Async core#22561
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The engine gains the ability to activate a concurrent execution mode.
A scheduler - a C extension or a PHP library - registers a set of
hooks through a single call and takes control of concurrency. The core
contains NO implementation: no scheduler, no queues, no event system;
it is hook routing plus the minimal mechanism only the engine can
perform (context switching, the GC destructor walker, the coroutine
lifecycle status).
Core ABI (Zend/zend_async_API.h):
- zend_coroutine_t: lifecycle status packed into the flags word,
modifier flags, object_offset for the single-allocation embed
pattern (or a stored object pointer via OBJ_REF), an awaiting_info
diagnostics hook. No embedded wait state.
- scheduler slots registered once per process via a versioned struct:
new_coroutine, enqueue_coroutine, suspend(from_main, is_bailout),
resume, cancel, launch, shutdown, get_class_ce, call_on_main_stack,
context accessors (userland zval keys + internal numeric keys with
a core-owned key registry), intercept_fiber, gc_destructors, defer.
- zend_async_microtask_t: a thin one-shot task (handler, dtor, 32-bit
ref_count, named flag bits incl. is_cancelled). The queue is
provider-owned; the defer slot only routes the pointer.
- per-thread globals: state, current/main coroutine, live coroutine
count, the in_scheduler_context flag, the PHP bridge hook storage.
Engine integration:
- the scheduler is not lazy: it launches right before the script code
runs (main.c, phpdbg) and receives the after-main handover; after
destructors the API deactivates.
- fibers: intercept_fiber links a fiber to a coroutine (the hook
returns the coroutine to bind, created by the scheduler, or NULL
for the legacy low-level path). There is NO switching API: inside
scheduler code (in_scheduler_context, set around hook invocations)
the plain Fiber API on a bound fiber performs the direct context
switch; in application code the same calls park the value and
route through the hooks. Deferred starts take an owned deep copy
of their arguments. Fiber::suspend() is unchanged.
- GC: the destructor phase is an around-interceptor. The engine keeps
the walker, the once-per-object guarantee and the phase cursor, and
re-runs missed destructors after the hook as a safety net; the hook
brackets the run with provider logic (open a completion group, run,
await everything the destructors spawned, transitively). Each
destructor executes as application code (the scheduler flag is
dropped around it). The executor reaches the hook as a Closure over
an unregistered internal function - unreachable from application
code.
PHP bridge (Zend/zend_scheduler_hook.c): final class Async\
SchedulerHook - hook-name constants, register(module, hooks) (throws
when a scheduler is already registered), getModule(), defer()
(forwards to the DEFER hook). Hooks are stored by numeric index in the
per-thread globals; each slot is backed by a C thunk forwarding to the
stored callable.
Tests (Zend/tests/async, 13): registration semantics, constants,
launch-at-registration, managed-fiber lifecycle through a plain-Fiber
scheduler loop (start/suspend/resume/finish, throw at the suspension
point, uncaught exception propagation, after-main drain, direct-
inside/routed-outside context semantics), low-level fibers untouched
by a null intercept, microtask forwarding, and a GC cycle whose
destructors spawn managed fibers awaited by the hook. Full async,
fibers and gc suites pass (194/194, debug build - leak-checked).
RFC and integration reference:
https://github.com/true-async/php-async-core-rfc
bwoebi
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Jul 3, 2026
bwoebi
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Jul 3, 2026
| * when a scheduler is already registered (by a C extension or by an | ||
| * earlier PHP call) throws an Error. | ||
| */ | ||
| public static function register(string $module, array $hooks): bool {} |
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Can you add @param $module to explain what exactly module is supposed to mean? From my understanding simply a name to be returned with SchedulerHook::getModule()?
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Stub are not usually use for documenting anything so the docs should be actually completely removed - docs should go to RFC instead.
bwoebi
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Jul 3, 2026
bwoebi
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Jul 3, 2026
| /** | ||
| * Activation point for the concurrent mode. | ||
| * | ||
| * A scheduler is registered by handing register() a map of hook name |
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Can you give a rough example/rationale when it's beneficial to have custom userland hooks for the scheduler, rather than using pure fibers (like e.g. revolt does)?
