fix: Allow tools running in the terminal to prevent the workspace from stopping due to idling

This adds support for a CLI Watcher in che-machine-exec to prevent DevWorkspace idling when long-running CLI tools are running in the terminal.

The watcher is user-configurable via a '.noidle' YAML file. No admin privileges are required.

How configuration is resolved:

The '.noidle' file is located by searching in the following order:

- A path specified by the CLI_WATCHER_CONFIG environment variable
- Searching upward from the current project directory toward $PROJECTS_ROOT, looking for .noidle
- Falling back to '$HOME/.noidle' (e.g. '~/.noidle')
- If not found, CLI Watcher waits and checks again on the next poll

Example .noidle configuration:

```yaml
enabled: true
watchedCommands:
  - helm
  - odo
  - sleep
checkPeriodSeconds: 60
```

Where:
- enabled: Enables or disables the CLI watcher (boolean)
- watchedCommands: List of command names to monitor
- checkPeriodSeconds: Polling interval in seconds (default is 60)

Benefits:

- Works entirely in user space — no container or cluster admin config needed
- Supports live updates (file can be added, edited, or removed while running)
- Helps avoid idle timeout disconnects during long-running CLI workflows
- Allows workspace authors to tailor idle behavior to specific tools

Issue: eclipse-che/che#23529

Signed-off-by: Victor Rubezhny <[email protected]>

Author: vrubezhny

build/dockerfiles/Dockerfile

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ RUN apk --update --no-cache add \
 WORKDIR /che-machine-exec/
 COPY . .
 # to test FIPS compliance, run https://github.com/openshift/check-payload#scan-a-container-or-operator-image against a built image
-ENV CGO_ENABLED=1
+ENV CGO_ENABLED=0
 RUN GOOS=linux go build -mod=vendor -a -ldflags '-w -s' -a -installsuffix cgo -o /go/bin/che-machine-exec .
 
