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Lifecycle ownership bugs ​

Where ​

Widget tree, graph views, signal callbacks throughout assets/lua/

Problem ​

Before the April 2026 lifecycle hardening, the runtime had no clear ownership model:

  • Frame update was split across multiple disconnected callers, each updating partially overlapping subsets
  • Layout and widget teardown were confused — dropping layout didn't drop widgets, leaving orphaned objects
  • Async completions could fire after the owning object was dropped (use-after-drop)
  • Post-drop state was undefined — no explicit contract for what remains valid after teardown
  • Stale rebuild contexts: when a widget was rebuilt, the rebuild function captured stale references to the old state

Why it matters ​

These bugs were the single largest source of runtime crashes during development. Without clear ownership, every async callback, every signal handler, and every rebuild was a potential crash site.

Plan ​

Resolved in April 2026 through a series of hardening commits:

  1. fix(ui): centralize frame update ownership — single update entry point owns the full update pass
  2. fix(ui): harden signal and graph view lifecycle — signals disconnect when owners drop
  3. fix(ui): stop double-dropping composite view children — teardown ownership clarified
  4. See Lifecycle Invariants for the finalized rules
  5. See Lifecycle Hardening Plan for the full strategy