From my uninformed perspective, it only makes sense for extensions to control this at that layer, not so much for userland?
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Can you give a rough example/rationale when it's beneficial to have custom userland hooks for the scheduler, rather than using pure fibers (like e.g. revolt does)? From my uninformed perspective, it only makes sense for extensions to control this at that layer, not so much for userland?
The idea is this:
https://github.com/true-async/php-async-core-rfc/blob/main/RFC.md
This can be viewed as a single API group together with the Poll API.
…om intercept binding, deferred wake
…urrent() in suspend hook (drop engine auto-tracking)
…ne::setCurrent() in suspend hook (drop engine auto-tracking)" This reverts commit daa6f28.
…ine::setCurrent() in suspend hook (drop engine auto-tracking)" This reverts commit 337e17e.
… return); drop setCurrent
…Scheduler; launch(): ?object records current
…rnal context ops are C-only)
…tation, not core API (cancel stays a Scheduler hook)
…urn); only the PHP Async\Coroutine API was removed
Async\Continuation::create(callable) mints a symmetric execution context backed
by the engine's fiber machinery; switchTo() jumps directly into it, carrying a
value in and delivering the body's return value — or its thrown exception or
bailout — back to the switcher. No central pump: control goes A -> B directly.
Built on the exported zend_fiber_switch_context; the entry trampoline follows
zend_fiber_execute (VM-stack setup + zend_call_function) and the switch follows
TrueAsync's fiber_switch_context_ex. A finished context is freed by
zend_fiber_switch_context itself, so free_object only tears down one that never
completed.
Tests: Zend/tests/async/continuation_{switch,value_exception,symmetric_nested}.phpt.
…nqueue/resume/cancel into onEnqueue; remove AbstractScheduler; getContext returns object; contextFind drops includeParent; update tests (15/15)
…Continuation + currentCoroutine closures (switchTo stays a Continuation method); +mandate test (16/16)
…main normalisation - Continuation::current() wraps EG(current_fiber_context); a captured context is borrowed (never owned), free_obj does not destroy it - onLaunch mandate grows to three closures: createContinuation, currentContinuation, currentCoroutine; the bridge hands all three - create_object initialises fci.function_name (fixes a latent free on garbage for objects that never went through create()) - tests: signatures updated, mandate test covers the capture, new continuation_current_main.phpt switches from a continuation back into the captured main flow and back (17/17)
…ing its mandate Per review feedback: - SchedulerHook::register(string $module, callable $factory): the factory receives the mandate (createContinuation, currentContinuation, currentCoroutine) and returns the Async\Scheduler, so the scheduler is created in a valid state; the factory runs synchronously inside register(), which is the launch moment for a PHP scheduler - onLaunch is removed from the interface; the launch slot is no longer bridged (C-scheduler concern only) - the engine now learns the current coroutine in exactly one way: the return value of onSuspend() - Closure parameter types are gone from the interface; register() takes callable - tests updated to the factory form; 17/17
- PHP hooks report failure by exception only: onShutdown/onDefer/contextSet return void (new call_void bridge path), register() throws instead of returning false; bool stays where false is data (onEnqueue, contextUnset) - Continuation::switchTo(mixed $value = null, ?Throwable $error = null): a non-null error is thrown at the target's suspension point; a first entry with an error finishes the continuation without starting the body; both arguments at once is a ValueError; switching into a finished continuation throws Error (+continuation_switchto_error test) - fix enqueue/resume rejection without a pending exception: throw FiberError at the PHP boundary instead of RETURN_THROWS on empty EG(exception) - port the C-only coroutine switch-handler API (per-coroutine vector + main-coroutine start handlers) from the true-async tree - port the fork API with default deny: ZEND_ASYNC_BEFORE_FORK() throws while the Async state is on unless a fork-hook pair is registered; pcntl_fork() guarded, child reinitialised via ZEND_ASYNC_AFTER_FORK_CHILD() - update tests to the new signatures (18/18 async, fibers green)
