perf(geode): adaptive outQueue + CIO pool sizing for 10k+ connections

Implements geode/plans/2026-05-07-connection-scaling.md to push the
single-relay connection ceiling past the ~2k floor measured by
LoadBenchmark.connectionsHeldOpen.

- WebSocketSessionPump: switch outQueue to Channel.UNLIMITED bounded
  by an AtomicInteger backlog cap. Idle connections no longer reserve
  an 8 192-slot fixed buffer; lazy-allocated head segments cost only
  a few hundred bytes per idle session. Slow-client policy preserved:
  once outstanding > MAX_OUTGOING_BUFFER, the queue is closed and
  the connection drops, so NIP-01 ordering is never silently
  violated.
- LocalRelayServer / RelayConfig.NetworkSection: expose CIO
  connectionGroupSize / workerGroupSize / callGroupSize so big-VM
  operators can tune Ktor's event-loop pools without forking. Switch
  to the serverConfig {} + configure {} embeddedServer overload so
  CIO tunables can be set.
- LoadBenchmark: add connectionsHeldOpen10k (asserts 10 000 idle
  WebSockets settle under a 1 GiB heap ceiling) and
  connectionsHeldOpenWithFanout (5 000 subscribers, 10 EPS fan-out
  for 10 s, reports p50/p99 last-fanout latency).
- config.example.toml: document the three CIO tunables and the
  ulimit -n requirement for operators targeting >1k connections.

geode/config.example.toml

@@ -25,6 +25,20 @@ contact = "admin@example.com"
 host = "0.0.0.0"
 port = 7447
 path = "/"
+# Ktor CIO event-loop pool sizing. Leave commented-out for sensible
+# per-CPU defaults (typical for <2k concurrent connections). Lift on
+# big-VM deployments targeting 10k+ connections — over-threading at
+# low connection counts hurts L1/L2 cache locality, so always
+# benchmark before/after when tuning these.
+#
+# Operators targeting >1k concurrent WebSockets should also raise the
+# OS file-descriptor limit: `ulimit -n 65536` (or higher) before
+# launching, plus a matching `LimitNOFILE=` in any systemd unit. The
+# default of 1024 on most distros caps the relay well below 1k FDs
+# (one per WS plus DB and listening sockets).
+# connection_group_size = 4
+# worker_group_size = 16
+# call_group_size = 64
 
 [database]
 # True keeps an in-memory SQLite db (events vanish on restart). Useful

geode/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/geode/LocalRelayServer.kt

