_chunk_size": 2048,
"document_chunk_overlap": 200,
# PDF parse isolation (OOM guard)
"document_pdf_graphics_limit": 5000,
"document_parse_timeout_seconds": 120,
"document_parse_mem_limit_mb": 1536,
# Observability
"metrics_enabled": True,
"metrics_port": 9090,
@@ -275,8 +279,11 @@ _dynaconf = Dynaconf(
Validator("VECTOR_SYNC_USER_POLL_INTERVAL", gte=1),
Validator("VERIFICATION_CONCURRENCY", gte=1),
Validator("DOCUMENT_CHUNK_SIZE", gte=1),
Validator("DOCUMENT_PARSE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS", gte=1),
Validator("DOCUMENT_PARSE_MEM_LIMIT_MB", gte=128),
# Non-negative
Validator("DOCUMENT_CHUNK_OVERLAP", gte=0),
Validator("DOCUMENT_PDF_GRAPHICS_LIMIT", gte=0),
# Non-empty strings
Validator("VECTOR_SYNC_PDF_TAG", len_min=1),
# Enum constraints
@@ -701,6 +708,18 @@ class Settings:
document_chunk_size: int = 2048 # Characters per chunk
document_chunk_overlap: int = 200 # Overlapping characters between chunks
# PDF parse isolation (OOM guard). The parse runs in a subprocess so one
# pathological file fails that doc, not the pod.
document_pdf_graphics_limit: int = (
5000 # to_markdown graphics cap; pages above skip graphics analysis
)
document_parse_timeout_seconds: int = (
120 # wall-clock cap per parse; the worker subprocess is killed on timeout
)
document_parse_mem_limit_mb: int = (
1536 # RLIMIT_AS in the parse subprocess (kept below the pod memory limit)
)
# Observability settings
metrics_enabled: bool = True
metrics_port: int = 9090
@@ -1309,6 +1328,9 @@ def get_settings() -> Settings:
# Document chunking settings
"document_chunk_size": "DOCUMENT_CHUNK_SIZE",
"document_chunk_overlap": "DOCUMENT_CHUNK_OVERLAP",
"document_pdf_graphics_limit": "DOCUMENT_PDF_GRAPHICS_LIMIT",
"document_parse_timeout_seconds": "DOCUMENT_PARSE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS",
"document_parse_mem_limit_mb": "DOCUMENT_PARSE_MEM_LIMIT_MB",
# Observability settings
"metrics_enabled": "METRICS_ENABLED",
"metrics_port": "METRICS_PORT",
@@ -0,0 +1,126 @@
"""Subprocess isolation for PDF parsing.
PDF text/markdown extraction (pymupdf + pymupdf4llm) is CPU-bound C code that can
balloon memory or hang on a pathological document -- e.g. a page with ~1M vector
path items drives pymupdf4llm's table detection past the pod memory limit and
OOM-kills the whole process. Running the parse in a worker *subprocess* (via
``anyio.to_process``) with an address-space rlimit and a wall-clock timeout means
one bad file fails *that document*, not the pod: an rlimit breach raises
``MemoryError`` in the worker, a hang is killed when the timeout cancels the call.
The worker function is module-level (picklable) so ``anyio.to_process`` can run it
in its process pool.
"""
import logging
import resource
from pathlib import Path
from typing import Any
import anyio
import anyio.to_process
from anyio import BrokenWorkerProcess
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
# Guard so the address-space limit is applied once per (reused) worker process.
_MEM_LIMIT_APPLIED = False
class PdfParseFailed(Exception):
"""A PDF parse failed in the isolated worker.
``reason`` is one of ``timeout`` | ``oom`` | ``error`` and maps directly to
the ``astrolabe_document_parse_failed_total{reason}`` metric label.
"""
def __init__(self, reason: str, message: str | None = None) -> None:
self.reason = reason
super().__init__(message or f"PDF parse failed ({reason})")
def _apply_mem_limit(mem_limit_mb: int) -> None:
"""Cap the worker's address space (RLIMIT_AS) so a bomb raises MemoryError.
Applied once per worker process. The hard limit is left untouched (we only
lower the soft limit), and we never set a soft limit above the hard limit.
