docs: frame D3 --- the file-watch polling cost (issue #233)

Framing and lane update at the branch's first commit, portable during
review. Revision 1 is a DRAFT and no implementation may start from it.

The remainder of issue #233 after #234: the watcher is correct and
still walks everything. The framing re-verifies the cost model at
add0ba1 and adds two facts the issue does not carry:

- On this checkout .git alone is 177 of 220 directories --- over 80%
  of every walk --- and the machine does not even have an in-tree
  target/ (external CARGO_TARGET_DIR). The issue's 187/46 numbers were
  measured with one.
- The string-form base is NONDETERMINISTIC: resolve_watcher takes the
  directory of whichever attachment pairs() yields first, so which
  tree a bare-string watcher can see depends on table hash order. #234
  made matching correct per base; which base is still accidental.

Design space A-E with the trade-offs stated: coalesce per (server,
base); a Rust walk_tree primitive (one job per scan instead of one per
directory --- no new crate, no wire change); an ignore list, with the
target/ staleness hazard named (rust-analyzer's **/*.rs covers
OUT_DIR outputs, so an aggressive default trades churn for staleness
in exactly the server the issue is about); idle backoff; and kernel
notification, deliberately staged separately because A-D are pure wins
it does not obsolete and a new-crate decision deserves its own
framing.

Proposed Stage 1: walk_tree + coalescing + backoff, VCS-only skip
default, project-root base preference. At rest on this repo: from
~1,100 jobs per scan-bound tick to one job every four seconds, named
for its root.

Four rulings block implementation (Q#D3-1..4): the acceptance bar
(one attributable blip at idle, not silence --- silence is Stage 2),
the skip-list default and where it lives (a list-valued setting is
not expressible in today's ConfigValue), the string-form base change,
and knobs vs constants.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

docs/active-work.md

@@ -248,8 +248,14 @@ unmerged until this was resolved; #234 merged first and #227 followed
 the same day (`b867f64`), refreshed and re-gated on the merged base.
 
 **D3 — the polling cost — is the remainder, and the user has ruled it
-is next (2026-08-11).** No branch and no framing yet. What is known,
-verified while framing D1/D2:
+is next (2026-08-11).** **Branch `lsp-file-watch-d3`** (base
+`githubsucks/main` @ `add0ba1`; the remote ref is authoritative), with
+**framing `docs/lsp-file-watch-d3-framing.md`, revision 1, DRAFT —
+awaiting review**, committed at the branch's first commit so it is
+portable during review. Four open rulings (Q#D3-1..4: the acceptance
+bar, the skip-list default, the string-form base, knobs vs constants)
+block implementation. What was known before framing, verified while
+framing D1/D2:
 
 - After #234 the watcher is *correct* but still walks: `walk` recurses
   unconditionally and `matches` gates only recording, so rust-analyzer