@@ -32,8 +32,10 @@ import io.ktor.http.ContentType
 import io.ktor.http.HttpHeaders
 import io.ktor.http.HttpStatusCode
 import io.ktor.server.application.install
+import io.ktor.server.application.serverConfig
 import io.ktor.server.cio.CIO
 import io.ktor.server.cio.CIOApplicationEngine
+import io.ktor.server.engine.connector
 import io.ktor.server.engine.embeddedServer
 import io.ktor.server.request.header
 import io.ktor.server.response.respondText
@@ -109,6 +111,16 @@ class LocalRelayServer(
      * RPC payload.
      */
     val maxAdminBodyBytes: Int = 1 shl 20,
+    /**
+     * Ktor CIO acceptor-thread count. `null` keeps Ktor's default.
+     * Lift on machines with many cores when targeting 10k+
+     * concurrent connections — see `[network]` config docs.
+     */
+    val connectionGroupSize: Int? = null,
+    /** Ktor CIO worker-thread count. `null` keeps Ktor's default. */
+    val workerGroupSize: Int? = null,
+    /** Ktor CIO call-handling thread count. `null` keeps Ktor's default. */
+    val callGroupSize: Int? = null,
 ) {
     private val infoHolder =
         object : Nip86Server.InfoHolder {
@@ -167,51 +179,78 @@ class LocalRelayServer(
      * [url] is safe to read on the very next line.
      */
     fun start(): LocalRelayServer {
+        // Snapshot the constructor-supplied overrides into locals so
+        // the `configure` lambda below can assign to its receiver
+        // without the names colliding with outer properties.
+        val connGrp = connectionGroupSize
+        val workGrp = workerGroupSize
+        val callGrp = callGroupSize
+        val bindHost = host
+        val bindPort = port
         val server =
-            embeddedServer(CIO, host = host, port = port) {
+            embeddedServer(
-                install(WebSockets) {
+                factory = CIO,
-                    maxFrameBytes?.let { maxFrameSize = it }
+                rootConfig =
-                }
+                    serverConfig {
-                routing {
+                        module {
-                    // NIP-11: GET on the relay URL with Accept:
+                            install(WebSockets) {
-                    // application/nostr+json returns the relay info doc.
+                                maxFrameBytes?.let { maxFrameSize = it }
-                    // We mount this *before* the webSocket route so Ktor
+                            }
-                    // serves NIP-11 for plain HTTP GETs and only upgrades
+                            routing {
-                    // to a WebSocket when the request is a WS upgrade.
+                                // NIP-11: GET on the relay URL with Accept:
-                    get(path) {
+                                // application/nostr+json returns the relay info doc.
-                        val accept = call.request.header(HttpHeaders.Accept).orEmpty()
+                                // We mount this *before* the webSocket route so Ktor
-                        if (accept.contains("application/nostr+json")) {
+                                // serves NIP-11 for plain HTTP GETs and only upgrades
-                            call.response.headers.append("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*")
+                                // to a WebSocket when the request is a WS upgrade.
-                            call.respondText(
+                                get(path) {
-                                relay.info.json,
+                                    val accept = call.request.header(HttpHeaders.Accept).orEmpty()
-                                ContentType.parse("application/nostr+json"),
+                                    if (accept.contains("application/nostr+json")) {
-                            )
+                                        call.response.headers.append("Access-Control-Allow-Origin", "*")
-                        } else {
+                                        call.respondText(
-                            call.respondText(
+                                            relay.info.json,
-                                "Use a Nostr client (NIP-01 WebSocket) or send Accept: application/nostr+json (NIP-11).",
+                                            ContentType.parse("application/nostr+json"),
-                                ContentType.Text.Plain,
+                                        )
-                                HttpStatusCode.UpgradeRequired,
+                                    } else {
-                            )
+                                        call.respondText(
+                                            "Use a Nostr client (NIP-01 WebSocket) or send Accept: application/nostr+json (NIP-11).",
+                                            ContentType.Text.Plain,
+                                            HttpStatusCode.UpgradeRequired,
+                                        )
+                                    }
+                                }
+                                // NIP-86: POST application/nostr+json+rpc with a NIP-98
+                                // signed Authorization header → JSON-RPC dispatch.
+                                post(path) {
+                                    nip86Route.handle(call)
+                                }
+                                webSocket(path) {
+                                    if (shuttingDown) {
+                                        // Just return — Ktor closes the WS for us.
+                                        return@webSocket
+                                    }
+                                    WebSocketSessionPump(this).pump(
+                                        server = relay.server,
+                                        registerSession = activeSessions::add,
+                                        unregisterSession = activeSessions::remove,
+                                    )
+                                }
+                            }
                         }
+                    },
+                configure = {
+                    connector {
+                        host = bindHost
+                        port = bindPort
                     }
-                    // NIP-86: POST application/nostr+json+rpc with a NIP-98
+                    // Keep Ktor defaults unless the operator overrode
-                    // signed Authorization header → JSON-RPC dispatch.
+                    // them — Ktor's per-CPU sizing is sensible for
-                    post(path) {
+                    // most deployments, and over-threading hurts L1/L2
-                        nip86Route.handle(call)
+                    // locality at low connection counts.
-                    }
+                    connGrp?.let { connectionGroupSize = it }
-                    webSocket(path) {
+                    workGrp?.let { workerGroupSize = it }
-                        if (shuttingDown) {
+                    callGrp?.let { callGroupSize = it }
-                            // Just return — Ktor closes the WS for us.
+                },
-                            return@webSocket
+            )
-                        }
-                        WebSocketSessionPump(this).pump(
-                            server = relay.server,
-                            registerSession = activeSessions::add,
-                            unregisterSession = activeSessions::remove,
-                        )
-                    }
-                }
-            }
         server.start(wait = false)
         engine = server.engine
         // Ktor 3.x made resolvedConnectors() suspend. We block here so

geode/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/geode/Main.kt

@@ -117,6 +117,9 @@ fun main(args: Array<String>) {
             maxFrameBytes = frameLimit,
             adminPubkeys = config.admin.pubkeys.toSet(),
             publicUrl = config.admin.public_url,
+            connectionGroupSize = config.network.connection_group_size,
+            workerGroupSize = config.network.worker_group_size,
+            callGroupSize = config.network.call_group_size,
         ).start()
 
     Runtime.getRuntime().addShutdownHook(

geode/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/geode/config/RelayConfig.kt