"""
global _MEM_LIMIT_APPLIED
if _MEM_LIMIT_APPLIED or mem_limit_mb <= 0:
return
target = mem_limit_mb * 1024 * 1024
soft, hard = resource.getrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS)
soft_target = target if hard == resource.RLIM_INFINITY else min(target, hard)
resource.setrlimit(resource.RLIMIT_AS, (soft_target, hard))
_MEM_LIMIT_APPLIED = True
def _parse_pdf_worker(
content: bytes,
write_images: bool,
image_path: str | None,
graphics_limit: int,
mem_limit_mb: int,
) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
"""Run pymupdf4llm.to_markdown in the worker subprocess (positional args only).
Returns the ``page_chunks`` list (picklable dicts of text + metadata). Imports
pymupdf lazily so the parent process isn't forced to load them here.
"""
_apply_mem_limit(mem_limit_mb)
# Imported inside the worker so the parent process (and any module that
# imports this one) doesn't load pymupdf4llm -- which prints a banner to
# stdout on import, the channel anyio's worker uses for IPC.
import pymupdf # noqa: PLC0415
import pymupdf4llm # noqa: PLC0415
doc = pymupdf.open("pdf", content)
try:
# page_chunks=True makes to_markdown return list[dict], not str.
return pymupdf4llm.to_markdown( # type: ignore[return-value]
doc,
write_images=write_images,
image_path=image_path if write_images else None,
page_chunks=True,
graphics_limit=graphics_limit,
)
finally:
doc.close()
async def run_isolated_pdf_parse(
content: bytes,
*,
write_images: bool,
image_path: Path | None,
graphics_limit: int,
timeout_seconds: float,
mem_limit_mb: int,
) -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
"""Parse a PDF in an isolated worker subprocess with a memory cap and timeout.
Raises ``PdfParseFailed`` (reason ``timeout`` | ``oom`` | ``error``) instead of
taking the pod down. On timeout the worker process is killed (``cancellable``).
"""
with anyio.move_on_after(timeout_seconds):
try:
return await anyio.to_process.run_sync(
_parse_pdf_worker,
content,
write_images,
str(image_path) if image_path is not None else None,
graphics_limit,
mem_limit_mb,
cancellable=True,
)
except MemoryError as e:
raise PdfParseFailed("oom", str(e)) from e
except BrokenWorkerProcess as e:
# Worker died without a clean exception (e.g. SIGKILL from the OS OOM
# killer beating the rlimit). Treat as an out-of-memory failure.
raise PdfParseFailed("oom", str(e)) from e
except Exception as e:
raise PdfParseFailed("error", f"{type(e).__name__}: {e}") from e
# Reached only when move_on_after swallowed the timeout cancellation.
raise PdfParseFailed("timeout", f"parse exceeded {timeout_seconds}s")
@@ -8,13 +8,17 @@ from typing import Any, Optional
import anyio
# NOTE: Do NOT call pymupdf.layout.activate() here!
# It changes the behavior of pymupdf4llm.to_markdown() when page_chunks=True,
# causing it to return a string instead of a list[dict].
# pymupdf is used here only for the cheap metadata open. The heavy
# pymupdf4llm.to_markdown extraction runs in an isolated worker subprocess
# (see _isolation.py) so a pathological file can't OOM the pod.
# NOTE: Do NOT call pymupdf.layout.activate()! It changes the behavior of
# pymupdf4llm.to_markdown() when page_chunks=True (returns str, not list[dict]).
# See: https://github.com/pymupdf/pymupdf4llm/issues/323
import pymupdf
import pymupdf4llm
from nextcloud_mcp_server.config import get_settings
from ._isolation import PdfParseFailed, run_isolated_pdf_parse
from .base import DocumentProcessor, ProcessingResult, ProcessorError
logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
@@ -122,19 +126,44 @@ class PyMuPDFProcessor(DocumentProcessor):
pdf_image_dir = self.image_dir / pdf_id
pdf_image_dir.mkdir(exist_ok=True, parents=True)
# Extract all pages in a single call with page_chunks=True
def do_extract() -> list[dict[str, Any]]:
# When page_chunks=True, to_markdown returns list[dict] not str
return pymupdf4llm.to_markdown( # type: ignore[return-value]
