From ecb2aeacf9569bb2ea4d678a97c527234aefd159 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Luca <102960244+Luca-Timo@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 29 May 2026 15:41:58 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(test-infra): unref sessionTimeout cleanup interval so
 workers exit gracefully
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The 5-minute session-sweep interval at sessionTimeout.js:17 fired at
module-load time without .unref(), so every jest worker that
transitively required this module (server.js → middleware → most
of the route layer) kept the event loop alive forever. The worker
then got force-killed on shutdown, surfacing as the longstanding
"worker failed to exit gracefully" warning at the end of every CI
run on upstream/beta.

Under enough I/O / memory pressure on a CI runner, the force-kill
could land MID-test rather than after the suite finished, taking
out whatever else was running on that worker — most visibly
integration/storageBackend.test.js on PR #555's runs.

.unref() makes the timer not keep the loop alive on its own.
Production behaviour is unchanged: the timer still fires every
5 min as long as anything else is holding the loop open (the HTTP
server, always).
---
 backend/src/middleware/sessionTimeout.js | 15 +++++++++++++--
 1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)

diff --git a/backend/src/middleware/sessionTimeout.js b/backend/src/middleware/sessionTimeout.js
index 462cd490..3c7968bb 100644
--- a/backend/src/middleware/sessionTimeout.js
+++ b/backend/src/middleware/sessionTimeout.js
@@ -13,7 +13,18 @@ let cachedTimeout = null;
 let cacheExpiry = 0;
 const CACHE_DURATION = 30 * 60 * 1000; // 30 minutes - reduced DB queries
 
-// Clean up expired sessions every 5 minutes
+// Clean up expired sessions every 5 minutes.
+//
+// `.unref()` so this timer doesn't keep the event loop alive on its
+// own — without it, every jest worker that requires this module
+// (directly or transitively via server.js / a middleware-importing
+// route file) gets stuck and either prints the "worker failed to
+// exit gracefully" warning or, under high CI load, force-kills mid-
+// test and takes an unrelated suite down with it (we hit this with
+// integration/storageBackend.test.js on PR #555). Production
+// behaviour is unchanged: the timer fires every 5 min as long as
+// the server has anything else keeping the loop alive (HTTP server,
+// other intervals), which is always.
 setInterval(() => {
   const now = Date.now();
   for (const [token, lastActivity] of sessions.entries()) {
@@ -21,7 +32,7 @@ setInterval(() => {
       sessions.delete(token);
     }
   }
-}, 5 * 60 * 1000);
+}, 5 * 60 * 1000).unref();
 
 async function getSessionTimeout() {
   const now = Date.now();