@@ -96,6 +96,29 @@ data class RelayConfig(
         val host: String = "0.0.0.0",
         val port: Int = 7447,
         val path: String = "/",
+        /**
+         * Ktor CIO acceptor-thread count. `null` (default) keeps Ktor's
+         * default sizing — fine up to a few thousand concurrent
+         * connections. On big-VM deployments targeting 10k+
+         * connections, lift this to roughly half the available cores
+         * so the acceptor doesn't starve workers.
+         */
+        val connection_group_size: Int? = null,
+        /**
+         * Ktor CIO worker-thread count (handles socket I/O). `null`
+         * keeps Ktor's default. Each connection's WebSocket read/write
+         * is dispatched onto this pool; for many idle long-lived
+         * connections the pool can stay small, but 10k+ connections
+         * benefit from sizing this to the full CPU count.
+         */
+        val worker_group_size: Int? = null,
+        /**
+         * Ktor CIO call-handling thread count. `null` keeps Ktor's
+         * default. Sized higher than [worker_group_size] because each
+         * call (incl. WebSocket upgrade) may suspend on I/O — at
+         * 10k+ connections, ~4× cores is a reasonable starting point.
+         */
+        val call_group_size: Int? = null,
     )
 
     data class DatabaseSection(

geode/src/main/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/geode/server/WebSocketSessionPump.kt

@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.channels.Channel
 import kotlinx.coroutines.channels.ClosedSendChannelException
 import kotlinx.coroutines.channels.consumeEach
 import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
+import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger
 
 /**
  * Per-WebSocket pump that owns the bounded outbound queue and the
@@ -44,15 +45,39 @@ import kotlinx.coroutines.launch
  *   3. `finally`-style teardown closes the queue, cancels the
  *      writer, unregisters the session, and closes it.
  *
- * Slow-client policy: when [outQueue] fills, [SESSION_OUTGOING_BUFFER]
+ * Slow-client policy: once the outbound backlog reaches
- * frames behind, the connection is dropped rather than silently
+ * [MAX_OUTGOING_BUFFER] frames, the connection is dropped rather
- * losing EVENT/EOSE — silent drop would corrupt NIP-01.
+ * than silently losing EVENT/EOSE — silent drop would corrupt
+ * NIP-01.
+ *
+ * Memory model: the outbound queue is `Channel.UNLIMITED`, which in
+ * kotlinx.coroutines allocates segments lazily — an idle connection
+ * pays only a small head-segment cost. The cap is enforced via
+ * [outstanding] rather than the channel's own capacity so we don't
+ * reserve a fixed-size buffer up-front for every connection. At
+ * 5 000+ idle connections this matters: an 8 192-slot fixed buffer
+ * per connection would otherwise dominate JVM heap usage even
+ * though the vast majority of connections never fan out.
  */
 internal class WebSocketSessionPump(
     private val ws: DefaultWebSocketServerSession,
 ) {
-    private val outQueue = Channel<String>(capacity = SESSION_OUTGOING_BUFFER)
+    /**
-    private var droppedForBackpressure = false
+     * Unbounded channel — bounded by [outstanding] above, not by the
+     * channel's own capacity. See class kdoc for memory rationale.
+     */
+    private val outQueue = Channel<String>(capacity = Channel.UNLIMITED)
+
+    /**
+     * Number of frames queued but not yet written to the socket.
+     * Producer increments before [Channel.trySend]; writer decrements
+     * after the frame is handed to Ktor. When this would cross
+     * [MAX_OUTGOING_BUFFER] we treat the client as slow and close
+     * the queue.
+     */
+    private val outstanding = AtomicInteger(0)
+
+    @Volatile private var droppedForBackpressure = false
 
     suspend fun pump(
         server: NostrServer,
@@ -64,6 +89,7 @@ internal class WebSocketSessionPump(
                 try {
                     for (json in outQueue) {
                         ws.outgoing.send(Frame.Text(json))
+                        outstanding.decrementAndGet()
                     }
                 } catch (_: ClosedSendChannelException) {
                     // socket closed — outer handler runs normal teardown.
@@ -71,13 +97,22 @@ internal class WebSocketSessionPump(
             }
         val session =
             server.connect { json ->
-                val res = outQueue.trySend(json)
+                // The channel itself is UNLIMITED, so trySend can't
-                if (!res.isSuccess && !res.isClosed) {
+                // report "full". Enforce the cap explicitly: increment
-                    // Buffer is full → slow client. Mark + close the
+                // first, refuse if we'd cross the bound, otherwise
-                    // queue; the writer drains, then the outer handler
+                // enqueue.
-                    // closes the WS session.
+                val depth = outstanding.incrementAndGet()
+                if (depth > MAX_OUTGOING_BUFFER) {
+                    outstanding.decrementAndGet()
                     droppedForBackpressure = true
                     outQueue.close()
+                    return@connect
+                }
+                val res = outQueue.trySend(json)
+                if (!res.isSuccess) {
+                    // Channel was closed concurrently (e.g. teardown).
+                    // Roll back the counter; nothing more to do.
+                    outstanding.decrementAndGet()
                 }
             }
         registerSession(session)
@@ -98,17 +133,19 @@ internal class WebSocketSessionPump(
 