 # NOTE: could not compile with node:18-alpine, so for now stick with node:16-alpine

timeout/cli-watcher.go

@@ -0,0 +1,309 @@
+//
+// Copyright (c) 2025 Red Hat, Inc.
+// This program and the accompanying materials are made
+// available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
+// which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
+//
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: EPL-2.0
+//
+// Contributors:
+//   Red Hat, Inc. - initial API and implementation
+//
+
+package timeout
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"time"
+
+	"github.com/sirupsen/logrus"
+	"gopkg.in/yaml.v2"
+)
+
+type cliWatcherConfig struct {
+	WatchedCommands    []string  `yaml:"watchedCommands"`
+	CheckPeriodSeconds int       `yaml:"checkPeriodSeconds"`
+	Enabled            bool      `yaml:"enabled"`
+	_lastModTime       time.Time `json:"-"`
+}
+
+// Watcher monitors CLI processes and invokes a tick callback when active ones are found
+type cliWatcher struct {
+	config              *cliWatcherConfig
+	warnedMissingConfig bool
+	stopChan            chan struct{}
+	started             bool
+	tickFunc            func()
+}
+
+// New creates a new Watcher with the given config and tick callback
+func NewCliWatcher(tickFunc func()) *cliWatcher {
+	return &cliWatcher{
+		stopChan: make(chan struct{}),
+		tickFunc: tickFunc,
+	}
+}
+
+// Start begins the watcher loop
+func (w *cliWatcher) Start() {
+	if w.started {
+		return
+	}
+	w.started = true
+
+	go func() {
+		var err error
+		w.config, err = w.loadConfig(getConfigPath(), w.config)
+		if err != nil {
+			logrus.Errorf("CLI Watcher: Failed to reload config: %v", err)
+		}
+
+		chkPeriod := 60
+		if w.config != nil {
+			chkPeriod = w.config.CheckPeriodSeconds
+		}
+
+		ticker := time.NewTicker(time.Duration(chkPeriod) * time.Second)
+		defer ticker.Stop()
+
+		for {
+			select {
+			case <-w.stopChan:
+				logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Stopped")
+				return
+
+			case <-ticker.C:
+				oldPeriod := chkPeriod
+
+				// Reload config
+				w.config, err = w.loadConfig(getConfigPath(), w.config)
+				if err != nil {
+					logrus.Errorf("CLI Watcher: Failed to reload config: %v", err)
+				}
+
+				if w.config == nil || !w.config.Enabled {
+					if chkPeriod != 60 {
+						logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Config was removed or disabled — resetting check period to default (60s)")
+						chkPeriod = 60
+						ticker.Stop()
+						ticker = time.NewTicker(time.Duration(chkPeriod) * time.Second)
+					}
+					continue
+				}
+
+				if w.config.CheckPeriodSeconds > 0 && w.config.CheckPeriodSeconds != oldPeriod {
+					logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Detected new check period: %d seconds (was %d), restarting ticker", w.config.CheckPeriodSeconds, oldPeriod)
+					chkPeriod = w.config.CheckPeriodSeconds
+					ticker.Stop()
+					ticker = time.NewTicker(time.Duration(chkPeriod) * time.Second)
+				}
+
+				found, name := isWatchedProcessRunning(w.config.WatchedCommands)
+				if found {
+					logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Detected CLI command: %s — reporting activity tick", name)
+					if w.tickFunc != nil {
+						w.tickFunc()
+					}
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}()
+
+	logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Started")
+}
+
+// Stop terminates the watcher loop
+func (w *cliWatcher) Stop() {
+	if !w.started {
+		return
+	}
+	close(w.stopChan)
+	w.started = false
+}
+
+// Scans /proc to check if any watched process is running
+func isWatchedProcessRunning(watched []string) (bool, string) {
+	procEntries, err := os.ReadDir("/proc")
+	if err != nil {
+		logrus.Warnf("CLI Watcher: Cannot read /proc: %v", err)
+		return false, ""
+	}
+
+	for _, entry := range procEntries {
+		if !entry.IsDir() || !isNumeric(entry.Name()) {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		pid := entry.Name()
+		cmdlinePath := filepath.Join("/proc", pid, "cmdline")
+		data, err := os.ReadFile(cmdlinePath)
+		if err != nil || len(data) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		cmdParts := strings.Split(string(data), "\x00")
+		if len(cmdParts) == 0 {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		// Match against all command line parts, not just the first
+		for _, part := range cmdParts {
+			partName := filepath.Base(part)
+			for _, keyword := range watched {
+				if partName == keyword {
+					return true, keyword
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	return false, ""
+}
+
+func isNumeric(s string) bool {
+	for _, c := range s {
+		if c < '0' || c > '9' {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
+// Finds the CLI Watcher configuration file in:
+// 1. Use explicit override by using "CLI_WATCHER_CONFIG" env. variable, or if not set then
+// 2. Search for '.noidle' upward from current project directory up to "PROJECTS_ROOT" directory, or
+// 3. Fallback to $HOME/.<binary> file, or if doesn't exist/isn't accessble then
+// 4. Otherwise, give up. Repeating the search on next run (thus waiting for a config to appear)
+func getConfigPath() string {
+
+	// 1. Use explicit override
+	if configEnv := os.Getenv("CLI_WATCHER_CONFIG"); configEnv != "" {
+		return configEnv
+	}
+
+	const configFileName = ".noidle"
+
+	// 2. Search upward from current project directory
+	root := os.Getenv("PROJECTS_ROOT")
+	if root == "" {
+		root = "/"
+	}
+
+	start := os.Getenv("PROJECT_SOURCE")
+	if start == "" {
+		start = os.Getenv("PROJECTS_ROOT")
+	}
+
+	if start == "" {
+		start, _ = os.Getwd()
+	}
+
+	if path := findUpward(start, root, configFileName); path != "" {
+		return path
+	}
+
+	// 3. Fallback to $HOME/.<binary>
+	if home := os.Getenv("HOME"); home != "" && home != "/" {
+		homeCfg := filepath.Join(home, configFileName)
+		if _, err := os.Stat(homeCfg); err == nil {
+			return homeCfg
+		}
+	}
+
+	// 4. Give up
+	return ""
+}
+
+func findUpward(start, stop, filename string) string {
+	current := start
+	for {
+		candidate := filepath.Join(current, filename)
+		if _, err := os.Stat(candidate); err == nil {
+			return candidate
+		}
+
+		if current == stop || current == "/" {
+			break
+		}
+
+		parent := filepath.Dir(current)
+		if parent == current { // root reached
+			break
+		}
+		current = parent
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+// Loads `.noidle` configuration file (or the one that is specified in ” environment variable) into the CLI Watcher configuration struct.
+// Example configuraiton file:
+// ```yaml
+//
+//	enabled: true
+//	checkPeriodSeconds: 30
+//	watchedCommands:
+//	  - helm
+//	  - odo
+//	  - sleep
+//
+// ````
+func (w *cliWatcher) loadConfig(path string, current *cliWatcherConfig) (*cliWatcherConfig, error) {
+	info, err := os.Stat(path)
+	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
+		if current != nil {
+			logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Config file at %s was removed, stopping config-based detection", path)
+		} else if !w.warnedMissingConfig {
+			if strings.TrimSpace(path) == "" {
+				logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Config file not found, waiting for it to appear...")
+			} else {
+				logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Config file not found at %s, waiting for it to appear...", path)
+			}
+			w.warnedMissingConfig = true
+		}
+		return nil, nil
+	} else if err != nil {
+		return current, fmt.Errorf("CLI Watcher: Failed to stat config file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	if w.warnedMissingConfig {
+		logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Config file appeared at %s", path)
+		w.warnedMissingConfig = false
+	}
+
+	if current != nil && !info.ModTime().After(current._lastModTime) {
+		return current, nil // no change
+	}
+
+	data, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return current, fmt.Errorf("CLI Watcher: Failed to read config file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	var newCfg cliWatcherConfig
+	if err := yaml.Unmarshal(data, &newCfg); err != nil {
+		return current, fmt.Errorf("CLI Watcher: Failed to parse config file: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	newCfg._lastModTime = info.ModTime()
+	newCfg = applyDefaults(newCfg)
+	logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Config reloaded from %s", path)
+	if newCfg.Enabled {
+		logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher:   Detecting active commands: %v...", newCfg.WatchedCommands)
+		logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher:   Detection period is %d seconds", newCfg.CheckPeriodSeconds)
+	} else {
+		logrus.Infof("CLI Watcher: Disabled by configuration. CLI idling prevention is turned off.")
+	}
+
+	return &newCfg, nil
+}
+
+// applyDefaults sets fallback values
+func applyDefaults(c cliWatcherConfig) cliWatcherConfig {
+	if c.CheckPeriodSeconds <= 0 {
+		c.CheckPeriodSeconds = 60
+	}
+	return c
+}

