[jbaczuk-qualia]

Jira: EE-1048

Summary

R&D prototype, pairs with qualialabs/node#7 (node 18 V8 patch). Makes the code after an await (and .then callbacks) that was registered inside a fiber run on a fiber, so fiber-only calls work there instead of throwing Can't wait without a fiber. Continuations run on one long-lived hidden dispatch fiber, which also runs the dispatchable jobs queued right behind each one, so a chain of awaits in fibered code costs one switch onto the fiber and one back instead of two per await. Two commits on async-resource: hidden-fiber dispatch, then the reused dispatch fiber.

File	Change
src/fibers.cc	SwapContext() sets the context's continuation-preserved embedder data (CPED) to a marker while a fiber runs, so V8 tags every promise reaction registered inside it. DispatchMicrotask() hands tagged jobs to a JS dispatcher; runDispatched(token) runs one. New Fiber.__setMicrotaskDispatcher, Fiber.__runNextDispatchable() and Fiber.microtasksDispatched. The V8 API is resolved with dlsym, so this binary still loads (feature off) on stock node
fibers_async.js	reusingDispatcher: runs jobs on the dispatch fiber and, while it is still the dispatch fiber, keeps calling Fiber.__runNextDispatchable(). A job that blocks keeps the fiber (it's parked inside that job) and the next dispatch starts a new one, the same approach as znewsham's drain fiber in this repo's #7. A parked fiber that is later resumed never pulls in other jobs. A dispatch that arrives while the dispatch fiber itself is running (nested drain) falls back to a one-off fiber. Fiber.current reports hidden fibers as undefined; new Fiber.currentIncludingHidden returns them. Fiber.microtasksBatched counts jobs run without a switch
future.js	Future.wait uses Fiber.currentIncludingHidden so it can block in a hidden fiber

Kill switches: FIBERS_AWAIT_DISPATCH=0 disables dispatch (stock behaviour); FIBERS_AWAIT_REUSE=0, or a node without v8_qualia_RunNextDispatchableMicrotask, runs each continuation on its own one-off hidden fiber.

Why hidden fibers

A first version used ordinary fibers and broke qualia's boot: Fiber.current is also used as an API mode switch ("in a fiber, return the result synchronously, otherwise return a Promise"), e.g. @znewsham/meteor-mongo-collection-hooks cursor.observeChanges. Async code after an await suddenly got a handle instead of a Promise (platform-data-subscriptions/server.js:96: handlePromise.catch is not a function). Hiding the fiber keeps every Fiber.current check answering exactly as it does today; only blocking primitives that opt in (Future.wait, Promise.await via qualialabs/shared-packages#265) see the fiber.

Testing

On the node 18 build from qualialabs/node#7, arm64 dev-qualia container:

• Standalone checks: 11/11 pass with reuse on and off (await then fiber-only call, nested awaits, .then, AsyncLocalStorage across the hop, Promise.all overlap, errors, Fiber.current still undefined after await, a dual-mode API still returns a Promise after await, fiberless code untouched, microtask order; same 45 jobs: 27 dispatched + 18 batched with reuse, 45 dispatched without). FIBERS_AWAIT_DISPATCH=0 fails the expected 7.
• znewsham's test-microtask-fibers.js (with Fiber.current swapped for the running fiber, poolSize = 1e9): 7/7 behaviour tests pass, including "a parked microtask does not stall other promises" and "resuming a parked fiber does not drain unrelated microtasks mid-callback"; the 100k park/resume cycle test still exceeds its 10 s timeout (~9.7 s for the cycles alone; every park needs its own fiber).
• meteor-promise suite: 15/15, with native Promise too.
• On stock node 18 the new binary loads with __setMicrotaskDispatcher absent and behaves as before.
• test/: identical results on stock vs patched node (pool.js/cleanup.js segfault on both: the pthread coro_destroy bug fixed in d3260f6 on node24-pthread).
• Local qli5 qualia boots; a startup hook doing await OrdersAsync.countDocuments() then Orders.find().count() logs both counts; fiberless code still throws Can't wait without a fiber.

	one fiber per continuation (FIBERS_AWAIT_REUSE=0)	reused dispatch fiber
chain of awaits in a fiber	~25–30 us	0.13 us (stock: 0.05–0.07 us)
I/O-style await in a fiber	~33 us	~28 us (stock: ~1.1 us; ~20 us is the pthread run+yield floor)
drains / awaits in code that never had a fiber	unchanged	unchanged

Known gaps

• ~25 @meteor guards that throw without a fiber (accounts, sync Meteor.call) still check Fiber.current, so they throw after an await as they do today.
• Legacy sync-style code that calls a dual-mode API after an await still gets a Promise (unchanged from today).
• No version bump; nothing published. Counting continuations that block is Count await continuations that block on their dispatch fiber (follow-up to #6) #12, stacked on this.

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