     companion object {
         /**
-         * Per-session outbound buffer size. When a slow client falls
+         * Per-session outbound backlog cap. When a slow client falls
          * this many frames behind, we close their connection rather
          * than silently dropping further frames (which would corrupt
          * NIP-01 by missing EVENT/EOSE messages).
          *
          * Sized to hold fan-out for a connection holding several
          * thousand subscriptions when one event matches all of them
-         * — the realistic upper bound for a relay client. At ~250B
+         * — the realistic upper bound for a relay client. At ~250 B
-         * per frame this caps per-session memory at ~2 MiB before
+         * per frame this caps per-session worst-case memory at
-         * we drop the connection.
+         * ~2 MiB before we drop the connection. Idle connections
+         * pay only the small head-segment cost of an unlimited
+         * channel (≈ a few hundred bytes), not the full cap.
          */
-        const val SESSION_OUTGOING_BUFFER: Int = 8192
+        const val MAX_OUTGOING_BUFFER: Int = 8192
     }
 }

geode/src/test/kotlin/com/vitorpamplona/geode/perf/LoadBenchmark.kt

@@ -139,6 +139,192 @@ class LoadBenchmark {
             }
         }
 
+    /**
+     * Holds 10 000 idle WebSocket connections open against a single
+     * relay. Verifies that the adaptive outQueue (sketch A in
+     * [connection-scaling plan][1]) lets us cross the ~2 000-connection
+     * floor measured by [connectionsHeldOpen] without FD exhaustion or
+     * runaway RSS.
+     *
+     * RUN PREREQ: requires a process FD limit ≥ ~12 000 (each WS uses
+     * one FD on each side plus margin). On Linux: `ulimit -n 32768`
+     * before launching the test JVM.
+     *
+     * [1]: geode/plans/2026-05-07-connection-scaling.md
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun connectionsHeldOpen10k() =
+        benchmark("connections held open 10k") {
+            val target = 10_000
+            runBenchmarkServer { server, http ->
+                val httpUrl =
+                    okhttp3.Request
+                        .Builder()
+                        .url(server.url.replace("ws://", "http://"))
+                        .build()
+                val sockets = java.util.concurrent.CopyOnWriteArrayList<okhttp3.WebSocket>()
+                val opened = AtomicLong()
+                val gotEose = AtomicLong()
+                val opens =
+                    measureTime {
+                        repeat(target) {
+                            val ws =
+                                http.newWebSocket(
+                                    httpUrl,
+                                    object : okhttp3.WebSocketListener() {
+                                        override fun onOpen(
+                                            webSocket: okhttp3.WebSocket,
+                                            response: okhttp3.Response,
+                                        ) {
+                                            opened.incrementAndGet()
+                                            webSocket.send(
+                                                """["REQ","s",{"kinds":[1],"limit":1}]""",
+                                            )
+                                        }
+
+                                        override fun onMessage(
+                                            webSocket: okhttp3.WebSocket,
+                                            text: String,
+                                        ) {
+                                            if (text.startsWith("[\"EOSE\"")) {
+                                                gotEose.incrementAndGet()
+                                            }
+                                        }
+                                    },
+                                )
+                            sockets += ws
+                        }
+                        val deadline = System.currentTimeMillis() + 120_000
+                        while (gotEose.get() < target && System.currentTimeMillis() < deadline) {
+                            Thread.sleep(50)
+                        }
+                    }
+                val rt = Runtime.getRuntime()
+                val rssMb = (rt.totalMemory() - rt.freeMemory()) / (1024 * 1024)
+                println(
+                    "target=$target opened=${opened.get()} eosed=${gotEose.get()} " +
+                        "active=${server.activeSessionCount} elapsedMs=${opens.inWholeMilliseconds} " +
+                        "heapMb=$rssMb",
+                )
+                sockets.forEach { runCatching { it.cancel() } }
+                check(gotEose.get() == target.toLong()) {
+                    "expected $target EOSE but got ${gotEose.get()} — connection scaling regression"
+                }
+                check(rssMb < 1024) {
+                    "heap usage $rssMb MiB exceeded 1 GiB ceiling for $target idle connections"
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
+    /**
+     * 5 000 idle subscribers, one publisher emitting 10 EPS for 10 s.
+     * Measures fan-out latency at scale — exercises the queue path
+     * for a connection that *does* fan out, not just an idle one.
+     *