- new C slot zend_async_wait_info_t (appended to the API bundle) with a quiet no-op stub: wait info is diagnostics, not an error without a subscriber; ZEND_ASYNC_WAIT_INFO() macro for C callers - the PHP bridge binds Scheduler::onWaitInfo(object, string): void and forwards through the void-hook path - onWaitInfo added to the Async\Scheduler interface stub and tests - api_shutdown: also reset gc_destructors/defer/wait_info slots - onEnqueue doc: state what true means (queued and will run)
…he hooks - zend_coroutine_t gains a lazily allocated internal_context (numeric keys); engine-owned find/set/unset/destroy replace the eight context slots, the zend_async_context_t struct and the userland-context C API (deliberate ABI break; ZEND_ASYNC_INTERNAL_CONTEXT_* macros now take the coroutine, NULL = current) - ZEND_ASYNC_CURRENT_COROUTINE is now correct for bound fibers: zend_fiber_scheduler_switch() sets fiber->coroutine as current while the fiber body runs and restores it after - the bridge keeps one registry (coroutine object handle -> zend_coroutine_t): fiber-adopted handles are minted at adoption and released by the fiber teardown, continuation handles on first record-current and released at unregistration; dispose destroys the internal context and drops the entry - the Scheduler interface shrinks to the six event hooks: getContext/ getInternalContext/contextFind/contextSet/contextUnset removed from the stub and tests
Minting a coroutine handle installs a C destructor on the coroutine object: the object's handlers are swapped for a per-class copy whose free_obj destroys the handle (and the internal context) before the class's own free_obj runs. The registry holds no reference anymore. Fiber-adopted handles keep the stronger lifetime: the fiber machinery holds a raw pointer to the handle, so it pins the object and the fiber teardown drives the release through extended_dispose.
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Two halves of one step: the first runtime validation of the Async Core C ABI, and the context API the RFC (0.4) specifies on top of it. ext/test_scheduler: a naive FIFO C scheduler filling every zend_async_scheduler_api_t slot from a separate Zend extension, built only with --enable-test-scheduler and activated by test_scheduler.enable=1, plus a TestScheduler\ userland API so .phpt tests can drive it. Running it turned three design bugs into fixes: a deliberate-wake flag (a dequeued flow stops scheduling and returns; finish/park hand control to the main loop, so a flow frozen mid-loop is no longer lost), park-to-main on a dry queue, and an end-of-main unwind of still-parked coroutines through zend_create_unwind_exit() instead of dropping their live stacks. The main coroutine is defined, not discovered: the launch slot now returns it (Async\Scheduler::onLaunch() on the PHP side, mandatory), and the engine marks it, records it as current and fires the main-coroutine start handlers. The top-level script is a coroutine from its first opcode, so nothing has to guess at the first yield: the bridge's inference and the test scheduler's adopt-main are both gone. The userland context: Async\Context (find/has/set/unset over string and object keys) and Async\get_context(?object). Null resolves to the current coroutine, so the common call touches no scheduler state at all; the explicit form resolves through the coroutine_from_object slot, because only the provider knows the layout of its own coroutine objects (the core keeps no registry of coroutines: the PHP bridge answers from its own map, the test scheduler with a container_of). A coroutine carries its context in zend_coroutine_t; a request with concurrency off has nowhere to hang one, so it keeps a store that the launch hands to the main coroutine. A fresh coroutine starts empty: the engine imposes no inheritance. C extensions reach the same store through zend_async_context_find/set/unset. Shared engine machinery instead of copies: zend_fiber_vm_stack_start() and zend_fiber_vm_stack_free() replace the three hand-synchronised copies of the fiber VM-stack bootstrap (zend_fiber_execute, Continuation, the test scheduler), and ZEND_ASYNC_FCALL_FREE joins ZEND_ASYNC_FCALL_DEFINE as its inverse. Tests: 34 for the scheduler (interleaving, cancellation, microtasks, fiber adoption, GC-phase destructors, context) and 5 engine-level context tests; green under debug+ZTS+ASan.
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A lightweight asynchronous core without complex logic.
The idea is:
https://github.com/true-async/php-async-core-rfc/blob/main/RFC.md
At the moment, both the code and the RFC are still under development. I'd be happy to hear your ideas and feedback.