doc,
# Extract all pages (page_chunks=True) in an isolated worker
# subprocess with a memory rlimit + wall-clock timeout, so a
# pathological file (e.g. a page with ~1M vector paths that drives
# table detection past the pod memory limit) fails THIS document
# instead of OOM-killing the pod. graphics_limit caps per-page
# vector-graphics analysis (the known trigger).
settings = get_settings()
try:
page_chunks: list[dict[str, Any]] = await run_isolated_pdf_parse(
content,
write_images=self.extract_images,
image_path=pdf_image_dir if self.extract_images else None,
page_chunks=True,
graphics_limit=settings.document_pdf_graphics_limit,
timeout_seconds=settings.document_parse_timeout_seconds,
mem_limit_mb=settings.document_parse_mem_limit_mb,
)
except PdfParseFailed as exc:
doc.close()
logger.warning(
"Isolated PDF parse failed for %s (reason=%s): %s",
filename or "<bytes>",
exc.reason,
exc,
extra={
"processor": self.name,
"tier": self.tier,
"status": "error",
"reason": exc.reason,
},
)
metadata["parse_failed_reason"] = exc.reason
return ProcessingResult(
text="",
metadata=metadata,
processor=self.name,
success=False,
error=f"isolated parse failed ({exc.reason}): {exc}",
)
page_chunks: list[dict[str, Any]] = await anyio.to_thread.run_sync( # type: ignore[attr-defined]
do_extract
)
if progress_callback:
await progress_callback(90, 100, "Building result")
@@ -261,6 +261,17 @@ document_escalation_total = Counter(
["from_tier", "to_tier", "reason"],
)
# Hard parse failures: the parse now runs in an isolated subprocess, so a
# timeout/OOM that kills the worker is caught here. This is distinct from
# ``document_parse_total{status="error"}`` (an in-process exception): a hard
# OOM previously killed the pod before any except ran, so it incremented
# nothing -- this counter makes those failures visible.
document_parse_failed_total = Counter(
"astrolabe_document_parse_failed_total",
"Document parses that failed in the isolated worker (process killed)",
["reason"], # reason: timeout | oom | error
)
# --- Embedding stages ---------------------------------------------------------
embedding_duration_seconds = Histogram(
@@ -617,6 +628,15 @@ def record_document_escalation(from_tier: str, to_tier: str, reason: str) -> Non
).inc()
def record_document_parse_failed(reason: str) -> None:
"""Record a hard parse failure from the isolated worker.
Args:
reason: ``timeout`` | ``oom`` | ``error``
"""
document_parse_failed_total.labels(reason=reason).inc()
def record_embedding(
kind: str,
provider: str,
+39 -1
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@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ from nextcloud_mcp_server.embedding import get_bm25_service, get_embedding_servi
from nextcloud_mcp_server.models.deck import DeckCard
from nextcloud_mcp_server.observability.metrics import (
record_document_chunks,
record_document_parse_failed,
record_embedding,
record_qdrant_operation,
record_vector_sync_processing,
@@ -31,7 +32,10 @@ from nextcloud_mcp_server.search.pdf_highlighter import PDFHighlighter
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector import payload_keys
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.document_chunker import DocumentChunker
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.html_processor import html_to_markdown
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.placeholder import delete_placeholder_point
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.placeholder import (
delete_placeholder_point,
update_placeholder_status,
)
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.qdrant_client import get_qdrant_client
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.scanner import DocumentTask
from nextcloud_mcp_server.vector.sharing_state import (
@@ -525,6 +529,40 @@ async def _index_document(
content_type=content_type,
filename=file_path,
)