+     * Each subscriber matches every published event (`kinds:[1]`),
+     * so a single EVENT generates 5 000 outbound frames per tick.
+     */
+    @Test
+    fun connectionsHeldOpenWithFanout() =
+        benchmark("connections held open with fanout") {
+            val subs = 5_000
+            val durationSeconds = 10
+            val targetEps = 10
+            runBenchmarkServer { server, http ->
+                val scope = CoroutineScope(Dispatchers.Default + SupervisorJob())
+                val subClient = NostrClient(BasicOkHttpWebSocket.Builder { _ -> http }, scope)
+                val pubClient = NostrClient(BasicOkHttpWebSocket.Builder { _ -> http }, scope)
+                try {
+                    val relayUrl = server.url.normalizeRelayUrl()
+                    val received = AtomicLong()
+                    val eosed = AtomicLong()
+                    // Per-event fan-out latency, capped at the # of
+                    // events we expect (durationSeconds * targetEps).
+                    val fanoutLatenciesNs =
+                        java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap<String, AtomicLong>()
+                    val firstSeenNs =
+                        java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap<String, AtomicLong>()
+
+                    repeat(subs) { i ->
+                        subClient.subscribe(
+                            "fanout-$i",
+                            mapOf(relayUrl to listOf(Filter(kinds = listOf(1)))),
+                            object : SubscriptionListener {
+                                override fun onEvent(
+                                    event: com.vitorpamplona.quartz.nip01Core.core.Event,
+                                    isLive: Boolean,
+                                    relay: NormalizedRelayUrl,
+                                    forFilters: List<Filter>?,
+                                ) {
+                                    val now = System.nanoTime()
+                                    firstSeenNs
+                                        .computeIfAbsent(event.id) { AtomicLong(now) }
+                                    fanoutLatenciesNs
+                                        .computeIfAbsent(event.id) { AtomicLong(now) }
+                                        .set(now)
+                                    received.incrementAndGet()
+                                }
+
+                                override fun onEose(
+                                    relay: NormalizedRelayUrl,
+                                    forFilters: List<Filter>?,
+                                ) {
+                                    eosed.incrementAndGet()
+                                }
+                            },
+                        )
+                    }
+
+                    runBlocking {
+                        withTimeout(120_000) {
+                            while (eosed.get() < subs) kotlinx.coroutines.delay(100)
+                        }
+                    }
+                    println("$subs subs ready; publishing ${targetEps * durationSeconds} events at $targetEps EPS...")
+
+                    val signer = NostrSignerSync(KeyPair())
+                    val publishedAt = java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap<String, Long>()
+                    val totalEvents = targetEps * durationSeconds
+                    val tickIntervalMs = 1000L / targetEps
+
+                    runBlocking {
+                        repeat(totalEvents) { i ->
+                            val event = signer.sign(TextNoteEvent.build("fanout-$i"))
+                            publishedAt[event.id] = System.nanoTime()
+                            pubClient.publishAndConfirm(event, setOf(relayUrl))
+                            kotlinx.coroutines.delay(tickIntervalMs)
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    // Wait for fan-out completion (or 30s, whichever first).
+                    runBlocking {
+                        withTimeout(30_000) {
+                            while (received.get() < subs.toLong() * totalEvents) {
+                                kotlinx.coroutines.delay(100)
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    val perEventLastMs =
+                        fanoutLatenciesNs.entries
+                            .mapNotNull { (id, last) ->
+                                publishedAt[id]?.let { (last.get() - it) / 1_000_000.0 }
+                            }.sorted()
+                    val p50 = perEventLastMs.getOrNull(perEventLastMs.size / 2) ?: -1.0
+                    val p99 = perEventLastMs.getOrNull((perEventLastMs.size * 99) / 100) ?: -1.0
+                    println(
+                        "subs=$subs events=$totalEvents received=${received.get()}/${subs.toLong() * totalEvents} " +
+                            "p50LastFanoutMs=${"%.1f".format(p50)} " +
+                            "p99LastFanoutMs=${"%.1f".format(p99)}",
+                    )
+                } finally {
+                    subClient.disconnect()
+                    pubClient.disconnect()
+                    scope.cancel()
+                }
+            }
+        }
+
     /**
      * One publisher sends 10k events serially. Measures the round-trip
      * `EVENT` → `OK true` time, which is dominated by SQLite write