docs/lsp-file-watch-d3-framing.md

@@ -0,0 +1,172 @@
+# LSP file watcher D3 — the polling cost — framing
+
+**Status: revision 1 — DRAFT, awaiting review. No implementation may
+begin from this document.**
+
+Continues issue #233, which stays open until this lane closes it. D1
+and D2 — matching correctness and the re-registration leak — merged as
+**#234** (`ae84d58`); this frames the remainder the user ruled next on
+2026-08-11: the watcher is now *correct* and still walks everything,
+every tick, forever.
+
+## Verified against the tree at `add0ba1`
+
+Every claim below was read or measured this session.
+
+- Each registered watcher is its own coroutine looping
+  `sleep(FILE_WATCH_INTERVAL_MS)` → `scan_tree` (`lsp.lua:1924`,
+  `:2074-2083`); the interval is 250 ms.
+- `scan_tree` awaits `pmacs.fs.read_dir` once **per directory**
+  (`:2038-2041`), one async job each (`async_runtime.rs`'s `read_dir
+  <path>` purpose). `walk` recurses unconditionally; `matches` gates
+  only whether an entry is *recorded*.
+- **Jobs per tick per watcher = 1 sleep + D read_dirs**, D the
+  directory count under the base. rust-analyzer registers six watchers
+  (post-D2; twelve before), so 6·(1+D) jobs per tick against one
+  server.
+- **250 ms is a floor, not a period.** The awaits are sequential, so a
+  tree whose walk takes longer than the interval makes the effective
+  period scan-bound — the loop never idles. The issue measured ~270 ms
+  on a two-directory tree (250 ms plus one async round trip); D round
+  trips dominate on real trees.
+- Measured on this checkout: **220 directories, of which `.git` is 177
+  — over 80 % of the walk**. (The issue's machine carried an in-tree
+  `target/`: 187 directories, 46 outside `.git`+`target`. This machine
+  exports an external `CARGO_TARGET_DIR` and still pays `.git`.)
+- **The string-form base is nondeterministic, found while framing:**
+  `resolve_watcher`'s string arm takes the directory of the FIRST
+  attachment `pairs()` happens to yield (`:2150-2173`) — table order,
+  not a chosen root. With one server attached to files in two
+  directories, which tree a bare-string watcher can ever see depends
+  on hash order. #234 made matching correct *per base*; **which** base
+  is still accidental.
+- **No `notify`/inotify dependency in the tree** and **no ignore-list
+  infrastructure to reuse** (`src/project.rs` knows `.git` as a
+  *marker*, not as something to skip) — both re-verified, both carried
+  from the D1/D2 framing.
+
+## What §9 asks of this lane
+
+Not "quiet the modeline." The indicator is the instrument that found
+this, and the churn it shows is real; quieting it is explicitly out of
+bounds. The lane's job is to make the background work **small,
+attributable, and honest**: fewer jobs doing the same watching, each
+with a purpose naming its root.
+
+## Design space
+
+**A — Coalesce per (server, base).** One scan per tick serves every
+watcher sharing a base: the scan records **all** files (today it
+records only matches, so a shared scan moves the matcher from scan
+time to diff time), the diff runs once, and each change is routed
+through every watcher's matcher and kind mask, deduped by
+`(uri, type)` into the server's single
+`workspace/didChangeWatchedFiles` notification. For rust-analyzer this
+is 6× → 1×. Pure Lua.
+
+**B — A Rust walk primitive.** `pmacs.fs.walk_tree(base, opts)` —
+the whole recursive walk as **one job** instead of one per directory:
+188 jobs per tick per watcher on this repo becomes 1. The indicator
+then shows one purpose (`walk_tree <root>`) instead of a stream of
+`read_dir` lines. An additive fs binding plus its async-runtime job;
+**no wire change** (fs bindings are not the frontend protocol) and no
+new crate. Symlink non-traversal (`scan_tree`'s loop-safety) moves
+into the primitive's contract.
+
+**C — An ignore list.** Skip named directories at walk time. On this
+checkout `.git` alone is >80 % of the walk. **Stated hazard:**
+excluding `target/` can suppress legitimate events — rust-analyzer's
+`**/*.rs` glob covers build-script `OUT_DIR` outputs under `target/`,
+so an aggressive default trades churn for staleness in exactly the
+server this issue is about. The default must be conservative
+(Q#D3-2).
+
+**D — Idle backoff.** The interval doubles while consecutive scans
+observe no change, capped; any change batch resets it to 250 ms.
+Worst-case latency for an *external* change at idle equals the cap.
