fix: prevent unbounded Claude subprocess spawning in worker daemon

src/services/worker-service.ts

@@ -309,6 +309,16 @@ export class WorkerService {
       this.resolveInitialization();
       logger.info('SYSTEM', 'Background initialization complete');
 
+      // Defensive cleanup: reap stale Claude subprocesses from previous daemon run (Issue #1007)
+      try {
+        const startupReaped = await reapOrphanedProcesses(new Set());
+        if (startupReaped > 0) {
+          logger.info('SYSTEM', `Reaped ${startupReaped} orphaned process(es) from previous run`, { reaped: startupReaped });
+        }
+      } catch (err) {
+        logger.warn('SYSTEM', 'Startup reap of orphaned processes failed (non-fatal)', {}, err as Error);
+      }
+
       // Start orphan reaper to clean up zombie processes (Issue #737)
       this.stopOrphanReaper = startOrphanReaper(() => {
         const activeIds = new Set<number>();

src/services/worker/ProcessRegistry.ts

@@ -4,16 +4,16 @@
  * Fixes Issue #737: Claude haiku subprocesses don't terminate properly,
  * causing zombie process accumulation (user reported 155 processes / 51GB RAM).
  *
- * Root causes:
- * 1. SDK's SpawnedProcess interface hides subprocess PIDs
- * 2. deleteSession() doesn't verify subprocess exit before cleanup
- * 3. abort() is fire-and-forget with no confirmation
+ * Issue #1007: Unbounded spawning can exhaust memory/swap over multi-day daemon
+ * runs. We enforce a max concurrent subprocess limit and reap orphans at startup.
  *
  * Solution:
  * - Use SDK's spawnClaudeCodeProcess option to capture PIDs
  * - Track all spawned processes with session association
+ * - Enforce MAX_CONCURRENT_CLAUDE_SUBPROCESSES; fail fast when at cap
  * - Verify exit on session deletion with timeout + SIGKILL escalation
  * - Safety net orphan reaper runs every 5 minutes
+ * - Defensive reap of system orphans on daemon startup
  */
 
 import { spawn, exec, ChildProcess } from 'child_process';
@@ -32,6 +32,16 @@ interface TrackedProcess {
 // PID Registry - tracks spawned Claude subprocesses
 const processRegistry = new Map<number, TrackedProcess>();
 
+/** Maximum concurrent Claude subprocesses (safety limit to prevent resource exhaustion, Issue #1007) */
+export const MAX_CONCURRENT_CLAUDE_SUBPROCESSES = 50;
+
+/**
+ * Get current count of tracked subprocesses (for cap enforcement)
+ */
+export function getActiveProcessCount(): number {
+  return processRegistry.size;
+}
+
 /**
  * Register a spawned process in the registry
  */
@@ -199,6 +209,15 @@ export function createPidCapturingSpawn(sessionDbId: number) {
     env?: NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
     signal?: AbortSignal;
   }) => {
+    if (processRegistry.size >= MAX_CONCURRENT_CLAUDE_SUBPROCESSES) {
+      logger.warn('PROCESS', `Refusing to spawn: at safety limit (${MAX_CONCURRENT_CLAUDE_SUBPROCESSES} concurrent Claude subprocesses)`, {
+        sessionDbId,
+        current: processRegistry.size
+      });
+      throw new Error(
+        `Maximum concurrent Claude subprocesses reached (${MAX_CONCURRENT_CLAUDE_SUBPROCESSES}). Please try again later or restart the worker.`
+      );
+    }
     const child = spawn(spawnOptions.command, spawnOptions.args, {
       cwd: spawnOptions.cwd,
       env: spawnOptions.env,