mir-backend-python

name

mir-backend-python

description

Make It Right (Python runtime tier). CPython/PyPy runtime reliability footguns that are shared across EVERY Python backend framework (FastAPI, Django, Flask, Celery) — distinct from the generic backend gates and from any one framework's mechanics. Covers: the GIL (threads give no CPU parallelism), async-vs-sync 'coloring', blocking the event loop, choosing asyncio vs threads vs multiprocessing vs a worker queue, fork-safety of connection pools, serverless cold starts, and dropped-task exceptions. TRIGGER when the backend runtime is Python — sits between mir-backend (generic) and the framework module (e.g. mir-backend-python-fastapi). SKIP for Node/JVM/Go/Rust/.NET/Ruby/PHP/BEAM runtimes (each has its own mir-backend-<runtime> tier), and for framework-library mechanics (those live in the framework module). Use when this capability is needed.

/mir-backend-python · Make It Right (Python runtime)

The middle tier. mir-backend decides what is correct (any language). The framework module (e.g. mir-backend-python-fastapi) knows the library's mechanics. This tier owns what's true for all Python backends because they run on CPython — the concurrency model and process model that FastAPI, Django, Flask, and Celery all inherit.

Runtime assumed: CPython 3.11+ (the notes hold for PyPy except where GIL specifics differ). Load order: mir-backend → mir-backend-python → <framework module>.

The CPython footguns AI walks into (framework-agnostic)

1. The GIL — threads are NOT CPU parallelism

Python threads share one interpreter lock, so CPU-bound work does not run in parallel across threads — it serializes and you pay context-switch overhead on top. Threads only help I/O-bound work (the GIL releases during blocking I/O).

• CPU-bound (parsing, crypto, image/ML compute) → multiprocessing / ProcessPoolExecutor, a native extension that releases the GIL, or offload to a separate service. Never "add threads" expecting speedup.
• I/O-bound → threads or asyncio are fine.
• This is the runtime-level reason the runtime-map says "SKIP Python for heavily CPU-bound / microsecond-latency paths."

2. Async/sync "coloring" — pick one model per path and don't mix carelessly

An async def function can only be awaited from async context; a sync function that calls blocking I/O must not run on the event loop. Mixing them is the #1 source of "the server mysteriously stalls under load."

• Don't call blocking I/O (sync DB driver, requests, time.sleep, big CPU) inside async def — it freezes the entire event loop for every concurrent request. Offload with await loop.run_in_executor(...) / anyio.to_thread.run_sync(...), or use an async client.
• Don't call asyncio.run() inside an already-running loop.
• Decide per endpoint/job: async all the way (async web framework + async drivers) or sync all the way (sync framework + thread workers). Half-async is where the bugs live.

3. Concurrency-model decision (state it in Gate 5)

Workload	Right model	Wrong model (the trap)
I/O-bound, high concurrency	asyncio (single thread, many awaits)	thread-per-request at huge counts
I/O-bound, moderate	thread pool	—
CPU-bound	multiprocessing / native ext / separate service	threads (GIL serializes)
Long/durable/at-least-once work	worker queue (Celery/RQ/arq)	request thread / asyncio task that dies with the process

4. Process model — workers are shared-NOTHING

Production runs N worker processes (gunicorn/uvicorn --workers, Celery prefork). In-process global state is per-worker and is lost on restart — never use a module-level dict/counter as if it were shared across workers. Shared state goes in Redis/DB.

• Fork-safety: connection pools, async event loops, and client sockets created before a fork are corrupt in the child. Initialize DB/Redis pools after fork (gunicorn post_fork, or lazily on first use in the worker), never at import time before the server forks.

5. Serverless / cold starts

• Heavy work at import time (loading a model, building a pool, importing huge deps) is paid on every cold start. Lazy-init expensive resources on first request; keep import side-effect-free.
• Reuse connections across invocations via a module-level client created lazily (warm-container reuse) — but cap pool size to the platform's concurrency.

6. Dropped task & coroutine exceptions

• A bare asyncio.create_task(...) whose result is never awaited will swallow exceptions and can be garbage-collected mid-flight. Keep a reference and attach a done-callback / await it, or use a task group (asyncio.TaskGroup / anyio nursery).
• An un-awaited coroutine is a silent no-op (coroutine was never awaited warning) — the work simply never ran.

How this slots into the pipeline

• Gate 0/5 (model choice): state the concurrency model (async/threads/multiprocessing/queue) and justify it against the workload table above. A mismatch here (e.g. threads for CPU-bound) is a runtime-level design defect — flag it.
• Gate 6 (implementation): never block the event loop; init pools post-fork; offload CPU work.
• Gate 7 (review): the reliability-reviewer should additionally check items 1–6 here for any Python service.

Edit boundary (what belongs here vs. above/below)

• Generic, all-language rules (idempotency, invariants, gates) → up to mir-backend.
• A specific library's mechanics (FastAPI Depends, SQLAlchemy selectinload, Django ORM select_related, Alembic) → down to the framework module (mir-backend-python-<framework>).
• Here: only what every Python backend shares because of CPython (concurrency model, process/fork model, GIL, cold start, asyncio task hygiene).
• A different runtime (Node, Go, JVM…) → its own mir-backend-<runtime> tier. Never widen this one.

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Source: anantbhandarkar/make-it-right — distributed by TomeVault.