# A permanent parse failure (e.g. an isolated-worker OOM/timeout
# on a pathological PDF) returns success=False rather than
# raising -- there is nothing to index and retrying would just
# fail again. Mark the placeholder "failed" so the scanner stops
# re-queuing it (until the file changes) and return without
# indexing empty content.
if not result.success:
reason = result.metadata.get("parse_failed_reason", "error")
record_document_parse_failed(reason)
logger.warning(
"Permanent parse failure for %s (reason=%s); marking "
"failed and skipping index",
file_path,
reason,
)
try:
await update_placeholder_status(
doc_id=doc_task.doc_id,
doc_type=doc_task.doc_type,
user_id=doc_task.user_id,
status="failed",
)
except Exception:
# Best-effort: a transient Qdrant error here only means
# the placeholder isn't marked, so the scanner retries
# the (still un-indexable) file later -- not fatal.
logger.debug(
"Could not mark placeholder failed for %s",
doc_task.doc_id,
exc_info=True,
)
return
content = result.text
file_metadata = result.metadata
title = file_metadata.get("title") or file_path.split("/")[-1]
+15 -4
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@@ -526,13 +526,24 @@ async def scan_user_documents(
# File modified since last indexing
needs_indexing = True
elif existing_metadata.get("is_placeholder", False):
# Placeholder exists - check if it's stale (processing may have failed)
# Only requeue if placeholder is older than 5x scan interval
# (Large PDFs can take 3-4 minutes to process)
# Placeholder exists - check its status / staleness.
queued_at = existing_metadata.get("queued_at", 0)
placeholder_age = time.time() - queued_at
stale_threshold = get_settings().vector_sync_scan_interval * 5
if placeholder_age > stale_threshold:
if existing_metadata.get("status") == "failed":
# A permanent parse failure (e.g. an isolated-worker
# OOM/timeout on a pathological PDF). Don't keep
# re-queuing an unchanged file that will just fail
# again -- the modified_at branch above still retries
# it once the file actually changes.
logger.debug(
"Skipping file %s (ID: %s): previous parse failed permanently",
file_path,
file_id,
)
elif placeholder_age > stale_threshold:
# Only requeue if placeholder is older than 5x scan
# interval (large PDFs can take minutes to process).
logger.debug(
"Found stale placeholder for file %s (ID: %s) (age=%ss), requeuing",
file_path,
+185
View File
@@ -0,0 +1,185 @@
"""Unit tests for the isolated PDF parse (OOM hotfix).
The parse runs in a worker subprocess (``anyio.to_process``) with a memory
rlimit and a wall-clock timeout so a pathological PDF fails *that document*
instead of OOM-killing the pod. These tests pin:
* the failure classification (oom / timeout / error) of the async wrapper;
* ``_apply_mem_limit`` rlimit computation (mocked, never applied in-process);
* the PyMuPDF processor wiring: settings forwarded, success path, and a
graceful ``success=False`` result on a permanent parse failure.
The real subprocess + rlimit enforcement is exercised by the local end-to-end
check on the sample PDFs, not here (unit tests must not spawn the heavy worker
or depend on the sample files).
"""
import resource
import anyio
import anyio.to_process
import pymupdf
import pytest
from anyio import BrokenWorkerProcess
from nextcloud_mcp_server.document_processors import _isolation
from nextcloud_mcp_server.document_processors._isolation import (
PdfParseFailed,
run_isolated_pdf_parse,
)
pytestmark = pytest.mark.unit
def _tiny_pdf() -> bytes:
doc = pymupdf.open()
page = doc.new_page(width=595, height=842)
page.insert_text((50, 50), "Hello world")
data: bytes = doc.tobytes()
doc.close()
return data
async def _run(monkeypatch, fake_run_sync) -> list:
monkeypatch.setattr(anyio.to_process, "run_sync", fake_run_sync)
return await run_isolated_pdf_parse(
b"%PDF-1.7",
write_images=False,
image_path=None,
graphics_limit=5000,
timeout_seconds=5,
mem_limit_mb=1536,
)
# --- failure classification of the async wrapper ----------------------------
async def test_success_returns_worker_value(monkeypatch):
page_chunks = [{"text": "ok", "metadata": {"page": 1}}]
async def fake(*args, **kwargs):
return page_chunks
assert await _run(monkeypatch, fake) == page_chunks
async def test_memory_error_classified_as_oom(monkeypatch):
async def fake(*args, **kwargs):
raise MemoryError("rlimit hit")
with pytest.raises(PdfParseFailed) as exc:
await _run(monkeypatch, fake)
assert exc.value.reason == "oom"
async def test_broken_worker_classified_as_oom(monkeypatch):
async def fake(*args, **kwargs):
raise BrokenWorkerProcess("worker died")
with pytest.raises(PdfParseFailed) as exc:
await _run(monkeypatch, fake)
assert exc.value.reason == "oom"
async def test_other_exception_classified_as_error(monkeypatch):
async def fake(*args, **kwargs):
raise ValueError("not a pdf")
with pytest.raises(PdfParseFailed) as exc:
await _run(monkeypatch, fake)
assert exc.value.reason == "error"
async def test_timeout_kills_and_classifies_as_timeout(monkeypatch):
async def fake(*args, **kwargs):