timeout/inactivity.go

@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 //
-// Copyright (c) 2019-2022 Red Hat, Inc.
+// Copyright (c) 2019-2025 Red Hat, Inc.
 // This program and the accompanying materials are made
 // available under the terms of the Eclipse Public License 2.0
 // which is available at https://www.eclipse.org/legal/epl-2.0/
@@ -60,6 +60,7 @@ func NewInactivityIdleManager(idleTimeout, stopRetryPeriod time.Duration) (Inact
 		idleTimeout:     idleTimeout,
 		stopRetryPeriod: stopRetryPeriod,
 		activityC:       make(chan bool),
+		watcher:         nil, // Will be initialized in Start()
 	}, nil
 }
 
@@ -78,6 +79,8 @@ type inactivityIdleManagerImpl struct {
 	stopRetryPeriod time.Duration
 
 	activityC chan bool
+
+	watcher *cliWatcher
 }
 
 func (m inactivityIdleManagerImpl) Tick() {
@@ -118,4 +121,13 @@ func (m inactivityIdleManagerImpl) Start() {
 			}
 		}
 	}()
+
+	m.watcher = NewCliWatcher(m.Tick)
+	m.watcher.Start()
+}
+
+func (m *inactivityIdleManagerImpl) Stop() {
+	if m.watcher != nil {
+		m.watcher.Stop()
+	}
 }