Esp32 Heap Discipline

ESP32 Heap Discipline

Memory rules for esp32/ firmware. Adapted from crosspoint-reader's heap-discipline skill to AgentDeck's multi-board reality. This is the procedure you run while writing firmware and the gate before handing it back.

The board split — know which world you're in

AgentDeck firmware targets two memory regimes. Check the board macros first.

• PSRAM boards — BOARD_RGB48, BOARD_IPS35, BOARD_AMOLED, BOARD_IPS10 (ESP32-S3 / -P4, 8–32MB PSRAM). Large canvases/caches go in PSRAM (ps_malloc / MALLOC_CAP_SPIRAM). But per-pixel / LVGL draw buffers and PPA rotation buffers must stay in internal SRAM (MALLOC_CAP_INTERNAL): PSRAM writes are ~30× slower, so a PSRAM draw buffer makes every widget render crawl (see the IPS10 rationale in esp32/src/ui/display.cpp). Plenty of total RAM here; the constraint is write latency and internal-SRAM headroom, not bytes.
• No-PSRAM boards — BOARD_TTGO (classic ESP32, ~160KB heap), BOARD_ESP32_C6_147 (single-core RISC-V), BOARD_LED8X32 (TC001). This is crosspoint's world: every allocation matters and fragmentation, not total usage, is what kills the device. Free heap can read fine while the largest free block is too small for the next alloc. Optimize for not leaving holes.

The canvas/buffer code already encodes this split (renderer.cpp::init uses static pre-allocated buffers on TTGO/C6 and ps_malloc+SRAM fallback elsewhere). Match the existing pattern; don't invent a third path.

Allocation decision procedure

Ask in order; stop at the first yes.

1. Stack? Local, bounded, under ~256 bytes: plain array/struct. The task stacks are sized per board in config.h (STACK_UI) — keep frames lean.
2. Compile-time constant? static constexpr lives in flash, costs zero DRAM. Lookup tables and string literals belong here.
3. Allocated once and reused for the screen/activity lifetime? Allocate at init, hold in a static/member, reuse every frame. Never per-frame, never per-iteration, never in the render/flush path.
4. Dynamic and fallible? makeUniqueNoThrow<T>(...) / makeUniqueNoThrow<T[]>(n) from esp32/src/util/memory.h. Null-check, log, return. It frees on every exit path. Use makeScopedCleanup([&]{ … }) for non-owning teardown (the header is kept C++11-safe — BOARD_RGB48 builds at gnu++11 — so construct the guard via the factory, not C++17 CTAD).
5. A C/SDK API takes ownership / the object lives for the device lifetime? Only then raw new / heap_caps_alloc / ps_malloc, with a null-check + Serial.printf error and a comment naming who owns it. The display driver objects in display.cpp are this case (one-time, device-lifetime).

Bare new/new[] whose result you don't null-check is never acceptable: with exceptions disabled it abort()s on OOM; even with them on, an unchecked deref crashes. (We had a one-time new (uint8_t[]){…} leak in jd9365_lcd.cpp — fixed to a stack local.)

Fragmentation rules (no-PSRAM boards especially)

• std::vector: reserve(n) before any push_back loop. Each growth is alloc-copy-free — three heap ops that leave a hole. Unknown n: estimate high.
• No repeated new/delete or growing containers inside a loop or the render path. Hoist the allocation out.
• std::string / Arduino String: acceptable on cold paths (setup, file I/O). Banned on the render path. Build text with a stack char[] + snprintf; the state struct (agent_state.h) already uses fixed char[] fields — match it.
• Bound untrusted input. Inbound bridge frames are capped by PROTOCOL_MAX_MSG_BYTES (config.h) and dropped in Protocol::parseMessage before they reach the elastic ArduinoJson JsonDocument. Keep that guard; if you add a new growable parse path, bound it the same way.

Diagnostics — measure the right thing

• logHeap(const char* tag) (esp32/src/util/memory.h) prints free heap and largest free block (plus PSRAM totals on PSRAM boards). The gap between the two is the fragmentation signal. It's already called at boot, post-terrarium, and on a 30s tick on no-PSRAM boards. Add a call after any new large allocation rather than guessing.
• The IPS10 [PERF] profiler line (main.cpp, IPS10_PERF_PROFILE) now carries a freeblk field — a shrinking freeblk while fps holds steady is the fragmentation tell.

Justify every allocation

When you add a heap allocation, state in one line why stack/static/reuse was rejected and the worst-case size. If you can't name the size, you can't budget it, and shouldn't allocate it. Cite the board regime you're allocating for.

Self-review before handoff

• Identified the board regime (PSRAM vs no-PSRAM) and allocated accordingly.
• No bare new/new[] without a null-check + log; fallible allocs use makeUniqueNoThrow, raw allocs carry an owner comment.
• No allocation inside a loop / render / flush path that could be hoisted.
• Every push_back loop has a preceding reserve.
• Per-pixel/LVGL draw buffers stay MALLOC_CAP_INTERNAL on PSRAM boards.
• Any new growable parse/ingest path is bounded (cf. PROTOCOL_MAX_MSG_BYTES).
• Added a logHeap call near any new large allocation; checked freeblk, not just free heap.
• Each new allocation carries a one-line size + why-not-stack/static note.

Source: puritysb/AgentDeck — distributed by TomeVault.