# Simulate a hung worker; the move_on_after timeout must win.
await anyio.sleep(30)
monkeypatch.setattr(anyio.to_process, "run_sync", fake)
with pytest.raises(PdfParseFailed) as exc:
await run_isolated_pdf_parse(
b"%PDF-1.7",
write_images=False,
image_path=None,
graphics_limit=5000,
timeout_seconds=0.2,
mem_limit_mb=1536,
)
assert exc.value.reason == "timeout"
# --- _apply_mem_limit computation (mocked; never applied to the test proc) ---
def test_apply_mem_limit_caps_soft_below_finite_hard(monkeypatch):
captured = {}
monkeypatch.setattr(_isolation, "_MEM_LIMIT_APPLIED", False)
monkeypatch.setattr(
_isolation.resource,
"getrlimit",
lambda _w: (resource.RLIM_INFINITY, 4 * 1024**3),
)
monkeypatch.setattr(
_isolation.resource, "setrlimit", lambda _w, pair: captured.update(pair=pair)
)
# target = 1536 MiB < hard (4 GiB) -> soft becomes the target, hard untouched
_isolation._apply_mem_limit(1536)
soft, hard = captured["pair"]
assert soft == 1536 * 1024 * 1024
assert hard == 4 * 1024**3
def test_apply_mem_limit_is_applied_once(monkeypatch):
calls = []
monkeypatch.setattr(_isolation, "_MEM_LIMIT_APPLIED", False)
monkeypatch.setattr(
_isolation.resource,
"getrlimit",
lambda _w: (resource.RLIM_INFINITY, resource.RLIM_INFINITY),
)
monkeypatch.setattr(_isolation.resource, "setrlimit", lambda *a: calls.append(a))
_isolation._apply_mem_limit(1536)
_isolation._apply_mem_limit(1536)
assert len(calls) == 1 # second call is a no-op
# --- PyMuPDF processor wiring ------------------------------------------------
async def test_processor_success_builds_page_boundaries(monkeypatch):
from nextcloud_mcp_server.document_processors import pymupdf as pymupdf_proc
seen = {}
async def fake_parse(content, **kwargs):
seen.update(kwargs)
return [{"text": "Hello world", "metadata": {"page": 1}}]
monkeypatch.setattr(pymupdf_proc, "run_isolated_pdf_parse", fake_parse)
proc = pymupdf_proc.PyMuPDFProcessor(extract_images=False)
result = await proc.process(_tiny_pdf(), "application/pdf", filename="t.pdf")
assert result.success is True
assert "Hello world" in result.text
assert result.metadata["page_boundaries"][0]["page"] == 1
# settings forwarded to the isolated parse
assert seen["graphics_limit"] == 5000
assert seen["timeout_seconds"] == 120
assert seen["mem_limit_mb"] == 1536
async def test_processor_parse_failure_returns_success_false(monkeypatch):
from nextcloud_mcp_server.document_processors import pymupdf as pymupdf_proc
async def fake_parse(content, **kwargs):
raise PdfParseFailed("oom", "killed")
monkeypatch.setattr(pymupdf_proc, "run_isolated_pdf_parse", fake_parse)
proc = pymupdf_proc.PyMuPDFProcessor(extract_images=False)
result = await proc.process(_tiny_pdf(), "application/pdf", filename="bomb.pdf")
assert result.success is False
assert result.text == ""
assert result.metadata["parse_failed_reason"] == "oom"