+LSP imposes no latency bound, and edits made through pmacs itself
+never depended on the watcher (the server sees `didChange`); the
+watcher exists for git checkouts, generated files, and other editors.
+
+**E — Kernel notification** (`notify` crate: inotify / FSEvents /
+kqueue). Eliminates polling. Also: a new dependency, a new Rust
+subsystem, a Lua binding, a platform matrix, and an interaction with
+§9's ownership model. **Deliberately staged separately** — not because
+it is wrong but because A–D are pure wins E does not obsolete (a
+kernel watcher still needs the initial scan, and a poll remains the
+fallback path), and a new-crate decision deserves its own framing.
+
+## Proposed shape — Stage 1 is B + A + D, with C at a conservative default
+
+- One `walk_tree` job per (server, base) per tick; Lua keeps the
+  retained map, diffs, and routes per watcher (A + B).
+- Backoff 250 ms ×2 per quiet scan → 4 s cap, reset on any change (D).
+- Skip-list default: **VCS metadata only** (`.git`, `.hg`, `.svn`) —
+  `target/` and `node_modules` stay walked unless Q#D3-2 rules
+  otherwise, because correctness beats quiet.
+- The string-form base prefers the **project root**
+  (`src/project.rs::detect_project` — already Lua-reachable via
+  `pmacs.project`) and falls back to the attached file's directory,
+  which fixes the `pairs()`-order nondeterminism (Q#D3-3).
+
+At rest on this repo with rust-analyzer attached: from ~1,100 jobs per
+scan-bound tick to **one job every four seconds**, named for its root.
+
+## Open rulings — each blocks implementation
+
+- **Q#D3-1 — the acceptance bar.** With Stage 1 the modeline shows one
+  brief `walk_tree` blip per backoff interval at idle (up to every
+  4 s), **not silence**. Silence requires Stage 2 (E) or touching the
+  indicator, which is out of bounds. Is "one attributable blip at
+  idle, correct events, bounded latency" the bar this lane must meet?
+- **Q#D3-2 — the skip-list default and its surface.** VCS-only
+  (safest), or the broader VS Code-style exclude set
+  (`node_modules` etc.), with the `target/` staleness hazard above?
+  And where it lives: a module constant, or a config-registry key —
+  noting `ConfigValue` is four scalars, so a **list-valued setting is
+  not expressible today**; a key now means a delimited string, or the
+  skip list waits for table-valued settings (the §6 prerequisite).
+- **Q#D3-3 — the string-form base.** Project-root preference (fixes
+  the nondeterminism; widens the watched tree when attachments span
+  directories) or attached-file directory (narrower, hash-order
+  dependent)? The proposed shape says project root; it is still a
+  behavioural change to a path real servers exercise.
+- **Q#D3-4 — interval and cap: constants or config keys.** The D1/D2
+  framing refused a knob for a defect. With D3 the poll becomes a
+  designed mechanism, so keys are defensible — but two more registry
+  keys is coherence surface. Proposed: constants until someone asks.
+
+## Verification sketch
+
+- **Job-count witness:** a coalesced server's per-tick allocation is
+  O(1), not O(directories) — observed through the activity summary or
+  a counter seam, asserted on a tree with enough directories to
+  discriminate.
+- **Backoff witness:** quiet scans lengthen the interval and one
+  change resets it — observable through the sleep purpose or a seam.
+- **Skip witness:** a change under `.git/` never emits; the same
+  change outside it still does.
+- **Contract preservation:** all six existing `m4_24` watcher tests
+  stay **byte-unchanged** and green — they are D1/D2's contract, and
+  this lane must not weaken it.
+- `walk_tree` gets Rust unit tests of its own: skip list honored,
+  symlinks recorded-not-traversed, signature parity with the Lua walk
+  it replaces.
+- Each new behaviour is mutation-tested against the defect it guards.
+
+## Coherence impact (§20)
+
+- **Journey steps:** none added; step 5 is unchanged.
+- **Interaction islands:** none.
+- **Config registry:** none by default; Q#D3-2/Q#D3-4 could add keys
+  and are flagged as such.
+- **Background-work attribution (§9):** unattributed churn drops from
+  O(directories × watchers) jobs per tick to one attributable job per
+  server at rest. The ownership *model* remains §9 Stage 2's work,
+  not this lane's.
+
+## Gates
+
+`./scripts/gate --acceptance m4_acceptance`. No `--protocol` — no wire
+change, no `PROTOCOL_VERSION` bump; `walk_tree` is an fs binding, not
+a protocol message.